Biggest Loser comes to Zimbabwe

Former Mr Zimbabwe champion Givemore Marume has embarked on a journey to help fight obesity which is slowly taking its toll on Zimbabweans.

In this regard, Marume is launching a local edition of the internationally-acclaimed reality television series; The Biggest Loser.

For Marume, a four-time Mr Zimbabwe and six-time Mr Ironman winner in local bodybuilding, a person's body right now is a reflection of the choices he or she has made up to this point.

He reckons that many people are trapped in bodies that they do not want to be in because of choices or lack of choices.

With a background in bodybuilding, Marume who runs a boot camp in Harare has come up with a team of fitness experts across the country to run a four-month fitness campaign to help people get back into shape by "burning" fat in the Biggest Loser Zimbabwe campaign.

"A fit and healthy body leads to one having a sound and healthy mind. One of the natural and safest ways to achieve this is through regular exercises, done in the right way," Marume told the Daily News on Sunday.

"Regular exercises should be the way of life for people with stressful jobs and those who spend most of their time sitting in one position in the office.

"The world over, most professionals are exposed to fast foods and Zimbabweans are no exception.

"These unhealthy fast foods, coupled with lack of exercises, can surely cut away several years from one's lifespan.

"This results in a number of conditions such as obesity, heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke among other diseases.

"Therefore this fitness campaign that we are having will help any individual reach the levels or get the body that he or she yearns for."

The record former Mr Zimbabwe, who last year launched his own bodybuilding contest called the Marume Classic, said the participants to the fitness campaign will be taken through courses that also includes healthy eating.

"We are also targeting sports persons because some of them are now even slowing down when they are supposed to be at their prime because of the diet that they take, coupled by lack of proper exercises," said.

"There is a difference between just exercising and doing the right exercises so that's the reason we have experienced people in fitness teaching people.

"We are starting the campaign during the first week of April and the winners will be announced on August 4 when we also have the Marume Classic bodybuilding contest.

"We are having individuals, couples, teams as well as corporates in the categories that we have and there are prizes for the winners.

"We have centres in all major towns and cities across the country so this year it's going to be bigger and better than last year."

As Bosnian-born world renowned fitness trainer Samir Becic put it "The wealth of and prosperity of a nation is dependent on the health and physicality of its people."

Most developed countries derive their prosperity from the health of their people with countries such as France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Andora, Japan, Australia and Singapore putting a lot of emphasis on fitness and regular exercises.

In developed markets like the United States and Europe, the fitness industry generates over $30 billion every year.

In Africa, South Africa is emerging as one of the fastest growing economies in the fitness industry while Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana are following up.