Well, it’s almost Christmas and it’s time for my annual fitness year in review. Sadly, it appears as though the fitness industry as a whole has again failed to produce any significant results on a broad scale to effectively reverse the scary obesity epidemic that is plaguing society. More specifically, the sickening fact that British adults keep getting fatter, more lethargic, and less healthy has mirrored the unabated deterioration in the health and fitness of our youth population. However, on a positive note, I feel that 2010 will be host to several growing fitness trends that will provide the long-term answers to solve this ever-growing problem:

Its back! North Devon’s original

“Body Transformation

Boot Camp”

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO: FRIDAY 26TH MARCH 2010

For the second year running North Devon Fat Loss & Fitness Expert Marc Kent is running his “Body Transformation Boot Camp.” This is your chance to kick start the New Year by getting in the best shape of your life.

By joining one of my Boot Camp classes you will be training with a group of highly motivated people and together you will be able to make some big changes in your life. By entering this contest you have put yourself in a position to succeed like never before. There will be tons of social support and accountability to keep you focused and on track.

To top it off, you will also be eligible to wins some HUGE prizes! Really, everyone will win because they will have met their fitness goals quicker than ever before. But, nothing beats a little extra incentive to keep your eyes on the prize.

The “Body Transformation Boot Camp” starts on Monday 4th January2010 and finishes on Friday 18th June 2010

To be in with a chance of winning £1000 and many other prizes
all you need to do is:

A minimum of 2 Boot Camp/Personal Training sessions per
week for a minimum of 12 weeks. For membership options, please click here

Follow a simple nutrition plan laid out by Marc

Pay a one off registration fee of £10 (non-refundable).

It couldn’t be simpler!

Here’s a list of all the prizes

£1000 cash to spend as you wish, courtesy of Fat Loss & Fitness Expert Marc Kent

Photo Shoot with top Devon photographer Andy Casey (value). Visit www.andycaseyphotography.co.uk or call  07792 864370 for more information about Andy’s services.

Complete make over, courtesy of Kudos Bideford

Colour Analysis and Style Consultation – value £200 provided by Judith Brady, Image Consultant – Devon’s answer to Gok Wan!

A Colour Analysis is the starting point for many transformations. Discover which colours make you look and feel fabulous – it is amazing what a difference it can make when you wear the colours that are right for you.  A Style Consultation shows you which cuts, shapes and styles will flatter your body shape and gives you lots of tips on how to put outfits together, use of accessories and which fashions will look good on you and which to avoid.  Further information can be found on my website: www.judithbrady.co.uk

One months FREE membership at PURE TAEKWON-DO, for more information visit www.puretkd.com

A Top To Toe Pamper Hamper (worth 50.00) & facial from VIE AT HOME. For more info or to book a party call EMMA HEAL on 07530 223236

More will be added

So, here’s how it works, (the rules)

• The “Body Transformation Boot Camp” starts on Monday 4th January 2010 and finishes on Friday 18th June 2010

• To be eligible to enter the “Body Transformation Boot Camp” you must enroll in a minimum of 2 Boot Camp/Personal Training sessions per week for a minimum period of 12 weeks at my gym in Roundswell.

• Only members of Boot Camp or Personal Training clients of Marc Kent may participate in the “Body Transformation Boot Camp”

• The last day to enroll on the “Body Transformation Boot Camp” is Monday 15th February 2010. This is to allow you a 12 week period of training. DEADLINE FOR ENROLLING IS EXTENDED TO FRIDAY 26TH MARCH 2010

• Everybody in the contest MUST submit before pictures and have completed a body transformation consultation with Marc within 5 days of their start date to be eligible for this contest.

• Anyone wishing to participate in the “Body Transformation Boot Camp” will be required to pay a registration fee of £10 (non-refundable).

• You will be required to write a short essay detailing why you decided to join the “Body Transformation Boot Camp” and what results you achieved.

• Photos will be taken of each participant at the conclusion of the “Body Transformation Boot Camp”

• At the completion of the “Body Transformation Boot Camp”, the judges will select and announce 3 finalists for the transformation contest prizes. The remaining contestants will then vote anonymously for whom they think is the ONE person that most deserves the title of “WINNER” of the “Body Transformation Boot Camp” among the 3 finalists.

• We will have a special end of contest prize giving at a restaurant (location, date and time TBC, depending on numbers) for the whole group to recognize EVERYONE’s accomplishments and to announce the winners of the special prizes above.

• By entering this Contest, each winner of a contest prize consents to the use of his/her name, and/or photograph in any publicity carried out by the Contest Sponsors and its advertising and promotional agencies without further notice or compensation.

• The Contest Sponsor’s rulings are final and without appeal in all matters related to this Contest and the awarding of the Prizes

• The Contest Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, cancel or suspend this Contest should an external circumstances arise which are beyond the reasonable control of the Contest Sponsor. The Contest Sponsor is not responsible for any errors or omissions in printing or advertising this Contest.

