Men Loose Weight Faster Than Women

DeonceEvans
DeonceEvans Posts: 6 Member
edited November 26 in Getting Started
I have heard that men loose weight faster than women. I'm not sure If I believe in that, or maybe it's based on individual studies. My wife can loose weight just thinking about it, without any crazy diets or special pills.

Replies

  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    I don't think this is true, I think women just tend to retain more water due to hormones which tends to mask a lot of fat loss early on.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    I think part of this has to do with glycogen stores. At 200 lbs I could drop 10 lbs without making a dent in my fat stores. My wife is 135ish and couldn't come close to that. I find a lot of times when you talk about dropping a few pounds, it's cut carbs, reduce glycogen and drop a fair bit of weight.

    Otherwise, yeah it's easier for me to lose actual fat at 200 than for her to lose fat at 135.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    My husband and I started off losing at about the same rate at first. I discovered staying active motivated me and for him all he mainly had to do was cut back on the sodas and snacking.

    Months later he ended up going back to his old ways and I was losing weight very steadily and consistently.

    So in my case I lost weight and he didn't at that time. However I had more to lose and I really, really wanted this (to get fit and lose weight).
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    I guess it depends on how you look at it. My husband is 6'3.5" and around 250#. I'm 5'2" and around 146# currently. His TDEE is around 1,900 calories, mine is around 1600. For him to cut 20% for weight loss would be cutting 380 calories, for me, it would be 320 calories, not that significant. If you want to look at it strictly linearly, yes, he would lose a pound faster than I would, but a pound looks quite different on a guy who's almost 6'4" than on a woman who is almost 5'2".
  • Danp
    Danp Posts: 1,561 Member
    I think I read on WebMD (is that place reliable?) or somewhere like that, that initially men lose body fat faster than women but after about 6 months the playing field evens out.

    This was due to the fact that men, having more testosterone, tend to naturally have more lean muscle mass and will find it easier initially to gain/maintain lean muscle mass aiding in burning calories.

    They also said that men tend to 'appear' to lose body fat quicker as they tend to gain/carry abdominal weight (the dangerous area) which is often the first place it starts to reduce where as women are more prone than men to carrying fat more widely dispersed on their body particularly the hips and thighs so might see little progress in their 'problem areas' during the first 6 months while their less problematic abdominal fat is being reduced. The good news there though is that the hip/thigh fat deposits are less of a health risk.
  • DeonceEvans
    DeonceEvans Posts: 6 Member
    My wife has lost weight just by cutting her portions and walking only on Saturday mornings. I had to cut my portions, soda, no junk food and ride my bike 4-5 days just to lose 14 pounds.
  • amfmmama
    amfmmama Posts: 1,420 Member
    Why do programs like weight watchers allow men, just more points? I looked it up and I would be allowed 26 points, a man, with the same stats get 32. How come?
  • pamlorbieski
    pamlorbieski Posts: 187 Member
    I think partly it is due to the fact that men typically have more muscle mass. Muscle mass burns more calories. This is just one more reason women should not be afraid to weight train. They will burn more calories.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    edited May 2018
    amfmmama wrote: »
    Why do programs like weight watchers allow men, just more points? I looked it up and I would be allowed 26 points, a man, with the same stats get 32. How come?

    Because they have a higher BMR with the same stats and thus a higher TDEE.

    Male BMR = (10 x Weight in KG) + (6.25 X height in CM) - (5 x age in Years) +5
    Female BMR = (10 x Weight in KG) + (6.25 X height in CM) - (5 x age in Years) - 161

    which is then multiplied by activity level.

    So if both are age 30, 80kg and 172cm


    Male BMR = 1730
    Female BMR = 1564

    Obviously these are all estimates, and some women with these stats may have a higher BMR but this is determined by real world results, if you're losing more or less than expected you can adjust as necessary.
  • guy_1987
    guy_1987 Posts: 48 Member
    Depends on the person I would say - not the sex although there may be some truth in it.

  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    My wife has lost weight just by cutting her portions and walking only on Saturday mornings. I had to cut my portions, soda, no junk food and ride my bike 4-5 days just to lose 14 pounds.

    Is she more active during the day? It could contribute to why she appears to be losing faster. Just little things such as picking up the house, or walking around at her job could contribute to her daily activity level, which translates to calories burned. On the flip side if you maybe have a job such as office or truck driving that limits your daily activity, that all comes in to play. Also, while typically it's women who hold more water because of their hormone fluctuations, some men can be more prone to water retention as well. This can mask weight loss and make it appear to go slower then it really is. Of course I don't know either you or your wife's stats and what your daily life looks like. So, I'm just making generalizations.
  • mulecanter
    mulecanter Posts: 1,792 Member
    A woman's body is designed for gestation, I think it's a factor.
  • DeonceEvans
    DeonceEvans Posts: 6 Member
    My wife has lost weight just by cutting her portions and walking only on Saturday mornings. I had to cut my portions, soda, no junk food and ride my bike 4-5 days just to lose 14 pounds.

    Is she more active during the day? It could contribute to why she appears to be losing faster. Just little things such as picking up the house, or walking around at her job could contribute to her daily activity level, which translates to calories burned. On the flip side if you maybe have a job such as office or truck driving that limits your daily activity, that all comes in to play. Also, while typically it's women who hold more water because of their hormone fluctuations, some men can be more prone to water retention as well. This can mask weight loss and make it appear to go slower then it really is. Of course I don't know either you or your wife's stats and what your daily life looks like. So, I'm just making generalizations.

    No, she works in an office and I'm way more active than her at work and I ride my road bike to and from work 3 days a week. I also will ride in the evening with friends. All she does is walk/jog on Saturday mornings. LOL
  • TitaniaEcks
    TitaniaEcks Posts: 351 Member
    Lucky her. Yes that's statistically true and I wish I was her.
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    My wife has lost weight just by cutting her portions and walking only on Saturday mornings. I had to cut my portions, soda, no junk food and ride my bike 4-5 days just to lose 14 pounds.

    Is she more active during the day? It could contribute to why she appears to be losing faster. Just little things such as picking up the house, or walking around at her job could contribute to her daily activity level, which translates to calories burned. On the flip side if you maybe have a job such as office or truck driving that limits your daily activity, that all comes in to play. Also, while typically it's women who hold more water because of their hormone fluctuations, some men can be more prone to water retention as well. This can mask weight loss and make it appear to go slower then it really is. Of course I don't know either you or your wife's stats and what your daily life looks like. So, I'm just making generalizations.

    No, she works in an office and I'm way more active than her at work and I ride my road bike to and from work 3 days a week. I also will ride in the evening with friends. All she does is walk/jog on Saturday mornings. LOL

    I dont know then, Lol! I'm sure it'll even out soon though. Weightloss is a funny thing sometimes.
  • gomissfitnes
    gomissfitnes Posts: 268 Member
    I guess you're just unlucky! I've always heard the opposite and that's also been my personal experience to struggle with every calorie and the scale hardly moves while the men start eating less ice cream and is like magic for them! Sorry! I'm curious now what's more common?
This discussion has been closed.