"Wii weight"

For the first time in the several years I have owned it, I was able to use my Wii Fit!

My partner and I purchased a Wii Fit with the hope that it would be a fun addition to our "home entertainment" as well giving us the benefit of losing a few pounds. When we purchased it, I was certainly realistic about any positive health benefits it might bring to us. I mean, seriously, how can a video game be a factor of any kind in the process of losing weight. Nonetheless, we brought it home, unpacked it, and plugged it in. I remember the first time I saw the Wii Fit program on our TV, and how cute we thought the little animated Wii board was, especially how it reacted when people would stand on its real world doppelganger.

My first experience with the Wii Fit was not a happy one. Knowing that it would measure my weight, I stepped on it a little embarassed about what it might tell me. Trying to hold my large frame on the piece of plastic, I focused on the screen and saw...nothing. The program was telling me there was an error, and to step off and try again. Like a good little Wii-Fit-workout-buddy, I followed the directions. Again, nothing. My partner decided to give it a try and, after he stepped on it, the game told him his exact weight. Seeing this, and after traveling to my office and consulting the metallic box of all knowledge, known as the Internet, I confirmed a fear I had: I was too heavy to play the Wii Fit. The program had a weight limit of 330 pounds, and I knew that I was somewhere in the 350 range.

At first, I was pissed. I was really pissed! How could a product which was obviously designed to help people lose weight in their living rooms have such a ridiculous design flaw? What were they thinking? As time went on, my partner and a friend of ours would play the different balancing and aerobic games, and had fun doing so, all the while I sat on the couch and pouted like Ralphie holding a C+. Yes, we were eventually able to fool the game and allow me to play, but I could never have an accurate profile which would track my weight or BMI. I decided right then that one day, I was going to cross the threshold of 330, which I had labeled my "Wii Weight" and be able to play the game. It was a goal. It was a SILLY goal, but goals are great to have in life, especially when trying to lose weight.

This morning, I stepped on the scale (something I wasn't supposed to do!) and discovered that I was down to 327.2 pounds. Feeling that was safely under 330, I decided to dust off the Wii Fit board and try it out. I plugged in my profile, and went through the endless prompts to set up my Wii Fit Profile. Then, it asked me to step on. "Measuring..." it said as I held my breath. After whispering "anything but Slytherin, anything by Slytherin" over and over to myself for what seemed like an eternity, the game told me something I've waited years to see. It had measured my weight! I had officially reached my Wii Weight and, as an added bonus, I had 5 pounds to spare!

The Wii Fit finished setting up my profile and plotted a point on a graph as a starting point for my weight loss. It will be fun tracking my weight loss on a video game! I spent the next half hour playing the various games, and even working up a tiny bit of sweat before having to quit so I could fulfill my obligations I have for the rest of the day.

So I guess the moral here is, don't just have typical goals for yourself while trying to lose weight. Throw some fun and silly goals in their too. Try to associate numbers on a scale with something other than your weight. Sure, it's all a mind game in the end, but it's a positive mind game which is very helpful to fight back the more negative mind games that we play to talk ourselves out of trying to lose weight.

So what's your silly weight loss goal?