Why It’s Harder for Women to Lose Weight (And What to Do with Stubborn Fat)

There’s no one-size-fits-all weight loss program that works for both men and women. Men appear to have it easier, while women often find losing weight more challenging. Why? Studies suggest it’s a combination of biology, biochemistry, evolution and behavior.

More Muscles Equals Faster Metabolism

If the myriad weight loss tips and tricks don’t produce the result you want to see, it could be that they are not specifically tailored to your sex. As recent studies indicate, there are indeed differences between the way men and women lose weight.

In its simplest formula, losing weight is just a matter of using up more calories than you consume. But updated research suggests that muscles and metabolism, all influenced by gender, have a lot to do with the gender differences in weight loss. As men have more muscles than women, they tend to have a faster metabolism as well, up to 10% higher than women in the studies conducted.

Biology is also to be blamed for women’s propensity to have cellulites. Estrogen and higher body fat are not the only reason for this dimply bane; men’s muscle bands are thicker and form a crisscross pattern that keep the fat in place so they don’t pucker, whereas women have vertical muscle bands that allow fat to push through. Even thin or very fit women have cellulite because it’s not something that you lose through diet or exercise.

The Slim Contour Cream from Dr Sylvia Skin Care improves tissue firmness and smooths uneven skin tone to make cellulite appear less noticeable. Red seaweed and caffeine, both well-studied for their slimming effects and lipid-reducing action, are active ingredients in Dr Sylvia’s Slim Contour Cream, the same cream applied to patients after TriLipo and CoolSculpting treatments in their aesthetic clinic in Scotts Road, Singapore.

For fat removal under the buttocks, a fat freezing procedure in a medical aesthetic clinic in Singapore can make these ‘banana rolls’ less visible. It’s a safe fat removal treatment called CoolMini by Zeltiq.

Emotion and Hormone Equals Overeating

Attachment to food is another factor that is influenced by gender. Women are more prone to be emotional eaters than men, so they have a harder time cutting out comfort foods that are, incidentally, high fat, loaded with sugar, deep-fried, salty, and devoid of nutrients.

There’s also the matter with biochemistry. Among women, ghrelin, the hunger hormone, spikes after a workout. This sudden increase in ghrelin makes women more prone to overeating because leptin, the hormone that tells the brain that the stomach is full, plummets right after exercise. With these hormonal swings, the tendency to overeat increases, putting women at greater risk to gaining weight.

Curvy Women is Nature’s Insurance

Finally, there’s the inescapable dictate of evolution. Women’s bodies latch on to calories more steadfastly than men’s – and refuse to let go of fat – because it’s the female body’s natural way of ensuring there’s enough food for her unborn in the event of famine. In fact, if a woman’s body fat percentage persistently falls below 23%, she may have difficulty conceiving.

This makes it hard for women to lose stubborn fat but easy for them to deposit fat in the abdomen, hips and thighs. The pockets of fat in these areas are highly resistant to even the most diligent diet and exercise. The result is stubborn fat in the belly, arms and thighs that just won’t budge.

So Are There Safe and Effective Ways to Lose Stubborn Fat?

There are two non-invasive treatments that can slim down these areas: controlled cooling that destroys fat cells, and heating multiple layers of the skin using radiofrequency (RF) technology.

CoolSculpting employs cold temperature for safe fat reduction. Fat cells die in response to freezing, and they get eliminated by the body in the same way that it does other dead cells. Aside from the abdomen, flanks, and thighs, which are areas that CoolSculpting is FDA-approved for, other areas that can be slimmed down are the folds of fat under the buttocks, flabby arms or ‘batwings,’ the bra bulge at the back and near the armpits, and knee fat. CoolMini in Singapore is also used for double chin treatments.

TriLipo, on the other hand, uses a high-power RF system to carry out body contouring on the abdomen, thighs and arms in one application: The heat generated by the TriLipo device combines with external mechanical force to remove liquid fat via lymphatic drainage in a manner comparable to non-surgical liposuction. It also simultaneously contracts collagen, which results to skin tightening that can be observed immediately. The heat also stimulates fibroblasts so new collagen is formed, resulting to more skin tightening and firming down the line.

The good news is that fat lost from CoolSculpting and TriLipo can be maintained with healthy eating and a highly active lifestyle.