By Katrina

I am!  I’m down 25 pounds since I got my Wii Fit in January and I still love to use it.  

I recently purchased the EA Sports Active game just to shake things up a bit.  Wow!  I am absolutely drenched with sweat after a 45 minute work out on it!  The remote and nunchuck are not nearly as responsive as with the Wii Fit and that is quite frustrating sometimes.  I hope to get better with that rather than imagining that it’s actually the game being a pain.  Still, the workout is great and it is a bit more serious minded than the Wii Fit.

That being said, I still like to use my Wii Fit to do all of my old favorites.  Mostly, I trade off with them, plus, although the Sports Active is programmed to use the balance board if you have it, it does not weigh you, which is a real disadvantage.  You have to program in your own weight.  

The Island Jog and Rhythm Boxing remain my favorites, although I do enjoy the Advance Stepping.  Free Run and Free Step just bore me to tears.  I force myself to do the 10 minute Super Hula Hoop because it is just such an insane calorie burner and is so good for your waist.  Every time I do it I begin to feel as though I’m not going to make it through, bu then I do.  I guess that’s the sign of a great exercise!

Sports Active also does not have those very valuable yoga poses.  I have only scratched the surface of getting involved with those and the strength training exercises.  Because I have so much weight to lose, I focused mostly on cardio for a few months until I saw some real progress.

The other day, I told my husband to, the next time he’s in Wal*Mart, pick up a 20 pound bag of dog food and walk around with it for a while, then realize that’s how much weight I’ve lost this year!

I still have a lot to go, but I am confident I can do it.  I just came out of 2 weeks of no weight loss, but I believe I am going to see the number move again this next week.

My daughter (who is 16) and I are adding mountain walking into my exercise routine.  I don’t mind walking for exercise (and we live in a mountainous region), but I prefer to have someone with me to talk to as I walk.  She’s out of school for the summer and we are both dedicated to shaping up.

I am also still taking the Mila  and it is still so exciting to have found a supplement that really does take away my cravings and make me feel full all of the time.  No more white knuckling through a diet!  Part of the reason I did not lose weight in the past 2 weeks is that I was not making good food choices for the food I *did* eat while taking the Mila, so even though I did not gain weight, there was a time of no progress.  I am 100% back in the game and eager to get this extra weight gone!

At this point, my thought is to go back into the Insulin-Resistance Diet, which has always been a winner for me.  Eat And Stay Slim brought me good results as well.  That book is absolutely ancient and out of print, but even for a 1973 diet, it’s quite good.  I plan to stock up like crazy at the grocery store this weekend.   The weather is perfect for all of those seasonal fruits and veggies!  I have to make up salads ahead of time because of how much I hate to chop up the veggies.  I even have a salad shooter and hate it.  If I force myself to make a gigantic bowl of salad and add in some boiled egg slices and ham slivers, I will eat from it all day long and be perfectly happy.

I have a little over 2 months until my July vacation and I want to be in top shape for that!  I’ll bet I can accomplish a LOT in 2 months!

Be sure and share YOUR success stories and challenges with us here at the Wii Fit Group!

I am only doing 30 minute work outs right now.  Today I did Advance Step to warm up and get the blood flowing.  I am so excited by how much it and the Rhythm Boxing have fine tuned my coordination, which was really terrible before.  After that, it was on to 10 minutes of super hula hooping.  Anyone who says Wii Fit doesn’ t get your heart rate up enough has NOT spent 10 minutes of super hula hooping!  Then it was on to Advance Boxing (10 minutes) and a 5 minute island run and I was done.  34 minute of sweaty fun!   It goes by so fast! 

So far, I have lost a total of 20 pounds and 2 dress sizes since I started in January.  That may not seem like much for that amount of time, but the next time you are in a grocery store, pick up a 10 pound bag of sugar in each hand and walk around with it for a while!

Half of that weight has come since I started talking Mila, an all natural seed product that has eliminated my cravings and my lifelong attachment to food.   It has been such a miracle.  I literally took my first scoop of the seeds one morning and an hour later, I was no longer a food addict.  Tomorrow ends my 3rd week on the seeds (1 scoop a day) and during that time, I’ve lost 10 pounds without hardly trying.  I have to remind myself that it’s time to eat and if I don’t eat enough, I won’t lose weight because my body will go into starvation mode.  I never feel hungry.  I always feel as though I just finished a big meal and will be uncomfortable if I eat more. 

My son was visiting from Canada last week and we ate out a good bit.  I often ate OVER the feeling that I would get uncomfortable if I ate more (I did get uncomfortable too) and STILL I lost a pound that week! 

