Customer Rating: 
Summary: So Far, So Good.
Comment: I've only used this product for a couple of weeks so far. So far, so good. It mostly just helps you get started moving, and helps show how what you eat relates to the different activities you do.
It's great because it gives you little daily goals. Here's an example of the daily goals:
- walk 6,000 steps (which, by the way, is not as far as it may sound)
- Do 30 minutes of physical activity
- Do one challenge
- Balance your food intake with your activity level
I love that "physical activity" pretty much includes any moving around. Most people probably think that they would have to do aerobics for an hour, or run a mile ... something extreme. This program counts household chores, or even shopping as a physical activity. Have to go grocery shopping? That counts as physical activity. Have to vaccuum the carpet, dust, or clean the bathroom? That counts as physical activity too.
The daily challenges are pretty simple too. You have minute challenges, which may include doing 5 sit-ups, or running to your kitchen to find out which spice jar is the fullest. Some are 24 hour challenges, such as don't skip any of the next 3 meals, put away your salt shaker for 24 hours, or research how to make soup from scratch.
Balancing your food intake with your physical activity. You enter what you ate that day. It's a pretty generic list: cereal, soup, sandwich, soda, etc. You feed your stick person what you ate. I find it easier to update it a couple times a day so I'm not trying to remember every little thing I've eaten in the last 16 hours. Each food is worth a certain amount of energy points. Every minute of activity is worth a certain amount of energy points. What's nice is that the program does all the math for you. If you do more activity one day, it automatically updates how many energy points you should take in. Or if you've taken in more points than you've spent, it will let you know that you should probably spend a little more time doing a physical activity.
It also has a few coaching sessions. It's nice because the coaching sessions have a few multiple choice questions to answer. Which means that the coaching is geared more to your needs. It's not just a general "applies to everyone" type of thing.
One thing I absolutely love, is that it gives you a healthy, realistic weight loss goal. Safe weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week. Having small goals helps a person feel less overwhelmed. Instead of seeing it as, I need to lose 30+ pounds, it's I need to lose 5-6 pounds over the next month. 5-6 pounds seems so much more attainable.
So far, I've only used it a couple of weeks. So I can't really tell how well it works yet. So as time goes by, I'll try to update this review to include that.
One thing I would suggest is to invest in a pedometer other than the one included with the software. The pedometer they give you is nice because it plugs into the Gameboy Adv. port so you don't have to manually enter your step count. The problem with it, is that it is bulky. The thing is huge. If you bend over, it may knock it at a weird angle and keep it from counting your steps correctly. Also, the reset button gets pushed a little to easily. I had 2,000+ steps logged in, and the next time I checked it, it read 20-something. Which seriously stunk. If you're not doing a ton of bending over, or sitting down, you may be okay with the pedpmeter that came with the software. Although, you have to be careful. I lost the dust cover for the part the hooks into your DS by the third day.
So, it's enjoyable. It's easy. It's something to help you get started toward your weigh loss goals.
Customer Rating: Summary: Encouragement for this 52yr old.
Comment: I've been working on losing weight for 6 years and had reached a standstill. I don't have anyone around me encouraging me on so this has been great. The little stick figure greets me each evening and gives me tips and gets excited when I meet my challenges.
It figures out what your metabolic rate is and how much food to exercise that you need to lose weight.
It comes with a pedometer that attatches to the game boy advance slot on the DS and it collects the info into your file.
The steps are counted and you see your little figure walking on the screen. She has landmarks that she passes. Like I just finished walking the distance of the Panama canal. Every time you reach one you get a pictue of yourself..ie her infront of the site and it is kept in a scrapbook.
I love the way you enter your food. You drag and drop the items into the stick figure and she chews them. LOL She helps you to balance you intake and output of energy.
I highly recommend this item.
Customer Rating: Summary: Too Complicated for a Lazy A** Like Me
Comment: My main problem with this game was the food. You have to remember everything you ate every day -- and the portion size, which isn't easy to do -- and log it in. And make it fit the game's generalized food categories. If you hit the wrong button by accident, you can't undo it. Logging in my food was not fun and just a chore, and even when I barely moved at all that day, the game was telling me my food to exercise balance was good. I know it's not. Many of the challenges the game was offering me -- like put away the salt shaker and clean up the kitchen -- were things I was already doing.
To walk the number of steps on the pedometer it wanted me to walk was a lot of walking! And here's where I failed the game. Instead of getting out at night and walking around the block until I logged in those extra 3,000 steps I was failing to achieve, I just stopped wearing the pedometer. So if you are amendable to being challenged to walk more, than I guess this would be good for you.
But it started off good. It told me to drink a whole glass of water and walk 300 steps to calibrate the pedometer. But after that it never asked me to drink a glass of water again. I wish it had demanded that every time I turned it on. It reached the point where I was just laying on the sofa, trying to log in my food. So I guess it's back to the Wii Fit.
Now that I look at the review, I think I'm the one who should get 1 star and the game should get 4 stars!
