Wii Fit, BMI, and You

My wife picked up a Wii Fit at a local retailer a couple of weeks ago. The kids have been playing a lot, as have my wife and I. While I don’t think it quite lives up to the name of making one “fit”, the tracking features and exercises will substitute for hard cardio when you don’t want to strap on the running shoes.

One of the features of the Wii Fit is a daily “body test”. You don’t have to do it after the first one, but it starts reminding you to do your body test, particularly if you haven’t done one for a few days. In this body test, it evaluates your weight as a function of your BMI: Body-Mass Index. Of course, it will also show you your weight… but only if you click the “Weight” button. It then stores this information and shows you a graph of your progress toward your BMI goal.

There are a few valid criticisms of the BMI, particularly for the very short and very muscular. That said, however, if your BMI says you’re “obese” and you don’t have bulging muscles and look like a body-builder, you definitely have a lot of weight to lose. Improve your diet, go for a jog, and put up some weights on a regular basis, Fatty.