Biggest Loser Video Game Preview
Posted on Sep 8th 2009 4:00PM by Katherine Tweed"The Biggest Loser" kicks off just one week from today. The focus of Season 8 is second chances, including a former Season 7 contestant Daniel, who was the show's heaviest contestant ever at 454 pounds. But second chances aren't just for the contestants. To help fans follow along in their own weight loss journeys, The Biggest Loser Interactive game for Nintendo DSi, DS and Wii hits stores on October 6.
The game features Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels to push you through routines to help you reach your goals, just like on the show. It also offers nutrition tips and challenges. The programs have a range of exercises, from yoga and cardio to full-body circuits to tone your body. "We wanted to give people another tool," Bob says. "You're going to have recipes from the book, you can track your progress, you can put in your calorie intake so when you lost the weight you can go back and see what worked."
There are four, eight and 12-week programs. Once you enter your current weight, you can enter your goals. But unlike the show, which has raised eyebrows for its extreme weight loss that is unsustainable for many people in the real world, the game will actually limit the amount of weight you can lose in a given program. If you're looking to lose 50 pounds in four weeks, the game will set more realistic goals for the first four weeks and then you can enter new goals for the next session.
And what about the workout? At a recent preview of the game, many former Biggest Loser contestants and Bob were on hand to break a sweat with a Wii controller. And everyone did sweat. As you go through the exercises, Bob or Jillian coax you along just as they do on the show. "It's actually their voice and their personality," says Nicole from Season 7. "When you see the avatar you're like 'oh it kind of looks like Bob,' but then you hear him -- and it's totally him."
Click on the gallery below to see who wins when newlyweds Damien and Nicole take each other on in a Biggest Loser Interactive challenge.
Biggest Loser Video Game Preview
Tara, Damien and Nicole from Season 7, along with Jim from Season 4, were on hand with Bob to show off their slimmer bodies and break a sweat with the new Biggest Loser video game for Wii and Nintendo DS and DSi.
Katherine Tweed
The game is broken up into lower-body, upper-body and full-body workouts, which you can choose, or a program will be set up for you based on your goals. Tara offered her tips for me (left) and Kelly Zyskowski from Seventeen magazine as we went through a 30-minute routine.
Katherine Tweed
The key to the workout is to mimic the trainer on screen -- not going slower or faster -- to maintain proper form. Bob and Jillian are just as encouraging (and tough!) in the game as they are in real life, according to Nicole from Season 7.
Katherine Tweed
Floor exercises oddly require you to put your Wii controller in your pocket, although many workout clothes don't have pockets. But we discovered it's just as easy to put it in your waistband so the controller can still register your movements.
Katherine Tweed
Two players, including one who is a member of the Biggest Loser Club, went head to head in a challenge. Like the real game, the challenges eliminate players one by one until there is only one winner left.
Katherine Tweed
Bob came by to cheer on Kelly and I as we go head to head in a challenge that involves doing a "mountain climb" move followed by "ax chops." After a 30-minute full-body routine and two challenges, we both got a (surprisingly) good workout. Even though Bob wasn't standing behind us the entire workout, he was with us on the screen and it kept us moving -- and sweating.
Katherine Tweed
After a technical snafu in round one challenge, where Nicole thought she was winning but the controllers were switched around, the newlyweds went for a rematch. "I don't know anything about video games," Nicole admitted. "It was Atari when I was young."
Katherine Tweed
The mountain climbing movement is meant to mimic your character moving across a pool on a tightrope. Nicole is in the lead, but Damien isn't far behind.
Katherine Tweed
Nicole wins this round definitively with good form on her "ax chops." Damien, however, claims his controller must be broken and they have a rematch to settle the rematch.
Katherine Tweed
