Losing weight for women can be frustrating! You noticed your husband eating a nice sandwich while you are nibbling on some carrot sticks, while he is still losing weight. You are probably wondering “what the heck is happening here, why do men lose weight more quickly than women”?
Some say it is because of genetics, some say muscle mass, others say it has to do with menstrual cycles while it could even be because men don’t spend too much time in the kitchen.
There are many physiological differences between men and women that make it much easier more the average male to shed pounds than the average woman to lose weight. But the question is why?
Men have more muscle
Muscles help burn calories, because they need constant amount of calories in order that your body does not use muscle as a form of energy, this is known as catabolysis. To keep muscle mass up, you body will need to eat 50 extra calories a day per extra pound of muscle mass that you body holds. This means that if you added 2 extra pounds of muscle, your body would look for a source of energy that is around 100 calories in order to maintain the extra muscle. Men are genetically built to have more muscle mass than women, and because of this amount of muscle mass, it is relatively much easier for a man to burn fat quicker than a woman, simply due to the fact his body wants to maintain muscle mass, even by sitting around the house watching TV all day.
Therefore, the more muscle a person has, the quicker the weight loss, and it’s all because having more muscle means your body needs more calories to keep that muscle.
Generally, women have a higher % of fat due to the fact that there body must always be ready for possible pregnancy. Women who are too skinny (such as dancers) often suffer from fertility problems. So this said, a healthy woman’s body should have a bit of fat.
Men have a fat stomach
Another interesting difference between men and women that can contribute to the pace that they lose weight is the fact that men and women generally store fat in different locations in the body, which indicates differences in structure and size of the fat cells that are stored.
Generally, men tend to gain weight around their belly, where fat cells in this region are larger and relatively easier to lose than in other places in the body. On the other hand, when women gained weight, they tend to store fat as much smaller fat cells that are very difficult to lose. Therefore, when it comes to the actual fat cell storage between men and women, men have a better advantage when ti comes to losing weight in the long run and keeping it off after the diet.
Men spend less time in the kitchen
Many women often complain that their man doesn’t cook or clean the dishes, and there are relatively unseen in the kitchen. This is probably because when men get into the kitchen it often leads to a cooking disaster.
Also, it is relatively easy to take a “small snack” when cooking, so many women often find themselves in this calorie trap – “It’s only a little bit honey”.
So men inherently had an easier time losing weight because they were faced with fewer psychological barriers than women.
Men don’t have Menstrual Cycles
One of the hardest obstacles regarding losing weight for women is menstrual cycles. Some may say it is a myth and an excuse. Most professionals agree that menstruation is a physical barrier that will interrupt a person’s weight loss program on a monthly basis.
Well, it seems that it is a case to case basis that menstruation effects weight loss as certain women can stop losing weight and even gain weight while others do not see any change at all.
There are several possible reasons that menstruation can affect weight loss in women:
Carbohydrate Starvation: Eating carbs helps us get into a good mood by releasing a chemical called serotonin. Serotonin causes a feeling of relaxation, reduced appetite and an overall general good mood. Medical researchers have found a connection between the levels of serotonin and Estrogen in the body.
This means that women often fell many mood swings prior to menstruation, due to abnormal levels of estrogen in the body due to the general reduction in amount of serotonin released by the body.
This decrease in serotonin levels can lead to a significant increase in appetite, especially for carb rich sweets.
Some women even testify that the hunger they experience is so strong (too strong to control) that they go on a 3 day eating binge causing very large weight gains.
So the question you are probably asking yourself is how can I fight off weight gain during menstruation? Try eating a diet that mixes lean protein with whole grain carbs while avoiding eating sweets and too many overall carbs. Adding a reasonable amount fo carbs into your diet will help increase serotonin levels in the brain thus creating a sense of relaxation and happiness.
Liquid accumulation:
Hormonal changes prior to menstrual cycles can cause the body to retain water.
Women in general can suffer from bloating in various areas of the body such as the fingers, breasts and in the belly. What is important to remember is that this weight increase is not because of an increase in body fat, but is caused by the body holding water. Generally this extra water weight will be lost at the end of the menstrual cycle.
In extreme cases of weight gain because of the body holding water, there have been increases in total body weight of up to 5 pounds weight.
Nervousness:
Many women have an increase in emotional tension before and during the cycle. Often enough, women tend to find emotional relief by eating high carb sweet foods, which often leads to weight gain. A quick solution to fighting off this weight loss and even finding a quick solution to nervousness is to increase the amount of physical activity on the days before the cycle starts. Not only will adding exercise prevent nervousness, it will help cut calories and reduce fat.
How many calories do men and women need to consume
When it comes to the daily caloric intake, men generally need 30% more calories than women. This calorie intake is even during dieting and needed to maintain a healthy body weight. Some experts say that the average man needs 3,000 calories per day while an average woman needs 2,000 calories. Actually, when calculating the daily caloric intake is quite complex as it has many factors that need to be included other than sex.
Age:
Age of the individual is an extremely important factor. An infant needs about 50 calories per pound of body weight while a 20 year old man need about 40 cal per pound of body weight and a man of 60 years needs 32 cal per pound of body weight.
Body structure:
The height, bone structure and muscle mass all need to be taken into consideration when calculating daily calorie intake. In this case, the advantage usually goes to men over women.
Physical activity:
If a person is physically active they will need more calories as they are burning more energy throughout the day. An athlete will need more calories than a computer programmer as the athlete will be burning more calories by working out. Physical activity will also get you toned as the body is looking to use stored fat as a source of energy, even during sleep.
Metabolism:
One of the main reasons people gain weight is that they have a slow metabolism. Women’s metabolism is generally slower than men’s, due to factors such as muscle mass and level of physical activity. Good news is that by following a metabolic boosting diet and workout program, women can raise their metabolic rate thus leading to quicker weight loss results.
Therefore, when looking to calculate the amount of calories a person should eat, one should check weight loss history, sex, height, bone structure, physical activity, etc…
There are formulas to calculate the amount of daily calories needed based on the factors above, generally available on weight loss web sites. These formulas even calculate the amount of oxygen needed and body fat percentage as well.
The easiest way to calculate caloric intake is by trial and error. If you simply follow a diet that is low fat and not heavy on calories, you can simply make small changes to your diet in order to see weight loss results.
In conclusion
In most cases, diets for women have too many calories to be effective for their male counterparts, this is because women do not need as many calories, and the actual foods they need to eat will be a bit different as they have different hormones than men. Men generally need a diet richer in protein and certain vitamins and minerals.
Naturally, women tend to hold on to fat better than men, this does not mean that women cannot lose weight, it means that when going on a diet, women need to understand that they need to diet and workout differently than their male counterparts. In the end of it all, it’s about being consistent, eventually by keeping with a proper weight loss program women can be sure to lose weight effectively.