Welcome to our new weekly news roundup, where we’ll celebrate your progress, bring you news from the MAN v FAT football leagues plus keep you up to date with all the latest goings-on in the world of weight loss, fitness and food.
- Ahead of the launch of the Ipswich MAN v FAT football league chef Ben is getting his fifteen minutes of fame, chatting to the East Anglian Daily Times about his impressive weight loss as part of the nearby Colchester league. He lost nearly a THIRD of his body weight in 14 weeks and now gets to do the classic ‘look at how big my shirt was!’ pose (above).
- Congratulations to player Alun from the Bridgwater league, who has lost 2 stone since the beginning of March. Along with joining the league, he’s also made a huge and inspiring lifestyle change, ditching the HR manager job he held for 20 years to become a postman – a savvy way of making sure he ups his step count.
- The Yeovil league has now hit over 20 stone lost in just three weeks(!)
- A survey by baked bean pasty pioneers Greggs has found that Brits are 61% more health conscious than we were five years ago. This goes some way to explain why their new low-cal menu items now make up more than 10% of sales. To celebrate the popularity of their salads, they made a woman dress up in lettuce to give a ‘new meaning to salad dressing’. Groan.
(There’s a Greggs just around the corner from MVF HQ and we can say that the new offerings are pretty good and although we’ll always lust after the sausage rolls, if you’re looking for a lunch option that isn’t going to blow your calorie budget, they’re a decent option.)
New products
- Wellaby’s have launched a savoury snack which contains up to 70% less fat than regular potato crisps. Available in spicy chilli, smoky BBQ and salt and pepper flavours, they’re vegan, gluten free and under 100 cals for a 24g serving. Get them from Ocado for £1.79.
- Hopping on the Instagram bandwagon (seriously, check out #overnightoats for dedication to sludgy, cold porridge), Quaker have launched pots of overnight oats which you add milk to in the evening and eat chilled in the morning. They come in red apple (262 cals) and blueberry and cranberry (263 cals). Available from Tesco for 99p, but honestly, making overnight oats is so easy and the flavour combos are endless if you do it yourself. Check out these recipes for a good starting point.
What we’re reading
- 12 ‘healthy’ foods that actually have more calories than a Big Mac – surprise surprise, if you load a salad up with heaps of creamy dressing, cheese and bacon, chances are that it’ll surpass the 540 calorie Big Mac.
- Ramadan begins soon and if you’re taking part it’s worth bearing in mind these tips for keeping up your healthy food habits.
- Losing sleep increases the risk of obesity. So if you’ve got kids, suffer from insomnia or just have better things to do than going to sleep at a reasonable hour (hello, Sopranos) then good luck.
- How to grill perfect burgers. Because we’ve had one glimpse of the sun and our thoughts are already turning to BBQs.
On the forum
- How often do you weigh yourself? Is it helpful to step on the scales every day or will that just send you crazy?
- Can you cheat yourself into losing weight by using weird crinkly plates and heavy cutlery? No? Well, tell us what you do do to help yourself lose weight
