When my friend asked me to try out his new Wii Fit, I skipped right over to his tiny NYC apartment. I was anxious to try this new trend that was taking a chunk of fat off America’s waistline and sold about 9 million copies to date. Miley Cyrus and Angelina Jolie have reportedly Wii’d some weight off; why couldn’t I?

Wii Fit was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, who gained weight from working too much, getting married, and turning 40 (shocking!). He started exercising and charting his weight for a year, two activities he thoroughly enjoyed and thought could be fun for the whole family. (Seriously, he envisioned happy families having a grand ‘ol time jumping on the scale everyday. Interesting choice of fun.)

Miyamoto’s team at Nintendo created the Wii Balance Board, a shoulder-width platform containing four scale sensors that measure your weight, BMI, center of gravity, and Wii Fitness Age. Players practice Wii Fit’s 40+ exercises—yoga, strength training, aerobics, and balance games--to improve all four measurements, and the Wii tracks your progress.

My favorite is the aerobics section. Jogging is done in place while placing the Wiimote, which acts as a pedometer, in your pocket. But when you watch the TV, you’re running with cartoon characters who urge you to move faster if you get lazy. The hula hoop games are awesome for me, because I’ve never been good at real-life hula hoop. But with Wii, I can “hoop” for an hour, and sculpt my core simultaneously. Yay!

As I progress, the game unlocks tougher exercises, like Rhythm Boxing (kinda like Taebo) and a “really, really long” run (11 minutes). Gym bunnies will not be challenged, but couch potatoes could find some of these exercises extremely effective and provide motivation to do more.

As with anything, Wii Fit has a few problems, like the inevitable pauses between exercises, as some sort of menu always pops up. But you can jog in place during these intermissions to keep your heart rate up. I also suggest pumping your stereo, as the yoga and strength training segments can be depressingly silent.

One huge advantage Wii Fit has over my all time favorite Buns of Steel 3, however, is that the game knows whether you’re really exercising. If a different person steps on the board to take over for you, the game will call you out, as the person will inevitably have a different weight and center of gravity. It’s like the game is watching you!

When you outgrow Wii Fit ($250 for console and $90 for game and board), try Jillian Michaels’ Fitness Ultimatum 2009 ($40), which will have you crossing monkey bars, climbing ladders, and rowing.