Hey, just so you know ... this post is now about 15 years and 4 months old. Please keep that in mind as it very well may contain broken links and/or outdated information.

Last night I reached my goal in Wii Fit: my BMI is now 21.86 and I weigh 166lbs. This is down from a BMI of 26 and a weight of 200lbs when I started my new fitness “program” back in May.

It wasn’t all due to Wii Fit. Let’s face it: just buying a Wii Fit is probably not going to make you lose a lot of weight (Brian Lam over at Engadget came to the same conclusion). I also changed my eating habits, which was the hardest part. Mainly I became more “calorie-aware” and started a) eating less at meals, b) consuming less calories c) generally eating healthier. This meant getting a 6″ sandwich (no cheese or mayo) at Subway instead of a foot-long; or a salad at Wendy’s (with fat-free dressing and no croutons) instead of a spicy chicken sandwich and fries. I also found myself compulsively checking nutrition labels (which drove my wife crazy sometimes). You’d be amazed at the calorie counts on some things! I had to train myself to eat smarter so that I still felt “full” (or rather, satisfied) but wasn’t consuming thousands of calories in a single sitting. I also tried to be better about late-night snacking. All of this was really difficult at first, but once I was in the habit, it became a lot easier.

But aside from that, Wii Fit gave me the routine and structure I needed to get started on the path and is still helping to keep me on it. I can do a 20 minute free-run while watching a 30-minute show on TiVo (thanks to commercial skipping) and then a few other exercises in Wii Fit to round out a 30-minute execise session.

My first big challenge is coming up: the holidays! I reset my goal in Wii Fit to gain no weight in the next month … let’s see how that goes.