With over 8,300 men participating in MAN v FAT every week, we’ve got some great stories from our members and what MAN v FAT means to them.
Many of our men have been part of two or more MAN v FAT clubs, but not many will have had as large a distance between their locations as Sam Buckley.
Sam was a long term member of our MAN v FAT Slough club but, after a move to Northern Ireland, began to miss his MAN v FAT experience.
However, the launch at the end of August of our Belfast Club meant he was able to get back involved and he told us about his story with us to date.
What was it that made you join MAN v FAT Football?
I had seen a post from somebody on Linkedin of all places explaining how they had joined MAN v FAT and it had helped them on their weight loss journey. It wasn’t even anyone I was connected with, but I remember it coming up and having the desire to look into it further.
What do you most enjoy about MAN v FAT Football?
The thing I enjoy most – and I know most of the lads enjoy too – is the competitive element. At comparable weight loss groups, you might be fighting to lose the most weight that week so you’ll get a Star of the Week award or something similar.
However, MAN v FAT you’re fighting to get that weight gone, fighting to win the game on the night and fighting to work with your team and drag them in the same direction as you for those awards at the end of the season.
What has been the secret to your successful weight loss so far?
The secret for me was taking responsibility and seeing the numbers fall. I took up running over lockdown as did a lot of others, which helped my fitness massively and made losing weight much easier.
That’s what it feels like MAN v FAT encourages. Don’t worry about the calories going in so much, as long as you’re making sensible food choices and exercising regularly, the weight takes care of itself.
There was a bloke in my team in his 50s and he was explaining to me that the difference over a year of losing half a pound a week vs putting it on is scary.
Step one is making sure you reverse the trend in putting the weight on. Staying the same weight for the week, month or year is just as good a progress as losing it.
Would you encourage other men to get involved in playing MAN v FAT Football. If yes, why?
As described earlier, I would definitely encourage anyone looking to lose weight to join their local MAN v FAT team.
The biggest part of it is accountability. If you join a gym you might go for a couple of weeks and give up, nobody’s watching you and you can get away with doing the bare minimum. When you’re part of a team there is that group mentality making sure you don’t let your team down. It keeps you motivated and helped me lose around 6 stone.
How else has MAN v FAT helped you?
Using MAN v FAT as the starting point to get fit has helped me massively in my life. Aside from meeting people in the MAN v FAT team, it encouraged me over time to take up running which then led me to join a local running group, participate in races and be more socially active.
Aside from this, I made my journey very public and the amount of support I got from friends and family made me feel like a rockstar. After moving away from a MAN v FAT supported area I have definitely felt the opposite and am really pleased that Belfast is up and running to get back on that exciting journey. I would recommend this group to anyone in the world.
