Sunday

Sweffling asked about Wii Fit Plus.

You need an outlay of about £250-ish if you're starting from scratch (plus a reasonably modern telly). If you search around maybe it could be bought cheaper; I got all my stuff on Amazon as a 'bundle' because it was the easiest way to do it.
You need the console, a hand held remote control (the Wii-mote!!), the balance board (we called this Peeves) and the game disk. You can use other games in the console as well, it's not just for Wii Fit. Basically, you just follow the instructions to set it all up - long winded but simple enough to understand - and then enter in all your details - again, it's all in the instructions. I set it up with DD, so we could double check that what I was doing was OK as I wasn't all that confident, but it really was pretty straightforward.

It certainly doesn't give you the hard workout that you would get from a gym session, but it's fine for me and I do use it at least once every day, sometimes twice (morning and evening). Given the cost of gym membership and assuming regular use, it would pay for itself in half a year as well as being a great time saver. It does all sorts of exercises - yoga, strength, aerobic, balance and 'Fit Plus' which is various things not on the original 'Fit' disk (the recent one is Wii Fit Plus) and as you get better at some activities, it unlocks harder levels. You choose the activities each time, although you can set a daily routine if you want. I like to vary it.

You don't have to weigh every day (the balance board can act as scales), you can choose to go straight for the activities when you start up - it's all up to you. If you do, it gives you an estimated BMI and your weight and plots them on a graph. There are also a couple of balance type exercises to give you a Wii Fit age which I tend to take with a very big pinch of salt.
As you exercise, it tells you how many calories you have burned after each activity. Again, a pinch of salt needed, but it's a helpful indication.

If you know someone who owns one, perhaps you could ask them if you could possibly have a go to see how you get on with it.

I get on really well with it. The levels are right for me and I can see how there's room for development too. As I said, it's not heavy exercise in any way, but if it was I'd never stick with it. The Wii makes it all fun, there's flexibility and a wide range of things to do. I'd recommend it.

Today's food:
Breakfast:
Bran flakes, fresh fruit and natural yogurt

Dinner:
Corn on the cob; beef casserole, shredded cabbage and peas; jelly with fruit

Tea:
Cheg with salad; coleslaw; fruit yogurt

Snacks:
Fruit yogurt; raw peas