Male vs. Female Fat
Have you ever noticed that men seem to have a much easier time losing weight than women? Or that women seem to store fat in different places than their male counterparts? Well, you’re not crazy. It turns out that there are many differences between males and females when it comes to fat.
One difference has to do with quantity: women store more fat in their bodies, on average, than men do – about 6 to 11 percent more, in fact. The most likely explanation for this is that women have to give birth to babies and then feed them, requiring them to store more.
Another major difference has to do with where fat is stored on the male versus female body. Men tend to have their fat gather around the stomach and the middle of the body. This is why men typically have a “beer gut”. Women, on the other hand, store fat mainly in the hips and thighs (called the gluteal-femoral area). This fact alone makes a surprising difference in the ability of either sex to lose weight quickly.
This has to do with another important difference between male and female fat – the rate of fat metabolism. Metabolism is your body’s ability to turn fat into energy. It turns out that scientific studies have proven that fat stored in the belly and middle is much easier to metabolize than fat located in the gluteal-femoral area. This, combined with the greater proportion of fat in the females body, means that weight loss tends to be much more difficult for women.
Unfortunately for women, this means that the same amount of exercise and dieting produces faster results for men. Fortunately, however, there are other tools available for everyone. Liposuction is a safe and effective way to remove fat that, when combined with regular exercise and a healthy diet, produces fantastic results. Talk to a board-certified doctor about whether liposuction is right for you.