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It doesn’t get much more rigorous and intense than days of dance training for months on end. This strict programme allowed James Martin to lose an astonishing amount of weight in a short period of time.
According to Fitness Blender, dancing is a fantastic calorie burner and weight loss method.
Just one hour of ballroom dancing could burn between 150 and 220 calories or 250 to 320 for quicker steps.
An hour of salsa dancing can help shed 480 calories for a 180lb (12.8st) person.
At the time of the competition, the chef weighed around 17th, so his calorie expenditure would likely have been even more.
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The chef admitted he found training “absolutely exhausting”.
Post-Strictly, keeping the weight off can’t have been easy, with the lack of daily dancing and increased time in the kitchen.
How exactly did James Martin keep off the weight once he hung up his dancing shoes?
Diet was key for the chef, as well as unlearning bad habits when it came to food and cooking.
He admitted his attitude towards feeding himself had been “notoriously” poor just like other chefs.
While he spent his days feeding others delicious, wholesome food, he would graze “on the hoof” and not be bothered to cook himself proper meals after a hard day’s work.
But he had a real incentive to try and overhaul his lifestyle. Not only did he look and feel better after losing all the weight, he needed to keep it off for health reasons.
He told The Herald: “Heart disease has been an issue in my family for generations.”
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He did, however, decide to use a pedometer to track his steps in the kitchen.
Opting to change his diet, James decided to ditch the takeaways in favour of home-cooked food.
He also avoided “Mars bars and fizzy soft drinks” which he used to have “tons of…just like almost every other chef in the country”.
Oily fish is protein-packed which keeps the body fuller for longer, as well as being full of Omega-3 fatty acids.
He praised the Mediterranean diet as an effective way to stay slim, a diet which prioritises foods such as whole grains, seafood, fruit and vegetables, nuts, seeds and healthy fats.
He also simplified healthy eating for others hoping to shed excess fat: “Good food is simply cooked food – it’s not rocket science. You don’t have to be a Gordon Ramsay to cook yourself a healthy meal.
“What could be simpler than pan-frying a little bit of salmon and serving it with some great new potatoes and seasonal veg?”
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