In January this year, I started a weight-management scheme for men, in partnership with Solihull council, called Man v Fat Football. The idea was to see if a re-engineered version of the beautiful game could be a useful tool to engage men with weight loss and support them to beat obesity.
In six months, it has become one of the most successful weight-management schemes ever, with 95% of players losing weight and 62% of players hitting their 5% body-weight-reduction target. For the 80 players who started the league, the average weight loss was nearly two stone; the league as a whole lost 1,727lb. This was against a backdrop of gender division in the UK when it comes to weight: only 31% of men fall into the “normal” BMI category, compared with 41% of women; and while nearly seven out of every 10 men are overweight or obese, women are 277% more likely to get support from their local authority.
Of course, Man v Fat Football isn’t the first attempt to utilise our national sport in order to speak to men about weight loss. Scottish Premier League clubs are involved with the Football Fans in Training programme, and there are a number of smaller schemes run by clubs across the country using football as a tool to make weight loss a more palatable subject. However, our scheme goes one step further and gamifies the idea of weight loss.
At first glance, the league works just like a normal 14-week six-a-side football league, apart from the fact that all the players are overweight or obese. Players are put into teams, and they play a 30-minute game every week. In between games, they are supported with resources such as behaviour-change tools and peer support. Uniquely, however, the league position is decided not just by the points won on the pitch, but by the pounds lost off it: players score bonus goals for weight loss and this is added to the match scores to give a new league table.
“We figured out pretty early on that weight loss counted just as much as the football if you wanted to win the league,” says Marcus Farnsworth, a carpenter whose 30.4kg (67.2lb) loss meant that he was the league’s biggest weight-loser overall. Farnsworth combined his wife’s Slimming World-inspired cooking with his own focus and found the weight dropping off. “In our groups and at the games we would all talk about what people were eating and drinking and we’d push each other to make healthy choices and give each other advice. At the weigh-ins, if someone had lost, you’d cheer them on, but if they’d gained then you’d have a word to cheer them up and push them on for next week. It was a great atmosphere.” It’s definitely not a question of lose as much as you can: the target of 5% of body weight over 14 weeks is recommended by Nice.
There has been a lot written about how gamification of mundane or thankless tasks is the next big thing, and I think Man v Fat Football shows that harnessing people’s competitive nature can lead to a big step forward in terms of weight loss. As well as making it a more normal topic of conversation, it also gives a group the motivation to stick to the programme. All too often, plans that rest on an individual’s motivation can be destroyed when that person loses heart, and starts feeling that they are only letting themselves down. If you are losing weight not just for you, but for your team, it adds another layer to the motivation.
“The thing for me is that I didn’t feel as if I was on a weight-loss scheme,” explains Andy Hunt, who lost 18kg (40lb) and says his participation in the league has given him a renewed ability to keep up with his children. “While I was doing the scheme, it just felt like meeting up with other blokes who wanted to lose weight and who were into football. It’s only now I look at the scheme that I can see how many things were built-in to make sure that the players lost weight. Things such as the forums, the online tools we had access to, the book we were given, the coaches we met every week, but, above all, the teams we had to cheer each other on.”
It is something of a mystery why men’s weight-management programmes are in such short supply. Alison Avenell, whose study into male obesity led to the development of best-practice guidelines from Public Health England and Men’s Health Forum, suggested that men may well do better in single-sex groups and through schemes that are designed specifically with men in mind.
This is certainly borne out by our experience: the biggest drawback we have found is keeping up with demand. We had nearly 1,000 applications for the original 80 places on the pilot league, and as a result we are now partnering with Powerleague to take it nationwide.
“I’d tell every bloke out there who enjoys football and wants to lose weight to get involved,” says Dean Gripton, whose doctor recently took him off diabetes medication as a result of the 9.5kg (21lb) he lost participating in the first league. “It’s really very difficult to lose weight without support and when you’re a member of Weight Watchers or Slimming World, you’re always feeling like you don’t fit in. What Man v Fat Football does is provide the support you need in a way that makes it much more effective. You pay, you weigh and you play footy. You might get thrashed – but even if you do, it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re losing on the scales.”
• Man v Fat Football is launching leagues across the country from July. To register, visit manvfat.com/football. You can join on your own or with friends or family. The leagues last for 14 weeks.
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