• The Contest Sponsor collects your personal information for the purposes of registration, program evaluation and to keep you informed about The Challenge. The Contest Sponsor may, if consent was given during registration, also contact you from time to time with information about other ways you can lose weight.

• The Contest Sponsor will not share any personal data about entrants with any other party. The personal data collected for this Contest will not be used for any other purposes unless entrants provide explicit permission as indicated on the entry form.

• By entering this Contest, entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Contest Sponsor and their respective employees, officers, directors, agents, representatives, successors, assigns, advertising and promotional agencies from any liability for any loss or damage of any kind to the entrant or any other person in connection with this Contest or participation in any Contest related activities, including but not limited the taking of a urine test or, if declared a winner, the use or misuse of a prize or any portion of a prize including personal injury, death or property damage.

• This Contest will run in accordance with these Contest Rules, subject to amendment by the Contest Sponsor. Contest Sponsor reserves the right to cancel, amend, modify or terminate this Contest or the Rules at any time in its sole discretion and without notice.

• Entrants must comply with these rules, and will be deemed to have received and understood the rules if they participate in the Contest.

• You will be required to read and sign a copy of the above rules to be eligible to enter.

If you have any questions please leave a comment below or email me at marc@marckent.com

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc Kent

Fat Loss & Fitness Expert

PS. Sign up for my newsletter at the top of the page to receive regular contest updates. You will also receive my special report on “How To Get Maximum Weight Loss & Fitness Results In Minimum Time!” along with a gift certificate entitling you to ONE free weeks of Boot Camp

Eating for fat loss really is simple. The chances are, you don’t need to buy anymore diet books or  nutrition programs. You already know what to do!

So just to remind you I’m going to give you these 7 simple fat loss tips to help you reach your fat loss and fitness goals quicker.

1. Pick one day per week to plan, shop and prepare your food for the week ahead:
2. Buy  packs of chicken breasts in bulk (this way it works out cheeper),  grill them and then freeze them in individual bags. You can take them out on a daily basis to defrost for lunch when needed.
3. Buy and prepare a week’s worth of vegetables. Put peppers, spinach, tomatoes, and carrots in salads. Cut up raw broccoli florets, carrot sticks, and celery pieces for appetite suppressing snacks. You can then place all these veggies in the fridge in their own airtight boxes.
4. Buy bags of apples, oranges, and kiwi fruits, take 1 of each to work each day or leave the bags of fruit on your desk at work. Doing this will ensure you have healthy snacks on hand and will also help you towards your 5 portions of fruit & veg per day.
5. Buy bags of raw nuts such as almonds, brazil’s, and walnuts. Try to avoid roasted nuts as most are roasted in vegetable oil covered in salt. Take a bag of nuts to work and eat some alongside the fruit so ensure an adequate intake of protein and heart healthy oils.
6. Only buy whole-grain breads, whole-wheat pastas, brown rice and high-fibre cereals. The closer the food is to its natural state the better it is for you. Stay away from packaged foods that been modified in any way by the food companies, such as cakes, biscuits, pastys etc. These foods are full of fat and sugar and will halt your fat loss progress in its tracks.
7. With that said: Alow yourself a treat once per week, but no more, to your favourite meal. Stick to the 90/10 rule.You do remember the 90/10 rule don’t you? Basically it means that you should be eating healthy 90% of the time. So if you eat 6 meals a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack) then you should be eating 38 healthy meals/snacks per week (7 days x 6 meals = 42 meals x 90% = 38).

This means that you can allow yourself up to  4 treats a week. This gives you room to fall in your nutrition without the sense of failure you get with and all or nothing approach, just chose your treats wisely!

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

When Mike turned 65, he was 25 pounds overweight. By strict dieting, he shed the extra pounds, but he lost more weight; he also lost his energy and vitality. He was always exhausted, and his friends, seeing his gaunt, drawn face, worried about his health.

By the time he volunteered for a particular fitness program two years later, he had put 25 extra pounds back on. After 6 months of exercise and some willpower at the dinner table, Mike slimmed down again. This time he felt better than he ever had, brimming with energy and glowing with good health.

What made the difference? The first time Mike lost weight; the second time he lost fat. The distinction is important. According to research, a large portion of the weight lost by dieting alone is active tissue, such as muscle and connective tissue, while a smaller fraction is excess fat. Exercise has the opposite effect. It increased his lean body mass and decreased his excess fat.

Same thing goes with cellulite. Most people tend to think that cellulites are only present to people who are obese. That is why they sometimes associate cellulite with fats and obesity.

Actually, even if cellulite refers to the chain of wrinkled “fat cells” and “subcutaneous connective tissues” beneath the layer of the skin, it should never be associated with people who are fat or obese. In fact, there are many people who have cellulite but are not fat at all.

In reality, nobody knows the main reason why some people accumulate cellulite. However, there are some factors that health experts are considering such as the structure of the fat cells or the poison that entered the body. Some experts say it may be caused by some hormonal changes in the body. But none of these things has been proven to cause cellulites.

