A free online lifestyle change programme, called fatmanslim, has been launched by its GP inventor to help support men trying to lose weight and lead healthier lives.
Fatmanslim.com (no connection to the well-known DJ with a similar name) includes the innovative feature of downloadable weekly MP3 audio files, outlining a weight loss plan and providing support and encouragement .
Using the catchline "diets are for women… fatmanslim is for men" the website is written especially to appeal to men referring to ‘happy blokes’ – who have started improving their lifestyles, and ‘unhappy blokes’ – who have yet to begin leading healthier lifestyles.
The site was designed by Nottingham GP, Dr Ian Campbell, who found that a large number of men attending his surgery only began to make a serious attempt to lose weight after they experienced warning signs such as breathlessness or chest pains, or suffered heart attacks or strokes.
As part of its marketing fatmanslim.com aims to eventually sponsor a premiership football side. The site announces that it has already made a start on this ambitious promotion campaign. "Our first deal has been struck with the Ruddington Colt’s under 8s in the Nottingham local league."
A key aim of the site is to encourage men to take far more proactive control over their lifestyle and raise awareness of the close link between being overweight and health problems such as heart disease and diabetes.
Most commercial diets and weight loss services are designed for women and men are much less likely than their wives or partners to seek the help of their GP to lose weight.
Initially developed as a local programme, its success has been such that that Dr Campbell decided to make it free and available to everyone over the internet. "With so few men going to their GP about their weight, I wanted to offer them as much help as possible online," said Dr Campbell.
"Support is such an important element for men losing weight. It can be hard to know where to turn," said Dr Campbell. "I designed fatmanslim.com to provide week-by-week guidance, to help men think about their current eating and activity habits, and to select certain unhealthy habits to change permanently.
"Often, changing just two or three unhealthy habits can have a big effect on weight and waist-loss. It really has worked."
One success story from the site is Mark Sherwood, an IT manager who has lost six stone with the help of fatmanslim.
"Fatmanslim changed my life and has given me more confidence," said Sherwood. "I now weigh six stones less than my highest recorded weight and I am in the healthy recommended weight range."
Sherwood said that one of the main attractions was the lack of calorie or point counting that many diets are based on. "It educates you to make better nutritional and exercise choices in everyday life." Sherwood has successfully transformed his lifestyle, taken up running and completed several marathons.
"Each week you can download and listen to an MP3 of Dr Campbell talking through the plan. It really helped that everything is broken down into weeks, making it easy to understand and to put the ideas into practice for the following week. Also, the support from others members of the fatmanslim programme has been an inspiration."
According to Dr Campbell the success of fatmanslim.com shows that effective ‘waist-loss’ for men is possible: "Doctors are increasingly aware that waist measurement is one of the best indicators of health risk and men who can lose 10cm from around their waist will cut their chances of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 50%."
He added that coronary heart disease risk increases when waist size is greater than 94cm /37 inches. "Men should seriously consider losing waist if their belly exceeds 37 inches, but at the very least be encouraged not to increase their waist size over this amount. Doctors now actively encourage waist loss if a man’s waist size is greater than 101cm/40 inches," said Dr Campbell.