HOW WOMEN AND MEN TALK ABOUT WEIGHT

Most men want to encourage the women in their lives when it comes to losing weight. But when women talk about their experience, they

tend to use words and concepts that are alien to most men’s weight-loss vocabulary. For example,
women often talk about their feelings of being sabotaged in their weight-loss efforts. In a study that looked at this notion, the idea of sabotage was not a concept that the average man could relate to when talking about weight loss. In the same research, women were also much more likely to describe feelings of disgust or remorse after an episode of overeating. Again, the men had a hard time relating to those emotionally charged descriptions. So what happens? Women may feel that their partners are not listening or don’t care when they talk about the weight-loss issues they are deal- ing with. To overcome that barrier, women need to keep the word differences in mind when they talk about their weight with the men in their lives. A lack of understanding  should not be automatically equated with a lack of caring. Finding a common language with which to express the feelings can make all the difference.