Even better is that the Mila took away all of my peri-menopause symptoms.  I’ve stopped taking PremPro completely.  No hot flashes, no palpitations, no moodiness!  The Mila makes you sleep really, really soundly at night and wake up refreshed each morning.  It lowered my blood pressure a good bit, balanced my blood sugars and gives me good energy that isn’t at all speedy.  I’m very sensitive to stimulants and I haven’t felt any of the discomfort I’ve often felt with caffeine and other thermogenic products.  One of the best side effects is that it has taken away my heartburn, reflux and constant sour stomach.  Just…gone!   The sleep apnea I’ve had for years is gone as well!

I never thought I’d find a miracle like this, but this is the real deal.

Feel free to write if you have question about the Mila (krasbold@earthlink.net).  As you can see, I love to talk about it.

If you want to order it, you can do so on this page.  I don’t endorse anything that doesn’t completely impress me and this has really managed to do that.  I plan to continue taking it after I reach my weight loss goal just because of the other health benefits!

Whether you have 10 pounds to lose or 100 or more, you can get it gone with Wii Fit exercise, some dietary adjustments and a good dose of determination.  This might sound like the beginning of an infomercial, but I’m telling you, it works.

I just logged in my 34th day on the Wii Fit.  That was spread over a 6 week period of time.  For the first two weeks, I was comfortable skipping a day or two here and there, but once I started seeing some real results, I was dedicated to working out every single day.  During that 6 weeks, I have lost a whopping 14 pounds of fat and dropped two dress sizes.  It is very, very exciting to do my body test each day and see that I’ve lost another few ounces, ticking away the pounds one by one.

The only thing that is really magical about the Wii Fit itself is that it makes exercising convenient and fun.  You do not have to make time to go to the gym or go running in the rain or listen to a perky exercise instructor chirp at you the entire time.  You choose your own workouts (I will help you with that – it’s actually quite simple if you goal is to truly burn fat) and the time you can invest.

The real cornerstones to this fat loss plan are the old basics:  Eat less, eat better and move more.  For all of the supplements and dramatic eating plans that our society has introduced in the past several decades, that’s really all it comes down to.

Will power, despite what you might think, plays a very small role in weight loss.  It is tremendously helpful when it is there, but that’s the problem with will power.  It’s fickle.  What we have to use in place of will power is a brain rewiring of how we are and how we will be in the world.  You have to decide that at your core being, you are a slender, healthy person.  At the moment, you are a slender, healthy person who is wearing a fat suit.  The fat suit gets in the way of things they want to do in their life, so it has to go in order to reveal the true you inside.

For many of us, our excess weight represents a feeling of shame and inadequacy.  We have let ourselves down and allowed ourselves to make choices that have created results we don’t like.  The way to fix that is to make different choices.  When we begin to make choices that make us feel proud, those feelings of shame and inadequacy quickly disappear.

When we are looking at a weight loss journey of more than 10-20 pounds, the road ahead looks endless.  We think that we can’t invest 6 months or a year or two years in a system of deprivation and hard work without being resentful and angry all of the time.  Those feelings are what cause most people to quit.  It’s really, really hard and we figure if it’s going to be like that all the time, we’d rather just be fat and happy instead of losing weight and angry all of the time.

What a lot of programs do not tell you is that the period of time when you feel this way is actually very short.  Once you have white-knuckled your way through the first month of doing this (provided you do not cheat), your body just starts doing it on its own.  You become accustomed to eating less frequently and eating different foods.  Like will power, a person’s body is very fickle.  Give it a solid 3-4 weeks of behaving in a different way and it will soon accept that way as normal with the old ways feeling foreign.

I kid you not.

So enough talk!  I shouldn’ t have to convince you to do this.  If you are reading this, you are already interested and with any luck, you will soon be completely determined to change your life in a profound way.

The Exercise Program

To be honest, there are actually very few exercises on the Wii Fit, including those in the aerobics section, that are adequate at burning fat.  It’s not that they are bad exercises.  Every single one of the Wii Fit exercises serves a purpose and is great at what it does.  Unfortunately, the “what it does” does not always add up to pounds lost.

The main thing to remember is that if your goal is to burn away the fat as opposed to just losing weight, you’re going to have to sweat.  Stepping and boxing are fun and get you moving, but they are not going to burn a lot of fat.  I recommend them as starting places if you have been completely sedentary and have enough weight to lose that you have difficulty walking.  If you are able-bodied and can walk up and down stairs without pausing to catch your breath, then you need more than these activities to effectively burn calories and lose weight.

There are only two activities on the Wii Fit that will really get your heart rate up and the sweat pouring.  These are the Hula Hooping and the Basic Jog.

