General Diet Plans and Questions General diet questions, support for various diet plans other than those listed below.

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Old 03-04-2014, 05:10 PM   #1  
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Default Is it easier for taller people and males to lose weight?

I realize that taller people and males are hungrier because their bodies are bigger. But, most of us don't just eat to satiate our physical appetites. Eating is a pleasurable experience. We all enjoy consuming food regardless of how big or small our bodies are. I always think about how unfair it is that because I am a short petite female I don't get to eat as much as the average person. My body can't accommodate for the food I want to give it.

Does anyone else feel this way? I just keep thinking of this guy who sits next to me in one of my classes. I have a 3 hour class with him and every class he consumes about 800-1000 calories worth of candy and soda. He looks like he is very fit and in shape. I can't help but be jealous that he is able to eat that much delicious food on a regular basis and not gain weight. The amount that he eats during class would be like 2/3 of my daily calorie requirement. How is it fair that I cannot indulge like that because my body is to small to utilize those calories?
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Old 03-04-2014, 05:29 PM   #2  
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I'm tall for a woman, 5'9", and it's not easier for me to lose weight but if I gain 10 or 20 pounds I carry it "better" than someone who is 6 inches shorter. On the downside, if I lose 10 pounds, it doesn't look like a huge difference.
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Old 03-04-2014, 05:54 PM   #3  
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I'm tall for a woman, 5'9", and it's not easier for me to lose weight but if I gain 10 or 20 pounds I carry it "better" than someone who is 6 inches shorter. On the downside, if I lose 10 pounds, it doesn't look like a huge difference.
But how do you know that your height doesn't make it easier? Since you are taller you get to eat more calories than you would if you were shorter. I feel like that has to make weight loss easier.
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Old 03-04-2014, 07:07 PM   #4  
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But how do you know that your height doesn't make it easier? Since you are taller you get to eat more calories than you would if you were shorter. I feel like that has to make weight loss easier.
And how do you know it does? If taller people and men eat more because they are hungrie, it's just as likely that dieting could be only that much more miserable?

I've studied a lot of the weight loss research, and while there are some weight loss advantages to being younger, taller, healthier, fitter, and male, none of these advantages are universal. Randomly pick a young, tall overweight man and an equally fat random old, short, female and there are no guarantees that the man will lose faster or easier. Take a hundred men like him and a hundred females like her, and the guys on average will do better, but you'll also find some of the women outperforming some of the men. It's not like all men do better than all women, or all tall people outperform all short people.

There are a lot more variables to weight loss difficulty than height, age, and gender.

It's all "fair" in the sense that noone has control over these variables, so comparing yourself to anyone else is useless. You can only do your best (or not) and reap the consequences.

If everything in life had to be fair, we'd all need to be identical in every way and in everything, but that sounds pretty horrible to me. You almost certainly have advantages many others don't and many others have advantages you don't.

Thinking about who has it easier than you, especially based on characteristics you can't or wouldn't want to change, only wastes energy you can be using to do better and make easier your own success.

It doesn't matter how well, easily, or whether someone else is able to meet their goals, only what you do to meet your own.
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Old 03-06-2014, 02:22 AM   #5  
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I'm not sure if height is a factor, or gender. But I do know that some people are totally resistant to weight gain. My brother can (does!) eat like a horse and he doesn't gain a single gram. It's incredible, if I just looked at all the cake he eats at Christmas I would gain 3kgs!
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Old 03-06-2014, 08:52 AM   #6  
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So what if it is easier? What if they have a magical fairy that wishes away the calories the eat? Lol

