EA Sports Active Personal Trainer Review

A good little while ago, I was sent the EA Sports Active Personal Trainer to review, a fitness programme for the Nintendo Wii which can also make use of the Wii Balance Board. It came just at the right time, when I'd started my attempt to shift a stone of weight and above all, get back into some form of exercise, well over 2 years post baby. My exercise regime, and weight loss, are currently on hold because there's only so many hours in the day. However, I had a really good shot at the product.

I used to be reasonably fit and I have a tendency to, well, overdo it. In the sense that if I do exercise, I want to get sweating and get the most out of it. The Wii Fit was getting boring, so I was delighted with the opportunity to test the EA Sports Active, it was a welcome change of scene on the TV screen.

The programme comes with a leg strap and a resistance band, and you will need a nunchuck for it. It's also useful to read the instructions and get an introduction to each individual exercise (I couldn't be bothered just wanting to start exercising and had a few interruptions as a consequence).

The actual programme offers a range of preset exercise sessions, ranging from easy to hard, 15-45 minutes. Alternatively, you can embark on the 30 challenge (which I did and then didn't complete) or make up your own exercise sessions.

What I liked about it was that it's reasonably customizable. For instance, you can choose at any workout whether or not you want to use the Wii Balance Board for your workout. To be honest, I find the Balance Board rather cumbersome so while I tried it, what with having to change between it, the resistance band and the nunchuck either in the leg strap or in the hand - to make things simpler and quicker, I preferred to use the EA Sports Active without the Board.

Once you get to know the different activities, it's great fun to make up your own exercise session, with all your favourite activities. I also liked the range of exercises - as someone who has absolutely no knowledge of baseball/cricket, I utterly enjoyed the baseball exercises. The resistance band allows you to make muscle toning exercises as hard as you like. There is an almost endless list of different exercises, covering both muscle toning and aerobic exercises. Another feature I liked was that there was an option to change the music and that the music in general didn't get repetitive. Of course, I'd be in heaven if I could actually use my own music somehow but clearly this is not something I'd ever expect in such a game. Another feature I liked was the calorie count - I find this more motivating than anything else. A final plus is the fact that at the start of each session you can pick the intensity of the workout.

The personal trainer got a bit on my nerves at times. I'm not one who enjoys constant praise, I'd rather get on with it. Having said that, it's not as bad as the Wii Fit trainer. Some exercises took me a while to get right, such as the inline skating (once I got it, it was great fun though). I never got the fast highkicks and honestly believe that they just don't work. The dance exercises were rather pointless, a bit of waving but no real exercise - just as well they never lasted long. The resistance band lost its resistence a little bit over time, and it also occasionally flopped out of it's holder - not a big drawback but annoying when it happens in the middle of an exercise. During an sessions, especially if it's the 30 day challenge, there is no indication of length of the session. This is a bit of an inconvenience if Mr Cartside asks me when I'm done and I get it wrong because today's session is about twice as long as yesterday's and he has to miss his favourite TV programme.

The 30 day challenge is a good idea, however, it would work better if it could be personalised to one's own calendar. The theory is that there's 2 days of workout, one rest day. Now, my life doesn't work according to a preset fitness game schedule. While I realised that you can do an exercise day even on rest days, you can't pre set the 30 day challenge calendar according to your own diary.

The most annoying drawback for me was that if a session of the 30 day challenge finished after midnight, it didn't count for the previous day. It upset me no end, having just done the hard 40 min workout and then seeing it come up as a missed day in the calendar. Little things like that get to me, you know. The 30 day challenge also offers a lifestyle questionnaire which I found very motivating - I did actually drink more water and eat more vegetables knowing that it would get me extra points. I'm that fickle.