It is very true that building strength and muscle tissue will accentuate your weight loss efforts by burning more calories when you are at rest.  Strength training will also quickly tone your body and, as the name suggests, make you physically stronger.  It is an important part of the fitness process and the Wii Fit is a very valuable tool for that type of work out.  For fat burning, however, I recommend starting out with only aerobics and incorporating in the strength training  and yoga (which is also extremely effective at toning and building muscles) at a later time, once you have started to see some significant progress.  There is no need to do everything all at once and you will need to lengthen your workout sessions later in your fitness journey.  Before that happens, it is important to begin establishing workout habits and raise your heart rate on a regular basis.  Too many people go for the strength training first and end up with wonderfully toned muscles…under layers and layers of fat.

The First Week

As I have mentioned elsewhere in this site, everyone gets horrible scores and  is completely hopeless at each of the Wii Fit games when they first begin.  Be gentle with yourself and excited for the fact that you are moving and sweating and changing your life. 

Although it may sound contradictory, do not work out too much on the Wii Fit.  It’s easy to get caught up in the fun and excited about your new toy and end up burning out.  This is for the long haul, so stay fresh and bright-eyed about it.

For the first week, you should log in 20-30 minutes per day, 6 days a week.  This 20-30 minutes can be broken up into 2 workout sessions if that is what is easiest for you.  You do not have to take off the 7th day if you prefer not to, but you can if you are feeling inclined to do so.  

You should choose from the hula hoop and basic run choices that are available to you.  When you Super Hula Hoop, you will be hooping three minutes in one direction and three minutes in the opposite direction, which oddly, ends up logging in 7 minutes of exercising.  This is a great way to get your heart rate up and burn the fat, but it is demanding!  Be sure and take advantage of the very brief rest between sides, taking in some deep breaths, in the nose and out the mouth and reseating for the next set.  Do not start hula hooping until the countdown completes.  Use that resting time wisely.

The Basic Hula Hoop lasts for 2 minutes and only goes in one direction.  It is also a good way to get your pulse racing, but you have to really wail on it to get the benefits.   You will quickly find that you are breaking records and upping your score.

The Basic Jog is your other tool for this time in your fat burning journey.  You may use the short distance, the long distance or the Island Lap, depending on which you have unlocked and prefer.  By far, the Island Lap is your best fat burning choice.  Free Run is also fine, but it can be boring (honestly) and difficult to keep your pace up without the guide. 

The Island Lap will usually take around 8 minutes for a slower jog and 5 minutes for a faster one.  Either will get your heart rate going and have a good sweat pouring if you get into it.  Remember to keep your pace very even and steady.   Don’t pass your guide.  You set your speed before the Mii even takes off from the starting line.  Start running in place as fast as you want to go for the duration of the Island Lap and the Mii will set its pace accordingly.  If you naturally pass the Mii in favor of a dog guide, let that happen.   If you race to catch the dogs or avoid the dogs, your pace will be compromised. 

Combine the Basic Run and the hula hooping programs to make up your 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise.  For instance, if you do 2 sets of the Super Hula Hooping, that is 14 minutes.  Add on a fast island run (5 minutes), a slower island run (8 minutes) and another faster island run (5 minutes) and you have hit 32 minutes!

The time really flies by.  I do recommend advancing to 30 minutes from 20 as soon as you feel able to do so.

Recent studies have proven that the average person will burn more fat during their work out time if they employ interval training.  This means that you work out as hard as you can for a short period of time, followed by a longer, less intensive exercise period, then back to an aggressive burst of hard work again. 

You can easily set up your 30 minutes of Wii Fit exercise to do this.  Do a really intense Basic Hula Hoop set twice.  Then do a Super Hula Hoop full set at a slower pace, followed by an 8 minute Island Lap.  Move on to a fast paced 5 minute Island Lap, then another slower 8 minute lap.  You have just racked up 32 minutes of exercise time, using interval training to burn even more calories and fat!

Once you have gotten in your minimum of 30 minutes of good aerobic exercise, feel free to add on the Rhythm Boxing, stepping or other Wii Fit games if you’d like to do so.  Just remember to not overdo it and get burned out.

The important thing is to get in your 30 minutes of aerobic exercise each day.  Anything after that is icing on the cake (that you aren’t going to eat, right?).

You could work the above program through your entire weight loss journey and be successful.  If, however, you begin to use the yoga and strength exercises in addition to that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, you will see better, faster results. 

I recommend that you begin adding on these components when you reach a plateau in your weight loss.  If you know your eating habits have remained good and you see that you have not lost weight in 3 days’ time, add on a strength exercise or yoga pose.  Just one.  Work with it a day or two, then add another one.  Feel free to mix it up however you like by choosing different strength exercises and yoga poses each day.  Eventually, you should adjust your workout time up to 50-60 minutes with the gradual addition of strength exercises and yoga positions.  You WILL break through that plateau and begin to see results. 

