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Male Vs. Female Weight Loss

May 26, 2011 | By Rebecca Bragg
Male Vs. Female Weight Loss
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The statistics are shocking: according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, almost 63 percent of American adults were overweight or obese in 2010. Excess weight puts people at elevated risk for such serious health problems as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. Efforts to curb epidemic levels of obesity throughout the developed world have been complicated by poorly understood differences in the ways men and women gain, lose and store body fat.

Body Composition

For optimal health, body fat should amount to 18 to 30 percent of a woman's weight, but only 10 to 25 percent of a man's, but once acquired, fat tends to be more difficult for women to burn off than for men. After tracking 34,079 women for 13 years, a study published in 2010 by the "Journal of the American Medical Association" concluded that 60 minutes a day of moderate intensity exercise was required simply to maintain normal weight, far more time than the 2008 federal recommendation of 150 minutes a week.

The Role of Hormones

The lead author of an Australian study into why women and men store fat differently notes an apparent paradox: "From an energy balance point of view," says Dr. Anthony O'Sullivan of the University of New South Wales, "there is no explanation why women should be fatter than men, particularly since men consume more calories proportionately." Women also burn off more calories during exercise than men yet don't lose as much fat, he maintains. Estrogen appears to be responsible for this increased fat retention capability, especially during puberty and pregnancy when hormone levels rise in preparation for conception, fetal development and lactation. The study was published in the March 2009 "Obesity Reviews."

Exercise and Calorie Consumption Differences

Hormone-driven differences in eating patterns may influence metabolic responses to exercise between men and women, a study published in the January 2010 edition of "Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews" suggests. Researchers Todd Hagobian and Barry Braun found that women consumed more calories to compensate for those expended during exercise while men didn't change their eating patterns. Theorizing that physical activity has gender-specific effects on the brain's appetite control centers, they concluded that in order to lose fat, women might have to restrict calorie consumption more than men.

From 'Thrifty' to 'Drifty' Genes: Emerging Research Affecting Both Genders

University of Cambridge professor Stephen O'Rahilly, co-director of the U.K.'s Institute for Metabolic Research, says, "We know for sure than a propensity for obesity -- or its opposite, a propensity for leanness -- is rooted in the genes. Some 70 percent of the variation between people in terms of their amount of body fat is explained by inherited differences that are built into our genetic makeup and passed from generation to generation." Biologist Stephen Speakman of Aberdeen University has tweaked the "thrifty gene" theory that natural selection favored people better able to survive famine because they could live off stored fat. His "drifty gene" hypothesis holds that fitness became less important after humans developed weapons to protect themselves from predators. Over time, random mutation of genes that might otherwise have halted a tendency toward obesity could explain why some people get fat while others don't.

References

Article reviewed by GlennK Last updated on: May 26, 2011

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