Success Story Showcase #2 – Haran & Peggy

Being a Beachbody Coach you get to help other people write THEIR success stories. Today, I’m sharing two more Beachbody success stories with you with the hope that you’ll be inspired and will start (or continue) to write your own success story!

Haran Kumar: Fitness Professional and Business Owner

Fitness has become a huge part of my life today, but it wasn’t always that way. The truth is, I wanted nothing to do with fitness as a career – I wanted to be a hiphop dancer and that was my goal. Unfortunately, shortly after getting accepted into university trying to pursue education in dance and communications, I was admitted to the hospital for a leg/ hip issue that was slowly affecting my mobility. The doctors didn’t hesitate to educate me on the severity of my conditions and pursuing dance as a major let alone a career was off the table.

Soon after I faced an enormous amount of stress and found comfort in fast food and other junk food. There comes a time in everyone’s life (sometimes more than once) where you look at yourself and say, “what has your life come to?” – But, I knew there was more to me and I needed to get back in shape, I needed to take care of myself and most importantly –  I needed my life back.

I knew the first step was getting shape and I needed something that was challenging that guaranteed me a body that I would love. I recalled my lunch breaks in High school, where I would participate in P90X workouts with my friends. Beachbody has always had a fine line of programs that delivered results. I didn’t wait, one program in particular caught my attention – they called it, INSANITY – I knew it was going to get me ripped… and it did!

After INSANITY  I realized I had a new passion, fitness. It’s when I finally decided to pursue a career in the fitness industry and become a professional. Insanity was just the start, because every year after I built on to my physique and slowly built a new life.

Fast forward 5 years to today. I have built 3 profitable businesses within the industry, taught fitness classes in top gyms across the city, instructed workouts in front of audiences of 500-1000 people, worked out with celebrity trainers in USA and Canada and last year, competed in amateur level bodybuilding competitions.
You never know where life will take you. But you’ve got to put in effort to be the best version of yourself.

Peggy McKie

I was middle-aged and obese.   I tried everything, I mean EVERYTHING, to lose weight.  Every diet, every fad, every as-seen-on-TV product, you name it, I  tried it.

I was skinny as a kid, 105 when I got pregnant with my first son, was a runner, then after 3 sons I started packing on the pounds. By my mid-50s I was 170.   I was so frustrated I almost gave up.  I thought, well, maybe that’s the weight I’m supposed to be at.   But my doctor wagged her finger at me asking me what I ate and how much exercise I did.  She told me I better get a handle on my weight before I started having medical problems.

One day my son popped a Beachbody exercise program called P90X into the DVD player and started working out.  He followed the nutrition plan that came with the 90-day program and got ripped, and most of all, happy, because he suffered from depression all his life.

My son saw me struggling with my weight and encouraged me to do P90X.  After doing the beginners program a couple times I was able to conquer the almighty P90X.   During the process I lost 40 pounds, 20 inches, and 20% body fat and I WAS ON TOP OF THE WORLD!  I was in the best shape of my life at age 57!!

I’ve continued doing all the new workouts that Beachbody puts out because they’re fun, convenient to do in my own home,  on my own time, and they absolutely work if you stay committed.   The trainers are so motivating and inspire you to be the best that you can be.  I became a Beachbody coach to share my love of the programs and to help people get the results that I and so many others have gotten.  I do fall off the wagon now and then, but being a coach helps keep me accountable, so I push myself to hop back on.

Beachbody’s nutrition plans and workouts changed my son’s life and mine.   With the proper tools, you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to — at any age!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading about the success of Peggy and Haran. I truly feel I have been blessed to be a part of their journey to fitness.  I’ll share some more success stories in future blogs!