Our flabby vocabulary’s just added a new word: mirdle, as in, man-girdle. Is there any problem so big that it can’t be solved with a little lycra or spandex? Where some of us just see an unattractive roll of flab fighting to liberate itself from the constraints of buttons and waistbands, Madison Avenue sees a marketing opportunity. The Guardian asks whether Brits will embrace the latest innovation in “body shapewear” :

The question is: will mirdles be a hit here? Probably. “Not everyone has time to go to the gym, so body-shaping pants are great,” says Mithun Ramanandi, accessories buyer at Selfridges in London. Not only has the men’s grooming market traditionally taken its cues from America - warming to hair dye, teeth-whitening kits and tinted moisturisers - sales of men’s underwear are growing faster than women’s (David Beckham’s eye-watering Emporio Armani ads upped their briefs sales by 50%). “The awful truth is I can see the mirdle taking off here,” says Alex Bilmes, GQ’s features director. “Still, the day I buy one will be a sad one in my life.”

If you’d rather look fit the old-fashioned way, i.e. by actually being fit, check out fitness.gov.