So this is Day 4 of Wii Fit and I've decided to show you Day 4 by one of the things I didn't do yesterday (because I, you know, didn't do anything non-iPhone related yesterday).

We've got the same exercise as before, but as requested, I have what my feet are doing. Tap, tap, tap-e-roo. 

That sort of thing.

So I'm going to show you that in a second… but first, I feel like there's something I need to talk about with Wii Fit… and it has to do with losing weight… and with what – on Day 3 – I'm feeling that Wii Fit most certainly lacks.

I'm talking about dieting tips.

It's all well and good having a talking balance board that is friendly to everyone because of its universe simple & cuteness appeal, but asking me if I've had dinner yet is a far cry from suggestions from a coach that I should be eating less carbs and more fruit.

In fact, so far… the only times I've been told to get a drink of water has been when the game has shown me a screen telling me it's about time to take a break and that I should be taking one every 10-15 minutes of exercise.

But last I remembered, eating had a lot to do with losing weight. Or rather, eating habits.

And while I realise that this was programmed by Japanese people and that everyone around the world has entirely different eating habits (though I think I'll quite enjoy having sakana / fish for breakfast like some Japanese do), a few tips at the end of a Body Test about what you should and shouldn't be eating wouldn't go too far astray.

It just feels irresponsible to have a game advertising the idea of losing weight and gaining better health that doesn't mention a single bloody thing about what you shouldn't be sticking in your mouth.

It's almost as if Wii Fit has no problem with you getting healthier while you stuff lollies down that body of yours.

Sure, sure. Logic prevails and many of you will argue that it should go hand in hand – playing this game should make you automatically think of eating better…

But then you probably haven't seen the average gamer.

Moving on… I've had at least one request for this. People want to see what your feet do in Wii Fit and rather just show how stupid I look as I do it, I've recorded my feet on the Balance Board in Steps Plus… but as wa warning… I'm very tired.

So I'll probably suck.

Anyway…

Steps Plus (Feet)

Time In Wii Fit: 0:07

Wii Fit Age: 31
Real Age: 24
Comment: I meant to do around 1 hour and 20 minutes… but I'm exhausted from whatever the hell I did today. Plus the exercise is beginning to give me muscle aches. Aaaaagggghhh…

I was playing with my iPhone for too long as was too tired. I more or less conked out early.

I'll be doing extra time on the Wii Fit on Day 4 to cover what I didn't do today.

Time In Wii Fit: 0:00

Wii Fit Age: Who knows.
Real Age: 24
Comment: I'm an iPhone whore. Wii Fit needs to go back to making me its bitch.

Just so you know, I'm usually working a day ahead of myself so while Day 2 is being blogged on the Monday (or queued for blogging on the Monday), I actually did this blog and its exercises on the Sunday. So I'm sort of time-traveling here. Sort of.

Anyway, today sees me showing you Steps Plus which is the advanced level of Steps Basic… which I showed you yesterday.

Just so you know, Day 1's Wii Fit age was… 29 originally. I did it again later on and it told me it was 24. Assume 29 is correct as that was the starting age. 

So today I'm going to talk about Steps Plus which as I said is basically Steps Basic ++.

In Steps Plus, you've got a slightly faster and more irritating soundtrack to step to that at times doesn't sound bad in a funky sort of way.

In Steps Basic, you only focused on regular stepping with the pink / red steps and side stepping with the blue ones. Steps Plus changes this by forcing you to kick on the foot denoted by a green foot while purple feet change sides and rotations. Combine this with a song that gets faster two-thirds of the way through and you have an exercise that can break a sweat if you do it a few times in a row.

And it's actually fun. It can get a little irritating, but it is definitely fun.

Unfortunately though, there isn't really a harder level… and that's crap.

You see, once you've unlocked what might be seen as the "hardest level" of Steps, it's actually just a mode called "Free Step" which has you set a time limit and step on and off the steps at your leisure while you watch TV… or listen to music… or do whatever you want, really.

The Wiimote will speak to you in either beats or in voice format, but that's about it. 

Really, this is a shame because Steps Basic and Steps Plus were actually pretty fun… and then you get let down with Free Step.

Shit, I can do steps on the Wii Balance Board without needing to turn it on for the same effect. Why have you given me a mode like this, Nintendo?

Anyway, I digress. This is how it looks for someone to play Steps Plus.

Steps Plus

Time In Wii Fit: 0:53

Wii Fit Age: 39
Real Age: 24
Comment: Shit. I'm bigger. How the hell did that happen?

Billy Blanks' video workouts worked… until I got bored of memorising his script and repeating it as he spoke. 

Yourself Fitness never worked… because it got boring quickly. Agg… multiple choice answers with predictable technology underneath? Pfft! Come on!

Gamercize wasn't bad… but geeze, I could see me not liking video games for much longer if I were forced to stand on a step machine and play Guitar Hero.

So now I'm trying Wii Fit and while I've played it a few times for CyberShack TV and at the Nintendo launch for it back in March at the MCA, I've never played it like I'm going to now.

There are reviews of Wii Fit already on the web, but most are done in the style of Wii Fit as game… not Wii Fit as a tool in the process of helping you to lose weight. So that's what I'm going to do.

For the next two weeks, I shall attempt to play Wii Fit for a minimum of 40 minutes to 1 hour a day in the hopes of losing 3 kilos over two weeks. I've done 5 in one week before and that was with the high impact workouts of Billy Blanks' Tae Bo. This is a fair amount less impact based.

But to make sure I'm doing it and to let you see how it's affecting me, I'm going to take you along for the… err… ride… which probably isn't a good word to describe it.

You're coming along for the "experience". (Yeah… that'll do.)

I now present to you…

Lii Fit!

And now here with the first (well, second actually if you include the little preview test I did on Facebook) is… me!!!

Step Basics

Time In Wii Fit: 1:01

Wii Fit Age: 29
Real Age: 24
Comment: I did try it again later on and got 24… but assume 29 is correct.

The article could be found in The Sydney Morning Herald and basically read as more than 90 percent of Australians (provided all 20 million Australians are represented by 1143 people) were still relying on old excuses like being too tired or too cold to not exercise.

"Everyone knows the importance and benefits a healthy lifestyle can bring and that they should exercise and eat well – but a startling number of Australians just aren't doing it, and it comes back to the same old excuses," dietitian Kate Di Prima said.

Let's just get one thing straight, Ms. Di Prima: you're a dietitian, therefore your job is to make sure you're healthy and other people are healthy. I take it based off of that that it is your job to go to the gym and come up with healthful eating schedules and other health-based crap that's supposed to make you fit.

Now I'm a journalist. A tired journalist. Oh sure, I'd like to exercise. Really, I would… but I'm just too fucking tired.

No, seriously. I'm exhausted. I'm writing this as I fall asleep.

So for those of us who work in jobs NOT related to losing weight, did you ever stop and think that we might actually really be too tired to exercise and it might not be an excuse?

Like… really.