Yesterday I picked up a copy of Ring Fit Adventure - I had wanted to get one sooner but everywhere seemed to be sold out after Christmas - as a way of getting back into a regular fitness routine that wasn't as intense as joining a crossfit group or signing up to an entire year of gym membership. I've been a sporadic member of a gym for a few years but that was predominantly as a social thing rather than a result of having any real enthusiasm for being healthy or strong, and as I've just moved to a new city/country I felt the need to find something I could do independently.

Before I bought the game I did a little research on whether it would actually work as a well rounded substitute for other forms of exercise. Has anyone actually lost weight by committing to the Ring Fit Adventure consistently over a number of days? There's plenty of videos of fitness trainers trying it out on youtube, but very few ongoing reviews where people share their experiences with the game over time, and that's what I was interested in. How do you feel after playing every day for a week? How about after a month? Has it changed any other aspects of your life, such as the way you eat or sleep? Do you find it too easy, or difficult, or too focused on specific muscle groups?

As I've just bought the game myself I'm undoubtedly going to find out the answers to those questions in my own time, but I wanted to open up a discussion for people to share their ongoing impressions, as well as any related health/fitness tips and tricks. One of the best ways to stay motivated is to see the progress other people are making, so feel free to share!

Mine is arriving today so I hope so! My logic is that going from zero activity and stretching to some is going to be beneficial. I don't expect to actually get fit though.

I’d be curious about this for folks who don’t work out at all, and those that already do some strength and cardio and supplement it with Ring Fit Adventure.

I’d also be curious if folks from those groups have seen their interest or progress plateau.

I’m skeptical of this stuff, but it’s always cool when it works for folks. Awesome to see people taking care of themselves...

I think whatever gets you up and moving is good to a certain extent.

It really depends on what your goals are. You can't out-exercise a bad diet. I think it's great that people really enjoy this game but I don't think it really beats standard exercising whether it's running, walking, lifting, etc.

It's definitely more enjoyable than my old exercise bike routine, at least.

Regular moderate exerciser here (6 days a week, 3 mile runs every other day, 30-40 minute gym strength sessions the other day). I have not found Ring Fit useful for working up a cardio sweat compared to my regular regime, but in terms of lean muscle training, I'm more obviously toned in my upper body and pecs that I've ever been before. Turns out having clear, regular instructions on what do and how long to do it as opposed to just kinda fumbling around the gym for forty minutes with no direction is a lot better for actually seeing results, who'd have thought. Except for occasional lifting, I've mostly stopped making the schlep to my campus's gym in favor of playing for an equivalent amount of time on my non-run days. All in all, Ring Fit's been a great supplement to and partial replacement of my prior routine and I hope Nintendo does more with the peripheral.

Also, echoing every piece of wellness advice on the internet, no matter how intense your Ring Fit workouts are, you probably aren't going to see a lot of weight loss unless you're also improving your diet.

Ring Fit rules. I was working out 2 or 3 times a week. Adding Ring Fit got me to 4 or 5. It also has me hitting stuff I was ignoring.

So as a supplemental thing, it's fitting in some gaps and I really just enjoy doing it. "Just one more level" never felt so useful.

• Background: I've completed various workout programs like P90 and P90X, but only casually do some of those workouts post program. I'm too gassy to go to the gym so I like home workouts a lot.
• Bought Ring Fit at launch, played roughly 45min in-game time (doubled IRL) 4-6 days a week, and have played 36 hours total.
• I've beaten the main game at difficulty 25/30 and am doing post game now.

I can definitely say I feel pretty good overall, but, since I don't diet properly: this hasn't really been a huge weight loss story. If you don't diet with this, which you should consider adjusting something in your diet if you're having weight issues, then look forward to: 1) having a slightly better sense of self, 2) fun doing the adventure (it's easy if you grind too much as JRPGs tend to be), and 3) you'll gradually get better at exercises like a bevy of squats and yoga stretches.

It's surprising how easy some exercises are now, which prompted me to increase the difficulty from 21 to 25 over time, but you really need some sort of dietary changes if you want to see huge results I'd say. Otherwise P90 is a great focal point for couch potatoes / people wanting to get into exercising.

I think it has improved my health at least a little bit. It doesn't solve my main problem with exercise which is I don't want to do it before or after work, and I work 5 days a week. If I don't have a day off then I'm only playing ring fit once a week for about 30 minutes.

I finally got to the part where they introduce planks last Saturday. I've never done or seen a plank before and WOW, it really made me wonder why anyone ever bothered with crunches. Nine planks was enough to make my abs sore up until yesterday. I don't know if I'll ever beat Ring Fit adventure, since playing a long JRPG for 30 minutes a week is pretty discouraging, but at least I now know how to do squats and planks.

Weight loss is 90% about your calorie intake. Wii Fit/Ring Fit are good supplements to traditional exercise but I don't think you're going to see any dramatic results without modifying your diet.