Since they received underway in summer season of 2025, MAN v FAT’s leagues in New York have been massively profitable, setting its members on the trail to a more healthy life-style.
Our group in Lengthy Island Metropolis have loved exceptional weight reduction numbers, having achieved practically 800lbs weight reduction because the yr’s classes come to a detailed.
They’ve achieved that success beneath the tutelage of Karl Cereno, who has been answerable for the league because it first received began.
We spoke to Karl when he first joined MAN v FAT and it’s been a interval of non-public achievements for him too, having additionally lately taken on a job inside the MAN v FAT Soccer HQ group. We caught up with him to get the lowdown on why his MAN v FAT expertise has been such a optimistic one thus far.
Having been teaching MAN v FAT for a number of months now, what has stood out probably the most to you and what have been your highlights?
What has stood out probably the most is how shortly the blokes purchased into MAN v FAT’s mission of dropping pounds and residing more healthy lives. As a coach, I actually didn’t should do a lot motivating—they got here in prepared. All I needed to do was give them a roadmap and a few construction.
A significant spotlight for me was the early success we noticed in Season 1. I’m unsure how different golf equipment stack up, however so a lot of my gamers had been dropping pounds each week, with a big quantity hitting their 5% and 10% milestones, some even surpassing that.
How proud are you of the neighborhood that’s been constructed and what has been the key to the success of LIC?
Proud is an understatement. I genuinely love what we’ve constructed right here in LIC. We’re greater than a soccer membership – we’re a household. Actual connections have shaped. We go to MLS matches collectively, host BBQs, and even present up to one another’s household occasions.
I don’t assume there’s a single “secret” to our success, as a result of that may take away from everybody’s contribution. What I attempted to do from the beginning was create an area for guys to be guys in wholesome methods – speak sports activities, bust one another’s chops, joke round, be foolish. Our group chat displays that tradition. It’s nothing however jokes, memes, and optimistic power that retains everybody engaged.
The burden loss from the blokes reveals no indicators of slowing down, how have you ever stored them focussed on that a part of their membership?
A few key video games this season had been selected the scales. One group received on the pitch however misplaced total as a result of the opposite group hit their weight-loss targets. That was an actual turning level and confirmed everybody how necessary the load part actually is.
To maintain the blokes targeted, I consistently remind them of the implications of letting that half slip and the way it can actually change the end result of a match. I additionally empower the captains to carry their groups accountable all through the week. That mixture of consciousness and peer accountability retains weight reduction entrance and middle for everybody.
You’ve now stepped into the MAN v FAT group in your further position – how have you ever discovered that thus far and the way do you hope to help coaches and gamers on this capability?
Getting into my further position has been nice as a result of it’s allowed me to see the group by way of a distinct lens. I now have a a lot clearer sense of the place golf equipment are thriving and the place they want help.
On this position, I hope to assist coaches and gamers by sharing what has labored for us in LIC—retaining gamers, constructing robust neighborhood tradition, and sustaining security requirements. I additionally need to be a useful resource for newer coaches who should still be discovering their footing, whether or not that’s serving to them interact their groups, navigate troublesome conditions, or arrange easy techniques that hold their membership operating easily.
