Love Intently

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Self Love: The Key to Unlock Work-Life Balance with No Excuse Fit Mom, Wife and Entrepreneur Maria Kang

Sophie Kwok

Love Intently Podcast Episode 60

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Maria Kang is a wife, mother, author, speaker, business owner, nonprofit founder, fitness philanthropist, and social entrepreneur. She is a widely known as “Fit Mom” whose No Excuse campaign to get people active, has reached millions of people around the world.

Maria grew up watching her mother struggle with her weight and resulting health issues, and became obsessed with health and fitness at a young age. Things went too far when she became bulimic in an effort to achieve the typical standards of beauty.

After her first pregnancy, she had a spiritual transformation where she came to truly love herself and realize what her body is really here for, and what it’s capable of.

Now, she takes good care of her body knowing that it’s what allows her to physically be here and make an impact in the world. 

In this episode we talk about her journey to self love, how she balances being a wife, mom of three kids and a dog, running her business and nonprofit, and what she’s learned about how to have a healthy marriage, after nearly going through a divorce.

Key Topics in This Episode

  • How she met her husband back in MySpace days!

  • Maria’s journey with her body..through first becoming aware of beauty ideals and dieting in 6th grade, to watching her mother struggle with obesity and health issues, to becoming bulimic, to becoming obsessed with fitness and being in beauty pageants, loving her body after pregnancy

“I used my body as an opportunity to get ahead in whatever I needed to get ahead in. But it wasn't until I became bulimic in my mid twenties and I was really realizing that so much of my actions were dependent on what people told me I should be.”

  • The transformative experience she had when she got pregnant and how she came to learn what her body is for

”My body is for housing my spirit that's going to do a lot of good work in this world and I need to keep it healthy because it's the only thing we own.”

  • Why taking care of her health and her body is so important and meaningful to her 

“People need to understand that health is truly wealth and that if you're not taking care of it today, you're going to pay for it tomorrow.”

  • What is the No Excuses campaign and how did she handle the criticism when it first came out

“This is something I really recommend to anyone in regards to anything they want to succeed in, is they need to create a community and that community will create accountability.”

  • How does she balance being a wife, mother of three, business owner, and so much more? How does she decide which projects to take on and which to say no to? How do her and her husband make time for each other?

  • The invention she came up with, Belly Ball, to help people with digestive and gut issues

  • What her and her husband learned about communication and forgiveness, to save their marriage

Maria’s Three Love Truths

  1. Love is a commitment

  2. If you love something, show it. You can't just say it, you can't just hashtag it. You have to truly show it and show it on a daily basis.

  3. Love is the only thing that truly exists.

Best relationship advice?

“It's really important to live your life, knowing that you're not highly dependent on the other person. Don’t become lost in the titles of mother or wife. And don't get lost in your partner, make sure you have a sense of identity for yourself.”

What does love intently mean to you?

“You are fully loving and accepting and aware of whatever it is that you are devoting your time and energy in. Love is a choice. And once you make that choice, be intentional about the fact that you chose that and commit to it.”

Connect with Maria Kang

Website: https://www.mariakang.com/about/

Sacramento Care Homes: https://www.sacramentocarehomes.com

Instagram: @mariakangfitness and @noexcusemoms

Belly Ball: https://www.amazon.com/Flat-Belly-Ball-Maria-Kang/dp/B07C8622NZ

Connect with Sophie and Love Intently

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