I know what you’re thinking: a video game that can help me lose weight? Blasphemy! Yes, Wii Fit has been out for some time now, and we all know what Nintendo’s purpose was in getting the game out there. Does Nintendo see a cash cow in the video game market where a majority of consumers are overweight? Yea. Does this equate to a genuine movement on getting people everywhere more in shape? Sure, that’s an excellent bonus for Nintendo. Killing two birds with one stone this way has worked out well for them, business wise, but where are the success stories?

“I feel like I’ve been reborn,”

These are the words of Lara Roberts, who would seek to commission Nintendo’s Wii Fit as her personal trainer and workout regimen. She weighed 18 stones (the equivalent of 252 pounds for those of us not in the UK, where she resides) and, with the help of Nintendo, is now just over 150 pounds (10 stones). Of course, simply following the workout regiment of Wii Fit alone didn’t grant her the good fortune she’s come across, but it still was a crucial guide on her path to success.

The real value of this story shines through my realization that Wii Fit could actually help some people out who can’t afford a personal trainer, or who cannot get to the gym very often to start on their track to lose weight (desperate or otherwise) and that I should probably take it a lot more seriously than I have in the past. Nintendo gets great free (and, more importantly, positive) press, fat people lose weight, and everyone’s still playing video games. There couldn’t be a more beautiful bliss than that. Check out Lara’s before and after pictures below.

Before

After

[Thanks to NOTW]