Wedding day bulge gives bridgrooms the blues

With the peak British wedding season upon us the survey polled 1,000 married British men about how they felt about their bodies on their wedding day and what they would most want to improve.

A further 15 per cent of married males would have removed their double chin, while 40 per cent wished they had worked out more ahead of saying ‘I do’.

There is still time for grooms to get in shape for their big day this year and Multipower Sportsfood ambassador Ben Foden, who has just married pop star Una Healy, has put together a series of easy to follow training and nutrition tips to help spare Brits wedding photo blushes.

England and Northampton Saints full back Foden says: “Getting started and into a routine is half the battle but with your wedding as the motivation it should make things easier.

“ It is important to sit down in advance to plan out your training schedule and a healthier balanced diet. If you can add a training partner into the mix to help motivate you and keep you focussed then you’ll be well on your way to losing the pounds for the big day.”

The survey did confirm that many had good intentions – 19 per cent planned to lose weight before the wedding but failed to keep it up and 11 per cent of British men were sparked into losing weight after seeing their wedding photos.

Ben Foden’s Top Five Training tips

Plan ahead. It sounds simple, and it is. But it’s also easy to overlook and you really won’t progress if you haven’t got a training plan in place. So make a diary or a schedule, write down your sessions and monitor your progress. Looking back at previous efforts will also help motivate you to go one better.

Try circuit training. Circuit training allows you to pack more work into your time by letting specific muscle groups rest as you work others. It is especially good if your hectic lifestyle restricts your gym hours. My favourite circuit for an all-round body workout includes sit ups, squat jumps, skipping and medicine ball chest pass. Try each for one minute and then rest.

Focus on multi-joint exercises. These are what we call ‘compound exercises’ and train the most muscle fibres at once. They are the core exercises in my workout schedule and the one I do regularly is the squat. This exercise works the knee, hip and ankle, as well as the muscles of the upper and lower legs.

Build muscle. It’s not only cardio work that will help you lose fat. Building muscles burns a lot more calories from body fat every day and the more muscle you have, the more calories you can lock away.

Keep it varied. Using a variety of exercises helps keep training interesting and also forces the body and muscles to adapt. With weight training, think dumbbell press and then barbell press. With cardio, think short sprints and then longer jogs.

Top Five Nutrition tips

Concentrate on diet first. Diet is 70-80 per cent of the picture with weight loss. Training might be more interesting but focus on what you’re eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and you’ll see results faster. But avoid an extreme diet. In practise they are hard to stick to and many of them are a very bad choice for your health. Just make changes that you can maintain.

Take carbohydrates around training. The body stores the energy from excess carbs by converting it into fat. But, carbs eaten around training are locked away in the muscles meaning you avoid the fat but keep the energy benefits.

But not ALL the time. Carbs are a great fuel but we tend to over eat them. Try swapping some of that starch for fibrous vegetables, like green beans or spinach. You still get enough carbs but also more vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Get your fish oils. When I’m eating out I’ll often order oily fish or chicken. You’ll hear a lot about Omega 3, the reason being is that it has been proven to help with fat loss and it is in its most active form in fish oils. Chicken is a source of protein, vitamins and minerals.

Avoid liquid calories.

The body is very bad at monitoring calories consumed in liquid form, they don’t fill us up and they’re often just the type of calories that do the most damage. Swap your pint of beer or wine glass for a bottle of water, I carry one with me at most times and sip regularly during the day. Challenge yourself to drink 1.5 litres a day