If you are seeing continual results, you can wait to add in the yoga and strength training until you reach a point where you are wanting to be more challenged in your work out.  Continual results tell you that your body is responding well to what you are doing and that you will continue to be successful as is.  If, however, your progress halts, it’s time to make changes.

Your work out should proceed as above.  Make changes when your body stops responding to what you are doing.  You will be very surprised at how quickly your strength and flexibility develops!

 The Eating Plan

I do not offer a specific plan in terms of what you should eat and how you should measure what you eat.  I have a plan that works for me and you will find what works for you.  The bottom line is that you have eaten your way into a physical state that doesn’t work for you.  You have to alter your eating habits to effectively change your physical state.  Only exercising or for that matter, only dieting, usually are not effective means of weight loss or fat loss.  Typically, it takes both to produce quality and lasting results.

The truth of the matter is that most people who are overweight think they know how much they eat in a day, but they don’t.  We become so accustomed to grazing and unconscious eating that we don’t realize how many calories we are consuming.

For that reason, it is vital that you keep a food journal for the first month.  After that time, you can decide whether or not you need to do so.  If you stop keeping a food journal and your weight loss stops, you need to start again.

Remember that if you cheat on the food journal, you are only cheating yourself.  Be honest.

Record what you ate and the number of calories in it.  An excellent program for doing this is www.fitday.com.  It has an extensive database and calculates everything for you.  You can also track and project your weight loss on Fit Day.

Here are my dietary suggestions:

STOP GRAZING ALL THROUGH THE DAY.  Cows graze and we don’t want to be a cow.  Have set meal times and stick to them.  If you’re hungry in between, eat a piece of fruit, a small piece of cheese, a small handful of pretzels, some very lean meat, a bit of yogurt or some raw veggies.

IT’S OK TO WANT STUFF.  Don’t feel bad if you are craving.  That is completely normal and natural and sometimes you are going to feel as though you could kill for a biscuit or some ice cream.  Water isn’t going to help.  Taking a walk isn’t going to help.  Skinny people are the ones who tell you that it will.  There is no way through but through.  It’s important to understand that having everything you want in terms of eating is what got you here.  Denying yourself sometimes is what is going to get you out of it.  Just say, “No” and stick to it.  Indulging those cravings has, so far, not produced the results you want.  Just because you are otherwise dieting does not mean that indulging the cravings will produce the results you want now either.

I once said that dieting is like taking a 3-year-old shopping.  All through your day, you are thinking, “Can I have this?’  “No.”  “What about this?”  “No.”  “Please?”  “I said no!”  Just get through the day, another day of eating right and soon, the cravings will stop.  I promise you.  If you cheat, they won’t stop…just like that 3-year-old.  If the child knows you are going to cave in eventually, they will keep bugging you and bugging you and bugging you until you cave in.  Once they realize that no means NO and they can’t have it, they accept that and move on.  Your body is the same way.  Don’t be a lame “parent” just because the child (your body) is throwing a tantrum over something they can’t have that  isn’t good for them.

DRINK WATER.  Make your goal to drink a minimum of 2 16 oz bottles of water a day.   Recent studies show that drinking gallons of water is not as helpful to weight loss as it was once thought to be.  A minimum of 16 oz twice a day should do you just fine.  More is good, but not mandated.

LIMIT DIE T SODAS:  For a lot of reasons, diet soda can impede your weight loss efforts.  The sodium causes you to retain fluid in your body.  The sweetness can cause your pancreas to misfire on the insulin production, forcing your body to produce insulin when there is no actual sugar for it to act upon.  This can actually lead to pancreatic cancer, insulin resistance and other blood sugar level dysfuntions.  Plus, those chemicals are just not healthy to mainline all day long.  No more than 2 per day. 

Another problem with drinking a lot of diet sodas during the day is that they take the place of things you should be drinking, like water and milk. 

DRINK MILK:  The ad campaign is correct.  Milk does help you to lose weight and the fun part is that no one has a clue why.  There are theories, but no one knows.  Chocolate milk does not count because the caffeine in the chocolate inhibits the calcium from being absorbed into your body.  Strawberry milk is OK, but has a good bit of sugar in it.  If you can’t drink milk, substituted 2-4oz of cheese, cottage cheese or yogurt.  You should have a cup of yogurt, 2-4oz of cheese, a cup of cottage cheese or 8 oz of milk a day.

EAT ENOUGH:  If you are using FitDay.com, the program will help you to determine how many calories you can eat in a day when you go through the process of setting up your goal weight.  Stay right at that calorie goal and do not go more than 100-200 calories below it and certainly not above it.  Not eating enough can cause your body to go into starvation mode where it clings onto every fat cell it can, thinking it won’t get enough food to function.  Be sure and adjust your calorie goal as you lose weight.  The calorie goal that caused you go lose weight at 200 pounds could cause you go gain weight at 160.

