Men lose weight so easy...
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Personally, I feel it's just hard in general. Some people will have a harder time than others for various reasons.
If you were to ask my husband which one of us has an easier time losing weight, he'd point at me. He is always hungry (or so he says, I'm pretty sure he mistakes thirst for hunger), and as such is always eating. This makes it hard for him to stick to his calorie goals which translates in to taking longer to get to his goals.
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Something that I think is important to keep in mind here:
We're discussing the relative difficulty between genders. It certainly is not "easy" for men to lose weight.
Sometimes discussions like this can become insulting because it paints a picture that men can just lose fat with ease or without any effort. And that is simply not the case.
Comparatively, I believe on average it's a bit more challenging for women.
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It might be true in general, although my husband has a much harder time than I do. I think my personality lends itself really well to logging food and eating in moderation. Moderation is really difficult for him.0
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Biggest reason? Men have more muscle, in general, than women. Women have higher body fat in general. Biology. Women need to strength train to develop their muscle / LBM. No matter your reality - losing fat is tough action and its a process.0
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Some people lose weight easily, some people struggle; gender hasn't got much to do with it. Women naturally have a higher body-fat percentage (so getting lean may be more difficult as we're battling against nature) and we retain water more easily, but I don't think there's a huge male-female difference. It think it mostly boils down to metabolism and genetics/ethnicity.0
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If I was a bloke I'd take it as one of my advantages....but I'm still happier to be a women...after all we might not find it as easy to lose weight but we do get all the purty lingerie :bigsmile:
Sometimes I think it would be nice to be an 18 yo man just for the muscle building potential.
OP, nobody should minimize anybody's effort/work, man or woman. Clearly if you are talking about somebody putting in less effort, their results are affected by that, not just their sex.
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Something that I think is important to keep in mind here:
We're discussing the relative difficulty between genders. It certainly is not "easy" for men to lose weight.
Sometimes discussions like this can become insulting because it paints a picture that men can just lose fat with ease or without any effort. And that is simply not the case.
Comparatively, I believe on average it's a bit more challenging for women.
This hits the nail on the head... It is not easy for either gender to lose.0 -
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Since men are usually bigger than women, a pound is a lower percentage of weight. That could have something to do with it. But men also tend to have a different approach to doing things than women. Perhaps that makes it easier for men. Perhaps it is just the perception, because men who are struggling with weight loss aren't very likely to talk about it.0
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Something that I think is important to keep in mind here:
We're discussing the relative difficulty between genders. It certainly is not "easy" for men to lose weight.
Sometimes discussions like this can become insulting because it paints a picture that men can just lose fat with ease or without any effort. And that is simply not the case.
Comparatively, I believe on average it's a bit more challenging for women.
I can get on board with this.0 -
The human body is programmed to preserve functionality. Women need a higher fat percentage to be able to be fertile and nurse offspring. Men do not. Our bodies were designed to hold onto fat - this along with the lower muscle mass potential and smaller average stature makes it more difficult as a general rule.
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but it is what it is for each individual and I am not sure what difference this makes except to try to irk people.0 -
I'm afraid males have been dealt the trump card in regards to metabolic rate.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC329930/
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1126247?sid=21106119700723&uid=70&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=3738032&uid=4 (1953 in the house!)
Although probably evened out by male pattern baldness (I was 27 for crying out loud), nose and ear hair, and testicles, which being frank just get in the way.
My husband stopped upsizing his fast food meals and lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks. He did not stop EATING fast food, nor alter his diet in any other way, nor add exercise. He just stopped getting french fry servings that were the size of a baseball, and instead got french fry servings that were teh size of, like, half a baseball.
And I exercise, and measure, and weigh, and blah blah blah, and I get 1.5 lbs down a week.
And yes, I do secretly say to myself when he looks at the scale and says 'Wow, down another 3 pounds, that was easy' I just think 'One day your forehead will be a five-head, and I will be SO VERY HAPPY.'
And, post-baby bodies, that's a thing for women, not so much for men.
Many women, myself included, have diastasis rectus, which is torn ab muscles (thanks twins!) so weight loss can still happen with that, but you just don't look like you used to.
