why is it sooo much easier for guys?? ugh :p

operation_cute
operation_cute Posts: 588 Member
in Motivation and Support
I looked at my boyfriend today before he went to work, and he is noticably slimming down, losing his belly, and showing definition in his arms... He wasn't even "trying" to lose weight :p His dinner is what I put in front of him lol so that part I helped with :) But he eats a ton more than me throughout the day, his lunch yesterday? a whole pizza. Still drinks soda, not to mention downs powerade like theres no tomorrow... He just started working out a few weeks ago since we got our Y membership... and even thats because I kind of make him lol me I've been doing this for twice as long exercise and all and not seeing near the changes he has :sad:

I'm happy he's making progress so easily though because its motivating him more than what he was originally... I just don't get it, at risk of sounding whiney... It's not fair :frown:
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Replies

  • LMHsmum
    LMHsmum Posts: 3 Member
    So true! My husband and I stopped drinking normal coke and started drinking coke zero a couple of years ago. He lost 8kg (was always average weight anyway) but I didn't lose a thing! Oh dear :)
  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
    1. Testosterone...men have more of it than women do (and yes, women do have some, just much much less than men)
    2. Greater muscle mass (see 1)

    Because guys are generally larger with greater muscle mass (using a normal distrubution curve), they can consume more and lose or maintain weight. When they work out hard, they exert more effort (and burn more calories).

    The only way to make up for that is to build muscle mass. Kettlebells and iron are my friends.
  • tryingtoshed
    tryingtoshed Posts: 135 Member
    this drives me absolutely nuts as well.
    My brothers can drop weight so easily and its so hard for me.
    reminds me of the other day when I just wanted one slice of pizza, came downstairs an hour later to see my younger brother polished the entire thing off.
    also periods screw everything up--water weight and all.
    its just.
    and whenever i want to treat myself, my brothers will make a snarky comment about the "macros" in what im eating "yo, sis have you seen the macros on this? you SURE you want to eat them" and my brain is just like "fck off fck off fck off, you're an obese person stuck in a slender body"
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    1. Testosterone...men have more of it than women do (and yes, women do have some, just much much less than men)
    2. Greater muscle mass (see 1)

    Because guys are generally larger with greater muscle mass (using a normal distrubution curve), they can consume more and lose or maintain weight. When they work out hard, they exert more effort (and burn more calories).

    The only way to make up for that is to build muscle mass. Kettlebells and iron are my friends.

    ^This. More muscle mass means greater metabolic capacity, meaning us men can eat at larger deficits and still feel full.
  • jdenig
    jdenig Posts: 26
    I swear my husband can lose weight just by thinking about it. It is frustrating!!!!
  • toughmudderMN
    toughmudderMN Posts: 129 Member
    I think that it goes back to our primal nature. Women store fat incase they become pregnant and have to support a baby through a famine. Also males tend to have more muscle mass, which means a higher resting metabolism.
  • theundead
    theundead Posts: 51 Member
    This is my boyfriend as well, he can eat all the junk food he wants and never puts on weight! Its not fair, but at least I'm healthy on the inside!
  • Briko3
    Briko3 Posts: 266 Member
    Some men lose weight not even trying. Some women lose weight not even trying. Make a statement like this (in my opinion) minimizes the hard work that a lot of men on this board have done. There are a lot of guys on here that have the same struggles and have the same tendency to hold on to weight as many of the women on here. There's nothing more frustrating than working for years to lose 20 pounds and then hearing comments of how "easy" is was because you're a guy. (OK, off my soap box)
  • sc10985
    sc10985 Posts: 347 Member
    Yep. 6wks ago my bf cut junk food down to once a week and stopped taking creatine. He lost almost 40lbs lol. Wtf??? I know a lot of it is water weight but still. He does lift 3x a week so he works hard to look good but dang it took me almost 4 months to lose 15lbs lol. Now he says he's losing too much weight. Pffffft. Lol!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,974 Member
    Hormones.

