BODY conscious men in Fermanagh are embracing a revolutionary new way of getting healthier and maintaining their shape.

The Wellness Centre, a one-stop body shop for men and women, offering weekly coaching on outer and inner nutrition, sports performance and exercise advice, has been helping clients reach their fitness goals for the last month.

And according to Wellness Coach, Rea Cashel, the secret to its success for male clients in particular is the one-to-one mentoring it provides.

"Male clients would tend to bottle things up a bit more, they don't like opening up about their issues so that's why the one-to-one sessions can really help on a weekly basis," he explained, "They feel more comfortable talking about things in that situation. I sit them down and help them understand where they are going wrong, how they can improve for the following week and why their results at the end of each week are the way that they are.

"A lot of my male clients had been going to the gym maybe three to four times a week but they were still struggling to lose weight. What I have found is that they lack knowledge about an overall healthy lifestyle -- they are not eating enough proteins to build up any muscle mass. So my job is to educate them so they have a better understanding about how what they eat affects their health.

"We are with them every step of the way and that is why we get results. One man came to me who said he was about to give up on exercise altogether. Although he was very active -- he exercised three to four times a week, he found he was seeing no change. He told me he had got to the point where he was just accepting things were never going to change for him. But with education and the right advice, he began to see results.

"Another man who is a father in a stressful job said he had no energy. He said it was impacting on family life. When he came home from work he had no energy to do anything with the kids. He would just go into a room, close the door and rest because he was so tired. But through coming here he has so much more energy now to go for a walk with his wife or play with the children. That's probably one of the most inspiring stories so far and it's nice to know you can make that change in someone's life." Fellow Wellness Coach, Clive Morton, says the the first step to better health is ensuring the client has a commitment to reach their goals.

"We are a results based business," he said, "The way it works is that we have an initial consultation. We ask them what they are here for. A lot of the time it's because they want to lose weight. But we only take on the people who are serious about their goal. "For us it should always be geared towards losing fat, not muscle mass, taking the weight off and making sure it is kept off. It's about body shape change rather than weight change -- maintaining muscle mass and losing the fat." According to Rea men place far too much focus on exercise and not enough on their nutrition.

"We look at it as 80 per cent nutrition, 20 per cent exercise," he explains, "People are eating cheap processed food far too much, just going for the cheaper option, but it is not filling you up properly.

"When people have cravings, they normally link it to crisps or chocolate. But your body is not craving carbs or fats, it is crying out for proper nutrition. It's all about creating the right foundation for clients to begin with." And once each client's nutrition routine is laid out, a variation of regular exercise is recommended.

"Something as simple as walking can be as healthy as any kind of exercise," said Rea, "But here we use a variation of different exercises to keep people interested and help them feel like they having a good work out and achieving something each time.

"The most basic exercises are the most challenging!" The Wellness Centre has another tool to aid them in their quest to have Fermanagh's men fighting fit.

Herbalife, a global weight management and nutrition company, offers a range of products to aid clients on their quest for a healthier lifestyle.

Rea explained how it works: "You use a Herbalife shake as a full meal replacement. "We advise clients that they need to be eating five times a day. If they are not eating regularly enough, their metabolism slows down. So by educating them to cut out their habits we advise them to use Herbalife as a meal replacement in the morning and lunch time initially, have two snacks and a good evening meal.

"It's all about breaking habits that have built up over time," Rea added, "It usually takes around 21 days for someone to kick a habit, make changes to their meals and scale back."