Mark Sumner Online Coach

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Mark Sumner Online Coach

Your No Bullsh*t Guide to Weight Loss Without Ending Up Skinny Fat If you've arrived here, you've already started your journey to becoming confident.

My name's Mark Sumner, a Royal Marines Commando-turned-health and fitness coach, originally from the UK. For more than five years, I've been helping women from all over world feel more confident through my online coaching programs.

24/02/2026

I’ve now realised ultra running is an eating contest in disguise 🥸

And I wish I had seen a video like this when I first started getting into runs longer than 90 mins that spoke about:

•Hydration
•Sodium intake
•Carbs per hour
•Whole foods

For context, my longs are pushing into 4 hours now with almost 1500m of elevation…

When I first started, I’d take one gel at 90 mins and wonder why I was crawling home 🤣

Now I aim to have about 80g of carbs per hour and I’ve built up a decent gut tolerance to this over the last couple of months.

I think some runners massively underfuel once they go beyond 2 hours…

The 60-90g of carbs per hour range is where performance really starts to hold up

Especially on climbs and in the final hour of longer runs.

This didn’t happen overnight though…

I built this up gradually from around 40-50g per hour.

Then when it comes to hydration and sodium intake this is ENTIRELY individual…

But as a rough starting point, most people will land somewhere between 500-1000mg sodium per hour depending on sweat rate and conditions.

(Basing this off of living in the UK & winter training 🤣)

If you’d like a bit more help with figuring this one out, comment “HYDRATE” and I’ll send you a cheat sheet to help.

My next goal is to find some whole food/bars that packs easy into my kit that helps break up the sweetness of the gels and carb drinks…

Let me know if you’ve got any favourites 🤙🏼

22/02/2026

A huge week in the books…
salem into the third trimester 🤯

We’ve bought a pram, there’s a moses basket in Hanna’s office and we’ve got a small pyramid of baby clothes already!

Life’s happening fast and slow at the same time…

I’m happy for the ultra training that’s helping to keep me present with it all.

On that front, I’ve clocked up some of my longest runs over the last 8 days…

Plenty of snow, bogs and hills in the mix which spice things up!

Feeling good for Ultra X Scotland…

And there’s plenty of time left to donate to my page which is in my bio

Happy Sunday 🤙🏼

20/02/2026

The further I’ve started running…

The more I’ve started tweaking my warm ups.

I’m really into using bands right now as they’re a VERY good way to include some low level strength work…

Look at it as rehab for injuries OR prehab to stop them happening again.

This list is by no means exhaustive…

But you won’t go far wrong by including some banded work like this into your warm up routine.

19/02/2026

The leaner you are, the harder it gets…

Especially if you’re a woman training 5-7+ times a week and still trying to diet aggressively.

You’ve got less body fat to lose…

Less energy to pull from…

And less margin for error.

You know that fat loss requires a calorie deficit…

And performance needs more fuel.

But if you try to push both of them hard?

Eventually something gives…

Usually it’s your strava times that tank.

Or your Garmin says you’ve got 56 hours left until your recovered…

All while not being able to stick to the calorie deficit because you’re so damn hungry…

So you look the exact same too 🫠

A better way to do things is to run it in phases…

Focus on fat loss first and MANTAIN your performance.

THEN focus on performance and MAINTAIN your fat loss.

But not both at full throttle.

18/02/2026

When I first got into running last July…

I thought I NEEDED music to motivate me.

But then I went out for a run and my headphones died after about 10 mins…

So I had to run for another hour without any music.

And guess what?

I f*cking loved it.

Not only was I way more in tune with my pacing, breathing and effort levels…

It’s also something I find very therapeutic!

My longest run of this training block has been almost 4 hours and I still didn’t miss the music.

That being said, on race day, I will have a playlist for any dark places I might hit across the whole 110KM.

What about you, do you run with headphones or not?

17/02/2026

I have nothing against high protein pancakes.

Although I do see some people majoring in the minors far too much.

They’ll spend a whole weekend sinking wine, ordering takeaways and snaffling treats…

But then stress about how much protein is in their mix on pancake day 🫠

I know protein can be tough to hit…

But if your protein strategy starts and ends with dessert?

I’d take another look at how you’re building your meals the rest of the time as a priority 👀

And if you need help with building more protein into your main meals…

Comment “PROTEIN” and I’ll send you a cheat sheet that will show you how & give you exact portion sizes to help

No protein pancakes required.

15/02/2026

When I signed up to this ultra marathon, I had an option to fundraise for a charity…

Now, I don’t want to turn this into a sob story but cancer has reared its ugly head a few times in my life.

My m**s had breast cancer, my brothers up against myeloma and my dad’s recently got over prostate cancer.

Not only has it hit close to home but I’ve worked with clients who have been up against it…

One of my first clients sadly lost her battle with cancer, and there’s a handful of clients who have fortunately beaten it.

I could keep going with a list, as I’m sure you can, of how this disease can weave its way into our lives out of nowhere…

That’s why I’m doing this to raise a bit of cash for

They help and support those who are truly up against their battle with cancer.

I’ve put the link in my bio if you’d like to donate…

I won’t shut up about this fundraising for a couple of months now so it’s best you fire me a few quid asap.

Thank you, appreciate you 🤙🏼

14/02/2026

This a Valentine’s Day to remember 😍 .salem

We went to get our boys 4D scan and I wasn’t expecting it to be SO detailed…

I thought I’d see a few smudged features but we got to see every little detail.

His lips, hands and a confirmatory shot of his “winky” as the sonographer coined it!

My love and respect for my wife grows every single day that she grows our little dude…

I feel a bit useless whilst he’s still hunkered down inside her, so I just do as much cooking and washing as I can!

12/02/2026

If your training constantly bores you…

I think that says a lot about you as a person 👀

Because training isn’t boring…

It’s necessary.

Remember, we live in a world where Instagram is a highlight reel 99% of the time.

You see the transformations, PBs and finish line photos.

But you don’t see the months of boring work that allowed someone to achieve it.

It’s a bit of a façade.

So you start to think what you want will happen quickly.

That it’ll be a breeze.

That you won’t get bored.

No, no…

That’s a lie.

It WILL be boring, repetitive and a grind at times.

So you might as well reframe the way you look at training.

Because it’s absolutely necessary.

10/02/2026

I’ve always said the same thing when it comes to fat loss:

Don’t eat back the calories you burn from exercise.

But when fat loss isn’t the goal your training volume IS high…

Like it is for me right now as I’m prepping for this ultra, the last thing I want is my bodyweight to be dropping a lot.

So while all wearables aren’t super accurate and I’ll never trust the numbers 100%…

I’ve found that eating back around 80% of the calories I burn from a run is enough to help keep my weight stable…

AND recover between sessions.

Obviously, if fat loss is your goal, this isn’t for you.

But if you’re trying to maintain weight and keep performance up while smashing training, give this a go.

P.S. I track my daily bodyweight trend and calorie intake alongside this so I can adjust over time, not based on one run or one meal 🤙🏼

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http://www.markjsumner.com/

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