Like most writers, I still have to keep up the day job. For me, the day job is actually a couple of jobs. I go into local primary schools as a football coach, running lunchtime clubs and afterschool clubs for Foundation Sports in Dorset. I also work as club coach for the Man v Fat Football’s Bournemouth club, which is one of the most satisfying things I’ve ever done.

Man v Fat is a wonderful concept. At its most simple, it’s something like Weight Watchers for blokes, but based around football. Players are put into teams and get a half-hour match every week, but they have to weigh-in before playing. The results and the league table are based partly on what happens on the pitch, and partly on the scales: for every two players in the team who lose weight, you get another goal (there are other bonuses to take into account, but that's the basic principle). The end result is that you can’t win the league just by being the best football team – you have to be good on the pitch AND on the scales. As a result, the natural competitiveness when you put group of blokes into a football competition is a huge motivator for men to lose weight. It’s fun too. Our current crop of teams include the Black Eyed Pies (the current league champions), Red Hot Chubby Fellas and Gluten Town. Past favourite names include Red Star Fridge Raid, Snackbar Donetsk and Chipswitch Town. As a group, we have a lot of laughs in amongst the weight loss and the football.

And it works. In the last year, we’ve lost a combined 562kg (that’s more than 88 stone). There are people in the club who, over time, have lost 30kg, or 40kg, or 50kg since joining. There are several members who have gone all the way from being hugely overweight to achieving a healthy BMI of below 25. For many of the players, it’s no exaggeration to describe it as life-changing. The emphasis is on sustainable changes to lifestyle and behaviour to avoid the crash diet phenomenon of putting it all back on afterwards.

The benefits aren’t just physical, it’s proved to be a fantastic mental health resource too; the best thing about the club is the community that has grown up around it. The lads in the club are always ready to listen to one another, to look out for and to support each another in practical ways.

And my role in all this? I spend my Friday evening weighing fat blokes and chatting with them. My job isn’t to judge or to tell them what they should be doing, but maybe to ask a few questions that will help them decide on what they might do differently, or what they might keep going with. I keep the league ticking over so that things are as close as possible on the pitch (which means the games are more fun, and the scales even more important) and I indulge myself by writing up and posting a weekly report for the players, celebrating successes and encouraging further efforts. It’s a privilege having a ringside seat to people turning their lives around and moving towards being healthier and happier. As I said earlier, it’s one of the most satisfying things I’ve done.

There are Man v Fat clubs all over the country. If it sounds like your cup of tea (with or without full-fat milk - your choice), check out www.manvfatfootball.org to find your nearest club. You won’t regret it.