Do men lose weight faster than women?
Have you ever gone on a diet with your partner and wondered why he’s lost more weight than you? Was it in your mind? Is it because he’s a man? Was it that cheeky cupcake you had last night? Well annoying as it is, it’s probably because he’s a man. Here’s why…
There are a few biological reasons why women find it harder to lose weight than men. The main reason for this is that men tend to have more muscle mass than women. Therefore, since more muscle means a faster resting metabolism, men’s bodies naturally burn calories at a faster rate. This, when added to the fact that men are allowed 500 more calories a day than women (2,500 rda men, 2000 rda women), means that men can also eat more calories than women and still lose more weight than them. Sound unfair? Well you’re right. It’s not fair but if you want to see results, take this knowledge and use it to your advantage. It might take you a bit longer to achieve your goal than your partner but it’s worth it.
Increasing your muscle mass
Here are 5 tips to help you increase your muscle mass.
1) Strength Training
Strength training is one of the best ways to increase muscle mass and burn fat. If you regularly incorporate it into your workouts, this will help you to metabolise at a rate similar to your partner (depending on your respective muscle mass) and will also help you to create a leaner, more defined figure. Exactly what you want.
2) Eat After Training
After training, it’s important to eat a nutritious carb-and protein-rich snack. After training, your body is less likely to metabolise the carbs down fat-storing pathways. Instead, by combining the carbs with protein, it will efficiently use them to promote muscle growth. I really like chicken and sweet potato.
3) Combine Strength Training With Cardio
Cardio gets your blood pumping. Since your blood delivers oxygen to your muscles, the more efficient your blood flow, the more oxygen your muscles will receive. This will promote muscle growth.
Top Tip: If you’re looking to increase muscle, a good ratio to follow in your workouts is: 1 (cardio) : 3 (strength training.)
4) Get Enough Sleep
Your muscles repair themselves and continue to grow during rest periods. Sleep is vital for this as it will allow them to re-cooperate, update muscle memory and will also help to prevent injury through over exercise.
5) Buy some body composition weighing scales
Body composition scales are fantastic for measuring your progress. Unlike other scales, they don’t just focus on weight loss but will provide key information about your body’s muscle mass, water content and fat content too.
This is key for people looking to lose weight as, when building muscle, your body can put on weight. This can cause some people to become disheartened but body composition scales can prevent this. They will show you where the weight has gone and, hopefully, you should see that even though your weight has gone up, your body fat has decreased and your muscle mass has increased. If this happens, you will know that you have made HUGE PROGRESS and feel MOTIVATED to continue. Most gyms will have them so feel free to give them a go.
Final thought… It’s important to remember that exercise isn’t a short-term solution. It’s a long-term lifestyle change to achieve long-lasting results. So don’t worry if your partner achieves his goal first. You can do it too so stick with it and you’ll never look back. David x
Tagged in Muscles fitness tips Weight loss