That support enabled MAN v FAT to stay true to its honest brand and integrate gamification and collective accountability into the weigh-ins and scoring system.
For instance, members can achieve a host of bonus goals for tracking food and drink consumption, week-to-week weight loss and hitting landmarks.
These aspects help them stay engaged and to keep on track while achieving these extra points, as they want to be able to support their team and teammates to win games.
There’s a real peer-to-peer accountability to make sure success happens for their group and these fundamentals have been integral to MAN v FAT players shedding pounds at an incredible rate.
More than a weight-loss programme
We may offer the only football programme where losers win, as those who lose weight on the scales after a game can contribute to the overall match result with their weight-loss-related bonus goals.
But it’s not just weight-loss that is proving important and beneficial for our community and how our members feel.
Physical and mental health and wellbeing improvements, peer-to-peer support and the creation of a community network are all key parts of the programme’s success and something that the users mention and value.
Many of the MAN v FAT clubs have taken their community beyond the core membership offer that our programme provides, which includes access to an online gym and a mental health platform, along with the expert support of their coach, who either comes from a health and wellbeing background, has lived experience of obesity or has lost weight with the programme.
Those ‘extra-curricular’ activities include weekend coffee-clubs, mass participation in parkrun, or community project work across the regions.
They also include additional football, with the MAN v FAT XIs programme giving those men seeking to increase their physical activity the chance to test themselves even further.
When men first join MAN v FAT, being able to play even five minutes of football is an achievement, whereas the MAN v FAT XIs programme takes them from small to full-sized football pitches in 11-a-side matches that are 28 minutes long, to 11-a-side games that are 90 minutes long!
All these options and support have contributed to us experiencing phenomenal organic growth since we were born 10 years ago: from 80 guys in 2014, to over 8,500 these days.
MAN v FAT communities now include our members' families and a range of social events evolving around our weekly MAN v FAT sessions.
Our secret? To keep our eyes and ears open so we can continuously improve and develop our offer to men who need that support in the clubs around the country.
One great example of how MAN v FAT’s communities flourish is the Warrington branch, our 2023 MAN v FAT Club of the Year.
Each week, coach Dan Edwards and his team support over 100 guys with their weight loss and wellbeing.
This care includes a broad schedule of activities to keep them engaged while looking for new ways to keep participation growing.
And with global obesity continuing to be a major challenge for everybody, MAN v FAT are aiming to remain at the forefront of the support needed for the male population and last summer they took their award-winning programme to the US to pilot MAN v FAT Soccer.
We want men to feel comfortable in our communities and to be able to speak about their challenges.
If we can do that in more towns and cities in the coming year and beyond, we know that we can make a difference.
