Outrage as Wii Fit labels healthy child as "overweight"

Capt CHAOS - 597 days 11 hours ago

It looks like the weighing ability in Wii fit is highly inaccurate.

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Tempist - 597 days 9 hours ago

They may not have regionalised the game properly. It could be basing this off the Eastern standard which greatly differs from the North American standards. Also, it cannot give an entirely accurate BMI as it doesn't have the technology to run proper BMI tests.

And since when do we need consoles to get us into shape? Why have we waited to the point where someone capitalizes on that. Get out and RUN!

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JasonXE - 597 days 2 hours ago

you will get shot/die, robbed/mug if you do. Then you will get hungry after running so much but your parents are to lazy to make food or buy groceries...thats why.

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Fat Bastard - 597 days 1 hour ago

Maybe that little girl shouldn't be such a fat @ss

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redninja - 597 days ago

It's not Nintendo's fault that their kid eats too many cupcakes.

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socomnick - 597 days ago

The only accurate bmi test is the water one but those are mad expensive. :/ I gotta get my body fat percentage down for the summer im at 14-16 percent right now I wana drop to 10 :)

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Gondee - 596 days 23 hours ago

If she was really 92 pounds at 4'11 than im gona say shes over weight.

So this is saying that parents dont want their kids to know that their over weight. And they would rather them eat all they wanted and get high colestral at age 10.

Stupid amercia. this is good. Now mabye the kids will know that being over wight is a bad thing and know not to eat so much.

FYI The guy living next to me has a kid thats 5'1 10 years old and 145 pounds. And the dad is constantly telling the kid that hes not over weight.

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Jeebus - 596 days 22 hours ago

Wii Sports calls you old.

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Bonsai1214 - 596 days 20 hours ago

BMI is a simple calculation based on height and weight. but it doesn't take into account body composition. because if you're pure muscle and 5'4, it'll list you as morbidly obese.

the "pinch test" is a much better way of testing overall fitness.

FYI, BMI = ((weight in lb) x 703) / (height in inches)^2

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tgh machines - 596 days 23 hours ago

Grand theft auto is a casual game...

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Spinner - 597 days 12 hours ago

Well if she is 4'9" and 92lbs, then her BMI would be in the normal range ...

I've never played WiiFit, does it just come out and say "FATASS LOL"

Maybe she inputed the wrong height for her profile?

I dunno.

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perseus - 597 days 11 hours ago

BMI is an incorrect assessment of healthy weight. Fat percentages are much more accurate, the BMI just serves as a warning that there may be a problem.

For example, Brad Pitt is considered obese by his BMI. Is he obese? My wife doesn't think so.

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tonsoffun - 597 days 11 hours ago

BMI is not an accurate way to define if someone is overweight or not: waist/hip ratio is a far better way of recording obesity.

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KeiZka - 597 days 12 hours ago

Unfortunately this world is riddled with idiots for parents...

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MK_Red - 597 days 12 hours ago

So sad but also so true :(

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KeiZka - 597 days 12 hours ago

It's a shame the brazen idiots get to multiply.. A shame indeed. And even though they don't seem to be that idiotic normally, god forbid if something threatens their perfect little selfmade image... God no. (*Ahem*sex in games forbidden, yet violence allowed? No wonder world's so fecked up*ahem*)

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fenderputty - 597 days 11 hours ago

I mean these are casual gamers at best here. They're not online. They don't know that the game isn't supposed to substitute actual physical activity.

I'm sure most parents just thought, "it's rated for everyone, comes from Nintendo and my child really wants it."

I, personally, wouldn't be too happy about this as a parent. Especially when my child isn't in unhealthy condition.

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iceman2885 - 597 days 11 hours ago

BMI is actually a crock for anyone who is considered and athlete. There is a disclaimer on pretty much every thing where BMI is used saying that scale may not apply to athletes. BMI doesn't take a person's build into account at all, it simply asks for height and weight (and if someone thinks something can tell you if your healthy or overweight just by your height and weight they are just being foolish). I mean, according to BMI pretty much every professional football player is considered grossly overweight or obese. Sorry for the rant, but its just BMI always ticks me off because "researchers" use it in studies (when its to their advantage to do so) to show a group of people are overweight or grossly overweight when it often doesn't apply, and ignorant people just trust it.