EAT BREAKFAST:  Eat a huge breakfast, a medium lunch and a small dinner.  Upside down is the way to go.  If you know a special function is going to require a larger dinner or lunch, adjust the other meals accordingly.

DON’T EAT AFTER 8PM:  Your body will not burn as many calories when it sleeps as it does when it is active.   Water or decaf coffee or tea only.

EAT A SMALL SOMETHING BEFORE YOU WORK OUT IF YOU WORK OUT IN THE MORNING:  A banana, a bit of yogurt or an egg can get your metabolism working before you start working out which can help you to burn more calories. 

CUT BACK FRIED FOODS TO NO MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK:  Lotsa fat and calories, no matter how you fry’em.  No fried foods is an even better way to go.

HAVE DESSERT:  Frozen cool whip is a godsend, as is fat-free pudding, low cal jello, strawberries, 100 calory snack packs, popcicles and diet ice cream.  You won’t feel as deprived.  Of course, if you eat twice as much diet ice cream as regular, you haven’t accomplished much. 

PRETZELS OR POPCORN INSTEAD OF CHIPS:  Saves a ton of calories if you are feeling like something salty and crunch.  Popcorn is a good choice, but only if it is air popped or Smart-Pop microwaved.  Smart Pop also has 100 calorie packs.  Watch your serving sizes.  It’s amazing how humans can cause the calorie content of popcorn to skyrocket.  One cup of air popped popcorn or microwave popcorn with no added butter is 31 calories.  A cup of movie theater popcorn with no added butter is 78 calories and half or more of that comes from fat.  

CHEW GUM, BRUSH YOUR TEETH OFTEN AND USE BREATH MINTS:  It really does help.

REMEMBER EGGS:  Eggs are low calorie and high protein.  Boil them, fry them in cooking spray, scramble them or poach them. 

USE ONLY LEAN MEAT:  Trim off the fat and be wary of meats that have a tendency toward high fat content (sausage, real bacon – turkey bacon is fine, whole hams).   Don’t be afraid of meat, however, if you are not a vegetarian.  Getting your protein is very important in building muscle, which even your aerobic exercise will do (note that your legs get sore from the Island Lap!).   I recommending having a protein source at each of your 3 meals.  Tuna in water is an excellent source of proten.

EASY ON THE PASTAS & JUICES:  Both are high in calories and sugars.

POTATOES ARE YOUR FRIENDS:  It’s the crap you put on them that is your enemy.

REDISCOVER BREAKFAST CEREAL:  Just the good kind; not the sugar fiestas.  A whole wheat cereal such as Shredded Wheat or Mini-Wheats or quick oatmeal served with 2 eggs can be a very filling breakfast and a good way to start your day.  Pastries will only give you empty calories and an ill-fated sugar rush!

Most of all, READ LABELS and find out how many calories are in a serving of the food you eat.  Remeber that a serving of meat is the size of your palm.  A serving of vegetables is the size of your fist.  Try to avoid bread as much as possible. 

With some care, some stringent attention to what you are eating and yes, some deprivation, you can get your eating habits back on track again.

Recent reports show disparagement toward the Wii Fit with findings that the majority of people who purchase the Wii Fit no longer use it after owning it for 30 days.

DON’T BE A WII-KLING!   The Wii Fit is a valuable tool for losing weight and getting or staying fit!  Break through that one month glass ceiling and make the most of your investment!  Use that sucker every day and you’ll see results if you make the right choices on it!

By Katrina Rasbold

Feel free to add your own via the comments function!

How long are the routes around the Wii Fit Island Run? 

I have been unable to find this information anywhere, much to my frustration.  The routes are obviously of a finite distance since it takes me different lengths of time to complete the route depending on my speed.  Is it 1/4 mile?  1/8 mile?  Someone run the island run while on a treadmill and let me know!

(Don’t fall!)

When I get a score on the Basic Run, it is in %’s.  %’s of WHAT? 

I wondered if it was heart rate, calorie potential burning of the game or WHAT?  I still do not know.

On the Island Run, why does the black puppy slow down so quickly for the white puppy to overtake him?

It just seems like Tan Puppy gives up way too soon.

On the Island Run, who is that Mii waving to all the time?

Surely not me.  He knows I’m there. 

On Rhythm Boxing, is it the guy or the punching bag talking to me? 

Half my family says it’s the guy.  The other half says it’s the punching bag.  (I think it’s the guy, myself)

On Rhythm Boxing, why does my Wii receiver sometimes to even register a punch I make that I know is a good one?

Exasperating!!

