Men's LifeStyle Blog

When it comes to quick weight loss, it turns out that men have an advantage. Men actually do lose weight faster than women—and now there’s science to back it up. A 2018 study published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism studied more than 2,000 overweight adults with prediabetes from Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The results showed that men respond differently than women to weight loss—namely that they lose it faster and have more health benefits.

Rapid Weight Loss

Adults in the Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism study were given a strict diet, eating only 800 calories per day in a diet that consisted mostly of liquids, including soup, diet shakes, cereals, and low-calorie vegetables. The study lasted for eight weeks.

Understandably, in a strict diet, the pounds starting falling off these people. But even with following the same diet, by the end of the study, the men lost 16% more weight than women, with an average 26-pound weight loss for men and a 22-pound average weight loss for women. Additionally, 35% of all participants fell out of the prediabetes range into normal blood glucose levels.

Health Consequences

A loss in body weight wasn’t the only outcome of this diet that more heavily benefited men. After eating the low-calorie diet, the men in this study also had less body fat and a lower heart rate, plus a lower risk for full-blown diabetes than the women did.

Women saw health consequences from the low-calorie diet as well—but not entirely positive ones. They saw larger losses in good cholesterol, namely high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, along with a larger reduction in bone mineral density, which can indicate weaker bones. They also had a leaner body mass, indicating less muscle and slower metabolism and weight loss.

This study confirms that men do lose weight faster than women, everything else being equal—and they see more health benefits from low-calorie, rapid weight loss diets.

Why the Inequality?

Weight loss for men does come easier than for women. Men and women are simply built differently. Male bodies have more lean muscle mass and a naturally higher metabolic rate, meaning that they can burn fat more quickly. Lean muscle uses up more calories—because men have more lean muscle, their bodies simply use up more calories, even doing basic resting functions such as sleeping and breathing. So even when men and women eat the same number of calories, as in this study, men achieve more of a calorie deficit simply because their bodies burn more calories.

Genetics simply aren’t fair when it comes to weight loss for men and women. So try not to engage in any friendly men vs. women weight loss competitions with the women in your life, and if you do, don’t gloat if you see the numbers on your scale going down faster.

Improve Your Weight Loss Odds

Weight loss for Men and women benefits both genders overall, seeing reductions in risks of diabetes and heart disease and reductions in unhealthy cholesterol. The best way both men and women can maximize their weight loss is through exercise—specifically weight lifting that will build lean muscle, the kind that burns more calories, even in rest.  

If you are ready to change your lifestyle and lose weight, check out Xyngular. They offer their members and distributors a way to improve their health, earn extra income, and start to improve their lives.