It just doesn't matter, because you have your body, your DNA, your habits. You can do it, too. It is hard enough finding what works for you, don't spend too much energy jealous of others, especially when it is probably unfounded at best.
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Old 03-07-2014, 03:19 AM   #7  
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It is easier for men to lose weight for the fact that they have more muscle which burns more calories. I don't think height has anything to with how fast a taller person loses. IMO
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Old 03-07-2014, 03:21 AM   #8  
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I'm not sure if height is a factor, or gender. But I do know that some people are totally resistant to weight gain. My brother can (does!) eat like a horse and he doesn't gain a single gram. It's incredible, if I just looked at all the cake he eats at Christmas I would gain 3kgs!
Your brother may not be a gainer but I hope he's getting his cholesterol checked on a regular basis. Many men can eat like your brother and as long as they're not overweight they think they are healthy which may not be the case. The arteries can still clog up until it's too late. Let's hope that's not the case with him.
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Old 03-07-2014, 03:48 AM   #9  
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Your brother may not be a gainer but I hope he's getting his cholesterol checked on a regular basis. Many men can eat like your brother and as long as they're not overweight they think they are healthy which may not be the case. The arteries can still clog up until it's too late. Let's hope that's not the case with him.
I never thought of that to be honest. I might have a word with him about it, but knowing what he's like I doubt that anything I say will get through...

In a way it's a lot more dangerous because the warning signs don't show.
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Old 03-07-2014, 05:21 AM   #10  
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The the OP, I'm envious of gals with big boobs, trim waists, nice legs (with no strange bumpies!), straight noses, fantastic skin....honestly I could sit in envy of others and think it's unfair OR I could focus on ME and what I can do about the body I was given! BTW I'm tall and have been overweight since I was about 10 years old all through my teenage years and adulthood. If there was some magic tall weight loss secret I was unaware of I am really ticked at someone not telling me!
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Old 03-07-2014, 10:50 AM   #11  
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I'm a 6 foot tall female. Any perceived advantage my height may give me is lost under things like genetics, metabolism, learned habits...

Comparison is the thief of joy. Just do your own thing and focus on your own body.
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Old 03-07-2014, 09:39 PM   #12  
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6'3" male here, our bmr is higher for being so tall so it is easy to lose through a calorie deficit. My current bmr is 2234 calories and i am able to have a comfortable day on 1800. That being said eating that low when it's perceived that you can eat so much more is still hard, my loss has probably been easier than alot of the woman have had on here but it still isn't easy.

Also that guy in your class that you mentioned was fit probably does a fair bit of exercise to make those calories and may never have been overweight making it harder for him to gain weight. There are so many different circumstances to weightloss though so it probably is best just to think of your own journey.
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Old 03-20-2014, 09:50 PM   #13  
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Is it harder to gain weight if you have never been over weight before?
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Old 03-21-2014, 03:10 PM   #14  
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I think it is easier for anyone with a higher BMR to create a calorie deficit to lose weight. Men - as a group - find it easier to do that because they have more muscle and tend to be taller and burn more calories. My DH and I are both on WW. I've lost almost 30 pounds and he has lost 65 pounds. For awhile we weighed the same, but he got 34 daily points while I got 26 points. That is, he could eat an additional 300 or so calories each day and would still lose. If I ate 34 daily points a day consistently I would gain weight.

If your BMR is higher - either because you are male or are tall or are younger or weigh more - then it is easier to create a calorie deficit. If I eat 1800 calories a day I don't lose weight because I don't usually burn more than that (some days I do, but not always). So, it is harder for me to lose weight because to lose weight consistently at a pound a week I can only eat 1200 calories a day. That is hard to sustain over the long haul. And, consistently losing 2 pounds a week for me is impossible since it would require me to eat about 800 calories a day.

On the other hand, for my husband, he can eat several hundred more calories a day than I eat and he still easily loses weight.

Now, just because it is easier for him to create a calorie deficit, doesn't mean that he will create one. There are psychological factors that play into this as well as physical factors.
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Old 03-22-2014, 05:06 AM   #15  
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Hey GetHealthy, i probably shouldn't have worded it that way. It's not harder to gain weight if you've never been overweight per-say, but it's easier for people who have been to regain because when you gain weight your body creates new fat cells and as you lose weight they just shrink and never fully go away.
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