Myth Busting : Do men find it easier to lose weight?

Everyone has that one friend that is certain that the world is against them, the friend who fights that despite eating healthier, exercising more and generally taking better care of herself, the reason she is not losing weight is not down to the chocolate biscuits she is sneaking at midnight out of the jar, but the fundamental genes that define her gender. Now, whilst you may never want to tell her this, as you may never hear the end of it, there is some truth to her claims – Men do lose weight faster than Women.

Now while this may sound bizarre, to start with, our bodies are made up differently. This means that on average, men have much larger bodies that women, with proportionally more muscle mass. By extension, this makes it a lot easier to burn calories, and therefore at a much faster rate.

Furthermore, hormones also play a part in this cruel trick of fate. Testosterone, which is the primary male sex hormone, supports muscle growth in the body which sequentially creates muscle tissue that burns more calories. Women’s estrogen, however, has the opposite effect.

Estrogen encourages Women to hold on to weight, making it harder to shed those stubborn pounds. It is inherently in a women’s makeup to store excess body fat, parts of their bodies, such as breasts, thighs and hips all contain a high fat to muscle ratio, therefore making it harder to shift from these difficult to reach areas.

Even the way we gain weight is different. Ever heard that phrase Women are from Venus and Men are from Mars, well after hearing this, you might just believe it. When Men put on a few pounds, it tends to go to their abdominal areas, causing the ever faithful beer belly, and when they lose weight, it just comes straight off from there. However, when a Woman puts on weight, it ordinarily hits all areas of the body. Leaving no stone unturned, ravishing the female figure like moths to a flame. Therefore, it makes it more difficult to be able to tell where weight loss is coming from, which can be disheartening and upsetting for many.

This being said, for many Men the pounds go straight to upper body, causing dreaded man boobs, which can be difficult to shift with exercise and diet alone.

The technical term for man boobs is pseudogynecomastia, and it describes an excess of fatty tissue in the chest. Affecting between 40-50% of men at some point in their lifetimes.

For both Men and Women there are those patches of fat that are just more persistent, and cannot be shifted through simply exercise and diet alone.

So what does all of this mean?

Firstly, this is not suggesting either gender cannot and do not lose weight, just that for many they cannot get the radical results they desire from diet and exercise alone. Every cloud however, does have a silver lining, CoolSculpting is not gender specific and works best on those stubborn patches of fat that just won’t budge. An FDA approved non-invasive procedure, it works by precisely freezing the fat cells which, by extension, die, causing no damage to the rest of the body and unveiling a more chiselled and toned you.