Do men really lose weight faster then women, or does it just seem that they do? The truth is that men have two key weight-loss advantages over women. One involves their body composition, which enables them to burn calories at a faster rate than women. The second is the fact that men tend to be more active than their female counterparts. The combined effect—more calories burned at rest and more calories burned in activity—translates into faster weight loss for guys.
Why are men’s metabolisms faster? Men are designed by nature to have higher amounts of lean body mass, or muscle, than women. Lean body mass is the key factor that determines the rate of one’s metabo- lism, the body’s calorie-burning system. Since men have more muscle, their metabolisms are higher, and they burn more calories even when they’re resting. The result is quicker weight loss. How much faster are men’s metabolisms than women’s? Research has shown that on aver- age the metabolism of a man is 5 to 10 percent higher than that of a woman of the same weight and height. And because men tend to be taller and heavier than women, the male advantage on the calorie front is even greater.
Another reason men often lose weight faster then women is that they tend to be more physically active. A study reported in the Ameri- can Journal of Physiology found that women burn an average of 16 per- cent
fewer daily calories than men. The researchers looked into that difference, finding that the women’s resting metabolic rate was 6 per- cent lower than that of men (i.e., a slower metabolism) and that the calories burned in physical activity were 37 percent lower than that of men. In other words, the women were simply not moving as much and so were burning fewer calories.
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