Gender Differences in Weight Loss
Is There Any Truth To It?

Beer Belly vs. Belly Fat…are there gender differences in weight loss? I experienced something a few years ago, that makes me believe that men, as rumored, do indeed, lose weight around their mid-sections faster than women.

During the summer of 2004, I traveled to China, where I taught conversational English during a five-week summer school program. I traveled with a male co-worker, that as you might have guessed by now, sported a considerable beer belly.

If truth be told, I needed to lose weight as well, and I felt our trip to Asia would be the perfect opportunity to drop a few pounds. He was about 60 pounds overweight and I needed to lose about 50 pounds.

We traveled in July—the hottest time of the year, and within a few weeks of being there, my clothes started to get a bit “roomier”; in contrast, my friend’s clothes were loose and baggy.

We spent almost all of our free time together, so I was keenly aware that like a scientific study, all of the weight loss factors were equal. We walked everywhere we went, in fact, I have never walked so much in my life, nor have I sweated so much. We ate the local foods and drank lots and lots of bottled water.

When I was still in China, I had no clue how much weight I had lost, but I remember feeling disappointed, because it was obvious that my co-worker had lost a considerable amount of weight…much more than I had.

Like I said,we ate the same foods, got the same amount of exercise,but as time passed I did notice one big difference...he was drinking beer several nights a week. Ahhh…so unfair! He laughed when I complained about his obvious weight loss, and constantly reminded me about gender differences in weight loss. I refused to listen and increased my weight loss efforts.

When I finally arrived home, the first thing I did was jump on the scale and weigh myself. I looked down and saw that my starting weight, the number I had so dreaded in the past, was gone and I had registered a fourteen pound loss.

I was thrilled until I found out that my friend had lost 47 pounds in the same amount of time. Amazing, huh? I learned first hand that there are definitely gender differences in weight loss. Fair? No, but that’s life.

My friend lost his beer belly by changing his eating habits, in which he ate an extremely healthy diet for an extended period of time, and he got lots and lots of exercise, exactly what recent studies have shown yield excellent results for reducing belly fat. He didn’t know it then, but he was a walking science experiment! By, the way…he said Chinese beer is great.

Gender Differences in Weight Loss->Beer Belly