A dad, who weighed 18 stone, has said he loved being fat and feels “worse” after losing four and a half stone.
Gary Parker, 47, signed up to a football weight loss group in July last year after he developed a pain in his knee.
The programme, which has more than 8,000 players and 150 clubs across the UK, targets men with a BMI of 27.5 or higher.
Scaffolder Gary, from Swinton, Salford, weighed 18 stone when he joined the group and couldn’t play for 10 minutes without becoming tired.
However, the dad-of-four witnessed a rapid weight loss now weighing 13st 5lbs after shedding four and a half stone.
Despite his improved fitness, Gary claims his lifestyle change has made him feel worse as he misses his favourite junk foods.
“At the time, I didn’t think I was that big until I looked back,” he told the Manchester Evening News.
“I think I wanted to get back into football first and foremost, but the main reason I did it was because of my knees. I have a manual job and my knees were hurting. I realised I needed to lose a bit of weight.”
“At the start I was losing a lot of weight. When I finally realised I was getting fitter was when I could play for more than 10 minutes without feeling like I could pass out.”
“A lot of people ask me how [my weight loss] makes me feel. I actually used to love being fat and I used to love going to Greggs every day and getting loads of food and stuffing my face.”
“If anything, I feel worse because I’m not eating as much comfort food. If you go past a Greggs, you have to go in.
“I used to drink six bottles of Lucozade a day, eat Mars Bars, get Greggs every morning and I just stopped it. Anyone who knows me knows I was addicted to custard creams.”
As he reveals his dietary habits, Gary admitted he used to ravage twice-weekly takeaways and was a regular consumer of various chocolate bars daily.
“My weight never got me down in the first place,” he declared. “I didn’t really think I was that big but when look back and realise, you think, ‘Christ, I can’t ever let myself get to that again.'”.
Impressively, over the last year, 80 men from the locale have successfully shed a combined weight exceeding 250kg through the group.
In an order to keep track of their progress, players are weighed at the beginning of each session. This is followed by competitive six-a-side football games that last for 30 minutes with additional goals awarded based on team members’ weight loss.
The overall position within a club of a particular team is determined by both, its accumulated weight loss and match scores.
Andrew Shanahan is the brains behind the programme. He wished to establish a unique weight loss group specifically aimed at men and combined with football.
Alongside the football sessions, MAN v FAT players are also provided with off-field support including healthy meal recipes and general fitness advice. They also gain full access to the MAN v FAT online gym, enabling them to continue their weight loss journey from home.
