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London: Want to
shed the flab? Make sure that there are no women around
when you workout at the gym, a new study has claimed.
Researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University have
carried out the study and found that men who attend
slimming classes could manage to shed twice as much
weight when there are no women around, the ‘Daily Mail’
reported.
In fact, in their study, the researchers found that
men who followed an all-male course lost almost a stone
on average, taking in those who missed some of the 12
weekly meetings while those who attended slimming club
meetings dominated by women lost on average just over
half a stone.
Counting only those who completed the
all-male course, weight loss rose to nearly one and a
half stone and waistlines were reduced by almost two
inches on average. According to the researchers, it’s
likely that some of the men are bashful about discussing
their “chubby” bodies in front of women.
However, they feel more secure in an allmale
environment and their competitive spirit came to the
fore.
For the study, 62 overweight men from the West
Midlands attended weekly Weight Watchers meetings
without any women. Around twothirds of the men completed
the course and 77% of these lost at least 5% of their
body weight. Many shed more than 10%.
Lead researcher professor Steven Robertson
attributed the results to a sense of camaraderie, blokey
banter and the feeling of being part of a team. Zoe
Hellman, head of public health at Weight Watchers, which
funded the research, added: “A lot of the men did say
that they felt a very female-dominated meeting might put
them off contributing or talking about things that were
important to them.” |
