Parenting with a side of sarcasm. That's how I roll.

Nathan and I bought a Wii Fit a couple of years ago shortly after it was released. It was very popular at the time and was impossible to find in the stores, so we did what every early adopter does when it comes to buying hard-to-find merchandise; we bought it from Craigslist and paid much more than we should have.

I really wanted the Wii Fit because I thought it would be a great tool to help me get back into a fitness routine. What I didn’t know is, like many puny little bathroom scales, the Wii Fit had a weight limit I had long since passed. The Wii Fit actually has two weight limits, one for balance boards sold in the US and one for balance boards sold to Japanese/European consumers. Can you guess which one has the greater weight limit?

So my hopes were dashed after realizing this weight limit and from time to time I’d notice the Wii Fit propped up against the wall and wonder if I’d ever get to use it. Nathan tried it once and Autumn would occasionally pull it out and dance on it. Other than that, the Wii Fit lay dormant and neglected for a long, long time.

Ever since I started back at Weight Watchers my one goal has been to get myself under that Wii Fit fatty threshold. It was a modest goal, one I thought was very attainable as my first mini-goal. When you have as much weight to lose as I do, it’s best to set up mini-goals because looking at the big picture can be disheartening. Taking it one goal at a time and looking at that weight in smaller chunks is preferable to thinking I have to lose the equivalent of one adult human. A male human at that.

I had been getting close. Last week I was less than two pounds from the threshold and hoped a really good week of eating well and exercise would pay off. I didn’t get my hopes up, though. One thing I’ve noticed is a 38 year-old body does not lose weight as quickly as a 28 year-old body. My losses have fluctuated from a fraction of a pound to several pounds per week so I never know what number is going to greet me when I step on the scale every Saturday.

I wasn’t expecting much at weigh-in. I hoped I’d at least be under that threshold but I wasn’t counting on it, so I dropped my purse on the ground, threw my coat over a chair and took a deep breath as I stepped on that scale.

BOOM! A 5.2 pound loss, baby! I blew that goal out of the water with the best weigh-in I’ve had since I returned to Weight Watchers in October.

To celebrate the loss, I went straight to the store and bought a rechargeable battery pack for the Wii Fit balance board. After months and months of non-use, that thing was going to get to know me.

And know me it did.

I actually took several pictures of my first Wii Fit session. From the WF telling me I was obese (big duh) to it making my already generously proportioned Mii (aptly named “Big Mama”) even larger, my introductory WF experience was captured on film. But then my camera decided to eat the pictures and I now have nothing to show you.

But my Wii Fit age is 35. I wasn’t expecting that.

So now I’ve finally used the Wii Fit and have to say the experience was anticlimactic. I tried a few exercises, had fun with the hula hoop game and tried to avoid getting tagged in the noggin with soccer cleats, but I guess I expected more. It does have a surprisingly accurate scale that calculated my weight within ounces of the Weight Watchers scale, so that’s a plus. Or a minus if you’re my husband. Apparently the WF told him he has gained some weight since his last session 500-plus days ago.

“That can’t be right,” he said.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a tiny thrill when I told him the scale was indeed accurate.

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