Why Men Lose Weight Faster than Women

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Oh ladies! I know this annoys the heck out of you, especially if you’re part of a couple who has chosen to lose weight together. It can be infuriating to watch your man drop 15 pounds in two weeks, while you’re still struggling to take an incy wincy three pounds off. Go ahead and scream with aggravation – I know you want to. “Why do men lose weight faster than women?” is a question I’ve been asked a million times over the past 20 years. In my professional opinion there are four main reasons.

Men are usually bigger than women, and the bigger a person is … the easier it is for them to lose big chunks of weight. For example, if your guy weighs 240 pounds he’s probably burning about 2,400 calories a day just moving about doing his normal routine. So if he cut back to eating 1,600 calories per day (which is still a lot of food) – he’d lose a pound every four days. If he also burnt 800 calories per day exercising, he’d lose about two pounds in four days. At this rate alone, your guy will drop about 5 pounds each week. It requires more energy to sustain a larger body, so he naturally burns more calories because he’s bigger. If a 135 pound woman is trying to lose weight, well she’s got to work a bit harder to see big results. At her small size, this lady will burn about 1,350 calories per day. If she consumes 1,200 calories per day, she will lose one pound every 23 days. Ouch! That’s a big difference. Since it’s not wise to each much less than 1,200 calories a day, she’s going to have to do a lot of physical work to dump weight faster. If she burns 600 calories per day via exercise, well then – she can lose one pound every 4.5 days. Size makes an enormous difference in weight loss speed. **If the woman is of equal size than a man, she can lose weight just about as fast. ***A 3,500 calorie defecit equals one pound lost.
Men have lots of testosterone, and testosterone helps make muscles. Muscles require more energy to survive than fat cells do, so a more muscular body naturally burns more calories than a less muscular one. Of course women can help themselves out by strength training at a challenging level. However, my husbands big muscluar body will always burn more calories than my tiny muscular body. Drat!
Men don’t emotionalize the issue of food and exercise. Big generalization I know, but from my experience, the men I’ve trained take clear guidance and use it. Period. Women tend to be more emotionally driven. They will eat poorly because: “my boss was mean”, “I was tired”, “we were on vacation”, “I had my period”, or “Oh – but I DESERVED some chocolate, wine, cheese, etc …”. Get it? I tell a man to eat lean protein and produce for dinner and he does it. I tell a woman to do that and she’ll explain why her day was so hard. Please don’t hate me. I do, happen to be a girl too, but guys are just a lot more black and white on the subject. I do have a few women though, who are hard core – follow orders – and are now super sexy in their skinny jeans. Ann Ball, Kate Connors and Melissa Covington – I’m talking to you!
Men go like hell when they exercise. How often do you see three men strolling around the block at a medium pace chatting about their lives? Ummm … never! Why? That’s not how men roll. Men play sports until their faces are beat red, lift weights until they are screaming and grunting, and pound on cardio machines until they’re digustingly dripping with sweat. Men go all out when exercising which is why they burn bazillions of calories when they do; this type of aggressiveness ensures that each training session makes a great impact on their physique.

So ladies, I hope this has at minimum, answered your question and solved some frustration. You can, however use this to be more successful with your weight-loss efforts. You CAN commit to more than cardio; time spent strength training will cut your weight loss time in half. Making muscles makes you leaner! You CAN commit to eating more wisely and exercising on a regular basis no matter what. When you do decide to exercise, you CAN go like hell! Leave each workout looking like a raggedy sweaty mess with muscles that can go no more. You CAN forget about all of your issues and just do it anyway! Most importantly, you CAN stop comparing yourself to your guy; that’s just ridiculous. Support him on his success and work damn hard to achieve your own. You are the only one who can make it happen.