MARIA OGDUBA: I never thought in a million
years that my body would be doing what it’s capable of doing.
MARIA OGDUBA: When I first thought about doing
yoga my first thought on how people were is that everybody is skinny. I was worried that
I wasn’t going to fit in with the stereotype yoga person and then I slowly started to realise
and do my research that there are a lot of other people out there that aren’t skinny,
that do yoga and that are very good at it.
MARIA OGDUBA: I’ve been overweight my whole life ever since I was a kid. My dad owned
a pizza restaurant. I didn’t actually have an oven in my house until I was probably 15.
So, everything that I ate came from a restaurant. So, as a kid, you know I was always overweight.
When I was 13, I was diagnosed with PCOS. That’s Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. So,
the biggest side effect of that is weight gain. So, from high school until maybe my
second year of undergrad, I had gained maybe 100-150 pounds. And then recently, I also
found out that I have hypothyroidism which is another big side effect is weight gain.
So, having those issues I want to prove that you know I can do this even though everything
is against me.
MARIA OGDUBA: When I started, I weighed about 410 pounds, 420. I didn’t at first expect
yoga to help me lose weight. But, I’ve tried to tell people that yoga is the hardest thing
that I do. It’s the biggest workout for me. The last time I went to the doctor, my
weight was between 285, 290 somewhere there. I’ve lost maybe a total of 120 and 125 pounds.
Yoga has taught me that, you don’t have to be one size to succeed in something to
do something. It’s definitely built a lot of self confidence in myself. So, I do think
it’s a big part of my weight loss and I kind of sprouted you know, out of my little
cocoon and I became, able to just walk around with my chest held high. Because for a long
time I just wanted to not been seen. I wanted to wear bigger clothes and hide. So overall
it has made me happy. I definitely do get a lot of negative comments just in general
about my weight and people think that you have to be one size and if you’re not, then
you’re not okay in society. I do believe that everybody should be healthy. That doesn’t
mean you have to be skinny. I believe in eating whole foods, I don’t think you should restrict
yourself from a food group. I think that anything in moderation is okay – as long as it is,
you know natural. I just want to be happy and healthy for me so I can live longer, and
you know spend time with my family.
CAGNEY FISHER: Maria, she as a teacher, as a yoga teacher, she is fantastic. You know
she has taught me how to go deeper into my form.
LAURA THEODULE: We both have PCOS and I didn’t
really know a lot of people who have PCOS and then she told me her story and it like,
it motivated me and she was an inspiration from then. And then we became friends and
she has been training me, teaching me how to eat better and all that.
LAURA THEODULE: I learned from Maria that
I can do anything. It doesn’t matter if I’m plus size, skinny, I can go beyond than
I can imagine, I just have to try and have that leap of faith.
MARIA OGDUBA: There are teenage girls; teenage
boys out there too. They come to me and they’re like, “oh my god, I’m overweight can
you help me here? You know I get bullied, can you help me, do you have any advice for
me and these are people that you know 10-years-ago, I was them and I had nobody to help me. So,
being able to help those people, that’s been my proudest moment. I just wish more
people knew that it is possible: plus size people can get out there and make their lives
healthier, can do yoga, can do zumba, can, you know, do boxing; whatever they want to
do. A lot of people are surprised at what they can do. Yoga is the best thing that has
probably ever happened to me. It’s not just a hobby, it’s allowed me to, you know, open
new doors that I never thought were possible for me.