How Women and men approach the concept of calories

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Eating Strategies: What Does and Doesn’t Work

Women and men approach the concept of calories in and calories out from very different vantage points. Whereas women usually go right to the calories in (eating less), men are more likely to head for the calories out (working out more). When it comes to losing weight, the female approach has the definite advantage.

As mentioned, it’s virtually impossible to lose a sizeable amount of weight with exercise alone. So when guys are serious about losing weight, finding strategies that will help them reduce their calories is a must. When it comes to eating strategies, there are some innate differences between the sexes. Based on research conducted for Weight Watchers, we conclude that women tend to use a wide variety of detail-oriented tactics, including decreasing portion sizes, counting calories, following a structured eating plan, eating more fruits and vegetables, and keeping a food diary.

As we saw,women tend to be more bottom-up thinkers, which means that they are drawn to putting together several small tactics to create an overall eating strategy for weight loss. Although many men can and do lose weight using such tactics, some men, particularly guys with less than 40 pounds to lose, often find them too restrictive and too complicated.They prefer limiting the number of tactics to the few that will do the most good. While many of the eating strategies that women use to lose weight are effective, others have limited value as stand-alone methods. For example, women are far more likely than men to use meal replacements or shakes or to take medication to shed extra pounds.

Although some of these strategies may be helpful tools, they are unlikely to lead to lasting weight loss without being part of a broader lifestyle modification effort. In addition, many women believe that drinking large amounts of water is critical to losing weight. Although drinking water is certainly a good thing to do for your overall health, there is scant scientific evidence to back up the claim that it helps weight loss. In fact, studies have found that drinking water before, during, and after a meal makes no significant difference in the amount of food eaten. Women and men do have some favorite strategies in their pursuit of weight loss, but they’re not particularly helpful. Both genders gravitate toward eating strategies that provide only a temporary fix and set them up for future weight regain.

The first is skipping meals as a means of cutting back their overall food consumption. This strategy often backfires because eventually the dieter becomes so hungry that he or she overeats. And if the skipped meal is breakfast, it may be an even bigger mistake. According to the National Weight Control Registry, eating breakfast every day is one of the strategies associated with lasting weight loss. A second failed strategy is completely eliminating certain foods, like chocolate or potato chips, because they are hard to resist. While that strategy can be effective in the early days of weight loss, as weight loss progresses, the effectiveness wanes. In fact, most people find themselves desiring the forbidden food to the point that when it is finally eaten, what’s eaten is a supersized portion.

Rather than deciding to eliminate certain foods forever, a more effective strategy is to learn how to include them periodically in an overall eating strategy that supports weight loss. A third approach with questionable effectiveness is becoming a vegetarian. Although it can be a healthy eating alternative, simply avoiding meat and animal products doesn’t guarantee weight loss candy, cookies, and many snack foods are all vegetarian choices. Finally, it seems as though every other decade, many women and men try to follow a very-high-protein diet to lose weight.Thankfully, people have come to realize that such a diet does not work in the long term. Looking at the more positive side, men and women do share some safe and effective eating strategies that can help them eat less food and lose weight.

As we discussed, both women and men prefer to reduce their sugar and fat intake as a strategy for cutting back. In addition, Weight Watchers research has found that women and men are equally likely to try to reduce their between-meal snacking. That is a good thing, given that snacking is on the rise in the United States.

According to the USDA’s nationally representative surveys, snacks now account for up to 25 percent of our daily energy intake, which many health professionals think may account for the extra calories that all Americans, including kids, are consuming. Also, in a study by Weight Watchers, both women and men said that they were cutting back on alcohol. Again, that is another excellent tactic, given that alcoholic beverages provide a generous number of empty calories. In addition, people who drink alcohol are often more vulnerable to letting down their guard and may find themselves overeating in social situations at a party, in a restaurant, or at a ball game. Basically, both women and men seem to have some unique preferences for eating strategies that can help them cut back. Women frequently opt for a more structured eating plan, whereas men often do better when they cut back on their snacking and drink less alcohol.The bottom line: one size doesn’t fit all.

FROM A WOMAN’S VIEWPOINT EATING STRATEGIES:WHAT DOES AND DOESN’T WORK

Portion sizes have exploded for just about all foods and food categories desserts, salty snacks, soft drinks, bagels, french fries, and burgers. Portion sizes for many popular foods and beverages are two to five times larger than they were when those foods were first introduced. So how do women respond to supersizing? Since women are more likely than men to cut calories by eating smaller portions, they prefer to downsize. Many women have no problem ordering a small skim latte, eating half a bagel, or sharing their husband’s dessert (a lot of guys hate when a woman asks the waiter for an extra fork!).

FROM A MAN’S VIEWPOINT EATING STRATEGIES:WHAT DOES AND DOESN’T WORK

Men generally have no problem with giant-size portions. What guy can resist the all-you-can-eat buffet? But men might want to rethink their eating strategies, especially if they are trying to cut back. Several studies have found that the larger the portion that is served, the more people eat sometimes up to 26 percent more. So rather than take an approach that works for women (downsizing), guys might be better off trying to find ways to bulk up their meals without adding many calories. Examples include adding lots of low-calorie extras to their sandwich or burrito, such as lettuce, tomato, and onion; ordering a thin-crust pizza with extra veggies; or adding chopped fruits or berries to their cereal.