We totally understand the frustration of the women athletes who come to our clinic for a check-up. Many of them complain that their male counterparts lose weight rapidly by just tweaking a few things in their diets and boosting up their cardio for a few more extra minutes.
You athletic ladies are right to complain about the injustice of it all because males indeed lose weight a lot faster than females. It is not a mere figment of your imagination. And to add insult to injury, men lose belly fat and inches faster in their midsection that women. What are the reasons for this and what could be done to mitigate these weight loss issues?
The Reasons It is a Struggle to Lose Weight for Athletic Women
There are various reasons why women athletes struggle with weight loss compared to men. It is indeed frustrating because you already spend a lot of time in the gym with no significant results. Together let us take a look at them. If you know what the roots of the problem are, then you can work on addressing the main two of them.
Blame Nature
The primary reason for the male and female difference is biology, resting on differences in hormone and body composition. For women, the primary hormones are estrogen and progesterone, which makes you girls more prone to food cravings. The reason for this difference is that nature wants to preserve and protect the childbearing capabilities of women.
Sluggish Metabolic Rate
In relation to hormones, testosterone is more abundant in men, and this paves the way for better muscle building and fat loss. As a result, women have more body fat and a lot fewer muscles than men. This has an effect on your metabolic rate or the calories burned when your body is at rest. The more muscles you have, the more calories you burn. Women really lag in their metabolic rate compared to men, so no matter how much you athletic women exercise, you still cannot beat the males in this category.
Tips Athletic Women Must Do to Lose Weight
Now that you know what the possible problems are, you can work on doing the necessary tweaks to your athletic program and diet to help jump start your weight loss.
- Fix Your Hormonal Imbalance
Since you are athletic and have done everything from cleaning up your diet, doing cardio, and lifting weights, then it is now critical to seek medical care because your hormones might be to blame. The doctors will ask you to take a blood exam to check hormone levels. You may have an overabundance of estrogen or lack in progesterone. You may have an overabundance of estrogen or lack in progesterone. Consider trying out cold thermogenesis which has been making waves recently. Other hormones that may be imbalanced that are affecting your weight loss are insulin, HGH (human growth hormones), adrenaline hormones, or all those hormones excreted by your thyroid glands.
After finding out the problem, you may be prescribed injections such as your estrogen or human growth hormones. There are actually many HGH benefits for weight loss like decreasing fat storage and boosting muscle building. But remember, these injections can only be administered under the supervision of a medical professional.
- Work Smarter at the Gym
You are already an athletic woman so chances are you have an existing fitness routine. You may only need to lose a few more pounds. The concept of working harder is already ingrained in you, what you need to do is to work smarter. You need to change your program if your body is no longer responding to it. Your weight loss has plateaued and stalled because your body is already used to all your exercises. It is time to start working out different body parts.
- Drink More Water
Since you are already highly active, double-check if you are getting enough water. Drinking more water is an easy and very effective way to promote losing weight without making much effort. Drinking 500ml of water will temporarily increase the number of calories you burn by 30% lasting for around 30-40 minutes. On top of this, drinking more water before a meal will curb appetite and decrease the number of calories you consume by 13%.
- Increase Your Protein Intake
You may be lacking protein in your diet. Upping the intake of meat, poultry, seafood, legumes, eggs, and dairy is an important part of a healthy diet, which aids in weight reduction. A high protein diet will make you feel full and boost your metabolism.
- Get Enough Sleep
Sleep deprivation may be stalling your weight loss efforts. Lack of sleep will increase body weight and produce higher levels of ghrelin, which is the hormone that’s responsible for giving the hunger stimulus. It is essential to get that much-needed beauty rest at night if you want to lose weight.
Since you are already athletic from that start, there are could be factors that affect your weight loss that extend far beyond normal diet and exercise. Having yourself checked by a medical professional is crucial to determine where the problem lies. Aside from that, it is necessary to make some simple and easy lifestyle changes to promote sustainable and lasting loss of weight.
