Is it harder for men or women to be in shape?

I'm a man so I can't say how difficult it is for a woman to be in shape, but I imagine it's pretty brutal with how many accounts there are of women developing eating disorders and things like that in attempt to stay fit

Men have a difficult time as well though. If you use "Hollywood Hot" as the standard i.e. washboard abs and either very toned or very large muscles, I'd argue that men have it harder. In addition to restricting calories and watching macros, men also also need to find a workout routine that works for their specific body type (building muscle is kind of like storing fat, each body has a different way of doing it) and then maintain that workout routine 3-4 times a week indefinitely

But maybe women have to do that too? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts

Women 15
Men 4
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Comments ( 19 )
  • Vvaas

    i think women only because naturally they are suppose to have more body fat than men bc it helps with fertility or something idk and i think it's harder for them to lose it. i also think women are pressured more to stay skinny than men and are much more discriminated and judged if they're overweight which is probably why eating disorders are more common in women.

    men definitely still get judged and discriminated if they're overweight but from what i've seen they're slightly more accepted than if it was an overweight woman

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    • Chudders

      Being in shape doesn't mean not having body fat. A woman who is in shape should have more body fat proportionally to men.

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      • Vvaas

        yeah that's what i was trying to say

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    • Part of what made me write this post is that I have a sister-in-law who was advised by her doctor to gain weight while she was pregnant. She was so devoted to her marathon training that her body fat levels were making it dangerous for her to carry a child because she risked malnutrition

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      • posyplumbum

        theres such a variation in bodies. some people will be slim no matter what their lifestyle, because of genes. some people are naturally fleshy no matter how healthy their diet is. before i got pregnant i was overweight because i was addicted to eating vast amounts of food. but during pregnancy, the hormones took my appetite away and i ended up losing a lot of weight. as soon as the baby was out, the appetite came back and i put it all back on. so there are lots of factors at play in keeping in shape

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  • KholatKhult

    You ever watch Naked and Afraid ?
    The dudes will lose like 40 lbs and look like hell and the women lose like 10
    Women hold onto their fat hard as hell, think it’s also a survival thing where women need fat to insulate more than we do or something.

    I think men fluctuate so much more because we have more muscle burning up calories even at rest, but we can lose all of our gains so damn fast too, maybe women hold onto their muscle longer too idk. I know I can change my entire physique very quickly, for better or for worse
    Also women with PCOS aren’t kidding about “stubborn” fat

    I know it’s like a running joke that when a couple goes on a diet together the dude shapes up in a week and his lady says it isn’t fair lmao

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  • Meatballsandwich

    It's much easier for men to be in shape since our metabolism is higher, and testosterone makes it easier for us to build muscles.

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  • TheAmateurStrongmanCompetitor

    gender has nothing to do with anything, it's all depends on the person and how much they want to lose weight

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  • bigbudchonger

    I would say women to get in shape but men to get buff as fuck

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  • kikilizzo

    Women have more pressure to be fit. Just an example "dad bodies" are celebrated as hot but not women with the same body type, even though women are the ones who actually are affected by childbirth physically while the dads are just lazy and doesnt exercise. Lots of women have hormonal problems though which makes losing weight harder, and periods which often causes sugar cravings, so we have hormones working against us a lot. Hard to say.

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  • hauntedbysandwiches

    Women because hormones and metabolism is naturally a little slower than men's

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  • posyplumbum

    I would say women have a marginally harder time keeping in shape because pregnancy and the stress of typically carrying most of the burden of childcare and housework set them back biologically.Also, the definition of being in shape is very very limited in western society.

    Hormones trigger weight gain, and also increase your appetite and cravings. And tiredness from waking in the night to babies and managing a family certainly reduces your ability to exercise.

    But i notice that men past their 20s struggle to maintain slenderness, so there must be something about that later stage in life that hampers healthy eating and exercise. Or simply causes their bodies not to lose weight despite healthy eating and exercise. In my experience though, generally women can be attracted to a man despite his body not looking svelte, whereas a lot of men are programmed by society and porn etc to be sexually attracted to slim women...

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  • imnotnormal555

    It might be a mix up depending on genetics. I voted that it might be harder for men though because they're expected to be muscular which seems harder than just being slim and fit. We just have to accept that we're all different and try our best to be healthy, but not obsess over our looks. I'm a female btw..

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  • AsterBean

    That all depends on who you let define shape for you. Is it harder for a woman to meet society's idea of perfect. They are held to higher standards of impossible beauty than men are. That's not to say there aren't stupid beauty standards for men, but there are far more for women. If all you do is focus on being "in shape" you will likely find yourself unhealthy in many ways.

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  • Grunewald

    By 'in shape' I take it you mean 'at a healthy BMI'? I'd say women, because we can eat so many fewer calories and in many cultures we have not been encouraged to run around and do sports since childhood, like men have been.

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  • raisinbran

    Women because you need to establish a baseline first and most wouldn’t think to do this.

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  • jackstormwater

    In terms of a mainstream idea body, it’s harder for men because that means not only being thin, but also having a lot of muscle. For women, just being thin is enough.

    I’m terms of a “passable” body, it’s probably about even or even a little easier for men since I think it’s easier for a man to be considered both significantly overweight and still attractive.

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  • Chudders

    It's piss easy to be healthy and in shape. Exercise and eat well, or at least eat well most of the time. Other than some rare extenuating circumstances, that works for 99.9% of people.

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  • I was able to lose a certain amount of weight by doing cardio but any progress I made seems to have plateaued. I don't know if that has anything to do with the difference between sexes though

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