Edinburgh males at fat-fighting rugby and soccer golf equipment crew as much as shed 1 / 4 of a tonne in 2025.
50 males assembly every week at two sports activities golf equipment in Edinburgh, with the intention of shedding pounds and enhancing their all-round wellbeing by way of rugby and soccer classes have misplaced 250kg (1 / 4 of a tonne) between them, within the final six months.
MAN v FAT runs 165 rugby and soccer golf equipment throughout the UK, nonetheless Edinburgh is one in every of solely 15 cities and cities within the nation the place males can take their decide of rugby or football-based programmes – or select to play each.
MAN v FAT Soccer Edinburgh has been operating for a variety of years, nonetheless town’s rugby membership is comparatively new, having launched in March 2025. MAN v FAT Rugby Edinburgh takes place each Tuesday night at Meggetland Sports activities Advanced. Whereas on Thursday evenings, the soccer membership meets at Powerleague on Westbank Avenue in Portobello.
22 gamers at present participate within the rugby classes, whereas 28 participate within the soccer membership – each evenings at present have areas for brand spanking new gamers who is likely to be involved in becoming a member of.
Each MAN v FAT Soccer and Rugby Edinburgh are particularly aimed toward males with a BMI of over 27.5, which NHS pointers classify as obese or overweight. At a typical session, gamers arrive and are weighed, monitoring their weight reduction or acquire throughout every week. After weigh-ins, gamers battle it out on the pitch in small-sided video games of soccer and contact rugby.
The scores on the pitch mix with a person’s weight change all through every week to contribute to league standings inside a membership – with groups that win matches and whose gamers shed pounds, being awarded extra factors.
Marc Adams who performs on the rugby membership and has misplaced a powerful 4 stone since becoming a member of, defined: “I had been specializing in shedding pounds for many of final yr however discovered myself stalling. So, after I noticed that there was a rugby model of MAN v FAT beginning up in Edinburgh, I believed it could be a great way to push myself to maintain going – and being in a likeminded group would function good motivation.
“It’s been nice to play a little bit of rugby each week with a bunch that’s snigger and have the same ardour for the sport. I’ve additionally actually loved seeing the unbelievable progress that different members have been making in shifting in the direction of their objectives realizing the work it could take myself. I will surely advocate it to others, the success that everybody has had up to now and the higher health ranges week-on-week has been superb.
“It’s clearly an enormous psychological increase as effectively while you see the work in the direction of hitting objectives paying off. It’s additionally simply been good to have one thing to stay up for on a Tuesday evening for a little bit of rugby.
Euan Campbell, a member of the Edinburgh soccer membership added: ‘’MAN v FAT Soccer me as a result of I used to be acutely aware of my weight however wasn’t a fan of the gymnasium and located it laborious to inspire myself to train alone.
“I don’t really feel judged right here and we’re all in the identical boat with a give attention to weight reduction. Being a part of a crew, with a component of competitors motivates me to train and carry on high of my weight reduction objectives. It additionally helps that shedding pounds counts as objectives for the crew!
“Having the session every week retains me constant, and our coach, Kris, has given me glorious recommendation on the subject of adapting my weight-reduction plan. There’s additionally extra to the programme than enjoying soccer. I preserve monitor of what I’m consuming and ingesting, I even have entry to glorious on-line recommendation for bodily and psychological well being, in addition to quite a few wholesome recipes.
“Since becoming a member of eight months in the past I’ve misplaced over 15 per cent of my physique weight and am now very near a wholesome BMI. I’d advocate MAN v FAT to anybody seeking to shed pounds, in addition to the camaraderie and knowledgeable assist alongside the way in which’’.
Kenny Noble, who misplaced 14 stone with the assistance of the MAN v FAT Soccer programme in Scotland now coaches the Edinburgh rugby membership. He stated: “I’m so happy with how supportive the fellows are to one another and the way all of them have fun one another’s success regardless of how small. And so they get behind one another to supply encouragement and assist if there’s every week the place somebody good points weight.
“I’m shocked at simply how shortly the fellows are smashing by way of their milestone percentages. To this point we’ve 15 out of twenty-two gamers which have achieved a lack of 5 per cent of their body weight because the membership launched in March 2025. That’s an outstanding achievement for the fellows concerned.”
The overall quantity of weight misplaced by MAN v FAT gamers within the UK at present stands at greater than 800,000 kilos. Along with soccer classes, MAN v FAT gamers obtain off-the-pitch assist together with wholesome meal recipe concepts and tips about common health. Gamers additionally get free entry to a bespoke psychological well being platform by way of MAN v FAT companions, JAAQ.
Discover out extra about MAN v FAT Rugby Edinburgh, right here: https://manvfatrugby.com/membership/edinburgh/
MAN v FAT Soccer Edinburgh: https://www.manvfatfootball.org/edinburgh