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Obesity experts condemn Wii Fit...

Jon_Danger said:
6 stone = 120 lbs
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If you don't know what a stone equals.

1 stone = 14 lbs.

I think people miss the part where she would fall in at 18 BMI which wouldn't mean she is overweight if the father is not lying about her weight. 99% chance this is user error.
 
Kaijima said:
Geeze, we got people on here joking about calling a 10 year old girl a "fat bitch". Some days, one really wishes people on the Internet would have to actually go up to everyone they flip off from the computer and repeat everything, word for word, to their faces.
.
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u are asking too much
 
AstroLad said:
If a game were to prounounce that someone was "black" it would get branded as racist, as should Nintendo be branded in this case. I don't make exceptions for companies.
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Where is this game that judges how black you are, then assists you in becoming less black?
 
AstroLad said:
As I alluded to though the same principle applies to those other terms as well--if Nintendo thinks they were being "safe" by using those terms they're gravely mistaken.

Just to use an example from popular culture: If a game were to prounounce that someone was "black" it would get branded as racist, as should Nintendo be branded in this case. I don't make exceptions for companies.
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1.) Do you even know what the damn BMI is? It specifically uses those terms.

2.) A metric using weight and height has absolutely nothing to do with race. Please stop posting from elementary or middle school, whichever you are attending.
 
Evander said:
Where is this game that judges how black you are, then assists you in becoming less black?
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I want the game that determines just how white and nerdy you are and helps you become more black and dirty.
 
borghe said:
ok, to be fair here folks, the number of people who BMI fails for is ridiculously minuscule in proportion to the number of people that it is generally correct on. Just saying... I know it's not perfect, but in the vast majority of cases it's not too far off. I think most people, and even many kids, could certainly stand to shed a few pounds (myself included) even if they don't want to acknowledge it.
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Not true, if you read the threads here, it's quite obvious that 80% of GAFers who are overweight are built. :)

But seriously, I'm of two minds about this issue. I think obesity in kids is a big deal and a growing problem, but I don't think the way to combat it is to get them weighing in on a video game. I think that is potentially harmful -- it's great to get them thinking about fitness/exercise, etc., but get the right girl at the right age and it's a recipe for an eating disorder. (EDIT: I want to clarify this, that I think the overall Wii Fit package is a good idea, measure their abilities, etc., and encourage a healthy lifestyle.... but I'm not so sure about the weigh-in and subsequent "You are overweight.")

In some cases, parents can take some blame for their kids' inactivity, but even more so, they're to blame for the diet... and for a kid who's playing Wii Fit and sports and getting fed takeout every night by mom and dad, the deck is stacked against them.

Me? I'm happy to see where I stand (for the record, I know... slipped into "overweight" from "normal" in the last year at a little over 25BMI)... and I think most adults can take it. But kids? I don't think so.

As far as associations to protect the overweight... while I know there are "proud to be fat" folks out there and to me that's scary, I do think it's pretty disgusting how fat people seem to be the last fair game in the world for open mockery.

EDIT: Also was shocked reading the news story to see the suggestion that the game uses the term "fat." Glad to see that's not the case.
 
SickBoy said:
But seriously, I'm of two minds about this issue. I think obesity in kids is a big deal and a growing problem, but I don't think the way to combat it is to get them weighing in on a video game. I think that is potentially harmful -- it's great to get them thinking about fitness/exercise, etc., but get the right girl at the right age and it's a recipe for an eating disorder.
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I kinda agree with this. I mean, that its believable that a girl would weigh herself with WiiFit and become anorexic because of it says something is seriously wrong with society (American at least, I won't speak for all the lard ass Europeans out there). At the same time, I have a hard time blaming WiiFit for that problem. Its probably better for families to all weigh themselves and talk about it than for them to ignore problems for fear of creating an anorexic girl. And it DOES tell you if your underweight too.
 
