Doctors Now Prescribe Special Weight Loss Service For Men

All you fatty belle men get in here o. This is from an article on the telegraph.

Obese men in Britain will soon have access to weight-loss clases designed specifically for men. Andrew Shanahan, the man behind Man V Fat, explains why the move comes not a moment too soon

Professor Alison Avenell from The University of Aberdeen is a woman with a big problem on her mind: fat men.

The problem is quite simply that there are far too many of them and that not enough has been done to help them. Currently, in the UK over 67pc of men are rated as overweight or obese, which equates to more than 20 million men struggling with their weight and all the health and personal issues that brings. The impact is not just on confidence and appearance: these men are at a higher risk of cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), heart attacks and type 2 diabetes.

Despite this, the majority of resources for weight management from both commercial and public health are directed at women – which is all the more illogical when you consider that only 57pc of women are overweight or obese. Male participation rates in weight management programmes are as low as 10pc and Avenell says that there are "very few” schemes which provide help tailored for men.

Fortunately, things are starting to change and men are at last starting to get more support. In large part this is due to the fire that Prof Avenell and her colleagues’ research started. The review, which was published last year, looked in-depth at the issue of men and weight management. Some of the conclusions might seem obvious, but it’s still encouraging to have them stated for the record. For example: men prefer men-only weight loss groups, which partly explains the extreme reluctance blokes feel in joining Slimming World or Weight Watchers.

Read more here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/mens-health/11522080/At-last-a-prescription-weight-loss-service-designed-for-men.html