In comparison to the Wii Fit I enjoyed the greater range of exercises, the greater customization, and the fact you can actually do a 30-45 minutes exercise session without interruptions or having to navigate in the menu. All in all, the EA Personal Trainer is definitely value for money. I would use it regularly and it really worked for me, with a reasonable combination of muscle workouts and aerobic exercise that did get me sweating and a good bit fitter, all in the comfort of your own home.

Shame it's got to be sent back really. To be honest, I don't want to know who'll be getting my review set as a second hand product - there was quite a lot of sweat lost and absorbed in it. Not so sure if the future owner will appreciate it...

Wednesday Weigh In: this is getting boring

and I'm a day late so I'll keep this short. No movement on the weight front (ok, I think I lost 200g or so) and after my burst of activity last week, I've got to admit to a slump on the exercise front. However, I'm jogging again. It's still hard going, my legs are not used to it anymore, and if, like me, you can still remember what it felt to just run forever and actually enjoy it, when it wasn't a chore and the rhythm took over, letting your mind wander to wonderful places, it's depressing.

Still, I can now do 25 minutes before the asthma and wobbly leg threshold, yay.

Then there was cake in the office. Lots of it. I could have eaten more than two pieces a day though ;). If it weren't for cakes and biscuits, my diet would actually be something to be really proud of. Nevermind, nobody is perfect.

The lapsing on the exercise front has a reason. I'm sitting on hot coals, waiting for that "baby is about to come" phone call which will make me sprint into car and drive 30 miles. I can't concentrate. I don't dare to go far from the house/office, and for once, my mobile is glued to me night and day. We are now 4 days over, not a lot, but considering the signs we had a week ago that all was about to start, it's an eternity. I'm nervous. I'm emotional. Thrown between the highs and lows, the joy and the tears.

And I'm not even the one having this baby.

Check out how everyone else is getting on. Losing weight that is, not having babies. Though you're free to check that out too of course, just not on that particular site.

Wednesday Weigh In: So much going on

Well, I've been a bit of a headless chicken this week. Always on call for THAT phone call that could mean SIL is in labour and me heading to her house which is 50 minutes away, then to hospital which is 25 minutes from her house. Last night I dreamt she went into labour. The last time I dreamed this about a friend (9 years ago!), she did go into labour that night, so I'm ever so slightly on edge and actually almost forgot to stop off at the childminder on my way to work. Not sure what I thought Cubling would do in my office exactly.

This is roughly what I've been up to:

• The baby blanket is finished. Little niece (yes, it's a girl!) you can come now, you'll be all snuggly, cosy and warm!
  

• I've been working like a mad woman at work to make sure that my instant departure won't have a negative impact on my work.


• In the evenings, there was lots of knitting, and insuring that I'd exercise at least every night I was at home, mainly using the EA Sports Active which I've got for review at the moment (and a proper review will follow soon). I'm still not comfortable exercising when away from home. Like, the fox may bite me or the kestrel chase me if I go running in Clackmannanshire. Of course it's only really about getting bum off the sofa, and any excuse goes.


• I've made a big push to get my A Hat In Time charity knitting book off the ground with a target publication date of early September (right in time for Christmas shopping ;) ). At the moment, all patterns bar one are received, edited and now awaiting review by their authors, the book now also features lots of little stories from the work of Save the Children, as well as photos from the Knit One Save One campaign. I'm really hopeful that the final editing can be done by the end of August, and then all it takes is to publish it online. I've set up a blog page too (empty at the moment) hoping that I can market it from there.

So, on the weight front: Recap on 2 weeks: I did go on the EA Sports Active almost every night I was home, for about 30 minutes, using the hard option of its 30 days challenge (I'm tough you see). I ate reasonably well, all small and healthy main meal options and sweet treets were much reduced. However, MIL giving us a big pack of homemade shortbread and Hubby making a tray of tablet did not help. Oh and there was birthday cake. I'm not complaining of course ;)

I took it rather personal though when the EA Sports Active told me off for having missed a session out of the 30 day challenge - for goodness sake, I was away for the weekend, chasing up to 4 toddlers at a time in an attempt to try and give my 39 week pregnant SIL a break while friends, relatives and biting insects invaded her house!

