All photographs (c) MiraclePR

The last thing I thought I would be doing on New Year’s Eve is promoting a weight loss program. But after having personally lost 17 pounds and three and a half inches off my waist I can 100% say that Player Tackles Weight deserves a shout out. It is changing lives in the Bay (and beyond). Here’s how it changed mine:

Denial: The biggest battle

I had always been the fortunate kind of bloke who could pretty much eat what he wanted and not really put on much weight. Even when I crept above 11 stone for the first time in my life in September 2018, I wasn’t that worried about it.

My first warning bell should have been last summer. The family were all up for a swim but I wasn’t enthusiastic. The truth is, I had allowed my midriff to get a little bit out of shape and it was affecting my body image. Don’t get me wrong; I had never had a six-pack or anything to shout about but at the same time, I wasn’t used to having anything wobbling.

Player Tackles Weight

Soon after, Simon Walker asked me if I would be interested in writing an article about his Player Tackles Weight group. He was launching a second season and there would be a presentation prior to the first games. Ali and I turned up, did some interviews and took some photographs and the article was published in the Herald Express.

I was already playing 8-a-side football on Thursday nights – another session Simon runs – and Simon suggested I also sign up for PTW. Although the program did interest me, I didn’t feel I needed to join. After all, surely my daily intensive runs would be enough to get my body back to how I liked it, wouldn’t it?

In addition to this denial, I also had the very real problem of my daughter training in Teignmouth at exactly the same time as the program started. Anyone who knows Simon will know that, in his world, all reasons are excuses so even that didn’t dampen his attempts to persuade me. When he started a Sunday evening group, I had no more ‘reasons’ to say no and signed up.

It was the best decision I made that year!

Why counting calories matters

Before this year I had never counted a calorie in my life. If anyone had asked me how many calories were in an apple, a burger or a teaspoon of sugar I wouldn’t have had a clue.

Not only do I find counting calories boring, I also downplayed their importance and overestimated the impact of exercise. One of the lessons I have learned during the program is that you can only hope to ‘out-exercise’ a high calorie diet if you are an elite athlete. For us mere mortals, calorie control counts much more when it comes to losing weight.

I believe the misconception that exercise is more important than diet is being sown from our earliest years with junk food manufacturers signing ad deals with sports firms and athletes.

One of the biggest culprits, in my opinion, is the misleading Change4Life program created by Public Health England. It makes children think they can jump around for a few minutes with a Disney character while waiting for their Disney Cakes & Sweets magazine to land on their doorstep. I stopped paying any interest to Change4Life after it suggested swapping out fresh OJ for Pepsi Max because the latter had no sugar. I think the NHS should be promoting programmes like PTW rather than Change4Life!

Moving on from this rant; when I really took this message on board and restricted my calorie intake in line with the figure provided by the PTW team, the results followed – very quickly indeed.

Of course, if you can combine calorie control with intense, regular exercise then the results can be stunning. I did this on week 3, losing 5 pounds.

It’s all about weigh-in day

It may be a ‘no-brainer’ that eating less and moving more will lead to weight loss but if it was that easy, we wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic would we?

Reflecting on my results, I have realised that the sum of the PTW programme is more than its individual parts. You have the exercise, the nutritional targets, the educational presentations, the competitive elements, the support of your team mates and Simon’s unique approach.

This all comes together on weigh-in day. The scales don’t lie and if you have stuck within your personal calorie limit you will find you have lost weight. If you do hit a zero – or put on weight – it won’t really be a surprise to you (and I’m sure Simon will have a motivational chat with you to help you to do better the next week). I am pleased to say, I lost at least a pound each time (although I must admit I endured one or two Sunday fasts just to make sure!).

Rest assured, everyone in the room wants to see you succeed so don’t feel bad if you do have a dodgy week – this is a hard programme and I would guess most people have a wobble.

Playing to your strengths

One of the great things about the format of PTW is the different ways you can win points for your team. I won’t go into the points system now but if you are a top striker, people will love you in their side as you could make up for a goal deficit on game day.

Conversely, if you are not the most gifted player, you can add value by putting a hard week of weight loss in so that your team gains goals and points. The teams are all roughly balanced by weight so you shouldn’t find that any one team has a huge advantage.

Another way you can win your team points is by being super-motivated. Whether it’s contributing diet tips on the lively social media pages, entering a triathlon or posting your FitBit stats, the more active you are, the more likely it is Simon will reward you with the ‘enthusiasm’ bonus.

The hard numbers

I’ve already revealed that I personally lost 17 pounds, dropping from 11 stone 7 pounds to 10 Stone 4 pounds in 12 weeks. Most importantly for me, my waist is now back to 33 inches (from 36.5) which is half my height (that’s the aim for good health, apparently). I am now happy to go swimming with the family and I don’t even ‘suck in’ anymore 🙂

If you want to get an idea of the total group weight loss, I suggest looking at the Sport & Fitness4U Facebook page where you can find out all about the programme.

Before, after … and beyond

Bad habits are tough to break but thanks to Simon, Tracey, Mike and the rest of the PTW team, I am in a happier place with my body image and looking forward to 2020 with renewed optimism – maybe that 6 pack isn’t out of the question after all.

If you need more support

One final note – and an important one – if you are feeling down about your weight or anything else about your life and you don’t know where else to turn, Simon and Ollie run The Man Cave at South Devon Sports Centre in Paignton. This is a free and open Monday night session for men who need to talk.

Make 2020 the year you turn it round!