By Katrina Rasbold

There isn’t a fat person around who hasn’t wished for a pill that would make them skinny with very little effort or skinnier for all the time they are investing in diet and exercise.  We all want it to happen faster, easier and better than what we can do ourselves.

And why not?  There is a pill for everything from erectile dysfunction to Alzheimer’s Disease.  Why not have one for what is fast becoming the number one health problem in the country?

Try as they might, none have been invented that are considered completely safe AND effective.  PhenFen was extremely effective until its users began dropping dead of heart attacks and strokes (ironically, the exact same killers they threatened us with if we DIDN’T lose weight). 

In my many years of being fat, I have tried them all.  You name it, I took it.  TriMax (LA Weight Loss), Stacker, Metabolife, Green Tea, Hoodia, Estrin-D, Hydroxycut, Dietac (an old one there), Dexatrim, Slim-Quick, Slim Fast, an appetite suppressant from the 60′s and 70′s with the unfortunate moniker of AIDS (they were little caramel/chocolate cubes that you ate with hot tea)… The list goes on and on and on. 

There are many different types of diet supplements on the market.  Most involve appetite suppression, thermogenesis or fat blocking/binding. 

I am still fat.  I am not fat in that, “Oh, she could stand to drop a few pounds.” I am F-A-T.

I am now getting thinner, but none of those supplements were effective in curbing my rabid appetite or burning more fat than what I normally burn.

I am now involved in a weight loss program that has been extremely effective.  I have lost 13 pounds in a month and a half and I feel wonderful.  I have taken supplements during this time, but not the ones a person would imagine one would take on a diet.

More on that in a moment.

The primary way that diet supplements attempt to create weight loss is by decreasing your appetite, speeding up your metabolism or blocking the fat that you take in. 

Decreasing your appetite would seem to be the obvious solution since we are overweight because we overate and did not exercise enough to burn off the calories we took in.  For some of us, if left to our own devices, we could exercise for hours and hours a day and still not burn off all of the calories we want to eat. 

The problem with supplements that decrease appetite is that the presumption is that fat people eat because they are hungry.  More often, fat people eat because they are feeling an emotion they do not wish to feel, whether that is worry, boredom, fear, anger, frustration, anxiety or whatever.  We don’t have to be hungry to eat.  Eating is what soothes us and comforts us.  Everything from the texture of the food, the temperature of the food, the pleasing taste of the food and the feeling of the food as it goes down is reassuring and nurturing to us.  Decreasing appetite does not affect the interest in eating if that eating is providing an ongoing essential comfort through the day.

The next step is to speed up or change your metabolism.  Overweight people are known to have sluggish metabolisms, hindered by newly discovered anomalies such as “Insulin Resistance Disorder.”  Speeding up the metabolism by using thermogenetic drugs supposedly burns off fat faster, but it also is known to increase the blood pressure significantly; a problem that already tends to be a problem for overweight people.  Night restlessness or difficulty falling asleep are also common for those taking thermogenic supplements.  With snoring and sleep apnea are already a common problem for overweight people, adding a stimulant effect to the process can leave sleep quite elusive.  Unfortunately, people who are not well rested do not lose weight as effectively as those who are.

Fat binders are supplements such as chitosin (a shell fish byproduct) that attract fat molecules from the food that is eaten and carry them undigested through the digestive process and out the other end.  Unfortunately, the fat tends to exit in a very insistent fashion, creating the potential for embarrassing moments as unsolicited exits present themselves without permission or warning.  Rectal leaking, oily discharge and uncontrollable diarrhea can be a side effect of these supplements.

All of these types of supplements are intended to ease the transition from eating and exercising poorly to eating and exercising well.

Unfortunately, there is still no way through but through.  With or without supplements, the first few weeks of the diet and exercise process are something of an ordeal.  Motivation and will power can only carry a person so far.  Not only is this a tremendous physical change for your body, it is also a profound emotional change as the crutch and anesthesia we normally use to soothe the aches and pains of the day is no longer available to us.  Trust me, a carrot stick does not satisfy emotional eating as well as chicken Alfredo. 

Emotions tend to be raw and it is no uncommon for the dieter to feel anything from mild irritation to irrational rage as they go through the first few weeks of dieting.  They may become extremely invested in protecting what they “deserve” to have as a deflected reaction from the sacrifice of giving up food.  Issues of “rights” and how the dieter is treated by others become of great importance as the deprivation of their comfort means becomes deferred onto other issues. 

Real problems that are easy to ignore when food is there to anesthetize us from the painful results of those problems now become major issues.  Without the veil of food to hide our true feelings, we react more to the challenges that we would normally face with grace or indifference.

This is the critical point when the majority of dieters will call it quits and swan dive back into comfort eating.  The stress of dieting is extreme and, like with childbirth, the feeling becomes, “If it’s going to be like this, I can’t do it.”

