If the effect was not as expected, you feel frustration. But even more frustrating is if you are following a diet with a man who has lost more weight than you.
The complaint is known: “He just needs to stop eating bread and is already thin, but I …”.
Is it true that it is easier for men to lose weight than for women? And that, therefore, weight loss plans must be adapted depending on the gender?
Full story
Last year, the University of Copenhagen, along with 8 other research institutions, started a study that put 2,500 pre-diabetic and overweight people on a strict calorie-control diet for 8 weeks.
The result? On average, men lost 11.8 kg, and women lost 10.2 kg.
Finally, there was evidence that men would find it easier to lose weight than women.
However, the statistics do not tell the full story.
“It was disappointing that the press focused on that difference without understanding math,” Professor Ian Macdonald of the University of Nottingham, who participated in the study, told the BBC.
Simply focusing on differences in final weight was, he said, “unfortunate”.
The reason is that all study participants received the same amount of food (810 calories), regardless of the fact that men had a greater energy deficit.
First, men were bigger (they weighed 109 kg on average, compared to women 96 kg) and therefore had more weight to lose.
Therefore, the difference in the result “was just a consequence of the difference in body size. If we had smaller men and larger women, it would be the opposite,” explains the professor.
The eight-week plan was not the main focus of the research, but the start of another three-year study.
“Participants had to lose 8% of their body weight in that 8-week period to be recruited on the random diet and exercise maintenance period for the next 3 years, as part of a diabetes prevention study,” says Macdonald.
There were also reports that men lost weight “better” than women: blood pressure and heart rate decreased further and there were differences in the level of cholesterol drop.
But Macdonald clarifies: “Although there were some statistical differences, in terms of clinical relevance, they were not significant. Men and women experienced benefits with weight loss.”
So there is no difference?
The professor admits, however, that there are differences in weight loss between men and women.
“For the same body mass index, men tend to have more fat-free mass (muscle) and less fat mass. This is due to the effect of sex hormones on body fat mass, as well as fat distribution.”
Therefore, “women generally find it a little harder to lose weight,” according to Tom Little, a nutritionist and founder of Color-Fit, a company specializing in diets for professional athletes.