Women
carry 5% more body fat then men
It is Nature's way of protecting her and her potential fetus from starvation.
As a result, women have more storing enzymes and fewer burning enzymes
for fat than men. Additionally, the estrogen women have, activates this
fat storing enzymes and causes fat cells to multiply.
Women experience more changes in hydration levels than men, because
of their menstrual cycle, therefore retaining fluid.This phenomena causes
her weight to fluctuate day-to-day during this period. Water retention
is a factor during pregnancy, hormonal changes or menopause.
Changes in hydration levels can be attributed to food, caffeine, alcohol,
strenuous exercise, stress, illness, or the taking of prescription drugs.
To successfully monitor progress, women should remember to compare weight
and body fat percentage measurements over a period of time. .
Health
Risks
Women that are involved in athletics (especially high performance sports)
that emphasize low body weight and extremely low percentage of body
fat often experience a decrease in hormones that causes an interruption
in their menstrual cycle.
The same condition can occur when a woman is anorexic and her body goes
into a semi-starvation mode. Over an extended period of time, this can
lead to other health risks such as the loss of bone mass.
On
the other hand, obesity has become a serious health threat for women,
in every stage of life.
There are conditions that attribute to being overweight that seem to
be female-specific which include, increased incidences of breast cancer
and endometrial cancer after menopause, particularly for women taking
hormone therapy. Other factors that are associated with obesity are
various birth defects, infertility, obstetric and gynecological complications.
In addition, it has been documented that obesity may cause stress incontinence
among women.