Why Men and Women Think They Gain and How They Think They Lose

When it comes to what people think is responsible for weight gain, there is a clear divide between the sexes. In general, women are more likely to accept personal responsibility for a weight gain than men, acknowledging that the choices that they’ve made to eat too much food and not get enough exercise are the roots of their weight status. Unfortunately, some women go too far in accepting responsibility for their weight gain, turning it into an exercise in self-blame and guilt. Although taking responsibility and learning from past behaviors are important to making a positive change, dwelling on past errors and wishing they hadn’t happened is not helpful when it comes to achieving lasting weight loss.

Compared with women, men are less likely to accept personal responsibility for their weight status. Research conducted for Weight Watchers found that men are more likely to believe that they are overweight because of hereditary reasons or on account of the way they ate growing up. Men are more likely than women to view gaining weight as something that just “happened”and over which they had little control. But once men decide that the excess weight is a problem that they want to fix, they are very willing to accept responsibility for what needs to be done and take action. Another area in which the genders tend to differ in their beliefs is choosing the best approach to losing weight. Many guys put their faith in exercise, and there are logical reasons for that.

First, men are more likely than women to believe that a reduction in or lack of exercise was at the root of their weight gain, so it makes sense to them that revving up that aspect of their daily life would be the solution for reversing the problem. Confidence may play a role as well. Because many guys have more confidence in their ability to exercise than in their ability to make wise food choices, they often turn to physical activity to lose weight, leaving out of the mix the concept of reducing their intake of calories from food.

Women take a different approach. Although most women recognize that exercise is an important factor in the weight equation, they are less likely to use it as a primary weight-loss method, relying instead on reducing calories from food. And just like guys, confidence may play a role in the decision. Women’s confidence when it comes to exercise lags behind that of most men.Women do tend to be confident, however, in their knowledge of food and how it can be used in the weightloss process.

FROM A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT WHY MEN AND WOMEN THINK THEY GAIN AND HOW THEY THINK THEY LOSE

Feeling down? Grab some ice cream. Job too stressful? Polish off some chocolate chip cookies. Many women attribute their excess weight to eating when their emotional state is in the negative zone when they are feeling sad, stressed, or tired. Research conducted for Weight Watchers found that women are much more likely than men to attribute their weight gain to negative emotional factors. Making the connection between negative feelings and overeating, then having a list of nonfood “makes-me-feel-better”things to do when the blues strike can be one of the best tactics in a weight-loss bag of tricks.

FROM A MAN’S VIEWPOINT WHY MEN AND WOMEN THINK THEY GAIN AND HOW THEY THINK THEY LOSE

Men also tend to be emotional eaters they just don’t know it. While women frequently overeat when they are feeling down, men are most vulnerable to overeating when they experience the positive emotions of happiness and joy. Whether they’re at a party, ball game, sports bar, or family picnic, men usually find themselves eating, drinking, and enjoying the food when they’re having fun. A study sponsored by Weight Watchers found that 44 percent of overweight men said that they overeat when they’re having a good time, not when they are stressed, depressed, or tense. Maintaining awareness of the amount and type of food they’re eating during the fun times can be a real asset in most men’s weight-loss efforts.

How Women and Men Really Lose Weight

Do men really lose weight faster then women, or does it just seem that they do? The truth is that men have two key weight-loss advantages over women. One involves their body composition, which enables them to burn calories at a faster rate than women. The second is the fact that men tend to be more active than their female counterparts. The combined effect more calories burned at rest and more calories burned in activity translates into faster weight loss for guys. Why are men’s metabolisms faster?

Men are designed by nature to have higher amounts of lean body mass, or muscle, than women. Lean body mass is the key factor that determines the rate of one’s metabolism, the body’s calorie-burning system. Since men have more muscle, their metabolisms are higher, and they burn more calories even when they’re resting. The result is quicker weight loss. How much faster are men’s metabolisms than women’s? Research has shown that on average the metabolism of a man is 5 to 10 percent higher than that of a woman of the same weight and height. And because men tend to be taller and heavier than women, the male advantage on the calorie front is even greater.

Another reason men often lose weight faster then women is that they tend to be more physically active. A study reported in the American Journal of Physiology found that women burn an average of 16 percent fewer daily calories than men. The researchers looked into that difference, finding that the women’s resting metabolic rate was 6 percent lower than that of men (i.e., a slower metabolism) and that the calories burned in physical activity were 37 percent lower than that of men. In other words, the women were simply not moving as much and so were burning fewer calories.

FROM A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT HOW WOMEN AND MEN REALLY LOSE WEIGHT

Although it may not seem fair that the differences between men’s bodies and women’s bodies naturally enable men to burn more calories than women, if women want to achieve better weight-loss results, it’s to their advantage to pick up their exercise pace so that they can burn more calories. Since losing 1 pound of fat requires burning about 3,500 calories, anything that’s done to burn those calories counts. Whether it’s consuming fewer calories so that the body has to break down some of its fat to meet its basic needs or burning the calories directly by exercising (or, ideally, a combination of the two), a calorie is a calorie, and being more active can boost weight loss.

FROM A MAN’S VIEWPOINT HOW WOMEN AND MEN REALLY LOSE WEIGHT

Whereas men do have a calorie-burning advantage over women, they still have to trim the calories from food in order to lose a meaningful amount of weight. Need proof? In a 3-month study, fifty-three obese men were assigned to one of four regimens: following a reducedcalorie diet, following a diet plus an exercise routine, following an exercise routine alone, and doing nothing to lose weight. Men in both the groups that included the reduced-calorie diet lost on average 17.6 pounds; those in the groups that relied solely on exercise or did nothing lost nothing. So although the weight loss was found only in the guys who trimmed calories from food, there was an advantage to the diet-plus-exercise group. The men in that group lost an average of 2.8 pounds more body fat.

Check out the charts and compare the differences between men and women with regard to their muscle, fat, and bone distributions. Keep in mind that these charts are for men and women who are 5 feet 81⁄2 inches and in their twenties. Unfortunately, as we age, the distribution of our muscle mass changes, and not to anyone’s advantage. After age fortyfive, both men and women lose about 10 percent of their lean body mass per decade. That is equivalent to losing about one-third of a pound to half a pound of muscle each year and gaining that much in body fat.The bottom line: whether you’re a man or a woman, the older you get, the fewer calories you burn.The good news is that exercise, especially resistance training, can preserve and even increase lean body mass.