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Do Men Burn More Fat Than Women?
Men and women are not built the same
way. There is something different in our bodies due to the way hormones
change the balance between muscle and fat and shape the size of our bones to
respond to different needs later on. In men, the testosterone hormone
determines the size of bones, causes hair growth and deepens the voice. It
also regulates the size of the muscle mass, which it turn regulates the
metabolism. The more muscle mass, the faster a person burns the calories
obtained from food, which is one of the big differences between men and
women and between overweight people and those who are fit.
It’s an easily recognizable fact that men and women training side by side do
not have the same results. Recent studies have found that women gain weight
faster than men and that they have a harder time getting rid of it through
exercise. It seems that women have the misfortune of being stuck with the
worst part of the weight loss process and also with having to work twice as
hard as men to stay in shape. And since this is no easy task for men, you
can imagine how bad the ladies have it.
Another thing that makes it even worse for the ladies is the modern
obsession with a thin body. Repeated attempts to drop the extra pounds teach
the body to hang on to the existing fat and so weight loss becomes harder
and harder as the years pass, while the women become more and more desperate
and willing to try even half-baked ideas that should simply be avoided. This
leads to dieting that makes the person thinner, but not healthier. Quite on
the contrary actually, since there are enough emaciated, rail-thin ladies
around to serve as example.
A recent study published by the BBC showed that 62 obese women who exercised
4 hours per week and learnt how to cook healthier meals felt a tremendous
improvement in their self-image. They lost only 9 pounds over three months,
but their blood pressure, cholesterol and heart rates were far better. And
they felt much better. So, maybe women should start to move away from
achieving a certain weight to just staying healthy and feeling good
regardless of weight. Maybe this is indeed the future of the weight loss
industry: to help people feel better about themselves instead of harming
their bodies while chasing a dream.
Fad Diets
Every now and them we all tend to look
into the mirror and cast a critical eye on our bodies. The internal
monologue goes something like this: “I’d say that my ass looks… biggish.
Could be the clothes are badly designed. Oh, who am I kidding? I’ve been
eating a lot of sweets and junk food lately, so no wonder I’m putting on
weight.” The usual result of these pangs of culinary guilt is a hasty
decision to swear off junk food and an evening or two spent searching the
Internet for diets and eating plans. This is the way people run into the
latest dieting craze that can make anybody slim and vastly improve the
quality of life, too.
Unfortunately, the first thing people do when they accept that a couple of
extra pounds have found their way around the waist is to panic and look for
the fastest way to get rid of them. This is a big mistake. The quick fix is
just that and it will always and forever be nothing else. And any problem
that gets a quick fix is not really going away at all. So, instead of going
for the latest diet that will make you lose and incredible number of pounds
in just a few days or weeks, try to chose a diet that takes a little longer
and is not nearly as hard on you.
The “lose weight instantly” diets are based mostly on losing body water.
This is a silly idea because you will put the weight right back on with a
couple of glasses of water. You’re not trying to lose water, but body fat so
stay away from these diets. Good diets need time to work for you and losing
one pound per week is actually a good rate. Losing three pounds per week
sounds way better, but it’s a big mistake. Anything more than two pounds per
week is bound to be loss of lean tissues that make up the muscles. The basic
idea is that the faster you go, the more muscle mass you lose; slow diets
make sure that what goes out is fat.
The biggest problem is that quick weight loss schemes can turn into a
vicious circle. The more muscles mass one has, the faster the metabolism and
very little of the food intake gets to be stored as fat. But if the diet
makes you lose muscle mass, then your metabolism slows down and the
accumulated fat is burned slower and slower. As you can see, a bad diet
makes it harder for you to lose weight. Starving yourself is a bad idea
because your metabolism has to function at the proper speed in order to help
you lose weight.
Not to mention that eating the right kind of food is important because you
need calories to give your body the staying power it needs through the diet.
There is a difference between feeling hungry while your body adjusts to less
food and feeling starved because you’re not getting the required daily
amount of calories. The food you eat also gives you the energy needed to
burn fat through physical effort. You can’t go to the gym or run in the park
if you’re about to faint every time you get up from the chair. So the next
time you feel like diet time, chose wisely. There’s a big difference between
dieting and starvation.
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