This past Sunday I reached my goal within Wii Fit. My Mii character appeared on screen with a little bit of fanfare to congratulate me and has expressed some concern that I’ve managed to lose so much weight so quickly. When you first begin the fitness game, you’re asked to set a target for weight loss and, simply for the purpose of getting through the menu screens in order to demonstrate the game for our television show, I entered a goal of 16 lbs over six months, the maximum time period you can choose. My weight at the time was listed as being 166.2 lbs so I figured 150 lbs is a nice round figure and aimed for that. To my own surprise, I’ve managed to reach that goal in just six weeks.

I began at a weight of 166.2 lbs with a BMI (Overweight) of 26.71 and, after gradually losing the weight from week to week, am now 149.5 lbs with a (Normal) BMI of 24.02.

I originally laughed at the idea. When I began my Wii Fit review for Canada AM in May, friends had asked if I was going to keep using it every day to see if I could lose any weight. Might make for a great story. I flat out said no. Preposterous idea. Stories about makeovers and diet plans have always seemed like tabloid fare to me. I’ll stick to the ever-shrinking waistlines of televisions and cellphones thank-you. No, I’ll just test out the wireless balance board and then bring it back out when all the cool skiing and snowboarding games are released for it.

Hidden within Wii Fit are a number of locked balance games and exercise modes. The games in particular explore different ways that the wireless Balance Board can be used. From tight-rope walking to boxing to a Zen-based game where you have to sit perfectly still while you are subjected to audio and visual shocks and surprises.

I was so intrigued by the technology of the Balance Board, that I decided I would keep playing just so I could unlock these different modes and see what new uses Nintendo had found for their device. Get a peek at what’s to come in other games.

I figured if I played the game every day for a few minutes, I should unlock most of the hidden modes within a week. It’s not like you have to put in hours in front of the television, 15 minutes is more than enough. And that’s what I did, everyday, I worked my way through the exercises and began to unlock the new game modes.

It was easy and fun. Most of the exercises last but a minute and the repetitions are so small as to be laughable. I know people who, when they decide to exercise, begin with 20 push-ups and quickly try to move towards 50, then 100. In Wii Fit, you begin an exercise with 3, maybe 6 repetitions, and then advance on to 10, 20 at the most. The exercises are bite-sized, but there’s over 40 of them, enough to add up to a real work out.

What surprised me was that, despite the ease of it all, I still broke a sweat and felt light cramping across different parts of my body. My sides, thighs, and arms would hurt a bit. I wasn’t pushing myself, and yet I was feeling it afterwards.

Like most video games, Wii Fit is built around a system of advancement. In addition to its high scores and flattering titles (“Yoga Master” “Bodybuilder”) which you can work towards, many of the exercises have advanced modes that are unlocked when you perform at a certain level.

As a video game player, I’m a bit of a completionist and tend to be an easy sucker for any game that awards “badges” or “achievements” for forms of busywork. In Crackdown I spent countless hours bounding across the virtual skyscrapers to collect all the hidden orbs, both green and blue. In Rock Band, I worked at my voice until I could complete the game using vocals on Expert. I even got the “Flawless” achievement for singing a song at 100%. So as I worked at Wii Fit to unlock the hidden game modes, as was my habit, I also worked at getting the highest scores to unlock the hidden exercise levels too.

One week quickly turned into two weeks and I began to lose weight. A few pounds was expected, but a few more was a surprise.

I began to realize that Wii Fit was taking some of my couch potato time and converting it into exercise time. The hours that I might normally spend in front the television, driving around Grand Theft Auto IV in search for hidden pigeons, was now being spent unlocking new modes in Wii Fit, and while it felt like the same activity, I was actually working out with Wii Fit version.

I played on most of the weekdays and gave myself the weekends off. I worked initially through every exercise, starting with the Yoga poses, then the Strength Training, and then one aerobics task. Once I unlocked everything, I chose only the ones that I felt where the hardest, like the one leg balances, the push-ups, and the jackknives. Because the running exercise included exploring a virtual island, I ended each session with a virtual run. I can’t say I played every day, but I did turn on my Wii for most.

My weight would occasionally go up, but more often then not go down in drips and drabs. I didn’t notice much of a difference at first, but over time began to see some slimming in the mirror and felt a little more energetic. The biggest change was a set of lines or grooves that began to appear on either side of my stomach.

After four weeks I pulled out a calculator and found that I had lost 13 lbs. Although I was starting to get bored of the game, there was now less and less to unlock, I realized that I was now close to reaching that goal I had set in the beginning, and so I pushed on, simply to see what the game would do when I reached that moment. Would there be fireworks? Would the other Miis assembles round and place my Mii on their shoulders while cheering?

I’ve heard several critics mention that, instead of spending $90 on a video game, users might be better off buying a real hoola hoop and yoga mat. Well, a hula hoop is never going to call you a Yoga Master and jump around cheering when you reach your fitness goal.

I’ve posted pictures of some of the screens from the game when I crossed the goal line, but won’t spoil it all. The most interesting thing is how quickly it urges you to set a new goal and, in my case, how it calculated my “ideal” weight as being 136.9 lbs. That’s a little aggressive.

I’ve never wanted to lose weight. It has never been a personal goal of mine. I think like most men, I tend to measure my fitness by my own strength, agility, and endurance. As long as I can lift all the heavy equipment I need to carry for my job, bound up flights of stairs three or four at a time, and catch items when my friends whip them at me, I’m happy with myself and don’t need any number from a weight scale to measure it by. Until I played Wii Fit, I’d say it’s been more than decade since I last stood on a bathroom scale.

I’ve never been on a diet, have never joined a fitness club. I’ve never lifted weights. When I was a teen I took up sailing and archery and both did enough for my shoulders and chest that I’ve often been accused of being a weight lifter. If it wasn’t for Wii Fit I don’t think I would ever take up Yoga or a daily exercise routine. Wii Fit and its video game culture appeals to me and if Nintendo can keep the idea fresh (some new add-on packs with more unlockables would be nice) I’ll probably continue to use.

My delight with all of this, quite honestly, is less with losing any weight as much as the Geek-like feeling of having performed an experiment that has yielded positive results. I’ve played with some new technology and come out with results that will impress the non-Geeks in my life.

Well, okay, the grooves on my stomach are pretty cool.