Up until a year ago I used to think that I would never get fat, that my body would always burn calories faster than I can gobble them up. Well, guess what, at a certain age, your metabolism starts to slow down and you begin to slowly gain in weight and next thing you know, you're a fat bastard. Obviously, I started working out in a desperate attempt to bring back that slender figure, but instead of dropping weight I began to bulk up (ultimate proof that my body never does what I want it to do).

Here is some good news for those of you out there who are suffering from the same problem. It seems that running aimlessly on the streets (aka jogging) is less effective than actually running with a purpose (like say, after a ball). Yup, you guessed it, gentlemen, soccer isn't just for little girls anymore, grown men are just now finding out the benefits. In a recent study conducted on a group of middle aged men over the course of 3 months, the docs discovered that weight loss is accelerated by 1 hour session of soccer, 2-3 times a week. But aside from dropping pounds like a dirty set of clothes, your health will benefit in more ways than one. Your muscle mass is going to increase significantly, your blood pressure is going to drop and your stamina is going to get better (which is always good when your girl's a nimpho).

Sure, joggers too lost weight, but the study showed a much quicker improvement in the soccer players. The figures look something like this: after 12 weeks, the soccer players had lost 3,5 kilos of fat, put on 2 kilos of muscle mass whereas joggers lost 3 kilos of fat but gained nothing in muscle mass. The scientists believe that the difference is in the way soccer makes you mix sprint, walking, jumping to build up muscle mass (since jogging at moderate speeds uses only the slow fibers in your muscles). I also think that running after the ball takes your mind off the effort and so you can exercise for longer periods of time (that's why at the end of the game you feel exhausted), which is perfectly fine for me since I hate jogging anyway. So gather your mates, get a ball, a pitch and start losing weight the right way. And if you do things right, maybe you too will make the kind of money Beckham does.