Journey2Fitness

Weight Watchers Mobile! Whoot!

Weight Watchers sent me an eMail today announcing the release of their Mobile app. It works great on my iPhone!

Some of the highlights:

• Look up the POINTS on something in a restaurant.
• The gang deciding where to eat? Look up the POINTS of, say, Red Robin versus Taco Garage before you get coerced into going somewhere that doesn't have anything for you on Program but cracked ice and lettuce.
• Sitting in the car after the workout, enter your Activity points. Get that extra thrill of the pat on the head.

At every step, you're more likely to track. And tracking is key to success, isn't it?

You DO have to be an actual, card-carrying (literally) member. I have the new ongoing, auto-draw membership plan for $39 a month, which include the eTools (online library) membership AND the mobile app. I find it's well worth it to have that accountability going.

Don't forget - you can participate in the WW community forums without being a WW paying member.

I'm feeling myself one step closer. Thanks, Weight Watchers!

I'll report in as I use the MobileApp more. I have a friend who works in the web design area of WW now, so maybe she can backchannel me some news from time to time as well.

Let us know what you think, what you find, whether it helps you stay on track.

Wii Fit and Computer-aided Fitness

I read a very interesting post on James Cooley's Healthcare blog today (with thanks to the Statesman's Omar Gallegos for pointing it out in the Twitterverse :) that spurred me to capture some of my Wii Fit game ideas.

I design business websites and webapps. We web designers watch the gaming industry closely for emerging computer-human interaction trends, and we learn a lot from watching the emergence and adoption curves of new input devices like Wii, Wii Fit, DDR pads, Guitar Hero and so forth.

At our open coworking sessions at Firecat Studio in San Antonio, we've brought out various gaming devices (and beverages) and invited creatives to imagine new applications. Some ideas that are cooking in my mind:

• Walking/jogging trails with time travel unlockables. For example, earn enough points through time or effort to unlock fitness environments like Ancient Egypt/Saqqara, Ancient Rome, Louis XIV Versailles, Beijing's Imperial City, Canyon de Chelly or Aztlan in their respective heydays.

• Walking/jogging trails with lovely, immersive destinations like the Brazilian rainforest, Jamaica's beaches, the Himalayas (look, Ma, no oxygen!).

• Rowing, swimming, and other low-impact variants, taking a cue from Endless Ocean. Add the time travel to that -- start as Galley slave, but with enough pulls, you get to visit the Minoan palace at Knossos or ancient Babylon or Easter Island to see them chiseling stone faces.

• Wii Fit + Jazzercise (or DDR + Jazzercise). Unlock better and better music (please!). Different genres of dance and music, too. Compete with others online, get support and cheers from the community.

• Wii Fit + Weight Watchers. Include an online link to the weight tracking, journaling, recipes, and the already cohesive online WW community.
  

If any of you dear readers want to team up and design and build these things, let me know. If you are building such an app and need a tester or review, let me know -- drop me a line at susan(at)firecatstudio.com

Next item to purchase: a DDR pad and game. Any suggestions as to which I'd like best?