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My Health Coach: Manage Your Weight with Free Pedometer (Nintendo DS) | 
 enlarge | From: Ubisoft
Category: Video Games
List Price: £29.99
Buy New: £21.10
You Save: £8.89 (30%)
New (12) from £21.10
Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 316
Platform: Nintendo Ds
Genre: sports-and-outdoors-games
Media: Video Game
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.8 x 1.9
EAN: 3307210323453
ASIN: B000VXS7L0
Release Date: June 20, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 i think this is great August 28, 2008
C. E. Elliott (London)
I love this! I am terminally unfit and overweight and have just joined a gym again for the first time in ages. This "game" actually makes me want to come home and log my results! I feel like there is someone who cares and pats me on the back when I have done well (altho my husband does do this as well!). I like the fact that the food just needs to balance - ie not spending ages detailing every little thing you eat - just a healthy balance.
I think it's fab!
The best slimming and health aid ever August 9, 2008
Billy Bunter (Republic of Ireland)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I read the reviews on Amazon before purchasing My Health Coach; thank you to the woman who wrote the detailed report, saying it was fun feeding the stick person and seeing it get fat after it had been fed what she ate, it made up my mind to buy it, as it sounded fun. A lot of these things are a big disappointment when you get them home but I am so impressed with this I have recommended it to friends.
What I like about this is its simplicity. The challenges are very do-able. My first one was to stand and sit ten times, and the second was to dance energetically to two songs.
I had read that the pedometer was unwieldy and that the reset button was inclined to be accidentally pressed and lose the data, but I haven't found it so. I was prepared to fish out my small pedometer, as you can use your own if you wish, but I like the DS acquiring my results and resetting the device. If you are worried about losing your score, you can input the steps whenever you want as long as you don't tick 'wrap the day' as that will close off that day's results. I like the countdown on 24 hour challenges as you can see how much time you've got left to complete them. It motivates me when there is a deadline. Best of all, it's unlike slimming clubs, which patronise us by having us clap the loss of so little as one pound(Harvey, on tv, says 'I could CRAP one pound!') and stay silent when those who didn't lose anything, or who(horror of horrors)gained weight, are mentioned. I don't like anything that makes people feel bad about themselves, even it is is by default. This device is nothing like a slimming club. It is totally private, and you are not competing with others but being privately coached to do a little more than you have been doing; making small changes, and not obsessing over food. I like the way it showed that the initial 500 steps you did with the pedometer took only five minutes (you could rack up 300-400 steps during an ad' break).
I like that it measures your progress in distance (rather than slimming club silver and gold stars) as it translates as 'See how far you have come'. If motivation wains you have only to look at how far you have come to want to have that stick figure walk more of your miles on screen. I like this product. It's well thought out. I hope they use it in schools as overweight children would enjoy the fun element of the stick figure doing what it does, and the challenges, but most of all, being in charge of their own health.
But more than that, I have adult daughters who are very weight conscious, thanks to the media; one of them worryingly underweight, and I felt relieved that it is not about calorie-counting or weight, but 'energy in/energy out' and it informs an underweight person why their body needs nourishment. Out of all the weight loss options I have tried, this is the one that impresses me most, because it's simple, it's encouraging, and it doesn't have you thinking about food all the time, but rather, the positive side of making changes; the challenges and the feel-good factor when after you've done them. You get back a sense of your own power. If you have been rebelling against people's attitude to your extra weight, as I have, this little coach is on your side.
 Very motivating, but don't take it too seriously August 7, 2008
Debbie King (Durham City, Co Durham United Kingdom)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This isn't really a game, it's more of a 'personal trainer' in your pocket. The little matchstick people are fun and very motivational, and for once they actually MAKE me want to get off my backside and do some exercise! :-)
Each day you are given four objectives in your Daily Sessions; these are to complete the required number of steps on your pedometer, to do at least one of the daily challenges, to do a certain amount of physical activity and to maintain a healthy food balance. Each one you achieve is ticked off the list and you are awarded 'distance' as your reward.
I do find the pedometer a bit unwieldy to wear all the time but it's very simple just to insert in into the DS and let the program record the steps. You can, however, use a different pedometer and just record the steps manually if you want.
