7 posts tagged “wii”
No clue how long it's been since I posted, probably sometime shortly after getting the Wii Fit, which is almost 6 months ago! Really, until recently, there's not been much exciting to write about. My weight hadn't changed much and I was still exercising several times a week and trying to eat well.
Mid May Andy surprised me with an awesome present. A personal trainer for my Wii! While I still pulled out the Fit once in a while it wasn't near as exciting as it used to be and there were a few things about it that bugged me (several of which might be changed with the new Fit Plus, we'll see).
EA Active was like a breath of fresh air! Right off the bat I started the 30-Day Challenge and though I certainly did not finish in the 30 days (more like 40, but who's counting) it's been great. My pants are fitting looser and I've lost a few pounds along the way as well. Maybe not many, but at least SOMETHING!
After playing for a month and a half, and starting the 30DC again today with the other trainer (maybe I'll do it in 30 days this time??), here's my brief review of the game.
PROS
- While I've never had a real, live personal trainer, this game is the next best thing (and significantly cheaper too!). You don't just have to do the 30DC to get that effect either.
- There are many workouts designed within the game to target just about everything. For someone like me who doesn't really know what to work and when to work it and how much of this to do with that, having pre-set workouts in the 30DC that vary activities and keep things fresh has been great.
- You can work out with a buddy. I haven't been able to do this much, and it doesn't work with the 30DC or register in both people's profiles that you did the workout, but it's always more fun to have a workout buddy!
- There isn't as much lag time between exercises (unless you have to watch the how-tos).
- You can pick your intensity, low-medium-high, and no matter which one I've always ended tired and sweaty.
- The trainer encourages you along the way to hang in there and do your best.
- On days when I go to the gym and do cardio I can easliy uncheck all the activities where "running" is involved.
- I really want to do this most days and like that with the 30DC there are rest days built in so you don't push too hard.
- Once you have a feel for the game and the activities you can design your own workouts and vary the intensity of different activities within the workouts.
- When I decided to try the 30DC again, I chose the female trainer and she says different things to encourage/motivate you and it seems like a whole different experience.
- You can get other resistance bands to up the intensity of the resistance for the upper body workouts if you need to.
- As part of your journal you have to keep track of things like how many small meals you've eaten, how much water you drink, how many servings of veggies you've eaten and how many sugary beverages. It's been pretty effective at getting me thinking about what I'm eating and making positive changes ... since I have to document everything.
- There's no shaming aspect. If you miss a day they don't make you feel bad. You don't have to weigh yourself each time and be told you are obese every day (regardless of certain physical characteristics). While I still weigh myself once a week or so with the Fit, it's much less intense.
- I just discovered a whole website for the game designed to help encourage and motivate you. It also has tips on living healthier.
CONS
- There's no way to do the 30DC with a friend.
- I HATE RUNNING IN PLACE. While you can do jumping jacks or jump rope or something else, there's a lot of "running" involved in the 30DC.
- Hard at first to get into a rhythm when you have to mess with the equipment and watch all the how-to videos.
- There aren't many exercises that incorporate the balance board (which can also be a good thing because it's one more thing to manage during workouts).
- Sometimes the exercises are tricky to get right and it gets frustrating when you have to hold things really long because it doesn't realize you are doing it.
- There's no way to change from right to left handed so even as a lefty I'm stuck doing all the exercises with the Wiimote in my right hand.
- There's no way to say that you are pregnant or have some other health condition where you might need the 30DC modified in some way (you can go in and uncheck certain exercises though).
For almost as long as I've been sick (I think I'm mostly better, but still have lingering cough and nose issues) I've been trying to track down a Wii Fit. My mom and Dennis gave us a gift card for Christmas and after convincing Andy that we really needed to use the gift card for a Wii Fit, we've been looking. Even looked in Chicago though it would have been interesting carting it back to Denver. No dice. They were never in stock. Anywhere.
Last week a friend of mine got a Wii and then, shortly after, also got a Wii Fit. I was a bit green with envy since I've been looking for so long with no luck. I called around everywhere on Friday morning and they were again nowhere to be found. We decided to wait and see if Best Buy or Target advertized them in the Sunday paper. They didn't.
This morning I went to a friend's house even though it was crazy snowing. Stephan got some play time in and I was able to finally get her the check we've been forgetting. On the way home I got a voice mail from another friend. She was at WalMart and they had a few Fit's in stock. I happened to be very close by and rerouted to head there. I was so excited. Never connected with my friend, but I did ... drumroll please ... get a Wii Fit. Finally.
I'm so glad I've been whining about not finding one because all my friends were looking for them for me!
Now I'm just waiting for Stephan to actually fall asleep for his nap so I can pull it out and play. I no longer feel bad about being lazy and not making it to the gym this morning.
Speaking of Stephan and sleeping, we are finally working on breaking him to the pacifier habit. While I'm fine with him having it just for nap/bedtime, lately it's become such an issue. He wants it all the time and has been a bit of a pill about the whole thing. So last night when we were putting him to bed we couldn't find it anywhere and he ended up going to sleep without it. Woke up several times crying for it, but we didn't cave. Even when Andy eventually did find the sucker once in the middle of the night. I'm continuing to tell Stephan I can't find it, even though it is in my dresser drawer. He doesn't need it anymore and I'll be glad in a week or two when he's totally not needing it anymore.
