Shocking stat: 3 out of 4 suicides are by men, and suicide is the biggest killer of men under 35.

Heavy, right? But we want to help.

Men are less likely to seek help for mental health problems, less likely than women to take time off work to get medical support, and many feel embarrassed even admitting they are struggling.

It is incredible, really, that we still find it difficult to talk about our mental health. If there was something wrong with your body, you would get it checked. So why not your brain? Feeling embarrassed about having mental health issues is like being embarrassed about a cold. You would not be embarrassed about a cold, so why should this be different? Mental health problems are not quite as common as the common cold, but most of us will face them at some point in our lives.

We want to put an end to the shame and stigma. We all have mental health, and we all need to look after it as an essential part of our body.

Here is how to take action if you are struggling or even if you just want to give your mental health a boost.

See your GP

Going for a walk is positive and getting fresh air always helps, but it is not enough if you are at rock bottom. If getting out of bed feels impossible or hopelessness is weighing you down, it is time to see a doctor.

Remember:

• You absolutely deserve help, just like if you had broken your leg.
• Taking that first step is the hardest, but it matters. Left untreated, things can spiral.
• Making an appointment today could be the start of turning things around.

Build healthy habits

Small, practical steps can have a massive impact on your wellbeing.

Exercise

• Exercise is not just for weight loss. It is a mental health powerhouse.
• The European Psychiatric Association recommends exercise as part of treatment for mental illness. It can improve symptoms of depression and anxiety.
• Even a 15-minute jog can have the same effects as 15 minutes of mindfulness-based relaxation.
• Team sport, training, or fitness groups provide camaraderie, accountability, and support. These are just as important for your mental health as the physical benefits.
• Being part of a MAN v FAT club isn’t just about getting active. The people you play with are there for the same goals, facing similar challenges. Having teammates that understand what you are going through can make a real difference to your mood, motivation and confidence. Don’t be afraid to lean on your clubmates – they are part of the support your membership gives you.

Eat well

• Treats are fine, but too many greasy takeaways will drag you down.
• Your brain is sensitive to what you eat, and a balanced diet helps regulate mood and mental wellbeing.
• Eat vegetables, drink water, and cut down on sugar to give your brain the best chance of feeling good.

Look after yourself

• Sleep enough. Your brain and body need it.
• Make sure you feel some sense of fulfilment at work and at home.
• Socialise and stay connected with people who make you feel good.
• Do things that genuinely interest you, whether that is a hobby, sport, or learning something new.

Extra tips

• Journaling or noting how you feel each day can help you spot patterns and triggers.
• Mindfulness apps or short daily meditation can calm racing thoughts.
• Set achievable daily or weekly goals, not just for weight, but for habits and wellbeing.

Make the most of resources available to you

GPs and NHS mental health services are under pressure, but do not let that stop you. Seeking help is worth it. Alongside your GP, you can make the most of external support.

• Our partner JAAQ offers an easy-to-access platform with practical tools to help you manage stress, anxiety, or low mood. You can access it anywhere, anytime here: https://manvfat.jaaq.org
• Samaritans: 116 123 (24hr)
• CALM (for men): 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight)

Remember, seeking support is not a one-off. Regular check-ins, using helplines, or accessing platforms like JAAQ can keep you on track with both mental and physical health.

What’s this got to do with weight loss?

High BMI is linked with poorer mental health. If you are unhappy with your body, it can affect your mood, confidence, and overall outlook.

Important points:

• Weight loss is not a cure for mental health issues. Hitting your target weight may not automatically make you happy, because the underlying problem might be bigger than the scale.
• Healthy habits, including sleep, exercise, and eating well, support both mental wellbeing and sustainable weight loss.
• Mental health, fitness, and nutrition are all part of the same jigsaw. Looking after one makes it easier to manage the others.

Get Support Today

Most men will face mental health struggles at some point, and that is normal. Asking for help is not a weakness. Taking small steps every day, such as seeing your GP, exercising, eating well, sleeping, connecting with others, or accessing support through JAAQ, can make a real difference.

You are not weak. You are human. Help is out there.

Do you know how much water you should drink? It’s vitally important that you keep hydrated, whatever the weather. Everyone knows that we should be drinking water, but it can be hard to know exactly how much water you should drink.

The often-cited blanket rule of 8 glasses a day is pretty ambiguous, and if you’re a 140kg man your needs are going to be rather different from a 55kg woman. So why should you drink more water, and how much water should you be drinking?

How much water should you drink?

Ah, that’s the sixty-four million dollar question, isn’t it? It’s not an exact science and how much you need depends on a lot of factors: your weight, age, gender, and whether or not you’ve been active that day to name just a few.

This is why the NHS has a general recommendation of around 6-8 glasses of water a day, which is around 1.2 litres. However if you Google it, you may find the more common recommendation that we drink 8-10 glasses, which is closer to 2 litres a day. But the NHS is keen to point out that this is an American recommendation, so make of that what you will.

