Like men, women have different reasons for trying to lose weight. In most cases, women want to lose weight to maintain their ideal or healthy weight. Achieving a healthy weight is important because it helps prevent health-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
In this case, there is no standard normal weight for women or men. This is because many different factors affect and influence your average weight. These factors include muscle-fat ratio, age, gender, body fat distribution, height, and body shape.
The best way to determine your ideal weight is to calculate it. There are different ways to do this. These include calculating your body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body fat percentage, or waist-to-height ratio.
Typically, an American woman in her 20s weighs about 170.6 pounds (about 88.6 kg). She is also typically 5 feet 3.7 inches (about 1.7 meters) tall, with a waist measurement of 38.2 inches (about 91.6 cm). Understanding these measurements is important because they will help you reach your weight loss goals.
For example, for women, a waist measurement of 35 inches or less is considered healthy. From the measurements above, the waist measurement is 38.2 inches. You can set a weight loss goal of reducing your waist to 35 inches by considering this.
Why is it so hard for women to lose weight?
It may seem unfair that it takes women a long time to see results, despite their weight loss efforts. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a myth that it takes women longer than men to lose weight.
Weight loss is even more difficult for postmenopausal women than for women in other age groups. This is because they tend to have a slower metabolism and less muscle mass.
However, the fact remains that weight loss is more difficult for women than men. There are a number of reasons for this. These include:
1. Less lean muscle tissue
Men tend to lose weight faster than women because they have more lean muscle tissue. Muscle mass affects your metabolic rate. Muscle mass has a higher metabolic rate than fat. This means that muscle mass requires more energy to maintain. Therefore, men tend to burn more calories than women, even at rest.
2. Slower metabolism
Your metabolism slows down as you celebrate more birthdays. Even though this happens, men still tend to have a higher metabolism than women. There are several factors that explain why women have a slower metabolism. These include less muscle mass and their gender. Men tend to have more muscle mass, which increases their basal metabolic rate.
3. Menopause
Menopausal women may also have a harder time losing weight than men of the same age. During menopause and perimenopause (the period leading up to menopause), women tend to accumulate more fat.
Weight gain is related to several factors, one of which is a drop in estrogen levels. Estrogen is the primary female sex hormone. Low levels of it do not directly cause weight gain. However, it does contribute to increased belly fat and body fat.
Weight gain during menopause is also related to the natural aging process and an unhealthy lifestyle. Most menopausal women tend to be less active, which leads to a decrease in metabolism.
4. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
PCOS is a hormonal disorder in women that leads to female infertility. Although it affects women of childbearing age, the condition can be long-term and last for many years. Women with PCOS tend to be overweight, which is why losing weight can be more difficult for them.
Not only is this weight difficult to lose, but it is also associated with an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome problems. It is believed that losing 5% of body fat can help reduce the symptoms of PCOS.
Best Ways to Lose Weight for Women
When you consider these reasons, it may seem that losing fat for women is a difficult and challenging task. However, that does not mean it is impossible. Despite these challenges, there are still some methods that women can apply to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Specifically as follows:
1. Practice healthy eating
Of course, every other article on weight loss emphasizes healthy eating if you want to lose weight. However, the problem is that most people tend to understand this concept in the way they want to fit it into their diet.
2. Do resistance training or weights
As mentioned earlier, muscle mass can boost metabolism and increase the amount of calories the body burns, even at rest. Therefore, women should focus on increasing muscle mass. One of the best exercises to achieve this is resistance training or weight training.
3. Focus on Long-Term Weight Loss
It’s no secret that most women want to lose weight in just a few days. However, healthy weight loss cannot account for such rapid weight changes. When it comes to fat loss, you need to be patient. Most women tend to blame themselves for small changes in their weight a few months after starting a weight loss program.
Blaming yourself doesn’t help. Instead, it only leads to self-sabotage and discourages you from giving up. Experts recommend that you try and get into the right mindset if you want to fight weight gain in women long-term.
That doesn’t mean that the journey will be completely smooth if you have the right mindset and patience. Of course, there will be some disappointments, especially when you set unrealistic goals.
