Walk it Out for Wii

When you are trying to kick any amount of pounds to the curb (especially if its a permanent "kick") you need to include some form of exercise.  At least that has been my experience.

I have tried to lose weight for what seems like my entire life, but in reality it has only been since my mid to later 30's, after my kids were born.  I had an easier time losing the baby weight with my first, but my second was an emergency C-section, that ended up slowing everything down.  Sometimes I think it slowed my weight loss down to a crawl - or on a really bad day I swore it was in reverse!  And now that I am in my 50's (oh the horror) I am finding that I NEED to exercise just to keep any pounds from coming back.

What I have found in my travels through this weight loss journey, is that if I put in some targeted exercise time (not just every day exercise) in combination with diet, I can maintain any loss that I have accumulated.  If I pick up the exercise, I lose more.  If I STOP that exercise time ......... the weight comes back - sometimes in a slow way and other times it seems like it is over night!

Now here is where this little gem Nintendo's Walk It Out!  comes in.

About a week or so ago, I found this at Costco, when I was looking for things for my niece and nephew (another pair in the "techno" crowd).  I had been looking for something to do that was different  -  or would be different then what I already had or had seen.

My girlfriend Diana had found this and couldn't say enough about how it was great to be able to walk with this in the high heat and humidity of the summer (usually the killer time for exercise unless you have a pool or access to one).

I decided on Tuesday morning that I was going to try this out right then - just set it up and do it.  Well it is the easiest thing to set up and it is fun!  Even for a totally uncoordinated individual like me, and at times I think I lack Rhythm.  Basically you are walking to the beat of different music pieces.  I don't think there are complete "songs" that are played but there are all different kinds of music.  Along your "walk" you find different objects to build Rhythm Island, including more music pieces, they have 120 musical pieces in all.

You can do this every day and see different
park scenes every day.  You get to pick the trails that you take by clicking on arrows along the trail.  As you  "step to the beat" you collect "chips" that are used to "purchase" more capsules as you walk and build your island. All the decorations in the pictures shown (tents, planters, light poles, garbage cans, etc) are "purchased" with those chips from keeping your steps to the beat of the songs.
Eventually they say there will also be "time" capsules that I will find that will change the clock so I'm not always walking in daytime - some days I could walk in the morning and other days I can walk at night.  I wonder if the street lights illuminate the path in the evening?  Can't wait to try that one.

Now you do need to have the Wii Console, obviously, but the great thing is it accepts input from the DanceDanceRevolution Wii Controller, Wii Remote and Nunchuk or Wii Balance Board, so you don't have to buy yet another "device".  I think we have almost a full basket of "devices" to play different games, so I am glad that I didn't have to buy yet another piece of equipment.

It also will show in either a "list" or table or graph form, the amount of calories burned, distance traveled, steps taken and more!  It also "compares" what you did previously with what you did that session and gives you an "atta girl/boy" when you beat the previous best.  For example the first day I did it I walked 1.5 miles (I think it was less than 20 minutes but I haven't fooled with any of the settings to perhaps make it more intense) and then today I did 1.9 miles.  Since I wasn't keeping track of how long I was "walking" on my balance board, I am just guessing that it was about the same amount of time.  When I saved my walk, my trainer was all excited that I had beaten ALL of the totals from the day before.

I am finding this is something that everyone can do.  In other words, its not just for kids, cause lets face it - I am NOT a kid anymore.  But I will say if I can do it, keeping in rhythm with the music to gather my chips, YOU can do it too.  And to be honest - I AM having a lot of fun doing it.  I can definitely see myself doing this for quite a while - so I won't have an excuse to not walk as the winter approaches - I can walk even as the snow is falling and NOT feel the cold.

This is a definite BUY in my book.  I am really glad that I picked it up.  Now I have to think about whether I want to get one for my niece or maybe my sister for Christmas.  I bet they would have fun with it too.

These are my opinions based on my review of the game and not requested or sanctioned by Konami Digital (publisher), HUDSON SOFT CO., LTD (developer) or Nintendo.  I was not supplied with any materials for this review.