Losing Weight and Playing Soccer

Ahh the eternal attraction of the Beautiful Game, the most popular game on the planet - football. Yes, football is the name of the game, not soccer, and who can deny the aesthetics of a beautifully curled free kick or a nutmegged goalkeeper. Ronaldo, Beckham, Drogba, Kaka. These are all world famous names, players with world class skills that are surely worth aspiring to.

It is certainly prudent to encourage anyone who wants to take up soccer as part of a continuing weight loss program. Exercise is a vital component of losing weight, and you get plenty of it playing soccer, plus you have the bonus of being involved in the world's most popular game.

In the words of the late, great Bill Shankly (manager of Liverpool FC) "Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I'm very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."

The energy burned while playing football can vary depending on the intensity of the activity. As a guide, if you weigh 155 pounds, you will burn approximately 500 calories per hour while playing on a casual basis, or 700 calories per hour if playing a true competitive match.

As you can see soccer is a serious calorie burner but don't underestimate the level of fitness required to play soccer for a continuous hour.

Competitive games are 90 minutes with only a 15-minute break in the middle, soccer players are among some of the finest athletes in the world, often covering up to 10 km during the course of a game, the vast majority of that distance covered at pace.

If you are going to play soccer solely as part of an effort to slim down, you should have a contingency plan. You don't want to slim down just for a short while and then put it all back on again do you? Which is exactly what will happen if you stop playing football.

Even the pros don't play all year round, so you should have an idea what you are going to do once you stop playing soccer. Walking, running, cycling, swimming - something!

If you want permanent weight loss, then you need to incorporate exercise permanently into your lifestyle. The real secret is not what exercise you do, but how often you do it.

Like many sports, soccer can played in your backyard on a recreational basis or at a more formal competitive level on a full-sized pitch with 11 players on each side. It is a great family game which can be played at all levels by both genders of all ages, so get out the soccer ball and start practicing!

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