Why Are You Running The Manitoba Marathon?

“To complete my goal of changing my life from being 220 pounds and completely overweight, lying in a hospital bed with high blood pressure thinking I was having a stroke, to being 165 pounds and in the best shape of my life. I'm running to honor my auntie Wilma Carrasco and uncle Augusto Pomareda, who both passed away way too soon in the last few years. They were the light and life of any party. They lit up the room with their laughter and positive attitude no matter what the circumstance. I'm also running in memory of my my grandpa, Modesto Fernandez who completed a full marathon at the age of 65 to show his friends, family, and former co-workers that it could be done. Something so small he did so many years ago has always stuck with me to remind me that if you stand up for yourself, put in the effort and the hard work, that we can accomplish anything!”

You Can Support Me And The Marathon

If you are in Winnipeg on June 16th, 2013, I'd be honored if you were there to cheer me on! If you can spare a few extra bucks for a donation, my goal is to raise $5,000 for the Manitoba Marathon Foundation, supporting projects for people living with an intellectual disability. http://www.active.com/donate/manitobamarathon2013/miguelcarrasco

Many people get so worried about not having the right tools, the right talent, the skills. But the reality is, all you need is to work harder than everyone else. You can do anything you set your mind to.

Thank You Beachbody Family

The response and support from Beachbody has been nothing short of incredible. From the many phone calls the “Beachbody Brass” to even messages from Carl Daikeler (Beachbody CEO) himself on Twitter and Facebook, the support has been incredible. However I think the most incredible thing has been all the support from all the Team Beachbody Coaches out there that have opened their arms to me, and allowed me to be a part of their lives. I just wanted to send a special “Thank You” to everyone that has reached out to me, congratulated me, and supported me throughout this entire process of becoming Canada's first Team Beachbody Diamond Coach. You are all truly amazing people, and I am honoured to be a apart of your family. What follows are just some exerts and pictures I took so I wouldn't forget the incredible outpouring of support from all of the people at Beachbody, as well as friends and family. A special thank you to my coach and Team Beachbody Mentor Lindsay Matway, and also a special thank you to Michelle Goldstein for spending HOURS with me teaching me the ropes when nobody had a clue who I was.

First Team Beachbody Diamond Coach Announcement By Lindsay Matway

Beachbody CEO Tweets About First Canadian Beachbody Diamond Coach

First Team Beachbody Coach in Canada Jacket Award

Official Team Beachbody Announcement

Join Our Team!

If you are interested, I am still actively looking for people that want to learn exactly how I became a Diamond Beachbody Coach in 24 days, and become Diamonds themselves. I am only taking serious people that want to make a huge impact. If you are interested in, please fill in the form below:

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My First Attempt at Running

My first attempt was simply to start running, and maybe hit some weights. I still remember putting on my runners and saying to myself “ok, time to run 5k”. I was able to push myself to finish about 2K, but it was not very impressive. After just 5 houses, I found I was in desperate need to slow down. My knees where feeling stiff, my ankles seemed on the verge of snapping, and it just felt very unnatural. The run itself wasn't that exciting. I was pretty bored, running for the sake of running and losing weight. I couldn't really kick it up a notch because I was pretty much done after 5 houses.

When I took my shoes off, my knees were in serious pain, and my legs felt like Jell-O. I was not motivated, inspired, or anything of the like. I felt defeated, upset, and just wanted to go have a bath and pop open a few beers.

The Gym

The next day, I would hit the gym. The morning of, I packed up my gym bag with my workout pants, shirt, and a bunch of toiletries. I almost forgot my workout shoes, but I threw them in last minute. On the way I realized I forgot a lock, so I stopped to buy one. Once I got to the gym, I thought it would be a simple process to re-active my account. It wasn't. I had to sit down with someone for about 20 minutes, tour the gym, sign on some papers, and provide payment information. So I was about 30 minutes at the gym, and I hadn't actually worked out. By the time I had changed and locked up my stuff, I was looking at 40 minutes at the gym, without lifting a single weight.

The actual workout wasn't too bad, but I hit the weights a little too heavy. I didn't really have a plan going in. I thought, “ok I'll do some arms and chest today… what did I left before?” This was a bad idea. I pushed myself way too hard. I won't give you the gory details, but I pushed weights that were too heavy, used really bad form to try and lift the weight that I shouldn't have been lifting.

The Next Day

The next day was brutal. I noticed right away when I made my way to the bathroom. I could barely walk and my knees where clearly swollen. My chest was killing me, and not in a good way. My neck was super stiff as well and as the day progressed, my neck was killing me. Wanting results right away, I figured “Ok, I feel like crap, I'm sure I will have lost some weight.”