Each day you enter the amount and type of food you've eaten by feeding the items to the matchstick person. Be aware, however, that this part is not terribly accurate, but is only meant to be a rough guide. For example, foods are limited and their calorie content is rounded up or down to the nearest 50 calories; also, you can only pick from standard portion sizes rather than entering the exact amount eaten. If you want to record your calorie consumption accurately then the program is no good, although it does let you have a basic idea of what you eat.
Likewise with the calories burnt through exercise; these are rounded up or down to the nearest 50 calories. I did find, also, that the metabolism they'd worked out for me was way too inaccurate.
All in all, My Health Coach is fun to use and very motivating, which is, after all, half the battle when trying to lose weight. Instead of saying "you have 30 pounds to lose!" which seems a massive task to achieve, it breaks it up into manageable targets; in this, my first month, it has given me a target of six pounds to lose which is far more attainable.
I will definitely continue to use it and see how I get on :-)
Fun, portable encouragement in a healthier lifestyle August 6, 2008
Laura Kai
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm reasonably fit and have an active job, but I know I could be fitter... Like most people, I have a busy schedule and don't always make time to exercise as much as I could, outside of work. This "game" has been a great inspiration to me and I am already feeling the benefits!
Like most fitness plans or routines, you get out of this what you put in - if you lie and say you did one of the challenges when you didn't... you're only cheating yourself! So obviously, you need a bit of will power - or at the very least a vow to yourself that you will follow your Coach's advice.
If you're up for the challenge, then My Health Coach is for you! Like the description says, you don't need to spend long at all with it each day. I like to spend 5 minutes in the morning, choosing my challenge or challenges for the day - then I come back for 5 minutes at the end of the day to note the food I ate and the activity I did. Be sure to "Wrap the day" when you've done both, as you can't go back and check it off after that day has finished. I did try to alter the DS date setting so I could go back and "Wrap" the previous day (i.e. get a little tick on the calendar) but annoyingly, the game knew what I was trying to do! It would be nice to have the option to "tick" the day once its finished.
The Health Coach covers your eating habits (including your cooking, visits to restaurants, willingness to try new foods) and your activity (including your pedometer count, any exercise or activity for the day). You will be set targets for the day - usually a specific number of steps on the pedometer, a number of minutes of activity (e.g. 30 - could be as simple as a walk during your lunch break), 1 or more challenges and finally, you get an extra tick if you balance your food and activity.
The challenges are quite fun and range from minute challenges (those to be done straight away) to 24-hour challenges (which you can complete any time during the day). You are offered a mixture of food and fitness challenges (you can do up to 6 in any one day) to choose from and you can change the types of challenges you want by answering in your Coaching sessions.
As some people have mentioned, the pedometer is slightly larger than most, to accomodate the DS connection point. I haven't had a problem with it and wear it throughout my day. If it bothers you, you are able to enter the step count manually, so you could always use a smaller one. It's been a very interesting way to monitor how much walking I do every day and you get activity points for the amount of steps.
I haven't had a problem with entering my food - it does take a couple of days to get used to which category the food has been entered under and as its not an exhaustive list, you may have to substitute some things. Some of it is a little Americanised, but it shouldn't cause much of a translation issue for most Brits.
Overall, I have really enjoyed using my Health Coach - I have been using it every day for nearly a fortnight now and not only am I eating much more healthily but I am also getting closer to achieving my fitness goals. For me, it has definitely been worth the money and I would recommend it to others who would like a portable bit of encouragement in a healthier lifestyle. I have given the game 4 stars as I think it could be improved but it is easy-to-use and it changes its goals as you improve or as you alter your weight in the Passport section. I like it especially because it emphasises that the more you exercise, the more you will need to eat appropriate food to fuel the body.
has its advantages and disadvantages July 25, 2008
dee (UK)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I quite like the idea of the game and how you can keep track of everything you eat in a day and how it balances against your daily activities. It does motivate you to keep up with it and take on new challenges and makes you feel good about yourself when you've achieved them.
What I don't like so much is the pedometer. It is a bit bulky, not very comfortable to wear and it usually either resets itself during the day, or stops working completely, so obviously doesn't really keep track of the exact steps I have taken. In all it is a good game but needs improvement on the pedometer. I also believe that the pedometer should be available to buy seperately in case it breaks so people wouldn't be forced to buy the whole game again.
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