Hello,

I am seriously considering buying my ol' ma a wii for Christmas with the view of also getting her Wii Fit or the one with the balance board.  My question is to anyone who has ANY fitness program for the Wii.  Is it suitable for a 60 year old woman who is overweight?  I mean, my mum is about 5 foot 2 and probably (without being unkind) is about 3-4 stone (50-60 pounds) overweight.  Are the exercises suitable?  There is no way she could do a press up for example.  Obviously the gym is the best solution with diet etc... but its coming up to winter which means going out to the gym is not appealing and given her shift work and the hours she works it just makes it impractical.  Any advice? Thanks. 

While my mum isn't at all overweight, I bought a Wii + Wii Fit for her after she went through some heavy surgery and she was enjoying it eventhough she even now (7 months later) almost never does any of the strength exercises.
The Balance games and some of the lighter Aerobics your mum should be able to manage, as well as some of the easier Yoga exercises.

Are there 2 "fit" games out? There`s the one with the balance board and another by EA isnt there? Which is the one with things like boxing?

Yes I think it is suitable for a woman her age/"condition" - you should get her the Wii fit Plus though (with balance board), not the Wii Fit since you can actually set your own routine in the plus version.

Both have boxing. BTW the EA game is called EA Sports Active.

Thats great thanks! Anyone use it regularly and see any results? I`ve only found one report where a guy actually spent 10 weeks doing it and achieved good results. I know scientists and such said it wouldn`t work before it came out so am interested in anyone`s input here!

It's like any exercise routine, if you stick with it, you'll get results. Lots of people who persist with it have reported getting results. I've had Wii Fit (not Plus) and haven't persisted, though it is getting used quite often at our home for the games... but the lack of persistence was primarily because there were no routines and it took time to navigate from one activity to the next.
I've just recently started with EA Sports Active just so I have something to do until I get Wii Fit Plus (which I'll be getting next week). It's ok, and I work up a sweat, but it's less fun than Wii Fit.
To get someone off the couch, your best bet would be Wii Fit Plus, since it'll be so much more fun. And since it now has routines, that may be all they need.

Thanks bmmb1 for your advice! I will take this on board and do a bit more research on it but I`m glad I got to speak with someone who actually owns it and doesnt speculate.

EA Sports Active is pretty intense, even on the low settings. I would stay away from it for a 60 year old person who needs to lose 50lbs. If she was already more active, then I'd say it is a great game.

I'd go with Wii Fit Plus. It fixes a lot of problems with Wii Fit, and they have easy enough exercises. Step Aerobics, hula hooping, boxing, and then simple muscle building exercises like crunches (anyone can do crunches even if they suck) squats, lunges, side leg lifts, among other things. While she may not be able to do push-ups, she should be able to do most of the exercises and would just need to create some routines that avoid the harder exercises.

I personally lost 20lb with EA Sports Active, but you could just as easily lose 20lb with Wii Fit Plus if you stick with it and eat right.

My mum is over 60, she loves Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort, her fav is Tennis in Wii Sports.

She plays this a few times a day as a workout, and yes she is losing weight.

I didn't get Wii Fit Plus for her, because I am thinking of using that money for a PS3 lol, selfish bastard that i am ... who am I kidding, probably end up getting Wii Fit Plus ... I don't have a 720p TV for Kill Zone 2 awesomeness yet ...