When I got home from work, I stepped on the scale. It actually said I gained a pound. So after two days of working out, I had basically no results to show for it other than pain.

The Next Week

I kept most of this painful routine up for another week. Committed to being successful. By the Sunday, which was my seventh day of exercising, I had managed to lose the one-pound I had gained, and still sat at about 215 pounds. This was not the result I was looking for. I had exercised every day for the last 6 days, and Sunday was going to be my victory day. Instead, Sunday turned into a day of feeling like I had failed, and eating a bunch of unhealthy food that I shouldn't have been eating.

10 Key Mistakes I Made

1. I was overweight and I tried to run on pavement day one and set a ridiculous goal of running 5 km.
2. I didn't have music, or even a playlist made while I was running. All I had to motivate me was my surroundings. For some people that's enough, not for me.
3. I had no business running. I was way overweight, and my poor knees where in pain because they were saying “STOP RUNNING YOU IDIOT!”
4. I hit the gym, and hit it pretty hard after not doing anything serious for more than 5 years.
5. I didn't pack my gym bag the night before.
6. I didn't setup my gym membership before the first day of going to the gym.
7. I didn't eat very well during the week. I continued to eat as I normally did.
8. I didn't have a meal plan for the week. I didn't track what I was eating.
9. I didn't take the time to do a BIA (Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis) test that would allow me to look back and track my progress.
10. I didn't take the time to take a proper cardiovascular and physical test of myself before starting.

Overall, the biggest mistake I made was I didn't set myself up for success. I set myself up for failure. I took on way more than I could day one, and I killed my body for a week with no results to show for it. Down and out, I knew there was a better way to do it. My next blog post will talk in detail about what I did to lose 45 pounds in three months the healthy way.

In April of 2012, while driving home from picking up my four year old son from daycare, my life changed.

While driving home, I noticed something odd with my right hand. It seemed to be tingling. By the time I got home, the sensation had moved from my hand, to my entire arm. I figured it would go away and I was just tired. I hadn't been sleeping much since our second child was born, and he was going through a difficult time teething. A few hours later after putting them to bed, I jumped in the shower. I realized that as I shampooed my hair, my face was going numb, and my scalp felt tingly.

I got out of the shower and talked to my wife and let her know I was going to go lay down on the bed. She immediately told me I should get to a hospital. I told her I was fine, but after she threatened me in various ways… I decided ok I'll go to the hospital.

The Hospital

When I got to the hospital, they checked my blood pressure ASAP. I was actually pretty calm assuming I'd be fine. The lady looked at me, called a doctor, and they had me shirtless and on a bed getting hooked up to a bunch of cables, blood pressure monitors, and other things I didn't really understand (yet). I remember looking over to my phone to text my wife, but my cell phone was dead. Next I looked over to the monitor, and realized that my blood pressure said 189 over 115. Now I didn't know much about blood pressure at the time, but I knew enough to know that those numbers were CLEARLY WRONG. They weren't.

For the next four hours I sat there looking up at the ceiling while doctors took blood, ran tests, and tried to figure out what was going on.

I remember thinking to myself “For everything I've been able to accomplish for myself, my kids, my family, how have I let my fitness and health crumble to the ground like this! What if I die right here right now? My cell is dead. Nobody will know for hours…”

Something snapped in my head, and my life would never be the same again.

The State of My Health

I was 230 pounds. A much larger version of myself than I have ever been in my life. I hid it pretty well by wearing baggy clothes and spending most of my day sucking in my stomach. The first day after the hospital, I wanted to hit the ground running. Literally.

I tried to run, but after only getting to about 5 houses down my street, I turned around, defeated, and realized pretty quickly that I was in terrible shape. I went to work, and when I got there, I thought to myself “let’s take the stairs. No, let’s run up the stairs”. By the time I got upstairs, I was sweating buckets. It was only two flights of stairs to the second floor. It took me about 10 minutes to stop breathing heavily.

How on earth would I turn my life around? How could I get myself back into shape where I was proud to walk around? Where I was proud to take off my shirt again. And more importantly, how could I get back in shape so that my wife kids could have a healthy dad for a long, long time.

My Fitness Success

This blog is all about my journey from being a fat, out of shape, traveling computer consultant, to a fit, healthy, full of energy dad. In four months, I have gone from a 230 pound, size 38 wearing guy that couldn't run 10 seconds and could no longer wear his dress shirts with ties, to a guy that walks around at 170 pounds, size 30 waist, that runs 5 km 4 times a week and on occasion half marathons to kick it up a notch.

The purpose of this blog is not to brag, it is to share with you my story of how I did it, and keep me motivated on my journey to stay healthy. Hopefully I can also help you along your journey, no matter where you currently are on the path to health and fitness.

Miguel Carrasco