‘Just go for it’: The story of MAN v FAT Rugby, the unique way for men to lose weight
A Midlands man has lost 25% of his body weight after joining MAN v FAT Rugby just nine months ago.
Last September, Adrian Courtney weighed 26 stone. Climbing the stairs left him breathless, and frequent heart palpitations had become a worrying norm.
Fast forward to now, and, according to the man himself, he’s “floating”, all thanks to MAN v FAT Rugby, the unique weight loss programme that overcomes one of the biggest obstacles to losing weight: it makes exercising fun.
Heart palpitations from running up stairs
Adrian first noticed his extreme weight gain when racing his wife up the stairs and almost keeling over. He could barely breathe, his heart was pumping through his chest; he was not in a good way.
“I ignored it, as blokes do generally,” he told me in a chat over Zoom.
After first experiencing what he thought was a panic attack, Adrian found himself more and more concerned by his inability to do the simplest aerobic tasks without difficulty.
“That one trip up the stairs put my heart into survival mode, pumping like I’ve sprinted 100 metres.”
This left the 36-year-old regularly wondering whether the next week would be his last. Accepting that his weight was causing the problems, he knew he had to change.
“I couldn’t go on like that, and I had to start somewhere,” he said.
How did he get into this situation?
“I’ve got the Holy Trinity of bad food habits. I’m a boredom eater, an emotional eater and a comfort eater,” Adrian said.
“Popcorn with a film, but it’s not just popcorn; it’s a massive pizza, two sides, and full-fat full-sugar drinks.”
Having put losing weight off for years and almost internalised the fat, Adrian looked for a way out – but finding the right avenue wasn’t going to be easy.
“I felt that the fitness gap was so much so that I couldn’t really go anywhere, and I was worried about re-injury,” he said when considering a return to activity.
It was only by a happy coincidence that he eventually found his solution. Scrolling through Facebook one day, Adrian found the club that would effectively change his life. It was MAN v FAT Rugby.
Taking the initiative to return to the sport, MAN v FAT proved to be exactly what he needed.
What is MAN v FAT?
MAN v FAT is designed to help men lose fat by playing rugby and changing eating habits as a team.
There are now 16 MAN v FAT Rugby clubs, with several others set to follow this year. Adrian’s club at Leicester has three teams which has gathered a great community to support each other through the process.
Playing World Rugby’s T1 rules – a version of touch rugby that involves non-contact scrums and lineouts – they mix up the teams once a year, making it a great opportunity to meet like-minded individuals.
The points are assessed on the field and the scales, so a loss on the field can still be a win if the team loses more weight on the scales.
The process is simple but effective:
Weigh: Men score bonus tries for their weight loss performance.
Play: These are added to the tries from their weekly game.
Lose: MAN V FAT is the only rugby league where losers win!
Win: Leagues are won by the team who score the most points in the season
“You can start with nothing. There are lads there who have never played rugby before. Just losing weight gives you the feeling that you can have an impact without necessarily scoring tries.
“Getting that interaction, laughing, seeing the lads score a try made me feel great. And then the weight loss came, and I got hooked on it.”
What other changes have been made?
It’s not been easy for Adrian, but thanks to the friendships he’s made and the results he’s had, he remains as motivated as ever to continue this life-changing process.
“It’s a mammoth task, but it’s money in the bank every day I beat my calorie target. I’m like, ‘Right, that’s another day down, bosh, next one’.”
He’s tracking his eating habits, no longer consuming 3000 calories in a single meal, and has picked up a whole host of other healthy activities.
“Fighting through that urge and saying to myself, ‘Just see if you can get to the end of the day, and then before you know it, that urge will die off’.
“I wouldn’t feel hungry anymore. That’s a psychological hurdle I’ve jumped over, and now I’m not hungry again. Even though 20 minutes before, I was shaking with hunger, thinking I was ravenous.
“Whereas if my body is actually hungry, it wouldn’t go away, and I’d know that I’m at a point where I need to refuel.”
How does he feel now?
“Transformed. My resting heart rate plummeted because I’m moving so much less weight. I have more energy, I’m sleeping less, and I don’t dread moving.
“And then my confidence. I’m not going to be on the cover of Men’s Health anytime soon, but even just my clothes fit better. I’m able to wear clothes that I would have fit into in my 20s.”
Such has been his transformation, Adrian can now hit level 6 on a bleep test, which would be high enough to qualify for the police fitness test.
Advice for others
When asked what advice he would give to others looking to lose weight and considering MAN v FAT Rugby, he said: “Just go for it. Turn up rather than asking, ‘What if? What if I had done that? What if I had done this?’
“If it comes on your radar and you’re thinking about it, that means there’s a little seed in your brain somewhere that says, ‘I need to get healthier.’
“Just go meet the lads. Go for a laugh and the weight loss will come.”
For Adrian, his commitment to a better life is clear to see; this is a man whose health and life is heading in the right direction.