Gaia says that she was surprised by how much her X-Weighted experience gave her. “Being on the show was a profound experience for me. I felt like I was really able to affect some authentic personal growth over those six months, and not just lose a few pounds, because losing weight is one thing and actually changing your life is another thing entirely. Although, of course they are connected,” she says.

Because she enjoyed being part of the show so much, Gaia decided that she wanted to pursue a career in television and is about to go in to her second year of studying broadcasting in Calgary. Being in school full-time means that Gaia doesn’t get to play roller derby as much as she’d like to, although she still plays on a freelance basis.

“I’m almost 30 and I’m a mom, so I have a lot at stake and it’s really important that I do well at school so I really wanted to focus on that,” she says, “but I’m practicing with the Oil City Derby girls in Edmonton, and I play in scrimmages now and then when teams need an extra body.”

Gaia has managed to keep off the majority of the weight she lost on her journey. After she started school last year ten pounds did come back due to the changes in her schedule, but she’s working on getting rid of that now.

Every time her episode airs, people get in touch with Gaia to tell her how inspiring she is to them. “I’ve had hundreds of emails. People contact me through MySpace and Facebook. I’ve had people contact me from the UK and I even had a message from a girl in Mexico,” she says.

Gaia enjoys hearing that her story resonates with people. “It’s really flattering and part of the reason I decided to do it. I knew that other people out there had to be feeling helpless and depressed and alone - the way I felt - and maybe this could be the thing that gave them a lifeline,” she says, “so when I get emails from people who say that I did that, it means a lot to me.” Gaia also gets told that people took up roller derby after watching her episode, and often gets recognized from X-Weighted by fans at games.