The real reason men lose weight faster than women

WATCHING my male friend drop 40 kilos while I struggled to shift four was extremely annoying. But there’s a few reasons men have an advantage when it comes to dieting, writes Kerry Parnell.

WHY are men better at dieting than women?

It is extremely annoying.

A friend of mine just lost 40 kilos quietly and efficiently — transforming himself in four months from a jolly rotund fellow to a lean fitness machine.

Which is brilliant for him, but makes the fact I can’t shift four kilos really pathetic.

He told me he achieved it by eating 800 calories a day, walking and cycling. It should be noted the furthest he and I used to waddle in the past was to the buffet; We once went to a party and disguised a family bag of chips as my clutch bag, so we could scoff them all without sharing.

His turning point came with a diabetes diagnosis: “The alternative was going blind and getting gangrene,” he said. Fair enough. So he just got on with it.

Being told those extra kilos have made you diabetic is a pretty good motivator to lose weight. (Pic: iStock)

Science backs up the fact that men lose weight faster than women. They have more muscle and therefore a faster metabolism and women have a higher percentage of body fat. As men tend to carry fat around their stomachs compared to women on their bum and hips, their weight loss can also be more obvious.

And according to a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, when women and men went on the same diet plans, the males lost twice as much weight after two months — although it did even out after six months.

The problem is, if you’ve diligently eaten salad for eight weeks and lost quinoa-all, most women understandably think “stuff it” and reach for a Tim Tam.

I stacked it on a bit over Christmas with enthusiastic mince-pie eating and when even my ‘fat jeans’ were getting sausage-like in January, knew I needed to cut back. So I stopped eating cake. The next morning, disheartened I hadn’t dropped a gram, I had a biscuit in sorrow.

Step away from the Tim Tams. (Pic: Supplied)

And that’s what I reckon separates the sexes when it comes to dieting: Men have less emotional investment. They don’t feel disgusted with themselves that they have to let their belt out a notch — they either buy bigger pants or stop eating rubbish and go for a run.

“Men tend to grow up with far less guilt and shame attached to food. They don’t deprive themselves as much on a daily basis, so often have a less emotional relationship with, say, chocolate. That could make dieting more straightforward,” says Luke Benedictus, editor of Men’s Health Magazine.

Nutritionist and diet expert Rick Hay also reckons men tend to pick easy diets.

“There is still less pressure to diet on men so when they do they are often more relaxed about it — they tend to do the easier diets like the 5:2.”

Benedictus also thinks being a geek helps.

“Inside most guys is an inner nerd who loves stats. That’s why we can recall the exact year Tony Liberatore won the Brownlow (1990). This inherent geekery may help when it comes to losing weight and you have to clock calories or log your number of daily steps.”

I have to admit I had to Google Tony Liberatore. Sorry Tony.

Maybe that’s my problem — I need to consume more Brownlow and less brownies.