And then, after all that effort, I forgot to weigh myself on Wednesday. And Thursday. So it's late but nevermind, here are the results of the German Dschüri:

Starting weight: 164

Weight 2 weeks ago: 163
Weight today: same
difference to last weigh in: zilch. nada. niente. rien. (I'm going to scream!!!!!)
Target weight: 150

How much left to go: 13 lbs (breaks down in tears)

Goals for next week: keep the good diet and regular exercise up but don't succumb to home baking. If I can keep this up, I'm doing good. And I'm sure with baby there'll be lots of walking, carrying, jiggling which surely will burn some calories. Above all, don't give up even if for all the exercise and good diet I didn't lose a gram. Try to go for a run. Try to go for a run. Try to go for a run. Better even, go for a run.

Go here to join the pound busters.

Wednesday Weigh In: Off the Rails

It's been three weeks since I last posted a weigh in update. In fact, it's been 3 weeks since I weighed myself.

As far as weight loss is concerned, I've gone totally off the rails. Lots of cakes, eating out, baking cookies, comfort eating, you know the spiel. Me on a diet? You'd never guess it. Why? Well, there's been a lot of travelling and not being able to plan meals, a trip to Hampshire, a weekend away on Cumbrae, visiting friends until late in the evening and coming home so late we could just about manage a take away, meeting up with the Millbrae mums and not being able to resist home baking. Oh, and there was more than the usual occasional glass of wine.

Of course that's only half the story. The other half is lack of will power, and enjoying cakes, chocolate, ice cream, curries and fish and chips far too much.

I continued some degree of exercise, but nothing to shout about really.

Had a good time though, even if I felt distinctly bad about my lack of cake control. And ate even more. Next was my usual reaction to this: ignore the scales and simply not step on them. Head in sand, dumdidum. No weight gain, you see?! Just that my clothes tell a different story.

I knew I was in for some bad news, but at least on Monday, I was back on the Wii Fit and faced the truth of the scales. The latter was worse than expected, and my muscles are still aching which tells the story of three weeks of only light exercise (Yoga and cycling).

Of course it's frustrating to see all the hard work of 4 weeks go in just 3 weeks again. The thing is, I have a reasonable diet, minus my addiction to chocolate and cakes. I don't want to know how much sugar I pile into myself, and I do know better, having a family history of type B diabetes, and knowing the effects of it, one of my motivations in keeping my weight in check has always been avoiding it.

However, with renewed determination and having faced the demon of the scales, here we go again.

In true life coaching fashion, here are my goals for next week which I consider doable:
-one sweet item per day (rather than three or more)
-3 days of 1 hour's worth of exercise or equivalent. My original aim of 7x30mins has proven to be unrealistic, so here's adjustment which is still stretching me. Jogging shall count double because I'm not fit enough to do more than 30 mins yet.
-when eating out, go for healthy choices if available and avoid eating out

What works well:
I like the yoga class I go to on Monday evenings and it's nice me-time, yet don't find it very challenging. Running is something that has been a joy to pick up again, but I find so many excuses not to go (weather, too hungry/full, having to get changed and showered after - which makes it hard to do it during lunch breaks).
The Wii Fit is getting challenging but also a bit repetitive. It's great for exercise when the weather is rotten or for winter days, but I wish there was more choice of activities, or that I could delete the ever repetitive commentary that is meant to motivate me but in fact only irritates me. After every tiny exercise it takes a few clicks and a few comment sentences
to go to the next exercise - so a 60 min session takes well over 90 mins to complete which is
a bit annoying. Above all, it works wonders for starting out wanting to do 30 minutes and ending up doing over an hour. I've just been sent the EA active Personal Trainer for the Wii Fit to test and review, so there's something that should keep me going on the Wii Fit.

