ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A male-only weight loss futbol league has kicked off in St. Pete. It’s called MAN v FAT, and its aim is for men with a body mass index of at least 27.5 to change their lives by losing those extra pounds.
“When I started, I was 299. Bumping up against 300 that was like motivation,” Matt French said. "Now I am 271.”
“I started here about five weeks ago,” Dusan Bogdanovic said. “I came in at 347 pounds. Today, I measured 319.”
“I weighed 317 pounds,” Michael Luedtke said. "As of today, weighed in at 272 and a half.”
Every half pound counts on this field.
Each week, club members weigh in before kick off with their numbers recorded and factored into the upcoming match.
“There are a lot of weight loss incentives,” MAN v FAT Tampa coach Michael Hess said. “So, if the players lose weight for that week. They score an additional goal for their team.”
“It’s Weight Watchers with soccer, basically,” French added. “You’re held accountable by your teammates.
Theoretically, if a team has enough victories on the scale, that can outweigh goals on the pitch.
“We want to be the same weight or at least a pound less,” Bogdanovic said. “By gaining weight, you are hurting your team.”
The program was founded ten years ago in the U.K. and is entering its second season in Tampa Bay. The men in the program come from all different backgrounds. Some are playing soccer for the first time. For others, it’s a way to re-live the glory days and connect with people.
“I got too old, too fat, haven’t played futbol in about 15 years,” Bogdanovic said.
“A friend of mine says, ‘Hey, there’s these guys. They are playing soccer. It’s regular soccer, it’s just slower,’” French said.
“Most of the programs are usually 20 year old guys that can be faster, much more agile, much everything better than you,” Bogdanovic added. “This definitely brings out the competitiveness. At the end of the day, you still want to watch what you eat, you still think about bringing the weight down.”
“People around have already noticed. 317 to 272, I am almost 50 pounds down,” Luedtke said. “My goal is to continue that trend because I have two little ones back at home. I want to be able to run and play with them.”
All because of this game — where not matter who wins, everyone loses.
“The more you lose, the more you win,” Bogdanovic said. “At the end of the day, we are all losers. But at the end of the season, we are all winners.”
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