After canceling my gym membership yesterday, I decided to give my Wii Fit another try.  I’ve only used it a few times but I really like the idea of a) exercising at home and b) getting lots of kudos – which Wii Fit offers in spades.

I should mention, though, that when I got on the balance board, it had all matter of bad news for me.  First, it had been 291 days since I last stood on my balance board (insert red face here).  Second, I have managed to gain 7 1/2 pounds in that amount of time (insert horrified face here).  Now, I’m no mathematician, but that seems like I’m going in the wrong direction.  That is, in fact, a net gain of 5% in just under 10 months.  And while I’d like to place a pound or two of the gain squarely on the shoulders of Jorge Cruise and his miracle weight gaining Carb Swap Diet which I tried recently, I must admit the rest is all me.  Could it be the wine?  The bread?  The chocolate?  The vacations?  Uh … yes.

But back to the point: Does Wii Fit work?  Some people say it can … but only if you use it.  Other people (more scientific people so we should believe them) say, well … not so much.

“The Nintendo Wii Fit … may be great entertainment, but a University of Mississippi study indicates the console has little effect on family fitness … three months of home Wii Fit use produced no significant changes in daily physical activity, muscular fitness, flexibility, balance or body composition for families as a whole.”

And this, from Engadget, is a possible explanation for the results:

“Interestingly, over the period of three months, the daily Wii Fit usage declined a staggering 82 percent, from 22 minutes a day for the first half of the time all the way down to an average of four minutes a day for the last six weeks.”

So I guess what they’re saying is that if you only use it once every 291 days, you can expect to gain 5% of your total body weight  Hey, that could be a new slogan for them!  After all, fear sells … and that weigh-in this morning sure put the fear of God into me!

UPDATE 3/25/10:  Read Jen Lancaster (Jennsylvannia)’s high-larious take on her Wii Fit here!