A new football club has helped 42 Swindon men lose more than 1,000 pounds of weight between them in just nine months.
Organized by MAN v FAT Football, it is held at Kingstown School on Friday evenings from 7.30pm and is aimed specifically at overweight and obese men with a BMI over 27.5.
A fifth of players managed to lose 10% of their starting weight. Now the organizers want more men to join the camp.
Rob Ridley has already lost 4th place with the help of the program.
He said: “When I was at my heaviest I tried to maintain regular exercise through competitive football, however, I found that my fitness made me ineffective in games and I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t help my team more.
“Weight and fitness can have such an overwhelming impact on your life without you really realizing it. Being part of MAN v FAT is not like other weight loss programs – you get support from your team and opportunities will arise to improve your fitness and lose weight outside of weekly games, such as finding someone to train with at the gym.
Richard Crick, MAN v FAT manager, said: “We are extremely proud of the progress made by our players, our coaches and the entire team involved at our Swindon club.
“The club currently has spaces for new players, so if you’re ready to lose weight while having fun and making new friends, get in touch!”
MAN v FAT has 170 clubs across the UK and the total weight lost by players so far stands at around 416,000lbs.
It is an FA affiliated program with nearly 8,000 players. The program was created by Andrew Shanahan who was fed up with traditional weight loss classes primarily aimed at women and decided to develop a program that combines the beautiful game with achievable weight loss goals for men.
Players are weighed in before a 30-minute six-man game, with additional goal bonuses awarded to teams based on how much weight the players have lost. Weight loss and game scores then contribute to teams’ league positions within a club.
