Can Wii eliminate beer calories?

Having a beer while playing video games is nothing new. But since playing Nintendo Wii is like a workout, that should cancel out the calories from drinking, right? Our expert, Chicago-based registered dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner, gives us the lowdown.

Gaming, drinking and losing weight? Sounds too good to be true, right? Not necessarily. With many bars offering free Nintendo Wii to patrons, we wondered just how many hours of Wii boxing (or tennis, golf, baseball or even bowling) it takes to burn off the calories in a single drink. Blatner says on average “people burn around 100 calories per 30 minutes of playing Wii.” Since a 12-ounce beer, a five-ounce glass of wine and a 1.5-ounce shot (with no mixer or a zero-calorie mixer such as diet or club soda) each are about 100 calories, that’s about one alcoholic beverage every half hour. So as long as you pace yourself, you can have your beer and work it off, too. But if you plan to toss a few back, be prepared to play a whole lot of Wii.