So then, how did everyone else get on? Check it out on the flabber busters website.

Starting weight: 164 lbs
Target weight: 150 lbs
Weight last time: 159 lbs
Weight this week: 163 lbs
Difference: +4
How much still to go: 13 lbs

Oh and the best of British Parent Blogging is on over at Rebel Mother.

food, glorious comfort food

My diet has been on standby for the past week. I was stressed. I was trying to do too many things at once and felt like something heavy was pushing me down. Blame it on stress at work and 2 very hard weeks, a knock on the door of sadness at hearing sorrowful stories, even if from people I don't even know myself, making emotions surface that I thought I'd chased away with happy thoughts and happy actions.

Anyway, something had to give and it was food. I like food, especially if sweet. Lots of cakes, a BBQ, chocolate, grazing and eating more than I needed. Still trying not to binge eat and I think I just about managed that.

I kept up some version of exercise regime, not as frequently as planned but at least I upped the duration and intensity, and even went for a jog (the 3rd after falling pregnant with Cubling, i.e. in exactly 3 years) which was tough going, Tollcross Park is full of hills and the "heatwave" midday sun didn't help. Not that I believe in this being a heatwave, for goodness sake, it's only 25C that's nice, perfect indeed, not a heatwave! Still, it's so frustrating to get back into it and feels the legs heavy heavy heavy after just 10 mins, when you used to do a 60 min fast jog as a nice end of day relaxation time.

I should be back on track with my Recycle Week forfeit of no chocolate for a week (that's this week) and once the brown stuff is out of my system, it'll get easier again. I hope. Anyway, I'm glad I didn't gain any more than I did.

So for a very brief weigh-in:

weight today (Thurday): 159 lbs, put on 1lb since last week. 11 lbs to go.

is it really Wednesday again?

I can't get the image out of my head. With another few yoga poses unlocked on my Wii Fit (my current choice of exercise tool as I'm streaming with hayfever in spite of being on the top class of antihistamines. Any intention of jogging has been thwarted for the foreseeable future) I attempted the shoulder stand. I did not like what I saw. When hubby broke out into uncontrollable laughter at the sight of me, I couldn't but join him, if for different reasons: Suddenly, all that baby flabber that I'm reasonably proud of and happy with followed the new rules of gravity and threatened to make it's way towards my face and possibly drown/choke me. Scary. I'm not so sure why he laughed though.

No more shoulder stands for me.

Considering I had 2 really busy weeks (work - did I tell you I met the Secretary of State for Scotland this morning? update to follow soon - and Cubling taking her sense of independence and self and ownership one level up), I hope that 2 1/2 hours of total exercise will be complemented by constant mad chicken style pose (yoga masters watch out) to make up my 3 1/2 hour a week pledge. On the food front I've been good - lots of leaves, occasional tiny weeny cakes and a wee stress busting naughty day (read: chocolate) today. One big family meal. Admittedly, I've had a few glasses of red wine. My excuse: They were very much needed.

I cheated for the weigh in because I was in need of seeing success. I weighed myself before breaky in the morning, rather than the usual evening spot. My weight loss is therefore potentially not there, but after the last two weeks of constant go go go, I couldn't bear to have a zero in front of me. I'm also still struggling with conversion because as far as measurements of any kind are concerned I'm still firmly continental - Wii Fit tells me I have another 10lbs to go, but my calculation here states 8lbs. I'm confused. Maybe I should just stick to kg and stop converting. On the other hand counting in kg shows up even more slowly. Argh. The sums don't add up.

starting weight 164 lbs

weight last week 161 lbs

weight this week 158 lbs

gained/lost: 3 lbs

target weight: 68kg/ 150lbs (minimum) 65kg / 143lbs ideally.

how much to go 8lbs (15lbs ideally)

Go me!

Wednesday Weigh In Week 3

Oh dear, second week and I'm already lapsing. Must do better.