However, the only main reason why most of the cellulite cases are abundant in women is that the connective tissues of women are more rigid and firm than men. Hence, whenever a woman gets fat, the fatty cells tend to swell and get bigger. It creates a protruding appearance to the skin producing an “orange peel” look.

For this reason, women are more prone to cellulite than men. That is why it is important for women to be more careful on their body as they have higher chances of accumulating cellulite.

Fats and Cellulite

With the many cases of obese people having cellulites in their body, most of them believed that their cellulites are caused by being too fat.

Even though not all those who are obese develop cellulites, being overweight can really trigger the development of cellulites. This is because too much fat under the skin tend to push the connective tissue creating a strain on the skin. Thus, cellulites form.

However, this is still dependent on the structure of the cells. If an individual’s cell structure does not inhibit the tendency to bulge or expand even if fat deposits accumulate, then there will be no cellulites.

So, the most important thing to remember here is to keep those connective tissues firm and strong and avoid accumulating excess fats so as to avoid the development of cellulite.

How? Start an exercise routine program.

Transforming food into fat seems all too easy for most of us. Losing fat is far more difficult, and to accomplish this, we have only three alternatives: (1) decrease food intake and keep activity constant; (2) increase activity and keep food intake constant; or (3) combine both approaches: diet and exercise.

Physical activity can help reverse the results of inactivity. An hour of vigorous exercise burns up 300 to 600 calories. If you also cut 300 to 500 calories from your daily menu, you can also lose weight at the rate of one to two pounds a week.

Without exercise, you would have to eat 500 to 1,000 fewer calories a day to lose the same number of pounds in a week. Exercise is not for everyone who is over-fat, however. The severely obese person should exercise only under medical supervision to prevent strain on the cardiovascular system and connective tissue. And no one should restrict food intake drastically without consulting doctor.

Resorting to this kind of activity will only get the matter worse. Remember what happened to Mike? He thought that when he started dieting, he would eventually lose all the excess fats he has accumulated. The problem is that he lost those connective tissues rather than excess fat.

For people who are prone to cellulites, this will be a greater problem. Losing connective tissues instead of fat by strict dieting can only make the skin more prone to greater problems but the fat cells are still there. That only means that the problem is not solved at all.

Hence, if you wish to loose those cellulites, it would be better to loose those fats first. The idea here is to burn those fats by increasing your metabolism by 7.5% to 28% more than your normal rate.

It is for this reason that exercising is an important factor in losing cellulite. So for a more cellulite free body, always engage in an exercise routine.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc

There are a lot of people who would give a lot to increase their metabolism. Having a high metabolic rate will enable you to burn fat and lose weight faster without starving yourself in the process. Simply put it is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life. So it stands to reason that a higher metabolic rate will help your body burn fat faster.

So, how do I get a faster metabolism?

There are several factors that affect your metabolic rate, such as the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals you consume, genetics, stress levels, personal diet and activity levels. Your metabolic rate slows down due to the following three factors:

• loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity

• the tendency of the body to cannibalize its own tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it

• and the decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.

Below are my sure fire tips to rev up your metabolism:

1. Build up your lean body mass. It is only natural that metabolic rate declines with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. So it goes without saying that exercise is essential. Build strength and tone by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights. Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity you do.

Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For strength training

-Increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise.

-Increase the level of resistance or add more weight -Utilize advanced exercise techniques if possible

For cardiovascular training

-Insert intervals between exercises -Perform cross-training and combine the exercises -Increase the level of resistance and/ or speed

2. Eat breakfast. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Your metabolic rate can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if you wait until the afternoon to eat.

3. Avoid simple sugars. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, progressive execerise 2-3 times a week has been shown to stabilize blood sugar.

4. Eat spicy foods. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.

5. Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber. Try to get eight hours of sleep per night.

6. Increase your water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. The majority of bodily functions involve water and lack of water causes the body system’s operations to decrease its speed and this produces unneeded stress as a result. If the body cannot flush out these toxins they end up being stored in the fat cells, cellulite anyone?

7. Eat smaller meals. Try to eat 4 to 6 small meals per day that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart. The body burns calories while it’s digesting food. By eating 4-6 means containing a lean protein, a starchy carb and a fibrous carb such as poached salmon, baked potato and broccoli your metabolism will be boosted longer throughout the day

8. Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, this is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.

9. Plan meals in advance. If you plan your meals ahead of time you will always know you will be able to eat something supportive of your goals. Try to take a healthy snack in to work such as an apple and a handful of almonds so you don’t rely on the vending machine when you get hungry mid-morning. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.

9. Chill out! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a hormone called cortisol. This hormone also breaks down muscle tissue which is the last thing you want if weight loss is your goal. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

10. Switch to green tea. It can be used as a substitute for coffee. Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

11. Include more energy foods in the diet. Foods such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if you have the determination and patience needed to stabilize your metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. Eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but should be a way of life.

Train Hard, Eat Smart!

Marc