Still, weight loss is hard for everyone. Except for my husband. He's a freak of nature.
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Yeah, Men really do have a small advantage in the losing weight department. My husband can simply cut out beer during the week and lose 20 pounds in no time. He's extremely muscular and has a very active job as well, so he often finds that he can't meet his caloric needs during the day with just food. It's tough when I really struggle. Thankfully, he's the most supportive man a woman could ask for so he never makes me feel like a failure and he celebrates every small victory I have with me!0
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_tigerblood_ wrote: »when I hear a woman say men lose weight faster I assume she's lazy making excuses. you don't hear me complaining that I dont lose blood weight every month.
Blood weight. You think that's actually a thing? Do you know anything about the female reproductive system?
Let me clue you in.
At max women lose a cup of blood. That's about half of a pound. And then it comes right back - so it can get lost again in the next month!
So yay for my very temporary, at max .53 loss every month. That makes all this so damned easy. I can't understand why I'm having so much trouble losing these last 15 pounds - and obviously if I complain I'm just making excuses (after having lost 72 pounds already).
I should just focus on all the advantages I get from my blood weight. Obviously.0 -
If Saturday was mean people thread day, Sunday is derp day. Maybe daylight savings time has screwed things up. . .then again. . . .0
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Men tend to have it easier. No question. We are more muscular and have more mass to play with (%).
Having said that, anecdotal evidence shows me that women can lose less weight but have amazing physical transformations with body composition. Small changes in muscles mass have a huge impact on appearance.
It is a tie in my books because the 'number' is only part of the story.0 -
I've never been less proud of a man than a woman for losing an amount of weight. Its a struggle for anyone to change bad habits and make improvements so I wouldn't undermine their efforts.
That said I do get the hump sometimes that my man eats whatever he likes and stays roughly the same weight without trying. If he does gain a few lbs it seems to go again without him making any changes. I wish I could eat like him and not gain. Also I spent 18 months weight training and building the tiniest muscles but when he decided to join me his muscles just popped right up. He already had a good base from lifting heavy most of his life but it did make me feel like my progress was really pants. All men are different though and I'm sure lots aren't as lucky as my fella.
My biggest peeve is probably that we both wanted children but it was my body that suffered the most and I don't think any amount of training is going to fully fix that now.
At the end of the day I'm here for myself-for my health, to get stronger, improve my figure and self esteem, you should be too so ignore anyone who tries to put you down.0 -
Some truths and observations: Hormones play a definitive role. With higher testosterone and lower estrogen, men have more lean muscle. I believe on average a man has a metabolic rate of about 5%-8% more of a female who is the same height and weight.
Also anecdotally, I think females are much more surrounded by food than men. Even today where you'd think it'd be much more even, females by in large still cook and grocery shop and take care of the kids. So the opportunities to nibble, taste, and just eat systematically are higher.
My experience with males is that most didn't really know much about nutrition or calories and just having them watch their intake (including sodium) made an immediate impact. Not uncommon for a couple to come to me, both start the same time, both eat the same foods and the male loses 10lbs while the female loses 4lbs even at the same calorie deficit.
Also I believe the approach to exercise is different. The majority of my male clients like lifting the weights with intensity with light cardio, while the majority of my female clients would rather do conditioning or a more aerobic based session and less weight lifting.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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From witnessing my colleagues trying to lose weight since Chrismas, the 6ft 1 24 year old guy has lost the most weight (20lbs) compared to the 5ft 1 46 year old woman, which was winding her up a fair bit - until we pointed out that she wasn't comparing like-for-like, she'd actually lost a greater percentage of her starting weight than he had. If you just look at total pounds lost, you might come to the conclusion that men lose weight faster/easier than women. Even if their bodies tend to be a bit more co-operative, men still have to create a deficit to lose weight, and still have to do the work to get fitter or more muscular.0
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But what about the guy who didn't know he had Hashimoto's and got down to 11% bodyfat? That wasn't very easy let me tell you. Though I will say it is totally possible to lose weight while untreated for thyroid.
Just wanted to throw that into the debate pool.
Am now on proper med.0
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