Commercial highlights Christmas gift

A recent Best Buy TV commercial puts a new spin on this gift-giving season. It shows people doing incredible things with their gifts and asking, “What will your gift do?”

Julie Maloney of Fort Mill lost 100 pounds with her Wii Fit gift and was featured in the national commercial.

“I had gained a lot of weight after having two kids and felt tired and miserable. I tried the treadmill and workout videos, but I didn’t like either one,” Maloney said. “My husband Ryan heard about the Wii Fit and gave it to me as a Christmas gift.”

“I started playing the games and within the first month lost 11 pounds. I lost 30 pounds in three months. With a healthy diet and using the Wii Fit, I ended up losing 100 pounds,” Maloney said.

She answered a Parenting Magazine reader question, “What can’t you live without?” Her answer was about her Wii Fit story and she discovered a newfound following of inspired fans. Her blog, Momspective, encourages readers to “Take a look from this mom’s perspective,” and provides a forum for parenting issues.

“I get a lot of positive feedback from my blog and it has motivated me to start writing a book about the joys and downfalls of parenting,” Maloney said. The stay-at-home mom hopes to be done with the book in a year.

“Out of nowhere I got an email from Best Buy asking if my family could fly to Hollywood for the commercial. I liked that the basis of the story was the gift idea, that my husband bought the Wii Fit for me,” said Maloney.

“We shot for six hours straight of me working out from the front. We shot for about 15 minutes of me working out from behind and of course that’s what ended up on the commercial. I was exhausted,” Maloney said.

“The commercial asks ‘What will your gift do?’ and I answer, ‘My gift turned our living room into a gym. You’re next buddy,’ ” Maloney said.

“When women tell me that my story inspires them, it’s just the greatest feeling,” said Maloney. “One simple gift can mean so much.”