Are you looking to shed some excess body fat? Have you tried what feels like a million and one diets to no avail? Are you sure that there must be something wrong with your body?
If so, welcome to what the vast majority of females experience as they attempt to reach their own ideal body weight. If you are frustrated, tired, and on the verge of giving up, I urge you to reconsider.
Instead, you just need to give up your old beliefs and adopt some new ones. If you change the way you think about nutrition and training, you can change how your body looks. The real key to losing fat as a woman is to think more like a man. Here’s why.
He Craves Meat
The first reason why men never seem to struggle as much with their weight as woman do and what you can do to lose weight faster is to eat more protein.
Ever notice that while your boyfriend or husband is craving a steak, you crave pasta or ice cream?
This has a very large implication on your body composition. First, not only will that steak he eats be more likely to help him build muscle due to the protein it provides, but protein is much harder to get converted into body fat because it has a higher thermic effect of food.
This means that after he eats his steak and you eat your pasta, his metabolism is on fire while digesting those calories while yours is moving along at a much slower pace.
The end result? You’re more likely to gain body fat.
If you can focus on eating more protein in your diet, you will find weight loss moves along more easily.
He Lifts Heavy
The next tip you can take from the men in your life is the fact they don’t do cardio. When was the last time you saw a line-up of men on the cardio machines? It does happen, but more commonly you’ll see more guys lined up at the weight rack. You might see the odd guy slugging it out on the treadmill if he’s a runner, but generally when men work out, they lift weights.
Take a cue from men and make friends with the weight rack. Weight training will cause your body to burn fat for numerous reasons. First, it’ll burn calories while you do it. Second, it will elevate your metabolic rate so that you are burning calories for up to 48 hours after (this means you burn calories faster while sleeping!). And third, if you actually build more lean muscle mass, you will burn more calories permanently since your basal metabolic rate will be higher as well.
So all in all, it’s a win-win-win for fat loss results. Your cardio training burns calories while you do it and that’s about all. Clearly there’s no comparison.
He Doesn’t Get Hung Up On The Scale
Finally, the last tip to take from men is that they don’t get hung up on the scale. When was the last time you saw a guy obsessing that it read 180? Generally, he’s far more concerned with how he looks. If anything is going to make him sit up and take action to shed body fat, it’s a health scare or his reflection. Not the bathroom scale.
The same should go for you. Bathroom scales lie to you as they don’t tell you if you’re losing fat mass or muscle mass. So don’t use them. They aren’t giving you the full picture.
So keep these points in mind as you go about your program to lose fat. If you want to be successful, start thinking more like a man and watch how much easier it becomes.
About Shannon Clark: Shannon Clark has a degree in Exercise Science and is an AFLCA certified personal trainer. She has written on the topics of health, fitness and nutrition for the last 8 years. Her insights are regularly published on bodybuilding.com, askmen.com and FitRated.com. FitRated is a leading fitness equipment review site where Shannon contributes her insights on equipment, workout plans and weight loss strategies.