Exercise: less than 2 hours on the Wii Fit (which is getting tougher the more exercise action I unlock, and I'm starting to enjoy it, so much so that curtains need to be drawn before I switch it on, just to avoid embarrassment with all our neighbours), one 30 min brisk walk at lunchtime. 20 mins cycling with Cubling to make it something of a workout. 60 mins of cycling to work. No jogging. Most of the exercise from Sunday to Wednesday, so I lapsed big time at the start of the week. However, the exercise I did do made me feel very good and much more positive about my shape. So I feel like my couch potatodom may get seriously challenged for the feel good factor alone.

Food: I didn't binge eat (I mention that because I actually do that far too much) but I had one fatty dinner out, one first birthday party dinner, 3 mummy and toddler gettogether (they equal cake) a work lunch (curry...) and on the remaining days I had something sweet and brown even if it really wasn't a lot. Add to that indulgence in pizza, never managing to just eat half. I've still not managed to eat raw food for lunch rather than sandwiches. At least most of my food was rich in fruit and veg which is good for changing my tastebuds.

Still I threw myself into one of my new pair of trousers and thanks to them being stretch, they are only slightly uncomfortable. Call it cheating. I'm keeping them.

Barriers:
Mondays at work are manic.
I'm love knitting (eats into exercise time, especially because baby for whom I'm knitting a blanket is inexorably moving on in weekcount and I'm panicking ever so slightly).

Goals for next week:
-stick to 30 mins of exercise a day - it's challenging enough, with increase of intensity.
-improve on food front. No cakes. Buy stuff to make salads over the weekend so it's ready on Mondays. Eat less and really cut out the fat.
-establish evening routine: exercise on the Wii Fit, then do knitting, TV and internet browsing. In fact, don't switch on laptop in the evenings (yeah right).

Now for the weigh in:

Starting weight: 164 lbs
Last week: 158 lbs
This week: 161

Pounds lost/gained: +3

How much to go: 11 lbs minimum, (17 lbs ideally)

I knew last week must have been a blip - you don't lose 6lbs in a week unless you eat nothing and exercise a lot.

Wednesday Weigh In Week 2

Starting weight/last week's weight: 164 lbs

This week's weight: 158

lost/gained: 6

left to lose: 8 (14 if I can manage)

I know you can't really lose 6 lbs in just a week. I think some of the weight I was carrying might have been due to my pregnancy and that my baseline measurement was distorted (I was VERY shocked about the baseline weight). I'm extremely pleased nonetheless.

Success 1:
Ok, so I committed to 30 mins of exercise a day. This is harder than I thought. I managed 2.5 hrs on the Wii Fit, 1 hour of Yoga, 30 mins of brisk walking and mumble mumble. That's in a week, not in a day. It was difficult fitting it all in. Cubling quite clearly objected to my Yoga idea and was still up upon my return. When asked why, she said "Cubling weint. Want living room. Bed - no. Mummy gucken, Fenster." This must be the first narrative she ever produced. All for mummy having the audacity of leaving the house before her bedtime.

Barriers to my exercise commitment:
-It's not easy getting a lunch break at work. There's constant problems that need solving or meetings overrunning. I tend to work through or go for food shopping if the fridge is gaping empty. If I exercise, I'll eat fast food because the fridge is empty. If I go food shopping to cook low calorie healthy stuff, I don't have time for exercise at lunch time.

-I'm knackered in the evenings. Second opportunity of the day to do some exercise is after dinner and Cubling bedtime. By that time I'm usually exhausted and cannot get my bum up for some jogging. I've been good with the Wii Fit though, but don't find it challenging enough. Although I quite liked the way I lost 3 pounds after just an hour of exercise. At this rate I should be able to reach my dream weight reasonably quickly. Yeah right.

-Two nights each week I spend away from home. It's harder to implement an exercise plan out of my comfort zone and when I also want to be sociable.