What is important for the dieter to understand is that it won’t always be like this.  If a person has a hundred pounds or more to lose, the process can seem endless and honestly, if the experience WAS always going to be like the first few weeks, I don’t think ANYone could endure it.

Fortunately and blessedly, it only takes a few weeks of good eating for the body to adjust and the constant cravings to stop.  Eventually, you wake up one morning and you feel OK, almost normal.  Then you have another frustrating day, then you have two OK days in a row.  Pretty soon, you are having more good days than bad and not long after that, you find that you really are doing OK the majority of the time.

The conscious mind is so fickle that after not being lulled by food for a period of time, it sort of “forgets” that it needs the food to feel placated.  The irritation and rages ease off considerably and the tensions ease.   Good eating simply becomes who you are and how you are in the world.  Then, your diet goes on cruise control until you hit a plateau and have to dial it down a bit further.

That time, it’s not nearly as hard as the initial calorie reduction.

The magic number seems to be 40 days.  The average dieter seems to find their peace and comfort zone approximately 40 days after beginning their new way of eating provided they have been honest about their food intake and not cheated on their diet.  After 40 days, the dieter feels comfortable with the new amount and type of food and the weight continues to be lost comfortably.

So what supplements actually do help?

Most dieters are used to a pattern of sugar highs and lows that carry them through the day, practically from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep.  This produces a series of bursts of energy and tremendous fatigue.  This cycle is broken after the dieter limits sugar for even a couple of weeks. 

Two things helped me during this time of readjustment to the point that I continued on with them after it was over.  One was to eat a banana every morning.  Not only did this give me a potassium boost, but it also gave me an easily digestible food to eat before exercise if I felt a little hungry.

The next is Emergen-C.  Emergen-C is a high Vitamin C quantity supplement that comes in powder form in small packets.  The packet is mixed in with 4 oz of water, where it becomes effervescent.  You drink it down and it gives you a very nice, stable energy boost for the rest of the day.  It also helps strengthen your immune system which can become vulnerable during times of diet alteration.  You can learn about Emergen-C here:  http://www.emergenc.com/.  My favorite flavor is the tangerine.  (The strawberry leaves a lot to be desired, trust me)  It has vitamins, minerals and those all important B vitamins for mood control and stabilization. 

When I found that I was getting truly bitchy and emotional, I began taking a very, very low dosage of Ativan, which is a prescription anti-anxiety medication.  The dose I took was .50 mg, which is tiny.  It took the edge off of my feelings of anxiety and tension without any perceivable side effects. 

I also took a very basic Acai berry supplement to help cleanse out my system.  I did not find that it was effective as a weight loss tool, but it did give me a nice sense of well being.

If the dieter is used to having high levels of sugar and is feeling depleted from the sudden reduction, not only will the Emergen-C help, but a supplement of 500 mcg of chromium pollinate will help more quickly stabilize the blood sugar levels and correct the highs and lows that cause fatigue through the day. 

Both chromium (be sure and get the picolinated kind) and Emergen-C are available in department stores like K-mart and Wal*Mart. 

Beyond that, it truly is just a matter of white knuckling it through until the healthy eating takes hold and becomes your way of comfortable life.  It happens sooner than you expect and then your diet experience becomes much more easily managed. 

The most important thing is don’t quit and don’t cheat!

By Katrina Rasbold

Recently, the Wii Fit has come under fire from many directions for being ineffective as a weight loss tool, being touted by its decriers as “only a game.”

While it is certainly a game (that is not to be denied), I find it ridiculous that anyone would say that it is ineffective as exercise for weight loss.  I am living proof that it works.

Dr. Christiane Northrup was asked what the best exercise is for losing weight.  She immediately replied, “The one you will do.”  Whether it is long distance running, bicycling, gym work outs, dancing or the Wii Fit, the exercise that you enjoy and can stick with is the best one for you to use.

Of course, like birth control, the Wii Fit doesn’t work if you don’t use it.  It was recently determined that few people continue to use the Wii Fit after one month’s time, prompting it to be labeled “America’s new #1 dust collector.” 

The creator of the Wii Fit, Shigeru Miyamoto, has gone on record admiting that the game is less about people losing weight and more about broadening the videogame market.

Essentially, while Sony marketed Grand Theft Auto to the teen sector and Microsoft marketed X-box’s Halo 3 to the teen sector, Nintendo got smart and marketed the Wii Fit, My Fitness Coach and Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum to the moms of those kids.

Wii Fit, advertised as a way to get the whole family exercising, became the breakout sensation of those three games and this Christmas, you were lucky if you could find one on a shelf anywhere in America.

As a weight loss tool, there are some fundamental flaws in the Wii Fit that are a potential problem if you are not relatively knowledgable about how to lose weight in the first place.

