"My Weight Loss Coach" for the Nintendo DS, Reviewed!

The first day is all about getting you started; the game will talk you through some early steps, and after getting a drink of water, it'll poll you on your basic statistics: Gender, current weight, age, and height. This is what it uses to go ahead and calculate your BMI for later reference.

You'll also be led through using your shiny new pedometer that came with the game -- it has a port to work with the Game Boy Advance Slot, so the game can make sure you aren't cheating!

Make sure it's working properly (I had a little trouble pulling out the plastic tab, and ended up yanking out the whole battery - oops!), and then go test it out with 50 steps to make sure it's accurate. Then 500 steps. The game won't let you proceed with the introduction unless you do this.

ame Tip: If you're using a DS Lite, snap the game shut while you go off to do physical challenges! This will save your DS's battery life. Don't worry - your progress is saved while you're off losing weight!

Once you've done this, you'll be led through a coaching session -- basically a short quiz to check your progress. After completing the session, you'll make new challenges available that you can finish for bonuses!

Balancing the food you eat with the exercise you get is a crucial portion of the game.

You'll need to go off and do another challenge before it'll show you how the Food Balance and Physical Activity sections work -- they're where you input how much food you've eaten and how much exercise you've done to offset your food intake. Balancing the food you eat with the exercise you get is a crucial portion of the game.

After this? You're given a little more coaching and made to sign a promise to come back daily to keep up with everything and put new data into the game. Clever, since daily input is a key component of the program.

So far, everything is working normally, I've done a couple of challenges, and (as far as I know) most of the introduction is completed. It feels like it's working so far . . . but of course it's only the first day, so it's anybody's guess at this point. If nothing else, the game has a good amount of polish (though I did do the introduction with the sound off so far), and so it's not like the interface to the program itself will disappoint new players.

The pedometer is larger than I'd hoped for, but it needs half that size in order to fit inside the DS to begin with, and it's certainly a useful way to keep people from forgetting to check in with the game from time to time. (And making it plug into the DS itself also forces players to actually take the number of steps they say they're taking, which should keep less scrupulous folks from just cheating through the game and then claiming it doesn't work.)

Some Disadvantages: The game doesn't take into account the reduced mobility less mobile players (such as wheelchair users) may have. Also, the game is only able to accommodate a single player at a time -- no sharing a cartridge between players!

Game Tip: Make sure your pedometer is fitting snugly within the DS -- if it's not all the way in, the DS will have trouble reading it!)

By now, I've reached the first milestone (Mount Everest!), signed up for a new batch of challenges, logged over 10,000 steps in the past two days, and it's obvious that there's a fair amount more inside this game than is immediately obvious!

Results aren't going to make themselves obvious immediately, but I certainly am starting to feel better and healthier -- and the way the game works is becoming more obvious.

Instead of encouraging people to reward themselves with expensive things (a distraction) or "bad food" (toxic!) the game rewards you with you questions and challenges. Not only does this keep the game interesting, but it also keeps players focused on "winning" the game instead of stuffing themselves!

Some Disadvantages: The pedometer has some heft to it, and so using the DS while the pedometer is plugged in may feel uncomfortable. Also, the game is all stylus-control -- something you'll notice when you miss just pressing the "A" button to hurry your avatar along!

Starting to get into the habit of plugging in and playing more -- hit another milestone and coaching session, though it's getting harder now to keep up at the pace I was going before now.

Keeping up with the foods I eat is getting better, though. The posts are likely going to become shorter and shorter as it becomes more of a habit, which... it's pretty easy to fall into. The pedometer is starting to feel less like a foreign object now.

I've finally managed to reach "Perfect Balance!" Truth be told, the amount I had seems like a little more than I expected it to be... I'm not sure if it's from the way it measures food, or if I'm just not reporting the right stuff, but it's worked! It said I should be losing a pound every four days or so according to its initial calculations.

Today the game also increased my pedometer goals by 500 steps. Since I've been hitting the 6000 steps goal pretty easily thus far, it's starting to show that it adapts to your routine as you get further and further along!

Still waiting to see results on the scale, but as far as following the game goes, it's pretty simple!

Well, this weekend was a bit of a challenge for the game -- not only was I not at home (and so I'm exposed to less-than-optimal dining conditions), I'm also on the road a lot more!

Bump in the Road: The pedometer is a little TOO sensitive sometimes - say, when you've in a car whose ride isn't so smooth, or on roller coasters, or other similar vehicles... the pedometer will record steps where you haven't taken them! according to my DS, I managed around 14000 steps Saturday -- which I'm pretty sure didn't happen!

(Then again, my feet ARE killing me...)

I certainly feel healthier, though the results still haven't shown up on the scale yet. I get the feeling it'll take a couple more weeks for that to happen, but it did show me one important thing: The game WILL remind you to weigh in, so you don't have to worry about forgetting to keep the game updated!