Success 2:
I've eliminated ridiculous consumption of cake and chocolate, though still having the occasional taste of my favourite brown stuff. I've not binge eaten all week. I'm proud of that. My line manager tends to bring in little treats for team meetings. I'm bad at resisting temptation. On the whole though, success though I could do better, such as eat less.

Barriers to eating healthily:
-If I don't get a proper lunch break I'm frustrated, graze and eat more than planned.
-I don't get time to really prepare my salad, so still munching away on bread (though with healthy fillings).

Summary:

It's just so darn hard dieting when juggling work and child. It really is. While before it was no effort at all to go for a long run at lunchtime, have a shower and simply make up by working late, now all has to be contained within the hours the childminder dictates, and in the evening, my energy level are really not raring. Plus, any runner knows that running after dinner is a very.bad.idea.

The evening is a race against the clock trying to prepare dinner and getting Cubling to bed. Often, there's not enough time to cook up something nice and I grab a high calorie thingy from the freezer.

Improvement for next week:

Try harder to eat leaves for lunch. Resist more sweet stuff. Substitute sugar in tea with sweetener or nought. Keep up the goal of 30 mins of exercise a day. It's hard, but I know it should be doable and a minimum for healthy life style anyway. Start jogging because it's most efficient at burning calories, and because I like it. I feel back to normal physically so should be able to do it.

Here's my motivation:

Two pairs of nice M&S trousers, in my target size. I can just about close the button, but to be honest, they are way too tight. I've got 30 days to return them or return into them. In 30 days I want to be able to close the button without having to hold my breath. Basically, I want to keep them.

Wednesday Weigh In No 1

Thanks to Metropolitan Mum, I've come across the Blog to Fit Blog and their Wednesday Weigh In. It's all about trying to lose weight and getting motivated by stepping on the scales once a week and owning up rather publicly to what the scales say.

So here's why I'm joining: when I spent a night at hospital for monitoring due to my recent miscarriage, I was asked for my weight. To be honest, I didn't know because I don't step on scales a lot. I gave them an estimate, of somewhere between 65 and 70 kg. While I had put on a bit of weight recently, I'd blamed it on being pregnant. That excuse is gone, I have trouble fitting into any clothes and I do not want to succumb to going up a dress size. However, what tipped me over when I checked up on my weight and discovered that I was closer to 75 kg than to 70 kg, nevermind my wishful thinking of 65kg.

That's 10kg more than I weighed 6 months after giving birth. It also means I'm officially overweight. So, my aim is to lose at least one stone, or 14 lbs, roughly 6.5 kg.

I waited a week with the start, simply to make sure I was well enough to go on a diet. So here's my baseline Wednesday Weigh In:

Starting weight this week: (weight) 164 lbs (this is approximate because my scales are not very precise, I'm somewhere between 163 and 165 lbs)

Pounds lost (or gained): 0

How many pounds left to lose: 14 (I wouldn't mind losing 20 actually...)

I have lost a lot of weight once before (about 5 stone in total over a year and a half), the secret to it was lots of jogging and other exercise, plus eating 5 portions of fruit and veg by lunchtime, while cutting out the chocolate and cakes. If I can get my act together and make myself a salad for lunch on working days, the pounds will drop.

There are reasons and excuses which led to the weight gain. Reasons: Laziness. Love for carbohydrates and chocolate. Jee, I love chocolate. I can no longer commute to work by bike because the office is now too far away. Excuses: for 22 months, Cubling would not settle at night without boobie, and that meant that there was no time for me to ever go for a jog during day light. Then, for the last 3 months, I didn't jog for fear of miscarriage (what good did that do...). So no more excuses. I'm addicted to browsing the internet rather than getting off my bum and doing stuff. I pledge to do 30 mins of exercise a day, either in the form of brisk walk/jog/exercise class at lunchtime or in the evening, or by playing the Wii Fit.

Let the weight loss begin.