User Reviews (11 - 21 of 33)

Show these reviews first:

Highest Rated
Lowest Rated Newest
Oldest Most Helpful
Least Helpful

Not for those that work the third shift

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 10, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was excited about this game coming onto the market since I had first heard about it. I purchased it a few days ago, and was eager to check it out. The first problem I found is that it assumes you keep normal day hours. I work from 11pm to 7am, so my day doesn't start until about 4pm usually. Therefore my workout times, and the times I eat my meals differ from the average. The day always resets itself at midnight regardless of what time you may actually eat your meals and work out. I was able to get around this by keeping track of what workouts I had done, food I had eaten, and entering it into the game after midnight. They could have really expanded the food options as well. This game does not take up a lot of space on the cart it is on, and it would not have been that hard to program the options. It would also help if you could view your balance of physical activity with your food intake as well. You can only view the balance when you enter in your food intake.

This game needs some improvement, but it has kept me motivated in my fitness pursuits, which is what I bought it for to start with.

Great weight loss tool

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I started using My Weight Loss Coach one week ago. According to the game I did not need to lose weight, but maintain my current weight. I disagreed (I have gained 10 pounds since getting married). I edited my profile to make myself 3 inches shorter than my actual height. Since then the game has worked great. I love the motivation that it provides. I needed this accountability. I have already lost one pound. You must follow all of the advice and assignments from your "coach". I love the challenges!

Good Motivater But Has Flaws

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 22, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I just started using My Weight Loss Coach a couple of days ago. It has started me walking and eating better, but I have noticed several flaws:

- First off, the clip that attaches to the pedometer was a little hard to get on and the instructions were not that clear. With a little muscle work, however, it did finally snap on.

- Secondly, the pedometer is large (far larger than the Weight Watchers one I already have). As a result, I have been wearing it backwards on my belt so it's not as noticable. This may have, however, created another problem. The pedometer has reset during the course of the day. I'm not sure if it's me that's resetting it or the pedometer is resetting by itself. Anyway, I just got back from a 40-minute walk and found that I only logged 1200 steps (during the set up you learn that the pedometer should log 500 steps for every 5 minutes of walking). I just may start using my Weight Watchers pedometer instead and manually logging in the steps each day.

- Thirdly, the music is annoying, but you can turn it off (thankfully).

- Lastly, using the detailed version of logging in your food intake is not very accurate and a little confusing. For example, last night I ate a Lean Cuisine pizza for dinner. This pizza, of course, does not have the same calories, fat, etc., as regular pizza. The detailed food intake log, however, only has a selection for regular pizza. Also, you find pretzels under sweets instead of the more accurate snacks. I'm going to try using the quick version of logging food intake instead to see if it is anymore accurate. I will have to say, though, that it is fun to watch the food choices hit the stick figure on the head and the stick figure eating the food.

All in all, however, I will say that My Weight Loss Coach has started motivating me to walk more and eat better. I'm just not sure if I'll continue using the program.

"Food Balance" Section Measures Only Calories, Not Nutrition

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 29, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This product could be dangerous if you expect it to calculate a "balanced diet" for you. What it means by "balanced" is that the calories of the food you have consumed are sufficient to "balance" the calories you have expended. I had been reporting the food I had eaten (you pull various food icons from the different food groups over to a cartoon figure) for over a week but one day, when I had eaten too many carbs and not enough vegetables, I started to get uneasy. While the program said the diet was "balanced" I knew it was not nutritionally balanced. The next day I calculated my food exchanges on a piece of paper, but instead of what I had actuall eaten I put down that I had consumed nothing but chicken. The program said this diet was "balanced". The next day I did the same thing, only instead of what I had actually eaten I told the program I had eaten nothing but candy. Again, it said my diet was "balanced".

This game is good in that it offers incentive to exercise, and a lot of good information about nutrition. It is a shame that it fell short when it came to the "food balance" part. Surely information about the food pyramid and healthy food exchanges is not too difficult to program into a game? Instead of the wonky pedometer, the manufacturers could have included a small calorie counter.

I think Nintendo DS would be a great platform for a program that encourages exercise *and* helps you select a balanced diet. I am looking forward to it.

A Good Idea, but Rather Insulting

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 24
Date: July 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I picked this up for my daughter and was helping her get the profile set up. The principle of this game is great. However, when creating the profile in it, it asks you to enter your weight using a slider like you find on the scale at a doctor's office. As you slide the weight up, the character grows. What I found insulting is that at some point the back of the scale starts to bend backwards due to the size of the character. If you take the slide as far to the right as is possible, the character can no longer touch the groung with its feet. The facial expression also becomes less pleasant as you increase the weight. This is the image that you have to look at when you update you weight. It's an insensitive depiction. Overweight people know that they're overweight, they don't need a game, that is supposed to help making healthy choices be fun, giving them images that are insulting and demoralizing.

Great idea, but needs many improvements

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 15, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I pre-ordered this game back in December 2007, so you can imagine how excited I was to receive it. At first, I loved it. I had no idea how sedentary I was until I tracked my steps with the pedometer. I thought it was very cool that the pedometer hooked up directly to the DS and uploaded the steps automatically. I found the challenges cute and helpful. I found myself moving around alot more to get my steps in. It has been a pretty good motivator, but 2 weeks later I have not lost any weight.

