In general, men lose weight faster than women and they eat more while doing it. It has little to do with hormones and amount of exercise and more to do with the fact that men tend to be larger and heavier than women and so, need more calories per day just to survive. There are several different equations used to determine daily calorie needs, but my favorite is the Katch-McArdle equation because it takes into account actual lean body mass without making any assumptions. The formula is: BMR = 370 + (9.79759519 x Lean Mass in pounds), then BMR x TDEE. We’ll look at some numbers, but first a few definitions.

BMR – Basal Metabolic Rate – your daily caloric need before factoring in activity level

TDEE – Total Daily Energy Expenditure – BMR times a multiplier based on activity level
Sedentary =  1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Moderately active =  1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active =  1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extremely active =  1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or
2X day training, i.e. marathon training etc.)

Caloric Need for Weight loss – TDEE – 15% of total calories for a deficit that will lead to fat loss

*A 150 pound, 35% body fat (150 x 0.65 = 97.5lb of lean mass) female who is moderately active 3-5 days per week, looks like this:

BMR = 370 + (9.79759519 x 97.5) = 1325
1325 x 1.55 = 2053 calories per day to maintain weight
To lose weight: 2053 – (2053 x 0.15) = 1745 calories per day

*A 200 pound, 35% body fat (200 x 0.65 = 130lbs of lean mass) male who is moderately active 3-5 days per week, looks like this:

BMR = 370 + (9.79759519 x 130) = 1644
1644 x 1.55 = 2548 calories per day to maintain weight
To lose weight: 2548 – (2548 x 0.15) = 2166 calories per day

In this example, our 200 pound male gets to eat 421 calories a day more than our female and he still loses weight. The difference would be even greater is the female was smaller, say only 135lbs at 35% body fat on a 5’2″ frame. Her weight loss calorie need would only be about 1400 – 1600 calories per day. The male eating over 2000 calories per day is less likely to be hungry than the 1500 calorie per day female. He might even decide to cut out a few more calories per day to increase his weight loss, the female can’t cut too much more before venturing into unhealthy territory, especially if she is exercising closer to five days a week. It isn’t fair, but it is true. Most men will lose weight faster than most women and now you have the math to prove it.