How men approach weight loss and why
It struck me whilst sitting in on a couple of weight loss focus groups recently what huge differences there are between the sexes when it comes to dieting. Now, I’m sure this doesn’t come as a great shock to anyone but what was interesting was the different reasons given in these Groups for going on a diet.
Predominately the woman said they were trying to lose weight either for their own health or because they wanted to look ‘good’. None of those in the female groups said they were doing it for their family.
The guys on the other hand all seemed to be doing it for someone (or something) else. Nearly all of them were dads and this was a big factor in their motivation to lose weight. Even our own Slimmer of the Year, Adam Fisher, says that he didn’t want to be the fat dad at the sports day or when picking the kids up from school – and ended up losing a lot of weight.
The male group had all shifted the reasons away from themselves and onto other people. One or two said their partners nagged them so much about their weight they were doing a diet under duress (is that a route to success?) Or they were doing it with their partners as a show of solidarity. Whilst some had particular medical issues that losing weight could alleviate.
But mostly it was about the men recognising their own mortality – they wanted to play football with their sons and be there to see their daughters grow up and get married.
Even though the balance of power in modern relationships has shifted to the centre (with work and home responsibilities being more evenly shared) these men still saw it as their duty to ensure they would be around (and, one should suppose, to look after and support) their family as long as they could.
The media messages about the dangers of overweight and obesity has really struck a cord with these guys. None, however, said they were doing diet to fit in a particular sized pair of jeans.
When choosing which diet to go on, nearly all of the men were put off by group meetings, preferring one-to-one at worst and not meeting anyone at all but reading it from a book at best. But when the groups got around to discussing being on the Cambridge Diet, the men really showed why they are mainly from Mars!
They loved being on Cambridge because of the ‘strategic’ approach it allowed them to take to their weight loss. Nearly all of them had created a computer spreadsheet tracking their weight and BMI over the period they were using it.
Some had worked out almost to the day when they would reach their goal weight because they knew exactly how many calories per day they were consuming and expanding (one brought a print out with him to the group to show everyone else).
They loved the simplicity of the Diet and the ‘no hassle’ nature of preparing it. Many of them had already gone through the Atkins Diet book and so understood the low carbs / ketosis philosophy.
Above all the men wanted something that was simple, based in fact, backed up by science and gave you quick results without to much ‘faffing’ about.
Maybe it’s no surprise whatsoever to know that the creator of the Cambridge Diet’s was a man looking for the exact same things.
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