As a woman, do you feel that men seem to be able to lose weight easier and faster than you do? It feels like men can simply eat less and their numbers on the scale will drop correspondingly. However, when you take the same approach, you don’t get the same results – and it makes you feel frustrated.
There are legitimate reasons why women have a harder time losing weight than men. In this short read, you will find out what those reasons are and what you can do about them. The result is that you will be calmer and more in control of your weight loss journey.
However, first it’s important you understand that more body fat is actually beneficial to women. Yes, you read that right – women need more body fat in order to stay healthy!
According to BodyBuilding.com:
Men generally need 2-5% total body fat at minimum while women need 10-13%.
In fact, a safer level would be around 15-20% of body fat. When you trace this back to our evolution as the human species, the difference is clear. Men are designed to be more active (for hunting and moving) so they have more muscle mass and less body fat. Women are designed to be more stationary and care for the children and community, so they have less muscle and more fat.
Therefore, too much fat burning isn’t good for your body either. You need the fat in order for your body to operate at the healthiest level, including for reproductive capabilities.
2 reasons why it’s easier for men to lose weight
Now that you know fat is actually more important to women, let’s move on to why men have less fat. There are 2 reasons why men can lose weight faster than women:
- Men have a higher basal metabolic rate compared to women. This means men can burn the calories they eat faster than women do.
- Men have higher muscle mass than women due to the testosterone hormone. Muscle mass has high activity that helps to burn calories stored as fat in your body.
These reasons give men an advantage when it comes to weight loss. However, that doesn’t mean there is nothing you can do about it.
To compensate for these 2 reasons, as a woman you can:
- Do strength training to increase your muscle mass.
- Weight training also boosts your body’s metabolic rate, leading to more weight loss.
It has the added benefit of strengthening your bones, reducing the risk of osteoporosis which tends to occur to women more than men. It also shapes your appearance, making you look lean and fit with good muscle tones.
Do more weight lifting to burn more fat
It should be noted that as a woman, you may be tempted to put more emphasis on cardio training, and less weight training. Cardio training may feel easier and more “in line” with the feminine image than weight training is.
However, doing this may lead you to lose portions of muscle mass. Too much cardio makes you look soft instead of lean and fit. This is why doing more of weight lifting can actually be beneficial for you even though you are a woman.
Therefore, to increase the odds in your favor, what you need to do is more strength training in the form of weight lifting. This will not only raise your metabolic rate, it will also increase your muscle mass. In turn, your body will be able to burn fat faster so you lose weight faster.
In order to make sure you follow the right weight training program, I recommend you to check out my review of Old School New Body by Steve Holman. This program teaches you weight training that is safe enough even for older women aged 40 and above – so it is safe for women of all ages.