At Maturo, we are astonished to find people championing diet plans that promise to be the ‘ultimate solution’ for all users. How can this be the case when scientific research clearly shows that men and women lose weight differently? The bottom line is that men lose weight on average at a much faster rate than their female counterparts.
From our experience as a weight loss clinic, we find that men are more attracted to meat while women gravitate towards carbohydrates. The good news is that we can tailor a diet plan to fit each person’s individual need. The bad news for women is that they must work harder to lose the weight – but why?
The average male is much larger than the average female and carries a higher ratio of muscle mass and produces far more testosterone. Production of testosterone is key when it comes to increasing muscle mass and this ensures that men have a faster metabolism. As a consequence, men burn fat faster than women whether they are at rest or active and this is a tremendous advantage.
According to a study conducted by the American Journal of Physiology, women burn up to 16% less calories than men during an average day. The difference in metabolic rate accounts for some of this figure but the rest is down to the fact that men are more active than women. This means that women need to exercise regularly in order to offset the difference in calorie burning power between the sexes.
There is a marked difference in how the sexes perceive weight loss and body image. According to a study performed by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, women tend to identify themselves as being ‘overweight’ more than men regardless of whether this is true or false. It also appears as if women claim to try harder to lose weight through diet and exercise.
It has also been controversially claimed that men simply have a greater ability to control their appetite than women. At Brookhaven National Laboratory, a specialist in the field of nuclear medicine asked a group of men and women to fast for a total of 17 hours. Those involved in the study were asked to view and smell their favorite foods while also being allowed to taste tiny samples of the food on cotton swabs. Additionally, the participants were asked to listen to descriptions of the food. According to the results, women were more fixated on thoughts of the food than men according to PET scan results. Admittedly, this study alone does not provide concrete evidence as to why men lose weight faster than women but it does provide further proof of the difference between the sexes when it comes to their attitudes to food and weight loss.
Yet women should not be downhearted at the fact that it seems to be harder for them to lose weight than men. Just because the deck is stacked against you a little doesn’t mean you should give up. On the contrary, you must work even harder to meet your weight loss goals and take extra pride when you achieve them.
