Why don't men go to slimming clubs

01/08/14 . Blog

Men and slimming is in the news. But what do we know about this?

There's a good piece in the Telegraph today asking Why don't fat men join slimming clubs?

The article mentions research from Aberdeen Uni on men and weight loss programmes. The Men's Health Forum supported this work, we have produced tips on running weight loss programmes for men and will shortly publish a handbook based on the research.

Chris Moss's article picks up a number reasons linked to the cultural:

Males associate their sexuality, identity and happiness with certain foods and drinks that tend to be of the “comfort” variety: beer, curry, big breakfasts, pies, roasts. Food marketers exploit these habits and urges.

and those around how weight loss services work:

But the key problem is that dieting is still perceived as a largely female affair. Healthy food producers and diet clubs generally target women.

When it comes to the internet, we know that men are far more likely to search for info on eating more healthily than they are for help on losing weight.

We know men services need to be better designed for men and we are working to help the fix it.

More information:

The Men’s Health Forum need your support

It’s tough for men to ask for help but if you don’t ask when you need it, things generally only get worse. So we’re asking.

In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65. If we had health policies and services that better reflected the needs of the whole population, it might not be like that. But it is. Policies and services and indeed men have been like this for a long time and they don’t change overnight just because we want them to.

It’s true that the UK’s men don’t have it bad compared to some other groups. We’re not asking you to ‘feel sorry’ for men or put them first. We’re talking here about something more complicated, something that falls outside the traditional charity fund-raising model of ‘doing something for those less fortunate than ourselves’. That model raises money but it seldom changes much. We’re talking about changing the way we look at the world. There is nothing inevitable about premature male death. Services accessible to all, a population better informed. These would benefit everyone - rich and poor, young and old, male and female - and that’s what we’re campaigning for.

We’re not asking you to look at images of pity, we’re just asking you to look around at the society you live in, at the men you know and at the families with sons, fathers and grandads missing.

Here’s our fund-raising page - please chip in if you can.

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