There is no work out program included.  Users find their own way through a number of different games designed to increase strength and flexibility, improve balance and focus or burn calories.  The marketed idea is that these are all ways to get fit and are a good workout in any combination.

While that may be true, if substantial weight loss is your goal, you have to be careful about how you are investing your Wii Fit time and energy.  Spending 30 minutes on balance games will help you to build your core strength, but it isn’t going to burn very many calories.  Working out with the strength buidling exercises or yoga will strengthen your body’s muscles, get your body parts working better together and increase stamina, but you won’t burn as many calories as you will if you also include cardio/aerobic exercises.

Doing 45 minutes of Basic Stepping will definitely be better than doing nothing if you haven’t been moving much at all in the past and will certainly help your rhythm and timing, but you won’t likely break a sweat. 

The Wii Fit can definitely be used for successful weight loss provided a balanced exercise program of strength building, yoga and good, sweaty aerobic exercise is implemented over time. 

Part of the purpose of this site is to lay out a specific, yet adaptable, plan to use the Wii Fit to achieve long term weight loss, strength and fitness.

The categories to your right will provide you with tips on how to adjust your eating and suggested Wii Fit work out programs to maximize your weight loss.

No, the Wii Fit doesn’t work if you don’t use it, but if you use it wisely, it is just as effective as any other work out tool.

By Katrina Rasbold

By far and away my favorite game on the Wii Fit (trust me, I am otherwise NOT a runner by nature), the Island Run is one of the best ways to burn calories and lose fat with the Wii Fit.

The Island Run is part of the Basic Run that is unlocked after you have completed the Long Run twice. 

If you click on the map above, you will see what the island looks like that you are running.  There are five routes to take with your run.  Each one is led by a different guide.  The guide must be in front of or beside you at all times to lead you around the island.  If you pass your guide, not only will your end score be incredibly low, but you will not know which way for your Mii to run.

The guides are a random (and for some reason, usually quite unattractive, as they go) Mii, a tan dog, a dark brown dog, a white dog and a black dog.    They determine which route you will take.

The main thing to remember as you are on the Island Run or any of the Basic Run games is that you are scored according to the stability of your pace.  Speed helps raise your score, provided your pace remains incredibly stable and you do not pass your guide.

You should not speed up or slow down your speed while you are doing the Island Run.  Remain at the same, stable speed to achieve the highest score.

You can set your speed before you even start running with your Mii.  If you begin running in place at the pace you would like to go for the duration of the run, your Guide Mii will start running at that pace as well.  You have to already be doing this when the Guide Mii begins to run, however, or you will pass your guide.  Depending on your speed, you may find that your Mii runs fast enough to keep pace ahead of you.

Other times, a dog may come up right away to act as the next guide.  Just keep running at the same pace and the dog will become your new guide once you pass the old guy.  Do not increase your speed to get to the dog or you will lose points.  Let the natural course of your speed take you to another guide if one is needed. 

Sometimes, a second dog will come up right away to take you from the first dog.  Just maintain a constant speed and pace and the guides will naturally appear as needed.

It helps to maintain a steady pace if you count in your head, “1 2 1 2 1 2″ as you run or “1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4.” 

It also helps to maintain a steady pace if you do not run as though you are sprinting.  Pick up your foot and put it down each time rather than only lifting up the back of your heel to run in place.

The prompt from the Wii Fit to move your arms in big motions to burn more calories is not punative.  It is merely a suggestion prompt.  The Wii does not register whether or not you are moving your arms in large motions.

Any time the Wii Fit tells you that you have passed your guide, that your have increased your speed, that your pace is uneven or that you are getting slower, points are deducted. 

When you and your guide jump off a cliff or wall, pause for just a nanosecond because very occasionally, even if you keep running, you will pass your guide when you land, even if your pace does not increase.

If you stay with the Mii as a guide, at one point you will come to a rocky crag above your head.  Six puppies will jump off of the crag and run toward and past you.  Tres sweet.

If you keep your pace very even, it is not too difficult to score over 100% on your calorie burn on the Island Run.  My high score (so far) is 207%. 

Taking 8 minutes to get around the island will get you just as tired and sweaty as a 5 minute faster run.  Alternating between the two from set to set to create an interval training pattern will maximize the fat burning/calorie potential of the Island Run.

If you begin to have foot or heel pain from running, consider investing in some wrap around arch supports to wear when running.  Typically, it corrects the problem almost immediate.  This is an example of the wrap around arch supports, although you can usually find them cheaper on ebay or through other online sources:  http://www.comforthouse.com/footcomfort.html

It is generally agreed that of all of the Wii Fit exercises, the Island Run has the greatest calorie burning and fat burning potential.