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Watch: Natalie Mariduena’s Fitness Documentary Is Out Now

The SI Swimsuit model partnered with vitamin brand Xeela to document her journey.

Ananya Panchal

Natalie Mariduena.

Natalie Mariduena.

Natalie Mariduena is already a stunning model, businesswoman and influencer. The David Dobrik LLC president can now add documentary star to her stacked résumé. The 26-year-old partnered with vitamin and supplement brand Xeela to film her weight-loss journey over the past several months.

“I had that moment where I was like, I wish that I had worked harder,” Mariduena said at the start of the trailer posted to the brand’s IG account on Jan. 10. “And really prepared myself and really applied myself.”

According to People, Mariduena lost 30 pounds and reduced her body fat percentage by 12% in six months. 

“One of my bigger goals was to run a 6:30 mile, which I’ve never done before. Outside of just weight loss, I wanted to set an actual fitness goal to push myself,” she said. “You see a lot of my struggle and frustration with having to get up early and work out. There are days where I don’t want to get out of bed and I don’t want to have to wake up and go for a run and sweat and exert my body. But you have to push through that and get it done in order to get to your goal.”

The documentary was released on Xeela’s YouTube channel today. The company also dropped a new vitamin, the Ashwagandha gummy, promoted by Mariduena, as well as limited-edition merchandise and a guided breakdown of her eight-week fitness journey including workouts and healthy recipes.

“I used to be a soccer player. I used to be super fit. I used to work out all the time,” the two-time SI Swimsuit model continued in the promo video. “The goal is to get down to that point where I felt most comfortable, most healthy, most fit. If I really apply myself and I really put myself towards something, then I can do really great things and I can be super successful. It already is a mental battle.”

On a recent episode of the Lightweights podcast with Joe Vulpis, Mariduena revealed that she initially struggled trying to get back into fitness because she has built her modeling brand around “body normalcy” and wanting to represent the average body type. 

“I don’t think people really understood—because I post photos on Instagram at my best angles and in my best outfits, and you don’t necessarily see the full scope of someone’s health and fitness online—but I had a high percentage of body fat that was unhealthy,” she explained. “And I needed to have that sort of reset, somebody to help push me and get me back into a routine of enjoying health and fitness and having fun with it. And that’s what this whole transformation did for me. Yes, I lost weight and I got fit, and now I’m very healthy and have changed my diet, my routine. But I still love my body from four or five months ago. That perspective hasn’t changed.”

Mariduena has also been sharing snippets of her progress through Instagram videos. “Been working my booty off,” she captioned a Dec. 12 post. “almost there !!”

Xeela founder Ilya Fedorovich is featured in the documentary, cheering Mariduena on. “Another incredible story,” he captioned a recent IG post promoting the film.

“[When] someone wants it more than you want it for them, that’s when you know that they’re gonna win,” he said in the trailer.

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Ananya Panchal
ANANYA PANCHAL

Ananya Panchal is a NYC-based Lifestyle & Trending News writer at SI Swimsuit. Before joining the Swim team, the Boston University Alum worked for culture & entertainment beats at Bustle, The San Francisco Chronicle and the TODAY Show. When Ananya is not writing or doom-scrolling on social media, she can be found playing sudoku, rewatching One Tree Hill or trying new restaurants. She's also a coffee and chocolate (separately) enthusiast. 

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