I think he's asleep. I'm going to go figure out my new toy!
today was great. i got up early with the boys and helped them out the door. then after noshing on a bowl of cereal i headed out to saturn to get my car a $9.99 oil change. had to wait for a little over an hour, but i brought a book to read so it didn't really seem that long. i love that my car sends me an email when i need an oil change ... and by the time i got home today it knew my oil had been changed. so cool.
since we totally want to get a wii fit, i went over to sam's to see if they possibly had one in stock. of course not. however, i did discover when their next shipment of electronics is (not for TWO WEEKS?) so now we wait. and wait. why does nintendo seriously underestimate the demand for their product and then take SO LONG to get it out. too bad we had to wait till after christmas to get the gift card from my mom. oh well. we'll get it eventually.
after stopping by church to get the curriculum for teaching the 2yos on sunday, i went home and read another chapter and settled in with the cat for a nice nap. i didn't really want to wake up but knew if i slept too long i'd never get to bed tonight.
once i got up my lunck consisted of our appetizer from dinner last night. whole wheat bagel crisps with pesto, mozzarella and diced tomatoes in balsamic vinagrette. YUM!
the rest of my afternoon, sad to say, was spent immersed in my animal crossing town. why do i enjoy that game so much. it's kinda like seinfeld, a game about nothing. yet i could wander around and pick fruit or fish for hours. tomorrow, if i get a chance to play, i'm going to get sucked into super paper mario. or maybe boom blox. maybe it's good we don't yet have the fit that way i have more time to play the other games i got for christmas.
Steven Spielberg, one of the most influential personalities in film, was born on this day in 1946. Which one of the many films he directed do you call your favorite?
I can't say, but I really love his game for the Wii.
It's super fun :)
Here's a cross post from WordPress. Six more posts and I'm done with NaBloPoMo!
My friend Natalie and her daughter came over this morning. We met them at Denny's for breakfast and then came back to have fun on the Wii.
We tried playing some of the party games on Super Monkey Ball but couldn't seem to figure out how to make the remote work with the games and there's no real help in the manual or on the game. So after trying a couple we gave up and I pulled out bowling. We also did tennis, which I really suck at, and golf. Then we raced some on MarioKart. We had fun, and her daughter enjoyed playing with all of Stephan's toys. Stephan played with a game cube controller and got in the way a lot. Thankfully, no kids were harmed in the process of our FUN!
They left a little over an hour ago, Stephan ate lunch, pooped in his potty, and is now sleeping for me.
He's getting really good a peepeeing and poopooing in his "potty froggy" and is getting excited about underwear. We are just about done with diapers, there are three or four more left, and then we have a stash of pull-ups, maybe 30-40 of them, some from a friend and a partial bag I'd bought a few months ago. Now we are trying to figure out what our next step is. He goes in the potty, we just need him to consistently tell us that he needs to go and get him better able to pull his pants off and on by himself. Tomorrow he's off to the sitter's while I work and then on Wednesday I think we'll try the little plasticy-underwear we bought a while back and see how he does with that. Only two pair though, so that might not get us very far. We'll have to buy something else, maybe thicker training undies and then the regular undies for motivation??
Oh, the places you'll go ... when you have a toddler!
I do love this place. Maybe it's because the Park Hyatt is a fabulous hotel and this is a little resort tucked at 11,500 feet in the Rocky Mountains. A little bit of snow, gorgeous scenery. If we ever have the mony for a vacation place in the mountains, I want it to be here. Even the soap, which is from the hotel spa, is fabulous. We now have a little stash of the ginger peach shampoo, conditioner, body wash and lotion. Mmm.
Tonight we went down to Vail for dinner. We've eaten at Billy's Island Grill twice before. The deal this time of year is unbeatable, 50% off all entrees. We shared a "bacon wrapped filet covered in crabmeat and smothered in bearnaise" and "slices of rare seared yellowfin tuna over Asian cole slaw with wasabi mashed potatoes, served with soy and salsa fresca dipping sauces." While I wasn't a fan of the wasabi potatoes, everything else was delicious as usual. We also did their salad bar and got a bowl of chowder. YUM. We are stuffed. No pictures since I never remember until after it's all been devoured. Nice to have a wonderful dinner date and some time together where we don't have to entertain a toddler.
And here's the crazy part of today. Andy's travels while I was at my conference involved going to WalMart to get new wipers for my car. (We've needed to do this for a month or so but have been holding off till winter, which we of course encountered in the mountains). While he was there he discovered that they actually had several Wii's in stock. We have been coveting one for a while now and haven't ever actually encountered one in stock at a store. So at dinner we decided to go back and get one as our family Christmas gift, Andy's bonus will cover the cost. Maybe now I'll be able to play Animal Crossing with my sister online since she got one for her birthday. I'm excited to play with Stephan and see if he'll be able to figure out how to play any of the Wii Sports or Wii Play games.
Tomorrow I've got another few hours
of conference and then we'll be headed home to see our little boy. (And hook up our Wii!) I do
miss his smile and how sweet he is.
What's the greatest video game console on the market? Do you own it or is it on your wish list?
I love my DS Lite. I made a little case for it from the leftover material from Hannah's blanket. Didn't quite turn out as I had planned but serves it's purpose so I guess that's fine. My favorite games are Brain Age 1 & 2 and I enjoy wandering around in Animal Crossing too though it was more fun the one time I played online with my sister. I also enjoy Tetris & Mario Kart though I can't play with the people from Japan, they whoop my toushie :).
My hubby will appreciate this. I think I'd put a Wii on my wish list. My only issue is that I want it to come down in price. By the time you buy the console, extra controllers and such and a game or two you've spent $500. Besides, the only games I ever play consistently are the ones that I play in the palm of my hand. More portable ... more playable. Still, I think if they ever drop the price of a Wii to about $150 I would be tempted.