I think that it says something about the parents of this little girl that they bought her a VIDEO GAME to get in shape. Snake oil might suit them better. Unless this video game (in it's defense, I have not played it) cooks nutritious food and runs your ass around the block for about a half hour then it's not much good. From what I gather Wii Fit will keep you from becoming a useless bag of lard, but it won't make Rosie O Donnell into Jessica Alba.
 
This is so sensationlistic and stupid.

They might have a point if Mario popped up on screen and says, "You're a fat!" but honestly it's just a BMI chart.
 
DrEvil said:
North American Version uses

Overweight
Normal
Underweight


for the BMI results.. anything 25 and under is normal, anything below 20 is underweight..
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Is there no Obese option in the USA version?
 
Minsc said:
Being fat isn't an opinion. If he doesn't want to divulge her actual weight, I'm going to side with the scale here. Especially given how quick is he to brag how she is 4'9" or whatever.
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6 stone = 84 pounds

Coincidentally, my BMI has been between 20 and 21 for as long as I remember.
 
Who cares anyway, if your at the point where you think a game might help your fatass get in better shape, your full of fail anyway.
 
Grue said:
I think that it says something about the parents of this little girl that they bought her a VIDEO GAME to get in shape. Snake oil might suit them better. Unless this video game (in it's defense, I have not played it) cooks nutritious food and runs your ass around the block for about a half hour then it's not much good. From what I gather Wii Fit will keep you from becoming a useless bag of lard, but it won't make Rosie O Donnell into Jessica Alba.
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I think it says something about your parents that they didn't teach you to read. This is a video game which happened to say she's overweight, they didn't imply they bought this to get her in shape. In fact, if you look at the article, the father specifically takes offense at the notion she needs to get in shape.
 
Threads that use the Daily Mail as their primary source should require a "WARNING: Daily Mail" in their thread title, just like you have to mark NSFW.
 
cpro said:
Threads that use the Daily Mail as their primary source should require a "WARNING: Daily Mail" in their thread title, just like you have to mark NSFW.
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The Daily Mail isn't fit to wipe my shite encrusted arse as far as I'm concerned. They've done nothing to make their newspaper more readable except replace the "Jews are evil" headline with "Modern society is evil."

ciaossu said:
Wow.
Props to Nintendo for not putting a warning on it though. That's BS.
"Warning: This game might call you fat."
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Wii Fit 2 should include a rag on a stick for people to wash themselves with.
 
I bet Brain Age would call her stupid.

And what's with still using stone as a unit of mass, Britain? Just use straight pounds, or get on board with the Metric system. Of course, then, you'd probably insist on weighing yourselves in Newtons just to piss people like me off.
 
Civil said:
And what's with still using stone as a unit of mass, Britain? Just use straight pounds, or get on board with the Metric system. Of course, then, you'd probably insist on weighing yourselves in Newtons just to piss people like me off.
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The weather's quite chilly over here. 280.15 Kelvin, man the summer can't come soon enough...
 
From the comments:

I do not see there being any problem with children being told they are fat. If more children are told this maybe they'll spend less of their time stuffing turkey twizzlers down their faces and more time playing sports and enjoying lettuce.

- Nicki, Southampton
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I'm going to assume they're talking about turkey-flavored Twizzlers licorice there. I'm afraid to look it up because I actually want that to be true.
 
As has been stated, BMI is flaky. I was a 6'8", 255 lb D1 college basketball player with <5% bodyfat, but according to BMI I was "overweight".

15 years and 3 pounds later, I'm nearing "obese". I think the chart needs an edit.
 
hoos30 said:
As has been stated, BMI is flaky. I was a 6'8", 255 lb D1 college basketball player with <5% bodyfat, but according to BMI I was "overweight".

15 years and 3 pounds later, I'm nearing "obese". I think the chart needs an edit.
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The BMI is defunct by default if you exercise regularly and/or body build. It's not intended for use by anyone else except lazy people who want a simplistic way to gauge if they're overweight or not.
 
