Being overweight is a common problem. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that more than 70% of Americans are overweight or obese. There’s a lot of conflicting information about the best ways to lose weight, and sometimes, no matter what you do, the weight can be difficult to lose. Furthermore, it may be more difficult for you to lose weight if you’re a woman.
At Creekside Family Practice, we understand that losing weight can be challenging. Sometimes it takes special support to enable you to shed the extra pounds. Skilled and compassionate physician Hammad Qureshi, MD, offers high quality, effective medical weight loss treatments from his offices in Cypress and Tomball, Texas.
Body composition in men and women and its effect on weight loss
Men and women tend to have different amounts of body fat, and it’s often stored in different areas, which can affect an individual’s ability to lose weight. In short, it’s often more difficult for women to lose weight than men for the following reasons:
Body fat
Women tend to have more body fat than men, whereas men usually have more lean muscle tissue. In fact, men generally have 10-15% body fat, and women generally have 18-20% body fat. Even when a person is resting, muscle tissue burns more calories than fat does. As a result, men typically lose more weight when they exercise.
Hormonal differences
Hormones are chemicals that control most of your body’s essential functions. For men, the most important sex hormone is testerone, which tends to support increased muscle mass. For women, estrogen is responsible for women having larger fat stores.
Fat storage locations
Women and men tend to store fat in different areas of their bodies, which can affect their ability to lose fat. Women tend to store fat in their hips, thighs, and buttocks, whereas men tend to store it in their abdomen. It can be more challenging for women to lose the fat stored in these particular areas.
Taking off the pounds with medical weight loss
Being overweight or obese can make many activities more difficult, affect your self-confidence, and put you at risk for developing chronic conditions, such as heart disease. Weight loss can sometimes be hard to achieve through diet changes and exercise alone. If this is your case, you may need the support of a medical weight loss processional to help you drop the excess weight and keep it off.
Dr. Qureshi provides medical weight loss to help support his clients in their weight loss journeys. First, he completes a physical examination and performs diagnostic tests to see if there are any underlying causes that may be hindering your ability to lose weight. Then Dr. Qureshi develops a customized treatment plan to address your specific situation and provides ongoing support as you move forward.
As part of your treatment plan, he may recommend making lifestyle changes, taking vitamins and supplements, or taking hormone supplementation if you have a hormone imbalance. And as he does with all of his patients, he’ll be with you every step of the way.
To learn more about our medical weight loss services, book an appointment online or over the phone with Creekside Family Practice today.