Lose Weight Like a Guy
He drops pounds overnight. You gain just by glancing at cheesecake. Here are the reasons for his success.
Provided by Prevention
Think the most infuriating thing a guy can say to you is, "Yeah, it does make your butt look big"? Wrong.
The one phrase that can turn any relationship into a nuclear winter is: "I need to drop 5 pounds--I'll cut out the beer."
And here is the ugly truth: One beerless Patriots game and your guy is back in his high school gym shorts. You could forgo beer forever and be about as close to getting into your high school gym shorts as you are to fitting into one of Barbie's dream gowns. It's not fair.
Face it, guys are just losers. Well, better losers than we are. Even though we'd knock 'em dead in the Jeopardy! weight loss category--we know everything there is to know about calories and fitness--they have the physiological edge. When Paul Tasner decides to drop a few pounds, says his wife, Barbara Walter, an ambulatory surgery nurse and a wellness coach in the San Francisco area, it seems to happen overnight: "It looks like he had a belly suit on, and then a day later, he takes it off and there's a slim guy underneath. It really pisses me off."
Men's bigger muscle mass--in fact, their bigger-ness overall--helps them burn 30% more calories than we do, says nutritionist Cynthia Sass, RD, coauthor of Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy. They have other advantages, too: For one, their hormones don't leave them waterlogged--and heavier--1 week a month. We generally have more body fat and are biologically more inclined to store it (possibly to nourish those dozen babies nature wants us to have). The bad habits guys overcome (beer and chips) seem to result in instant weight loss, while ours (mistaking a box of Ring Dings for a therapist) seem too emotionally hardwired to short-circuit. Finally, in the gym, they grab the big, macho barbells and do routines that make them grunt. Our weights tend to be pink...and puny.
But all is not, ahem, lost. We women may never have the biological or psychological weight loss advantages men enjoy, but we are clever enough to learn new tricks. In other words, if there's no way to beat them at the dieting game, we might as well join them. Here are five guy habits that can help you lose weight--and keep it off. Happily, none of them involves testosterone.
THE GUY THING
He doesn't crave sweets
Both men and women have cravings, and no, he doesn't have an easier time fighting them off. But your comfort food is likely to be chocolate, pudding, or a cheese Danish, while his is a thick, juicy steak. A recent Cornell University study found that women seek out sweets to ward off the blues; men turn to meat when they want to indulge. The advantage of his choice: It's protein, which will help fill him up far better than your coffee cake. A study published last year by researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine found that the secret weight loss weapon of low-carb diets is protein, because it promotes satiety, the scientific term for fullness, which curbs overeating.
If cravings are your downfall, you have a choice of tactics here:
Eat a little protein When a craving hits, have low-fat string cheese, a low-fat turkey and cheese roll-up, or fat-free cottage cheese mixed with some cut-up fruit instead of a sweet.
Have protein-packed chocolate
Take a tip from Prevention weight loss advisor Holly Wyatt, MD, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center: "When I'm craving chocolate, I have a chocolate-coated energy bar or another similar protein bar for 210 calories. I've gotten to the point where that tastes like candy to me." But not so good that she starts in on a second.
THE GUY THING
He doesn't berate himself when he screws up
Okay, you blew it. You had PMS, or your accountant called with news of a surprise audit, and the jelly doughnut hollered, "Eat me!" What do you do next? If you're a woman, you throw up your hands, tell yourself what a bad person you are, and reach for another doughnut. Then you wallow in self-loathing for days. And what does a guy do? "He feels okay, maybe even good, and really enjoys that steak," laughs emotional-eating expert Edward Abramson, PhD, a professor emeritus of psychology at California State University and author of Body Intelligence. But he doesn't order another one--he climbs back on the weight loss wagon, no harm, no foul. The best way to beat that diet-busting trap:
Apply his 80% rule "Most guys avoid anything that even smacks of perfectionism," and that applies to dieting, too, says Pamela Peeke, MD, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and author of Body for Life for Women. "When women start a diet, they go from zero to 100--they become 'perfect' overnight, which is a hallmark of failure. That's why I developed the 80% rule: Hit your weight loss goals 80% every single day you can. One day, it'll be 120% because it happens to be a great day. Other days, you'll hit 50% or even 20% when you're dealing with PMS. Just make sure it averages out to 80%."
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