Many women find it very difficult to lose weight. They sign up for a weight loss program with their husbands then watch while his fat seems to pour off them while they puddle along with a half pound here and a half pound there. What seems to be the problem? How come men seem to lose weight easier than women?
Women tend to carry their weight on their hips and thighs (subcutaneous fat). Fat that lies under the skin takes far longer to lose than visceral or belly fat. It’s a matter of hormones. Our hormones have a lot to do with where we store our fat and how it is used. A woman’s fat not only helps her to survive during times of starvation but is critical for her to become pregnant, carry her baby to term and breast feed it. Women’s fat is critical to the survival of the human race while men’s fat is critical to the survival of the individual man.
The problem is that when we are not starving or trying to survive on a very limited supply of food, we tend to gain weight quite easily when we eat too much. And our fat is very stubborn about leaving our bodies thinking we may be pregnant at any time and will need the fat stores to feed our babies for one or more years. Our physiology works against us when we try to look like a fashion model, particularly as we grow older.
You may have found that the more you diet, the harder it is to lose weight. Every time you go on a weight loss diet you body decides that you are starving to death so it goes into a full fat-saving mode. Then when you stop the diet and go back to your old eating habits, your body heaves a sigh of relief and begins madly storing even more fat so that you gain even more weight. This weight loss, weight gain cycle, simply makes you fatter over the years.
The good news is that the fat that lies underneath the skin is healthier than fat that accumulates in the belly region. Heart disease is far more common in men and women who tend to carry most of their weight in their bellies. The accumulation of fat in and around the organs of the body makes them work much harder and they wear out sooner. Other diseases seem to be related to the total amount of obesity rather than placement such as Type II obesity and high blood pressure.
The bad news is it’s much harder to lose subcutaneous fat than visceral fat. We know that insulin is a fat storage hormone and that insulin production is triggered by incoming carbohydrates and subsequent increase in blood glucose. So the more carbohydrates eaten in a day, combined with the lower the metabolism and the lower the energy expenditure, the less calories that are burned and the rest is stored as fat. Men’s metabolism is usually higher than women’s, so this helps them to lose weight faster. Also, men seem to be able to lose weight by exercising more (but not eating more) while women don’t seem to be able to do so. This means, it’s going to take a lot more effort and a lot more time to convince your body to release its stored fat.
When you see cellulite on your hips and thighs, you will know for sure that you have subcutaneous fat and also that you are carrying too much fat. Although you may not like to see that cellulite, it won’t harm you. Like wrinkles that come with age, cellulite also comes with age.
What we can learn from this is to pick a diet we feel we can live with. Stick with it for the rest of your life.
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