Oh hello! We’re going to go ahead and guess that you’re here because Christmas is over and you’ve come into January stumbling and squinting into the light: yep, you’ve eaten way too many mince pies and you’re having to do some hardcore arithmetic to figure out how many drinks you had as you saw in the New Year.
Whether you’re continuing your journey from last year or making your very first New Year’s resolution to lose weight, we want to give you a big fist pump.
Here goes…
Find how you’re going to do it
There are a million ways to lose weight, and we’re not here to tell you which ways are the best* because what works for one man might not work for the next. The secret to finding a way of losing weight that works for you is to find something you can live with. Is clean eating a good way of losing weight? Sure, but if a kale smoothie is your idea of hell you’ll be running back to your old ways before you can say ‘Rustlers’. Find something that works with your life and it’s much likely that you’ll stick to it.
You can find our guide to popular diets here, and if you don’t know where to start, check out this guide which will recommend a diet to you based on what you want from it.
* although what we will say is that pills, wraps and magic potions don’t work. No exceptions.
Get support
Having support around you is essential when you’re trying to make major lifestyle changes. Losing weight and transforming the way you look at food is hard enough as it is without people around you doing their best to bring you down. If you find that your mates aren’t quite as keen as you are about you attempting to make a real change your health in 2019, it’s almost certainly not personal. We all do it – seeing people making positive changes makes us turn inward to look at how we’re doing, and if you’re dissatisfied with that, well, some people deal with this in unhelpful ways. Read more about why your mates don’t want you to lose weight here. So, armchair psychology out of the way – you need a positive support network.
Join the gym, your local Parkrun, a rambling group, a cycling group, your local MAN v FAT Football league or find a kickabout near you.
Or if you don’t fancy getting out there just yet, join the MAN v FAT forum to get support from the comfort of your sofa. It’s a bustling place full of men trying to lose weight and whether you want to shout about your achievements, get advice or just have a moan about how unfair it is that you can’t just keep eating whole packets of biscuits every night, you’ll find a warm welcome there.
What, you didn’t think we’d do this *without* giving MVFF a shoutout?!
Join your local MAN v FAT Football league
If you’re in the UK or Australia, like football, and want to lose some weight, then MAN v FAT Football (or MAN v FAT Soccer if you’re down under) will be right up your alley. 14 weeks of footie with men who all have the same goal of losing weight and getting healthy. The leagues are unique because only men with a BMI of over 27.5 can join*, and matches are decided based on goals scored on the pitch plus bonus goals scored by losing weight. The leagues are officially endorsed by the FA and we’re partnered with Sport England as well as councils, football clubs and community initiatives all across the country. Head to the MAN v FAT Football site to sign up, or if you’re in Australia you can join MAN v FAT Soccer in Perth here.
* if you get under this while a member, there is a maintenance program so you can continue to play – we won’t just turf you out!
Follow us
We’re all over social media – you can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even Pinterest. We share what’s going on in the MVF world, news from the MAN v FAT Football leagues, recipes, tips, news, silly things and more, and if you’re trying to lose weight in 2019, we want to hear how it’s going! Keep us updated like you’re our auntie who has only just discovered Facebook.
Say goodbye to 2018
If you had a good year in 2018 and made good weight loss progress, well done – we take our hats off to you! You’re doing a great job and just need to keep going this year.
But if you had a bad year in 2018 and it’s playing on your mind, here’s a very good chance to forget about it and leave it in the past. You can’t change the past, but you can change what happens from here on – if you spend your time fretting about things you did or didn’t do (example: I did eat way too much, and I didn’t lose that 6 stone I promised myself on New Year’s Day 2018) you’ll never make any progress because you’ll just be stuck. So – deep breath – let it go and focus on making this year the best year you can.
