The stress of losing weight as a female

As a female, it can feel uniquely challenging to lose weight, especially if /when we compare ourselves to a male counterpart.

IDK about you, but when my husband even thinks about going on a diet, he loses 5 lbs overnight.

What gives?

You’re busting your ass to try and drop 5 lbs, and for him, it’s effortless!

I hear you. I understand you. & I’m here to explain. (& also provide you with some solutions)

We are literally meant to have more fat. (like, biologically)

You know that whole thing where women are meant to reproduce and carry children? Yeah, that’s the reason why we are MEANT to have higher body fat than males. Even if you aren’t a mom, or don’t plan on becoming a mom, biology had different plans for the female species.

We as women, are designed to hold more fat than men, just in anticipation that we might carry a child.

This is simply a fact, so don’t hate your husband for being easily able to drop to 12% body fat.

We have periods.

Again, I’d like to thank biology and Mother Nature.

Similar to my points above, we were created to reproduce. With that, comes the menstrual cycle. And with the menstrual cycle, comes weight fluctuations (for many of us).

Additionally, biology doesn’t WANT your body fat to get too low! Because if this happened, you would likely lose your period, thus making it impossible to get pregnant, thus going against what biology wants for you.

We have hormones.

Yes, males have hormones too.

But our hormones are different.

We have higher estrogen, influencing our bodies to hold on to more fat.

We have lower testosterone, making it harder for us to build muscle than men (which aids in fat loss).

Although our hormones are different, luckily the female hormones don’t make it impossible to lose fat!

We have emotions.

Trying to lose fat can be an emotional process.

One, we as women tend to have a lot more emotions tied to our bodies than men.

How often do our husbands/boyfriends have “bad body image” days?

Probably far less than us.

They just aren’t as emotional of creatures, which makes it easier to tie less emotion to food, which makes it easier to stick to the diet and lose fat.

And let’s face it, food is emotional.

How we view our bodies is emotional.

So be gentler with yourself.

This can be an emotional process, and those emotions are valid!

So now what?

First step is realizing and accepting that it simply might not be AS easy for you to lose weight at your male counterpart. Don’t be too mad at him, he was born that way.

Secondly, give yourself enough time with your weight loss. Don’t place a crazy time crunch on yourself. DO NOT crash diet. Give yourself 3-6 months in a cut at a sustainable rate of change.

Keep your hormones and emotions in mind.

Maybe this means you need slightly higher calories on your period week.

Maybe this means training intensity decreases slightly in your luteal phase.

Maybe this means it’s OKAY to give yourself an extra 100 calories to spend on a piece of chocolate when you’re feeling emotionally spent.

So be patient, take into account your unique circumstances as a woman, and work with these differences, not against them.