In my quest for fitness through video games, I knew that Wii Fit on the Nintendo Wii was going to be hard to beat.

I was right.

"Yourself Fitness" for the original XBox (played on XBox 360) wasn't even close to the mark.

While it did provide a hard workout - "Yourself Fitness" succeeds in drenching me in sweat in my un-airconditioned apartment - it lacked that certain something that makes a video game worth playing.

The game offers a range of personal input, including a set of planned meals for the week, resting and active heart rates and weight or fitness goals. But that's the last of the interaction the "player" has with the game. The rest of the workout is just the same as putting in an exercise DVD and following along.

That and the overly perfect fitness instructor is where "Yourself Fitness" falls short of spectacular.

If I'd wanted to work really hard without anything fun to distract myself, I would have taken up running. Maybe. Probably not.

The game allows the player to use fitness equipment from around the house, so I used my giant fitness ball, 2 pound weights and yoga mat, all pieces of refugee equipment from my past attempts at fitness.

Although it was neat to be able to use all that, the fitness moves included in the game lead to a very standard, not-so-fun workout.

The only option for an instructor in this glorified aerobics video is a somewhat monotone, emotionless woman. Her insincere compliments repeat as often as her choice of steps.

And she's perfect. So perfect, she may as well be a real workout expert, on a real workout video, without the expense of a gaming system and a video game. Her hair barely moves out of place, her wonderful little exercise outfits are always color-coordinated with her tennis shoes, and her abs flex without issue.

I hate her. She makes me want to throw things at the television.

The tutorial on "Yourself Fitness" is pretty hard to follow, and Ms. Perfect doesn't help. She just keeps right on going with her double step-touches and her twirls and her crunches.

The only real plus to this game is that because it was designed for an older system, it's relatively cheap, assuming that you already own an XBox or XBox 360. I purchased a used copy from GameStop for $7.99 (and I hope to get some of that back when I re-sell the game).

In the end, "Yourself Fitness" offered little motivation for me to get off the couch and play.

I found myself craving Wii Fit - and actually played a few of the balance games just to remind myself why I started using games for weight loss in the first place.

The latest game did work, however. Last week I weighed 150.5 pounds, and I now weigh in at 148. So there's that. I like that.

But not enough to continue playing. Not at all.

Contact reporter Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com

Video game bootcamp

Who I am: Megan Lee, a 22-year-old newspaper reporter. I was in track and cross country in high school, but haven't seriously lifted an exercising-finger since.

What this is: A highly unscientific study of the latest fitness fad - fitness-based video games. I'll workout to a different fitness game for four weeks - exercising 30 to 60 minutes seven days each week - to see how they stack up.

Why I'm doing it: I'm getting married in about seven months and hope to be between 15 and 20 pounds lighter by then.

Coming next week: Dance Dance Revolution on Playstation 3

Coming Sept. 9: Gamercize on XBox 360

Megan Lee, the stats

* Height: 5'2"

* Starting weight: 154 pounds

* Weight after Week 1: 150.5 pounds

* Weight after Week 2: 148 pounds

* Loss this week: 2.5 pounds

* Total loss: 6 pounds

www.trib.com.]]->