The lack of weight loss, however is not my complaint. The pedometer itself is chunky and obtrusive and yesterday the clip on it broke. When I first received it, it was extremely difficult to clip on my waistband. I think that a spring-loaded clip would be much more durable, but the clip on it is basically immovable. The good news is that you can still input your steps in the game manually, but now I get to shell out some more money on a new pedometer.

Since I pre-ordered this item, I only paid $29.95 on it, but I still think I paid too much. Even though I'm still planning on using the game as a weight-loss aide, if I were to do it all over again, I would buy a pedometer (the one I just bought to replace it is Omron HJ-720ITC Pocket Pedometer with Advanced Omron Health Management Software, but you can still use a cheap, run-of-the-mill pedometer), wait until the price of this game goes down to about $19.95 and reconsider buying it even then.

Who says videogames are bad for you?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This cute, little game provides playful, positive enforcement of healthy lifestyle behaviors that should help most people make improvements gradually. Its major emphasis is on getting you to move more, an essential factor in sustained weight loss and long-term health. Focusing on easy adjustments, such as a gradual increase in daily step count, this product should fit into the life of most American adults. It accommodates a wide variety of pre-existing fitness levels, allowing you to count nearly any movement from housework to karate in your daily minimum of 30 minutes of exercise.

The way it tracks your calorie intake each day is particularly friendly, and a great improvement on most fitness programs I have tried for handheld devices. Tossing aside detailed lists of foods that make recording intake a time-consuming chore, you select foods from categories based on average number of calories for average-sized servings. Nearly any food can be accounted for, even when eating out.

The program is educational in a friendly way and provides customized feedback and suggestions based on your preferences and the results of mini-assessments. You have daily objectives and challenges to meet - some are playful and funny. But every objective met is rewarded in terms of miles traveled to interesting sights.

There are some downsides and places where the game can be improved. The provided pedometer is a little bulky, but you can substitute any pedometer you prefer and enter your daily step total by hand. The food lists also do not give you feedback on nutritional value of choices. The program itself reminds you to eat a diverse diet, but you could live on junk food with this game and still make your objectives. Finally, as another review mentioned, there is no way to correct mistakes, and I have yet to find a way to review details about food or exercise in a day.

Overall, if you have DS already and want to lose weight, I recommend this program.

Creative title but flawed

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game not knowing what to expect. It is fun and helpful in many ways. The 'coach' is a cute stick figure who motivates you through funny sounds, expressions, and actions. The distance 'reward' system is well-done. For every task or challenge you successfully complete, you get mileage which eventually adds up to walking The Great Wall of China or whatever. It is a good, graphic way to illustrate your progress.

Now for the downside....You have to enter all physical activity & food you eat on the day it happens...no going back the next day to enter that just before midnight snack or last minute exercise. This is tremendously inconvenient & unhelpful. It negates much of the value of the program for me. The other unhelpful thing is that you account for your calories by selecting from groups of general foods; if you ate something unusual, you have to take your best guess as to its equivalent.

As many have noted, the supplied pedometer is clunky & falls off constantly, but that is an easy remedy, you just use another pedometer.
I use the Omron walking style pedometer which can be carried in your pocket, records distance, calories burned, & keeps a record of all the steps you've walked for the past 7 days.

That said, this is a fun & simple program which might work particularly well for overweight children. In fact, I'm guessing that's it's target demographic.

Not perfect but a fun start!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 13, 2008
Author: Amazon User

The challenges aren't always 100% possible, but you don't have to take on a challenge...well unless you ask for the surprise challenge. If you take one and it's too daunting, there's no penalty. It just tells you that to try and pick challenges that fit your lifestyle. I'm 8 months pregnant and I'm managing just fine.

It encourages you to exercise and watch your food intake and based on questions asked at the beginning, it gives you a goal to reach for. It's not an exact science as sometimes you have to fudge the food tracker, but it's a great little start for on the go.

The pedometer isn't the best. It's bulky and I find that it keeps resetting if I bump into something. But here's good news...you don't have to use it. If you want to get something better, the one that comes with the game is a good start. And you can manually enter steps, it will prompt you that the pedometer isn't inserted and then you just use the +/- to add or remove steps.

I like that it gives you a goal of steps and if that's just too much for you, it lowers it. And there are coaching lessons and mini-games full of tips and tidbits. If you are just getting serious, it's a great place to start. If you are already well in shape, probably not for you.

The one and only thing I hate is when you update your weight and you've lost say 2 pounds...it says "Oh, you're BMI hasn't changed at all and you should really consider losing weight!" Well DUH!!! It could be a little more encouraging in that moment when you are actually making the movements downward.

Loving it!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was skeptic at first when considering this "game" for purchase. However, I am so glad I did! The character coach is adorable and very motivating! When I do not make goals or end up having an "unbalanced" day, the game never makes me feel bad about it. I love the ersonalized challenges and even though I considered myself knowledgeable about fitness and nutrition in general, I still have learned a lot from the quizzes and tips sections! Totally worth the time and money!

Review Page: 1 2 3 4 Next 

Actions