Niantic Surprised Pokemon Go Fan Who Lost 85 Pounds Playing the Game

While many players who started playing Pokemon Go when the game was released and reached its peak popularity simply wanted to catch some Pokemon out in the real world with their Trainer friends, the physical benefits of the game couldn't be ignored. A game that required players to get up and take their gaming on the go in order to fully participate – assuming you're not spoofing your location – many players were able to tell unique and inspiring weight loss stories, and one user even had their physical fitness journey acknowledged by Niantic.

The Pokemon Go player in question who had his story recognized by Niantic lost over 85 pounds while playing the game. Pleased with the results, the user, treyyates, posted his before-and-after weight loss pictures on Reddit back in December to show his transformation and to explain his motivations for losing weight. He insisted that Pokemon Go was a core part of him being capable of such weight loss, saying that he owed a great deal to the game that he both enjoyed and used to his advantage.

Fast-forward several months, and it appears that Niantic enjoyed hearing about treyyates' weight loss story as well. Earlier in the week, the same user made another post on Reddit to follow up his initial story, saying that he'd received a letter from Niantic that came with two Pokemon Go Plus devices as well.

"I wanted to drop you a letter and express how much the personal story posted to Reddit of your weight loss impressed us at Niantic," the letter began. "It is clear by reading the responses that most people felt the same."

Of course, there were some naysayers who thought the story seemed a bit too good to be true, but Niantic is already pretty active within the Pokemon Go communities on Reddit, and they even confirmed the follow-up story in the comments. The full text of the handwritten letter can be seen here, a welcome surprise that the user likely won't forget anytime soon.

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