I just wonder if WiiFit has the disclaimer informing the gamer about BMI and how its calculated.

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Capt CHAOS - 597 days 11 hours ago

You are spot on there.. Bubbles..

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ItsDubC - 597 days 11 hours ago

DDR can be much more physically-demanding than taking a walk.

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BrianC6234 - 597 days 6 hours ago

Maybe more demanding than your walks. I walk almost every night after work. I walk for an hour and about 3.5 miles. I'd say that's much more exercise than some dumb videogame will get me.

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ItsDubC - 597 days 6 hours ago

You're feeling high and mighty about walking? I've never played DDR but I know through observation that it can elevate one's heartrate to a much higher level than the max attained by simply walking at 3.5 mph. It's about intensity, which is why I myself prefer to do interval training instead of jogging when I work out.

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BrianC6234 - 596 days 19 hours ago

"You're feeling high and mighty about walking?"

What's wrong with walking? It's great exercise and doesn't cost me anything besides new shoes once in a while. Where I live it's great for walking too. If everyone would walk just 20 minutes a day they'd be a lot healthier. I don't really want to get into all the working out and lifting weights. I walk to get exercise. Also, I'm a baseball fan so I listen to games on my radio when I walk. I can do two things at once.

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PS360WII - 597 days 11 hours ago

cuz it just uses the numbers http://www.nhlbisupport.com...

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iceman2885 - 597 days 11 hours ago

As you said BMI follows a formula using only height and mass. It doesn't take into account build or muscle mass. Better measurement of body fat is done by caliper skin pinch tests and I also believe the army uses neck to waist ratio but I may be mistaken. Regardless BMI is junk to anyone who knows anything about it.

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Lumbo - 597 days 11 hours ago

the BMI only works for average (as in average body fat percentage, not pro sports people who have a high percentage of muscle as muscle is heavier than fat) ADULT people. for Kids the BMI is less and less accurate the younger they are, following the BMI formula ALL toddlers are grossly overweight and need to be put on a strict diet aka starving them ...

Most who "blame" the parents over this "news" fail to understand that the parents where doing EXACTLY what the blamers here told them to do ... to qoute:

"Wow, are those parents realling using Wii Fit as an actual measuring tool for their children!? I knew most parents were idiots but not this much..."

When the article clearly states: "the family had to work hard to convince her that she isn't." while PLAYING WiiFit. Nowhere a single mention that the parents ever intended to use WiiFit as tool to decide about the kids fitness. quite contrary they tried to convince the kid that it should not give so much into the result.

The Kid (brainwashed from the usual advertising flatline that people MUST be 100% thin) was feeling miserable cause the game told her that she was "overweight" when in fact she was not. Kids self esteem is VERY vulnerable at certain development periods. So a low blow such as a "game" telling you in front of your friends and family that you are fat will deliver a nice crippling blow that could result in a serious mental disorder like bulimia. Especially when the devs had their issues with the system them self hence a note in the manual that the BMI might be inaccurate for kids ... But then why flash the "you are a fat cow" sign into the face of kids if you KNOW that your calculations are not worth anything ...

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PS360WII - 597 days 11 hours ago

lumbo this story is given to us 3rd hand. The kid could of been playing it having fun and the parents could of walked in and saw that it said she was obese and they flipped out and shouted you are not overweight and how dare you think that way my child! There really is no way of knowing plus for a 10 year old to get upset over weight already has issues instilled in her head by partents then. You shouldn't have a complex that early in life

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tidycats29 - 597 days 10 hours ago

Lmao!!
were your feeling hurt when you saw 42 years old lulz

I'm sure a lot of casual parents will buy this to check on their weight not as a normal fun game
thus more children will probably cry

But if the parents took the time to read the darn manual it clearly states young children results are usually innacurate

O well but in this age and era people barely look at the manuals.

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Stubacca - 597 days 6 hours ago

You'd have thought there would have been more of an outrage about the fact wii is rubbish once you've had it a week. Where's that story? I hear it everywhere...

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LiQuiFiedArt - 596 days 21 hours ago

110% Wii = 1 week of fun, then you realize you wasted 250$.

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