Why Women Must
Typically Work Harder to Lose Weight
The
gender gap is a phrase usually used to describe disparities in income between
men and women, but it may very well apply to weight loss as well.
Many
women express exasperation at being unable to lose weight despite making
significant dietary changes and exercising, whereas their male counterparts
appear to drop pounds just by making minimal lifestyle tweaks here and there.
Could it
be that the cards are somehow stacked against women, and men really do have an
easier time losing weight?
Several Factors
Make Weight Loss for Men EasierOne of the biggest factors men
have in their favor is body composition. Men tend to have more muscle than
women, who in turn have about 10 percent more of their body weight in the form
of fat.
Muscle
tissue burns three to five times more
energy than fat tissues, so as you gain muscle, your metabolic rate
increases, which allows you to burn more
calories, even when you're sleeping or physically inactive. Perhaps because of
their greater muscle mass, a man's resting metabolic rate can be up to 10
percent higher than a woman's (of the same age and weight),1 giving them a weight-loss advantage right out of
the gate.
Men and
women vary in the type of fat their bodies are made up of. Men tend to have
more visceral fat while women tend to have more subcutaneous fat. Subcutaneous
fat is found just under your skin, and is the type that causes dimpling and
cellulite. Visceral fat, on the other hand, shows up in your abdomen and
surrounds your vital organs including your liver, heart and muscles.
Visceral
fat is the one that is linked to heart disease, diabetes and stroke, among many
other chronic diseases. So from a health standpoint, having more visceral fat
is not a "benefit." However, from a strictly weight-loss point of
view, visceral fat is metabolized faster, making it easier to lose than
subcutaneous fat – another biological hurdle for women to jump over.
Women may
be more inclined toward emotional eating than men – reaching for food
(typically junk food) in response to stress, sadness, loneliness, and more –
and this can be a very tough habit to break. Research even shows that women may
have a reduced ability to stave off hunger and resist food cravings than men.
However,
women should not feel disheartened, as weight loss is certainly attainable no
matter what your gender. There are several weight loss secrets that many people
aren't aware of, which can help to tip the scales back in your favor.
The Go-To Weight Loss Trick that Works for Both Men and Women
Once you
review the research, it's clear that if you are serious about losing weight,
you have got to strictly limit the amount of fructose in your diet, as evidence
is mounting that excess sugar, and fructose in particular, is the primary factor
in the obesity epidemic. So cutting soda from your diet is essential. However
many fail to appreciate the importance of cutting out other sources of
fructose, including those found in processed foods, fruit juice, excessive
fruit and so-called "healthy" sweeteners like agave.
This is
especially true if you have insulin resistance and are overweight, have high
blood pressure, diabetes or high or unregulated cholesterol levels.
For the
majority of people, severely restricting carbohydrates such as sugars,
fructose, and grains in your diet will be the key to weight loss. Refined
carbohydrates like breakfast cereals, bagels, waffles, pretzels, and most other
processed foods quickly break down to sugar, increase your insulin levels, and
cause insulin resistance, which is the number one underlying factor of nearly
every chronic disease and condition known to man, including weight gain.
As you
cut these dietary villains from your meals, you need to replace them with
healthy substitutes like vegetables and healthy fats (including natural
saturated fats!). Your body prefers the carbohydrates in vegetables rather than
grains and sugars because it slows the conversion to simple sugars, and
improves insulin resistance.
When you
cut grains and sugar from your meals, you typically will need to radically
increase the amount of vegetables you eat, as well as make sure you are also
consuming protein and healthy fats regularly.
This Efficient
Exercise Can Help You Burn More Fat
Once
you've addressed your diet, exercise can truly begin to work its magic on your
physique, and help boost fat loss even further. The trick to achieving flat abs
is to incorporate the correct types of
exercises. High intensity interval
exercises should be at the core of any routine. This short intense training
protocol improves muscle energy utilization and expenditure due to its positive
effects on increasing muscle mass and improving muscle fiber quality. Further,
several studies have confirmed that exercising in shorter bursts with rest periods
in between burns more fat than exercising continuously for an entire session.
In fact,
you can actually lose more weight by reducing the amount of time you spend on
exercise, because when doing high-intensity interval training you only need 20
minutes, two to three times a week.
Help for Emotional
Eaters
Many
adults turn to food in times of boredom, stress and loneliness. And for those
who are eating due to stress, the comfort food of choice tends to be greasy,
salty or sweet. Not surprisingly, such "stress-driven" eaters,
particularly women, tend to weigh more on average. And women who feel a lack of
emotional support in their lives have a greater tendency to eat to cope with
stress.
So your
emotional health, whether you're eating as a distraction, a reward or to help
fill a missing void in your life, must be dealt with in order to successfully
resist cravings for unhealthy foods. .
How to Even the
Playing Field...
The three
strategies noted above will greatly help most anyone lose weight, but women can
help to close the "gender gap" for weight loss by:
· Eliminating or strictly limiting
fructose in your diet
· Engaging in high-intensity Peak
Fitness exercise to burn fat and increase muscle mass (another fat burner)
· Addressing the emotional
component of eating
Join us tonite at Family First Chiropractic and Wellness at 142 Erickson dDive, Red Deer for an information evening at 6:30 or call Danika at 403-347-3261 for more information
People have told me that if you can
survive the first year of mothering twins than the rest is easy. I disagree.
Being the mother of 20 month old twin boys is not getting any easier. For the first six months they ate what I
served (breast milk). Now it is ever changing
what they will and will not eat. I know
that this is typical for toddlers but with two it is twice as fun. What one will eat one day the other will not
eat and then the next day they will switch.
One will eat the leftovers and the other twin will not touch it. 