    Testosterone vs Estrogen

    Test wins in muscle mass gain, libido and to an extent adipose loss.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Kristy7418
    Kristy7418 Posts: 85
    I'm going through the same thing! My BF is wanting to lose weight as well but he is not being near as strict in his diet as I am. Also he has bad knees so he doesn't really exercise much at all (unless i make him take a mile walk with me when it's not too hot outside). And he is losing weight just as fast as I am. So frustrating though I am happy for him. And I have been making progess but it's so not fair! LOL
  • prdavies1949
    prdavies1949 Posts: 326 Member
    I have lost over 90lbs. How dare you say it was easy. It wasn't.
  • RCottonRPh
    RCottonRPh Posts: 148
    My husband and I have been doing this together. Results? He is down 10 pounds more than me, doesn't count calories, eats way more food than me, and doesn't even exercise anymore since starting a new job a few months ago. It is frustrating. I can have a great week food and exercise wise and only lose 0.5 pounds (or none at all). My husband? He can have a cheat meal and be down 2 pounds the next day. Infuriating.
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    Like everyone else has said, hormones, testosterone, and muscle mass.



    Also, guys don't get all emotional and flustered over the dieting & weight loss process (typically, that is).

    If my husband decides to lose a few pounds, he cuts back on his eating for a few days. He doesn't obsess about it, he doesn't fret and worry over his choices or think about how life isn't fair that his skinny friends still get to eat wings and he doesn't and now he's just too sad to do anything and this whole process is so hard.........

    He just stops eating so much. And then he loses weight and tries to watch his eating so he doesn't put it back on. If he does, then he just eats a little less again. They keep it simple and don't let their emotions make them a little anger ball of dieting fury.
  • rassha01
    rassha01 Posts: 534 Member
    20-30 miles a week running and 3-4 hours a week cross training is not all that easy!! Then finding time for family/work and everything else. It really is not that easy for every male.
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
    Like everyone else has said, hormones, testosterone, and muscle mass.



    Also, guys don't get all emotional and flustered over the dieting & weight loss process (typically, that is).

    If my husband decides to lose a few pounds, he cuts back on his eating for a few days. He doesn't obsess about it, he doesn't fret and worry over his choices or think about how life isn't fair that his skinny friends still get to eat wings and he doesn't and now he's just too sad to do anything and this whole process is so hard.........

    He just stops eating so much. And then he loses weight and tries to watch his eating so he doesn't put it back on. If he does, then he just eats a little less again. They keep it simple and don't let their emotions make them a little anger ball of dieting fury.

    QFT
  • clbortiz
    clbortiz Posts: 98 Member
    This post reminds of the commercial with the drawn woman and man, Can't even remember what the commercial is selling. The woman is talking about how they have been dieting and her husband now looks like, and he shrinks to a much smaller body figure. Then she says all that happens to me is, and her chest shrinks and nothing else. LOL
  • GorillaNJ
    GorillaNJ Posts: 4,024 Member
    20-30 miles a week running and 3-4 hours a week cross training is not all that easy!! Then finding time for family/work and everything else. It really is not that easy for every male.

    Exactly! It was really easy to get my @$$ up at 4am to go running today... and still have a big ol beer gut to hump around with me all day too!
  • laughingdani
    laughingdani Posts: 2,275 Member
    I didn't realize weight loss was a competition.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    We women are supposed to be chunky monkeys so we can make babies in time of starvation. Another positive aspect to being female is with no access to food you are more likely to survive than a man. Which means he will sacrifice his muscular body to you so you and his offspring can eat...awe it's kind of romantic when you think about it.

    PS never compare yourself to a male thats like comparing artillery tanks to bugattis
  • CharliesInCharge
    CharliesInCharge Posts: 278 Member
    yeah its a matter of proportion as well as muscle mass and the other things mentioned

    but I don't think my weight loss has been easy.. ive worked my butt off in my humble opinion
  • downsizinghoss
    downsizinghoss Posts: 1,035 Member
    I feel so unmanly now.
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    Hormones.

