Obese and 77 in the world of Wii....

So, yesterday my nephew Jared and my sister arrived at the beach. It was the day after his birthday. Naturally, our first question was "what did you get for your birthday?" "WiiFit," he told us. After explaining what it was....he proceeded to inform us...a little sheepishly, I must add...that Wii declared that he and his mother were obese. OBESE? A video game told them they were obese? A 10 year old little boy and my not-obese sister were dubbed OBESE by a vidoe game that cost over $200? Shit, I had to go through 8 months of physical and emotional testing before my Lapband surgery to be declared obese! Where was WiiFit when I needed it? But, still....a bunch of computer geeks came up with this game and now it's the expert on obesity? Hmmm....wonder how much the diet industry had to do with that game? Imagine this....thousands of kids (and their mothers and aunts!) hop on this game and find out they are OBESE? What do you think will happen? Now, I can only speak for their mothers and their aunts. But, I'm guessing they are running out to buy the next diet craze in a pill, a book or an office!

Okay, I get it---Wii is a video game that gets kids up off the couch and moving around a bit. I applaud the whole idea. WiiFit goes even a little further--helping kids exercise and become more aware of their bodies and their health through gaming. It makes total sense from the standpoint that kids are in love with video games and are spending more time in front of TVs and on couchs and not getting out on the streets or in the parks or in the fields. So, yes, it's a super concept. But,come on....a little boy is told he is OBESE by his game? Even at my age, I'm not sure if I'd go back and tangle with it.

Case in point....
So, you have a beach house filled with relaxed, loose adults with a lot of time on their hands and a Wii Fit video game. What do you think happens? We test it. Clearly the beer, the wine, the gin, the vodka and whatever else we ingested gave us all a little bit of courage and a whole lot of "who gives a shit?" Of course, that's until that damn thing announced that I had the WiiFit age of 77. And, not only that....it weighed me and said I was obese. Don't ask me how this game came to those conclusions. I mean, all I did was stand on one foot and then the other. Sort of like a sobriety test on the side of the road. I have to say....I'd prefer to do a sobriety test on the side of a dark highway and be told that I am legally drunk than take the WiiFit test and be told that I've got the body of a OBESE 77 year old in front of my closest friends and family! And, I think everyone else felt the same....

So, here we are....it's raining at the beach. Is WiiFitness on the TV? No, there are reruns of Will & Grace and Spin City. The kids are sitting on Laptops, listening to i-Pods and munching on gooey taffy. The adults are reading magazines, sitting on Laptops, drinking beer and telling lousy jokes. And I---this 77 year old obese woman---am blogging. No one wants to tangle with WiiFit. Even when it rains at the beach.