1. In January 2014, Maria Kang founded No Excuse Mom and made appearances on local and national media to opine on lifestyle issues.
27 Facts About Maria Kang
1. 2.
In March 2015, Maria Kang published her first book with the goal of providing readers with a simplified approach to making a healthy change in lifestyle.
3.
Maria Kang was the second child and the oldest of the three girls.
4.
Maria Kang's Malaysian Chinese immigrant father, Francis, was a police officer while Caroline worked full-time managing a state-owned parking garage.
5.
Maria Kang said that her mother's weight-related health issues affected her deeply.
6.
Maria Kang attended Laguna Creek High School where she did well with her studies and participated in cheerleading.
7.
Maria Kang was bullied at times by her classmates, including two instances in which a group of girls threw orange juice on her.
8.
Maria Kang stated that the stress at times caused her to cut or scratch herself.
9.
At age 16, Caroline persuaded Maria Kang to compete in the local Miss Philippines Sacramento beauty pageant.
10.
Maria Kang won first prize and began competing in beauty pageants on a regular basis.
11.
Maria Kang then switched to fitness and figure competitions and, in 2003, won Miss Bikini California.
12.
Maria Kang graduated from the University of California, Davis in 2002 with a double major in history and international relations.
13.
Maria Kang was able to overcome the bulimia by forcing herself to eat without vomiting, and her weight increased until she was about 145 pounds, which she felt was overweight.
14.
In 2005, Maria Kang started a personal website on which she gave her life story and, in 2007, founded a nonprofit organization called Fitness Without Borders to train leaders in low-income communities on the need for fitness.
15.
In 2009 Maria Kang began leading free workout sessions for women at Kunsting Family Park in Elk Grove.
16.
Maria Kang had continued to lead the free workouts at the park and publicized her fitness group to about 50 followers on a Facebook page on which she made frequent posts with advice on exercise and diet.
17.
On October 3,2012, Maria Kang was interviewed about the photo on Good Day Sacramento, a local program on KMAX-TV.
18.
On September 26,2013, Maria Kang reposted the photo on her Facebook page with a non-apology apology for the original post and added a short editorial on the obesity crisis.
19.
In November 2013, Maria Kang responded to publicity over a campaign by Chrystal Bougon, owner of a San Jose plus-size lingerie shop and fat acceptance activist, to take and display photographs of overweight women wearing lingerie.
20.
Maria Kang publicized Facebook's action over Instagram, drawing widespread attention over social media and in the press.
21.
Bougon initially claimed, falsely, that Maria Kang had posted the comment on Bougon's Facebook page.
22.
Maria Kang wrote an editorial, titled "Fit Pride isn't 'Hate Speech'", which was published in Time.
23.
Maria Kang was featured in a photo spread for the February 2014 edition of Oxygen magazine and the May 2014 cover of Shape magazine's Malaysia edition.
24.
Maria Kang has made further appearances in the media, including as co-host for a periodic segment on KXTX's News10 called "What's Buzzing," usually to comment on living a healthy lifestyle.
25.
Maria Kang was invited to appear on Today to talk about the book.
26.
Maria Kang says that the book's purpose is to provide a simplified approach to making a healthy change in lifestyle.
27.
In November 2023, Maria Kang was diagnosed with stage 4 Colon Cancer.