Umm, I don't think so, Tim.

What you say would only be true if the woman in question had more muscle mass than the man in question.

It has to do with size, and muscle distribution, and total muscle mass, not the physical challenge of the job in hand.

It is true, of course, that using more muscles builds more muscles, in the short run.

But millions of years of choice has more to do with the current body structures of men and women than their current jobs do.

IMHO, of course!

I know I lost 46 pounds in 4 months on Atkins. I need to get back on the wagon but, right now I am staying with my Mom since I had surgery and she don't understand I don't have to have bread, etc. And, yes I know I don't have to eat it.

Unless a man is insulin resistant, all he needs to do to lose weight is limit himself to one piece of bread and one serving of potatoes/pasta/rice, etc. (and a serving size is about 1/2 a cup, not 2 cups!) at dinner and voila! Practically instantly he's on his way to la-la land!

My dad was one of these kind of guys. He was stick skinny when I was little and ate mounds and mounds of food, then in his late 30s he started putting on a little weight. My mom took the candy bar out of his lunch and POOF! he was going right back to his normal weight. He might've had to cut back on a piece or two of bread at the dinner table, too, I don't remember for sure. It sure didn't take him long to get back into his old pants, though.

My hubby, though, has blood sugar problems but doesn't seem to be too insulin resistant. He responded really well to Atkins, losing 20 pounds during the first month-and-a-half (and he was only about 30 pounds overweight!). He slacked off and maintained and has now decided that he wants to take off a few more pounds, so cut back on his carbs and his weight loss is just chugging right along.

Me, on the other hand, after losing 20 pounds pretty well initially, am having to fight tooth and nail to get the rest of it to move along.

My GF and I must be the exceptions. We are about the same height (5' 11") and I was about 50 lbs heavier than she was when we both went on Atkins at the same time. I lijt weights and bicycle about 3500 miles a year. She does neither. We eat most meals together and she eats the same serving sizes as me. She lost her weight faster than I did. She even got below her goal weight with no problems at all. She still eats as much as I do (and more carbs) and has not gained any of the weight back. If I eat the carbs she does, I gain weight.

Just love reading these conversations---much better than T.V.!

Just love reading these conversations---much better than T.V.!

The truth is , men lose easy on any diet. My husband gave up beer just to show his solidarity for my WOE. He lost 15 freakin' lbs. But the fact that men do so well on Atkins is like a carrot put in front of women's faces. It definitely makes me stick to this. If he can do this well, then I am gonna keep doing it.

Here is how I look at it:

An average man requires 50% more calories per day than an average woman. At the same time a woman needs the same amounts of vitamines and minerals a man needs. In fact a woman needs more iron. This tells you why it is easier for a man than for a woman to reduce calories while getting all the needed nutrition.

There's several reasons for this:

1) Men on average burn significantly more Calories per day than Women. As a result, if both eat the same amount, the man will lose more weight.

2) Men on average weigh more than women. This means that when we exercise we burn more Calories per minute than a Woman would doing the exact same exercise.

3) Men on average have more Lean:Fat than Women, though you wouldn't know it from looking at them. Women [of healthy weight] store it where it is least likely to be noticed [Hips and Bust vs. Abdomen,] which makes them look leaner than they really are. Lean weight burns Fat better than Fat weight. So, men lose weight more easily than Women.

men tend to have a different place for their muscle mass.... they tend to have it in their chests and arms... women on the other hand have it in their abdomens, hips and thighs.... I can't say they actually have more... they just have more of a likelihood to have developed it.... and the developed muscle mass is where the difference in weight loss comes in...

I am all of 5' 2.5" of a 41 year old women.... when I first went on WW about 1.5 years ago I lost 40lbs in less then 10 - 12 weeks.... true I was 260 at the time... I could not keep up the loss and did not keep up the program once the weight loss slowed significantly.... on the other hand part of the quick loss may be because I had been a power lifter in my teen years and that increased my muscle mass ( mostly hidden under fat now....)

and don't doubt about the location of the muscles in women... ever try to push out a baby and you will know exactly where they are....

though with atkins while I am not lossing as quickly, luckily I had not but all the weight back on (I am down around 16 lbs in about 5 weeks) .. I am more satisfied and basically less stressed then trying to do all the weighing and measuring

I had lots more weight to lose than my DW. That being said, when the weight was falling off of me, she was losing inches, but not many el bees. It would have been easy for her to be disappointed with the scale, but she could see results in her clothing.

I dont think the diet is made for guys, it just affects EVERYONE in different ways.