The NHS is paying out up to £400 for obese men to lose weight in a groundbreaking health scheme nicknamed "Game of Stones".
The "Game" - a trial involving daily text messages urging flabby Britons to "walk a different route home to avoid the kebab shop" and avoid "treat[ing] your body like a skip" - was found to be more effective than traditional dieting schemes.
And would-be slimmers were incentivised with a £400 prize pot - from which, they were told, cash would be removed if they didn't shed their excess timber.
The trial, which brought in 585 men from Belfast, Bristol and Glasgow, was presented at the European Congress on Obesity - and found that the beefy Britons lost an average of 4.8 per cent of their body weight in a year with the help of the motivational texts.
Would-be slimmers were told to "walk a different route home to avoid the kebab shop"
GettyAnd now, experts have said it's ready for a large-scale NHS rollout; the trial's head, Professor Pat Hoddinott from the University of Stirling, said: "Losing weight can make people feel better, reduce their risk of many health problems such as diabetes, and helps the health service with their aim to keep men well.
"However, we know men often don't like to go to traditional weight loss groups.
"The research showed that offering cash incentives was a popular and effective way of helping men to lose weight.
"This initiative would be a low-cost solution for the health service to offer to men, requiring only four short weight appointments, and with money paid out only at the end to those who lose over five per cent of their starting weight."
MORE ON THE OBESITY CRISIS:
- Obese people twice as likely to be off work as 'sick-note culture' costing UK £98bn a year
- ‘Fast food is POISONING you!’ Lizzie Cundy fumes over the cost of obesity on the NHS: ’Watch what you put in your mouth!’
- ‘This is completely flawed!’ Doctor warns anti-obesity jab has alarming side effects after ‘breakthrough’
The "Game of Stones" study was led by researchers at the University of Stirling
University of Stirling/PA/Game of Stones
The scheme took advice on board from men about the kind of texts they would find useful and encouraging - alongside the "kebab shop"-style messaging, participants also received inspirational texts about the efforts of fellow slimmers.
Such texts contained messages like "Alex said he didn't want to treat his body like a skip any more" and "David found it helpful to walk a different route home from work so that he wasn't tempted into his favourite takeaway".
Researchers said: "We used men’s language so they were very definitely designed with men for men."
The trial, funded by the UK Government's health investment body NIHR, let people diet or exercise in any way they wanted - but skimmed money off their prize fund if they did not lose weight.
Triallists were given £50 if they lost five per cent of their body weight within three months - and another £150 for losing ten per cent within six months.
A final £200 was handed out to the slimmers if they kept their weight down for another six months - with the men weighed four times a year in the study.
While the NHS still has no plans to roll out the scheme across the country, the British Obesity Society's Jane DeVille-Almond said: "This is exciting news and we definitely need an easy and cost-effective way of getting society to lose weight.
"Men are a particularly difficult group to engage in our healthcare system, so texts and financial incentives is a great way forward."
