Natalie Mariduena has made a life change public.
After appearing in sports illustration swimsuit In 2020 and 2021, the 26-year-old content creator decided in July 2022 to focus more on his health.
“I wasn’t taking care of my body,” Mariduena told PEOPLE EXCLUSIVELY. “I was working out from time to time, but it wasn’t a priority.”
The former athlete — she played soccer from age four until college — had lost much of her cardiovascular fitness.
Mariduena, also known as Natalie Noel, who has 3.4 million followers on Instagram, said, “I could barely run and my overall health was not great.” , I wanted to know what I could achieve if I made health and fitness my number one priority.”
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In six months she lost 30 pounds. Under the guidance of her childhood friend and trainer Ilya Fedorovich, she owns the fitness and supplement company Zira.
“He was going through a lot of motivational shifts with other friends of ours that were really exciting. He approached me and said, ‘If you want to be the best you’ve ever been, let me know.’ Please!” ”
Mariduena recently finished filming a travel show for Discovery Channel and felt ready to take on the challenge. “There was a lot of good food and fun,” she recalls of her trip. She said, “I finally felt committed. I wanted to do it for myself.”
In the early days, Mariduena worked out at least five times a week.
“One of my big goals was to run the 6:30 mile, something I’d never done before, even in my football days,” YouTuber David Dobrik recently told the company. Mariduena, who was appointed president, said. “I wanted to set real fitness goals to push myself, not just weight loss.
She started at 8:30 miles. “I really had to cut my time down. That meant a lot of sprints and exercises to prepare my body.” was not possible.
In addition to cardio like running and boxing, she lifted weights to achieve muscle transformation and make “everything look beautiful and toned.”
Mariduena has long been a body-positive role model for many. SI swimher figure was praised as realistic and achievable.
“I don’t want people to feel like they didn’t love their bodies before,” she says. I just wanted to be physically better than I was before.”
And the benefits go far beyond her looks. “I feel much better now,” she adds. “I didn’t even realize it at the time, so I hope people understand and appreciate it. It was an eye opener for me.”
“I preach this idea of body normalcy and body positivity, and you don’t have to look a certain way, shape, or anything else to feel or look good. “Being in this place makes my daily life easier and improves my functioning. Just like my brain, I can think clearly. My whole life has really improved, but I don’t think so.” I didn’t think so.”
Mariduena says changing her diet is the most difficult aspect of her weight loss. “I’m a self-proclaimed pasta queen,” she says. “I love good food, but a lot of the time food that tastes great isn’t necessarily the best for you.”
Still, she’s learned to adapt over time. “Obviously, there were still moments to indulge, but I found a balance in that.” During the week, she focused on her work and exercise, kept her in control, and continued her routine. was And if she wants to go out to dinner with her girlfriends on the weekend, she’ll order whatever she wants.
She and Fedorovich filmed her journey. This will be out soon on Xeela’s YouTube channel. This documentary shows not only her high notes on training, activity and diet, but also her tough times.
“You see a lot of my struggle and frustration with having to get up early and work out,” Mariduena says. Some days I don’t want to scratch and move to reach my goals.”
Lately, she’s been incorporating moderate cardio and weights to keep her results up by working out three times a week. “Going to the gym is not my favorite thing in the world,” she admits. “Walking into the gym and seeing weights and equipment and treadmills can be a kind of resistance. So keep yourself entertained by attending different classes like Pilates and hot yoga.” I like to do it.” Once a week she lifts heavy weights.
All of this helped her drop 12% body fat percentage. “I don’t think people really understood — I post pictures on Instagram in the best angles and in the best clothes, and you can’t always see the full picture of someone’s health and fitness online. — but I had unhealthy body fat,” she says. “And I needed that kind of reset. I needed someone to help me get a boost and get me back into the routine of enjoying health and fitness and enjoying it.”
“And that’s what this whole change has done for me,” she says. But I’ve been loving my body for the past four or five months, and I haven’t changed my view of it.”
