|
Men
or women: Who burns more fat?
Men and women
are not physically the same way. A substantial difference both sexes is
due to the way hormones affect the balance between muscle and fat.
Moreover, a great deal of the difference resides on how hormones are
involved in
shaping the size of our bones. In
men, the hormone testosterone determines the size of bones, hair
growth and tone of the voice. It also controls the the muscle
mass, and regulates the metabolism. More muscle mass means thatthe calories obtained from foodare burnt faster. This is part of the motives
for which men and women are different and between overweight people
and those who are fit.
It is easy to see that men and women training
side by side do not have the same results. New studies showed
that women acquire weight faster and that they have a harder time
getting rid of it with exercise. Women seem to have the
misfortune of being stuck with the worst part of the weight loss
process. They have to work twice as hard as men to stay fit.
But one thing makes the situation even worse for women. This is the
modern
obsession with a thin body. Repeated attempts to drop the extra weight
teach the body to keep the existing fat, therefore weight
loss gets harder as the time passes. As a consequence, the person gets
desperate and anxious, which leads to adopting extreme diet plans that
make the person slim, but not healthy, and exacerbates the risk of
anorexia, bulimia and other problems.
The BBC recently published a study that showed that 62 obese women
exercising 4 hours a week and learning how to cook healthier meals
ubderwent
a significant improvement in their self-image. They lost only 9 pounds
after 3 months, but their blood pressure, cholesterol and heart
rates were much better. And, what is really important, they felt much
better. So, maybe women
should start to move away from achieving a certain ultra-low weight to
just
staying healthy and feeling good regardless of weight. Maybe this is
indeed the future of the weight loss industry: to help people feel
better about themselves instead of harming their bodies while pursuing
an utopic but unhealthy
dream.
|
|
|
|
