I am 20M, 6,1 204 pounds, coming down from 265. Goal weight: 185 pounds.
This post is geared towards women specifically, and if you are a shorter woman, older woman, or all of the above, I hope you can appreciate my respect for you absolute grinders (this can also be applied to shorter, older men). This will be a long post but I have thought about it a lot and I feel like a lot of people don't fully comprehend the physical differences.
I'll just start off by saying, it is superbly more difficult for women to lose weight compared to men, take myself for example;
High Maintenance Calories
*Let's assume for a 6'1 male, a healthy weight is 185 pounds, based on BMI. Let's assume for a 5'4 female, a healthy weight is 137 pounds, based on BMI. Let us also assume both people's activity levels are "light exercise: 1-3 times a week" (I know BMI is bullshit, but it is a close enough estimate, assuming you have not been weight lifting for years prior to losing weight).
Young, tall men have ridiculously high maintenance calories. For me, at 20 y/o, 6'1, 204 pounds, I can eat 2700 calories a day to maintain that weight, and eat 1700 calories a day to lose 2+ pounds a week.
By the time I hit my goal weight of 185 pounds, I can STILL be in a 1000kcal deficit, at 185 pounds, I can eat 1600 calories a day to lose 2+ pounds a week (still above the 1500 calorie threshold for men).
Now let's look at a woman, say they are 20 y/o, 5'4, 250 pounds. They can eat 1500 calories a day to lose 2+ pounds a week. Boom, that is already at the male threshold for required calorie consumption and only 300 calories away from the female threshold.
**To sum this up, a male, 6'1 at a very healthy weight of 185 pounds and a 24.4 BMI can STILL eat more (1600 calories a day) than a female, 5'4, approaching morbid obesity at a BMI of 42.9 (1500 calories a day) per day to lose 2+ pounds a week, at the SAME AGE! That is a 65-pound difference and nearly a 20 point BMI difference, and the female STILL has to eat less than a 6'1 male in a healthy BMI range to lose 2+ pounds a week!**
Sources: Maintenance Calorie Calculator and MyFitnessPal.
A Bigger, Longer Deficit
This links back to the higher maintenance calories. Say the female loses 70 pounds (reaches 180 pounds), going strong and still going for that goal weight of 137 pounds, 43 pounds to go. Their maintenance calories are now 2100 a day, to lose 2 pounds a week they now have to consume 1100 a day. That is below the healthy threshold for female calorie consumption. You can eat at or under 1100 calories, then you risk eating disorders, loss of muscle mass, and relapsing due to hunger.
To stay healthy, women must decrease their deficit to make sure they are eating enough, which means weight loss slows down and the only solution is exercising (which burns a minimal number of calories compared to a calorie deficit). This deficit will close up the closer they get to their goal weight. Obviously, not everyone has time for exercise, school, social life, and not everyone is 20, people have families and full-time jobs. Some women are forced to stay in the minimal calorie deficit they are in, making weight loss exponentially slower.
*Note, a 6'1 male can healthily maintain a 1000kcal deficit until their goal weight and even lower, which means they literally do not even need to exercise to lose 2+ pounds a week throughout their whole weight loss journey.
Plateaus
Not only do women have it harder physically, but mentally as well. Medical conditions aside, I think plateaus are different between the sexes. Women need to deal with periods and hormones and shit I am not qualified to speak about, but I do know it messes with their weight, causing significant fluctuations and stubborn plateaus.
Obviously, this fucks with them mentally, I can't even weigh myself daily because the fluctuations fuck with my head. So imagine weighing yourself once a week and seeing you've gained 5 pounds even though you stayed in your deficit and exercised, when in reality, it's just your hormones messing with the scale. It is probably demotivating, and it is something men don't have to deal with.
A plateau for a man is simply his maintenance calories catching up with him as he loses the weight. If you don't adjust your calorie deficit to your new weight and maintenance calories, you won't lose weight. If you are a man and think you are experiencing a plateau, and you have no medical conditions, you are either counting calories inaccurately, or have not yet adjusted your calorie deficit, or are retaining water. I see men talking about a plateau when they are 6+ feet and 200-280 pounds, that is simply is not possible.
To the women losing weight, I see you and acknowledge how much harder it is to do. Keep trucking along, it'll be slower but it is what it is. I am grateful to be in a position where weight loss is relatively straightforward and won't take it for granted!
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/3sHaffK
No comments:
Post a Comment