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This sort of alarmist bullcrap is the very heart and soul of the Daily Fail's so-called journalism.
 
industrian said:
The BMI is defunct by default if you exercise regularly and/or body build. It's not intended for use by anyone else except lazy people who want a simplistic way to gauge if they're overweight or not.
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Body build? Sure. Exercise regularly? Riiiight. People who focus on building muscle mass will find little benefit from BMI measurement, but it's not rendered useless for people who work out but don't hang out at the gym. (i.e: a routine of basic exercises plus jogging)

On the flipside, I'm certain there are a lot of chunky but built people who are convinced they're the picture of health because, you know, BMI is useless.

When all is said and done, body fat measurement is clearly the way to go, but for the average person, BMI is fine.
 
I know people are having alot of laughs about this topic but female body image is a very serious issue. Nintendo should be more aware of this when they are trying to sell a product to a mass market. Calling young people fat can have alot of long term mental damage...

I find GAF's reaction very sad. A person's mental health is more important then how well a game company does in the console war.
 
SickBoy said:
Body build? Sure. Exercise regularly? Riiiight. People who focus on building muscle mass will find little benefit from BMI measurement, but it's not rendered useless for people who work out but don't hang out at the gym. (i.e: a routine of basic exercises plus jogging)

On the flipside, I'm certain there are a lot of chunky but built people who are convinced they're the picture of health because, you know, BMI is useless.

When all is said and done, body fat measurement is clearly the way to go, but for the average person, BMI is fine.
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My post was a heavy-handed generalisation (my speciality). My main gripe with the BMI is that there are easier ways to gauge how healthy you are (which is much more important than how much you weigh). Any method that recommends that a person focuses on how much they weigh can promote an unhealthy lifestyle of not eating right, whereas encouraging them to become more active is far better.
 
The father lied about his daughter's weight or height. 4'9" and 6 stone (84 pounds) is a BMI of 18.2, which is on the low end of normal. To be overweight, she has to weigh 116 pounds if she's really 4'9".
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
According to BMI, this man is overweight:

terrell_owens.jpg


Yeah...
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Hi, note the multiple posts pointing out that the BMI may not be accurate for athletes or muscular individuals. BMI is certainly not the best way to determine 'fitness' or health, but it is a reasonable metric to use when weight is one of the few inputs you can use. Chances are, if you look like that guy or cannot be judged by the BMI accurately, you KNOW that you can't already.

Anyhow, are there notes that people with greater than normal or less than normal muscle mass? Most BMI tools note this, and I can't imagine Nintendo not mentioning this either in game or within the manual.
 
Come on.. what did she think was going to happen?

I'm sure over half the people who buy it are already overweight people who would rather pay $90 for a teched up bathroom scale then walk around the block a few times.
 
Six stones (38 kg, 80 lb) for a 4.9' 10 years old girl is not fat though. I think you guys are missing the main point.

from the article said:
"I know it is just a game but we already have to worry about young girls starving themselves to look like magazine models and now we have a game that tells them they're fat. This to me is very worrying."
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Anyways, you guys carry on.
 
clashfan said:
I know people are having alot of laughs about this topic but female body image is a very serious issue.
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So is male body image. Hell, kids are taking steroids ffs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7120482.stm

clashfan said:
Nintendo should be more aware of this when they are trying to sell a product to a mass market. Calling young people fat can have alot of long term mental damage...
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What about the hundreds of thousands of TV shows, books, and tapes that focus on weight? Nintendo's just another company doing the same thing.

clashfan said:
I find GAF's reaction very sad. A person's mental health is more important then how well a game company does in the console war.
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Tell that to the people on hunger strike until the PS3 outsells the Wii.
 
Rad Agast said:
Six stones (38 kg, 80 lb) for a 4.9' 10 years old girl is not fat though. I think you guys are missing the main point.




Anyways, you guys carry on.
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The real point is the father was lying. If she was 4'9" and 84 pounds, her BMI is 18.2, or Normal (approaching underweight).
 
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