    Testosterone vs Estrogen

    Test wins in muscle mass gain, libido and to an extent adipose loss.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    but loses when it comes to longevity and cardiac health
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I looked at my boyfriend today before he went to work, and he is noticably slimming down, losing his belly, and showing definition in his arms... He wasn't even "trying" to lose weight :p His dinner is what I put in front of him lol so that part I helped with :) But he eats a ton more than me throughout the day, his lunch yesterday? a whole pizza. Still drinks soda, not to mention downs powerade like theres no tomorrow... He just started working out a few weeks ago since we got our Y membership... and even thats because I kind of make him lol me I've been doing this for twice as long exercise and all and not seeing near the changes he has :sad:

    I'm happy he's making progress so easily though because its motivating him more than what he was originally... I just don't get it, at risk of sounding whiney... It's not fair :frown:

    Calorie intake for men and women is completely different...you can't do an apples to apples comparison. Generally, men are taller, heavier, and have more lean body mass than women...this all makes for needing more calories. That doesn't mean it's easier. I'm as hungry eating 2150 gross calories as my wife is eating 1700 gross calories after exercise...she maintains right around my 1 Lb per week loss rate of 2150...I maintain at around 2700...she'd be stuffed at 2700 calories. She is 5'2"...I am 5'10". I have a lot of muscle...she has some muscle and is improving in that department, but not nearly the ratio of LBM to BF% that I have.

    It's far from easy though...I bust my *kitten* in the weight room and on the trails...and sometimes my deficit just leaves me hangry.
  • EatClean_WashUrNuts
    EatClean_WashUrNuts Posts: 1,590 Member
    Hormones.

    Testosterone vs Estrogen

    Test wins in muscle mass gain, libido and to an extent adipose loss.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    but loses when it comes to longevity and cardiac health

    You are incorrect. More women suffer from heart disease than men.There are plenty of studies on this...here is one.
    http://www.bidmc.org/CentersandDepartments/Departments/Medicine/Divisions/CardiovascularMedicine/YourHeartHealth/TipsforHeartHealth/HeartDiseaseDifferencesBetweenMenandWomen.aspx

    Longevity...goes with the territory...We're always waiting on the woman. Actual studies around focus on the point of manual labor choices of employment. Men take higher risk industries for employment, on average.
  • cenafan
    cenafan Posts: 398 Member
    So much for the "men not being emotional about weight loss" part....lol


    I don't think it's fair to say its easy for all men. Some people just have faster metabolisms. I have a female friend that can eat whatever she wants and never gain weight. But she's not healthy. She's very out of shape. Skinny fat is the term used here.

    I don't think it's healthy to view it as a challenge. Just do it for you!
  • ldrosophila
    ldrosophila Posts: 7,512 Member
    Hormones.

    Testosterone vs Estrogen

    Test wins in muscle mass gain, libido and to an extent adipose loss.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    but loses when it comes to longevity and cardiac health

    You are incorrect. More women suffer from heart disease than men.There are plenty of studies on this...here is one.
    http://www.bidmc.org/CentersandDepartments/Departments/Medicine/Divisions/CardiovascularMedicine/YourHeartHealth/TipsforHeartHealth/HeartDiseaseDifferencesBetweenMenandWomen.aspx

    Longevity...goes with the territory...We're always waiting on the woman. Actual studies around focus on the point of manual labor choices of employment. Men take higher risk industries for employment, on average.

    That just talks about the differences in heart disease. However, it is a good article addressing the gender discrepancies in cardiac disease. In perimenopausal women estrogen and progesterone are protective factors. Due to estrogens role into the sterification of HDL vs. LDL or at least one of the hypothesis.

    As far as longevity goes taking out the very few men who are actually engaged in risky behaviors and labor in modern times. Remember not long ago before better advancements in medicine and child birth the life expectancy of women was actually lower. However, removing confounding variables we see female longevity in multiple species especially among mammals. Some speculate that ones again estrogen works as a protective factor in DNA oxidation and mutations, increased immune response, or possible the protective effect of the second X chromosome. Females in general are shown to be more robust at any age hence why sadly you see an increase in SIDS among male infants.

    So yes, both sides of being born XY or XX show wins and losses.

    PS always waiting on women really???
  • ChristinaR720
    ChristinaR720 Posts: 1,186
    While men tend to lose weight more quickly than women, I don't think it's fair to minimize the work that men put into losing weight and building muscle mass. I have watched my dad struggle with his weight all of my life, and he has worked hard at getting healthy and losing weight with little success. On the flip side, my husband has always been athletic and of a normal weight, but he works hard for it.

    It may be easier for some, but never not easy for all. But, the same can be said for women, too.
  • jamaicanlady
    jamaicanlady Posts: 878 Member
    I don't think OP is minimizing the work guys put in at all. And I tend to agree, it's easier for men to lose fat than women, due to more muscle mass, etc. Of course that's a general statement, and there will be exceptions, there always are.

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