Customer Reviews
The best slimming and health aid ever - By: Billy Bunter, 09 Aug 2008 
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 & 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 & sit ten times, & the second was to dance energetically to two songs.
I had read that the pedometer was unwieldy & that the reset button was inclined to be accidentally pressed & 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 & 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!') & 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, & you are not competing with others but being privately coached to do a little more than you have been doing; making small changes, & 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 progressin distance (rather than slimming club silver & 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 itin schools as overweight children would enjoy the fun element of the stick figure doing what it does, & the challenges, but most of all, beingin 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, & I felt relieved that it is not about calorie-counting or weight, but 'energy in/energy out' & 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, & it doesn't have you thinking about food all the time, but rather, the positive side of making changes; the challenges & 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 - By: Debbie King, 07 Aug 2008 
This isn't really a game, it's more of a 'personal trainer'in your pocket. The little matchstick people are fun & very motivational, & for once they actually MAKE me want to get off my backside & do some exercise! :-)
Each day you are given four objectivesin 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 & to maintain a healthy food balance. Each one you achieve is ticked off the list & 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 insertin into the DS & let the program record the steps. You can, however, use a different pedometer & just record the steps manually if you want.
Each day you enter the amount & 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 & 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.
Allin all, My Health Coach is fun to use & 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 & see how I get on :-)
Fun, portable encouragement in a healthier lifestyle - By: Laura Kai, 06 Aug 2008 
I'm reasonably fit & have an active job, but I know I could be fitter... Like most people, I have a busy schedule & don't always make time to exercise as much as I could, outside of work. This "game" has been a great inspiration to me & I am already feeling the benefits!
Like most fitness plans or routines, you get out of this what you putin - if you lie & 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 minutesin 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 & the activity I did. Be sure to "Wrap the day" when you've done both, as you can't go back & check it off after that day has finished. I did try to alter the DS date setting so I could go back & "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) & 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 & finally, you get an extra tick if you balance your food & activity.
The challenges are quite fun & 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 & fitness challenges (you can do up to 6in any one day) to choose from & you can change the types of challenges you want by answeringin 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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & 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 & I would recommend it to others who would like a portable bit of encouragementin a healthier lifestyle. I have given the game 4 stars as I think it could be improved but it is easy-to-use & it changes its goals as you improve or as you alter your weightin 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 - By: dee, 25 Jul 2008 I quite like the idea of the game & how you can keep track of everything you eatin a day & how it balances against your daily activities. It does motivate you to keep up with it & take on new challenges & 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 & 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 seperatelyin case it breaks so people wouldn't be forced to buy the whole game again.
Delighted! - By: Pendleton Girl, 20 Jul 2008 This was bought for me as a gift by my thoughtful husband who could see I was struggling to get going with my weight loss plans. Five days on & I am happy to say that it has been the perfect kickstart & I've even lost a couple of pounds already!
It's great fun to use, what with being able to plugin the pedometer & prove how many steps you have done to the programme (although you can input them manually too which is handy) & lots of varied challenges to get & hopefully keep you motivated. The more challenges you complete, the more coaching sessions it offers you. All this is supervised by your little cartoon character friend; mine is a female who occasionally mutates into an alien with one eye! In fact the graphics are quite amusing; for example, when you input how much time you spend doing physical activity she will do some gardening or take a dog for a walk.
I have read other comments about the pedometer, I have to say I am quite happy with it, you just have to experiment with the best place to clip it (as you do with all pedometers).
My only very minor gripe is the foods are obviously designed for the American market, so you have to use your initiative (for example select ketchup as they don't seem to have salad cream) & it would be nice if they designed a version for the British market but this really isn't a problem, it's quite easy to work around. In fact recording your food intake is one of the most fun parts of the programme, then at the end of the day you can see whether or not your exercise/food scales are balanced!
To conclude, I am delighted! I feel motivated & confident I will lose the weight I need to on this programme. My Health Coach makes fitness & healthy eating fun - what more can you ask for?