Drinking the NHS-recommended 6-8 glasses a day is a good rule of thumb and if you currently don’t drink any water at all, this is where you should begin.

Don’t forget that it’s not just water that counts: tea, coffee, low-fat milk and sugar-free drinks count too.

What are the benefits of drinking more water?

Water makes up 60% of our bodies and it’s lost through sweating, peeing and even breathing, so it’s important to maintain this level to stay healthy. Drinking enough water can help with digestion, your blood circulation and can help prevent headaches. And on a more superficial level, drinking enough water can help improve your skin too. Simply put, water is the key to helping your body function properly.

Will drinking more water help me lose weight?

Well, it’s not a magic potion – if you’re not sticking to your calorie goals, drinking a bit of water isn’t going to negate this. However, drinking enough water and staying hydrated is thought to help a little bit, although it’s not clear exactly how.

Some people swear that drinking enough water will ‘flush everything out’, or that a glass of ice-cold water will kickstart your metabolism, but there’s no real research to back either of these claims.

But if you’re used to drinking high-calorie soft drinks every day, switching to water will cut those calories which will help you lose weight. Another commonly-cited reason that water helps you lose weight is that drinking a lot of water will fill you up, so you may end up eating less. But again, this isn’t a magical property that water has – it’s simple calories in, calories out.

This doesn’t mean that it’s not worth drinking water if you want to lose weight, though.

Are there any drawbacks to drinking more water?

It’ll make you pee a lot, especially if you’re not used to drinking enough.

It is also possible to drink too much water, so it’s worth bearing in mind that you don’t need to suddenly start downing 10 litres a day. Water intoxication (also known as hyponatremia) is a real, dangerous thing where drinking too much too fast leads to an abnormally low concentration of sodium in the bloodstream. This can lead to damage to the kidneys, liver and can even be fatal. It’s rare, and you’d have to drink an absolutely huge volume of water, but it’s worth being aware of.

How do I know if I’m drinking enough?

A good indication of whether you’re adequately hydrated is the colour of your pee. Yes, really. Take a look and see how you’re doing – if it’s dark, you need to drink more. If it’s pale or almost clear, you’re doing ok.

The other symptoms of dehydration are feeling thirsty (duh), strong-smelling pee, feeling dizzy, a dry mouth and not peeing much. You’re more likely to get dehydrated quicker if you’ve got diabetes, if it’s a hot day or if you’ve sweated a lot after exercise.

But I don’t like water!

Does anyone?! For all of its health benefits, it’s no wonder that 20% of men don’t drink any water in a day and a staggering 89% of Britons don’t drink enough water at all, according to the National Hydration Council. Because it’s boring, right? Unfortunately, if you’re not a fan you’ll just have to suck it up. And it does get better with time, trust us.

We’re lucky in the UK to have high-quality tap water, but if you think what comes out of your tap tastes gross, you could try getting a water filter. BRITA are the go-to jug filter kings here and you can either get a fridge jug with a filter or you can get a water bottle with a little filter in so you can fill and go. The downside of this is that the filters are pretty expensive.

If you’re really struggling to keep hydrated because you don’t like water, add a bit of no-added-sugar squash – 250ml of water with Tesco no-added-sugar orange squash is only 4 calories and although not everyone would agree, in our opinion it’s better to drink squash than to not drink any water at all. Just treat yourself like a toddler and make it weak.

Drink Up, Track Up – Stay Hydrated and Keep an Eye on Your Progress

Grab a bottle, lads! Start hitting your 6–8 glasses of water a day (or more if you’ve been sweating it out on the pitch) and log it in apps like Nutracheck. We’ve partnered with them, so check out your member benefits for a cheeky discount. Staying hydrated keeps you sharp, full of energy, and on track to smash your goals, plus it’s a simple win you can tick off every day!

Food labels can be confusing with a traffic light system, percentages, graphs and grids. Let’s find out how to get the most out of what’s on food labels.

Those teeny little numbers on the side of packs that you ignore. Yep, labels. They’re your best friend when it comes to healthier eating and losing weight and here’s why.

What are food labels for?

Put simply, they’re loaded with information. Labels list ingredients in weight from biggest to smallest, along with the energy the product provides, measured in units called calories (kcal). Often displayed as a grid or table, they show the number of calories, fat, sat fats, carbs, sugar, protein and salt it contains.

Information is provided per 100 grams and sometimes per recommended portions too. Labels are a legal requirement for packaged foods. There are some exemptions, which include fresh uncut fruit & veg, herbs & spices, tea, coffee, flours, some vinegars, and alcoholic drinks above 1.2%.

