FROM A MAN’S VIEWPOINT WHO’S TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT?

Compared with women, men often take more time to decide to lose weight, even when they identify themselves as being overweight. A national survey of overweight men conducted in 2003 found that 23 percent of the men said they wanted to lose weight but weren’t doing anything about it, 17 percent reported being on a weight-loss diet, and 13 percent had never tried to lose weight.
The remaining 47 percent said they had no interest in losing weight. Unfortunately, the choice to put off losing weight placed the “no interest” guys at a higher risk of becoming even heavier and developing health problems.

It’s not all bad news for men, however, because when men do decide to take the weight-loss plunge, they appear to have more real- istic weight-loss goals than women. One large study of overweight male and female dieters found that women considered greater amounts of weight loss to be realistic compared with men. Being realistic offers men a weight-loss advantage because weight-loss expectations that are unachievable can be a setup for failure. When weight-loss expectations are not met, the likelihood of quitting the weight-loss effort is high—and nobody can lose weight if he or she is

not even trying.