The guidelines below tell you if a food is high in fat, sat fat, salt, sugar or not. If you’re trying to lose weight, it can be useful to know what’s in your food so you can make decisions that fit with how you want to eat.

Total fat

High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g

Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g

Saturated fat

High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g

Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g

Sugars

High: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g

Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g

A note on sugars: manufacturers use lots of words to describe forms of sugar, these include syrup, barley malt, molasses, honey, fruit juice concentrate and words ending in ‘ose’ like fructose, sucrose, dextrose and maltose, so look out for these.

Salt

High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium)

Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)

Red, Amber, Green – the traffic light system

The front of supermarket packaging often features a traffic light label. By using red, amber, and green colour coding, you can tell quickly if a food has high, medium or low amounts of fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt:

• Red means high levels
• Amber means medium levels
• Green means low levels

Be aware that often a manufacturer’s serving size may be different to our portioning. You might dish up twice as much as their serving size suggests.

You’ll also see calories/energy represented on food labels as a percentage of an adult’s daily recommended intake.

Top tips for understanding food labels

• Total fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt are the most important to monitor and reduce for the sake of your health.
• Red levels on packaging do not necessarily mean foods you need to avoid. This is because some foods may have red levels of sugars and fats but still benefit your health. Take muesli with dried fruit, for instance. It may be red on sugars due to the dried fruits, but it contains valuable fibre you need in your diet. Or salmon stir fry. It may be red in fats but it’s rich in omega 3 fatty acids which are of great benefit to you. Get to know your labels and let them help you make great decisions.
• Be mindful of your portion control.
• Use the per 100g column when comparing foods as serving sizes often vary.
• Remember, even healthier packaged foods may be higher in calories and fat/sugar/salt than their homemade equivalent – plus you can usually save money by making meals from scratch too. Win win.

For a healthy, balanced diet, the NHS guidelines recommend you:

• eat at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables every day.
• base meals on potatoes, bread, rice, pasta or other starchy carbohydrates – choose wholegrain or higher fibre where possible.
• have some dairy or dairy alternatives, such as soya drinks and yoghurts – choose lower-fat and lower-sugar options.
• eat some beans, pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein – aim for 2 portions of fish every week, 1 of which should be oily, such as salmon or mackerel.
• choose unsaturated oils and spreads, and eat them in small amounts.
• drink plenty of fluids – the government recommends 6 to 8 glasses a day.

Read the label, win the battle

Next time you’re doing the big shop, have a proper look at those labels instead of just chucking things in the trolley. Spot a red light? See if there’s an amber or green alternative that still hits the spot.

Little swaps like that make a big difference over time and your waistline will thank you for it.

Spotted any decent low-fat or low-sugar finds? Stick them in the MAN v FAT group chat and help a mate out!

And because we love a bit of fun with our facts, here’s our very own MAN v FAT nutrition label – how does it stack up against you?

Struggle to hit your fitness target each week? Here’s some simple ways to squeeze more physical activity into your everyday.

It’s not just playing sport and going to the gym that counts as physical activity. You might be used to logging those if you’ve got a fitness tracker or smartwatch, but anything that gets your heart rate up, increases your temperature and gets you puffing slightly counts too. Think, going for a brisk walk or jogging up the stairs, instead of walking.

Start by finding an exercise routine that works for you. We know that the recommended target of 150 active minutes a week sounds like a lot. Break it down into achievable chunks to make it easier to smash that target out of the park.

Pick things you actually enjoy doing and that work for you and your current lifestyle. Next step is to come up with a plan, as planning when to exercise means you’re way more likely to do it.

Maybe it’s a few half hour gym sessions scattered throughout the week, or a swim on a Sunday, or a light jog every other day. Take a close look at your routine and see where you can add in some physical activity. It only has to be an extra couple of minutes here or 5 minutes there. It all adds up and before you know it lads, you’ll have achieved your minutes for the week and then some.

Here’s some tips on how to break it down into smaller, more achievable chunks and add more movement to your everyday life:

• Get off the bus a stop early and take a brisk walk the rest of the way.
• Try some seated arm and leg movements while you watch tv.
• Do some squats while the kettle is boiling. How many can you do? Set yourself a challenge and try and beat your record next time you’re making a cuppa.
• Go for a walking meeting a couple of times a week.
• Get some lunges in while you’re gardening.
• Add some calf raises or side steps while you’re washing up.
• Skip boring adverts and take a walk around the house or do some star jumps at half time next time you’re watching the game on telly.

Finding things you enjoy doing is key. You’ll be much more likely to do something if you have fun doing it. And no one wants to struggle through something that feels like a chore, do we fellas?

Ready to hit your weekly fitness goal?

Pick one activity from the tips above and commit to doing it today. Track your progress, challenge yourself to improve, and watch how small changes quickly add up to big results.
Share your wins with a friend or on social media to keep the momentum going – your future self will thank you!