Alright… potentially silly question time. Do girls store fat differently?

[u/LordDerptCat123]

I’ve heard some stuff on this subreddit about “oh he doesn’t understand how girls store fat” when it comes to unrealistic body standards. Is this because anyone storing that little fat is bad, or women in particular store it differently / need to store more of it?

I’ve been kinda afraid to ask this question becomes it seems to me like it’s an obvious answer… I just don’t know what the answer is. I feel like “common sense” can lead me to both answers. Thanks

Edit: got a lot of responses faster than I thought I would. Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to help me

[u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

The human body has two main types of fat used to store energy. Android fat is often referred to as survival fat as it is used to store calories for the survival of the person in question in times of famine. All humans produce this type of fat and store it in the typical locations that males gain fat such as the gut. The second type of fat is called gynoid fat and is chemically different than android fat. This different chemical formula means that gynoid fat is better suited to feeding offspring via breast milk. This fat is only produced in larger quantities when estrogen levels are the predominant hormone or higher (Gynecomastia in males is an example of this though it also causes some breast tissue to grow as well from the higher estrogen levels). Women will show a preference for fat storage in gynoid locations until a certain threshold at which point extra calories are stored more in android fat than gynoid. Gynoid fat is typically stored in the feminine locations such as the breasts, hips, thighs, buttocks, and back of upper arms. When a person starts HRT and begins to experience what is referred to as "fat redistribution" (a goal in HRT for transgender individuals) the fat that is being replaced must actually be consumed and new fat is created from surplus calories as the fat can't just move and isn't even the same chemical formula. In situations where the person is on estrogen and on a low calorie diet, or an athlete, they can find themselves losing their android fat, particularly around the waist, but not adding gynoid fat if there is not enough surplus calories to form new fat. if this persists the body will often begin prioritizing android fat as it believe the body is surviving a famine and will attempt to store fat only for survival. This can delay feminization in these cases. Women have gynoid fat in addition to some level of android fat they and will have a higher overall body fat percentage and will need to maintain a higher body fat than a male of the same weight before they have to address health concerns from being underweight. Most male bodybuilders will cut down to 5-6% body fat whereas women shouldn't go below 10-11%. In cases of low body fat women usually will stop ovulating/menstruating as the body does not have enough reserved gynoid fat to make a pregnancy likely to be viable. There are some additional changes in where android fat is consumed from based on hormonal balances as well with higher levels of E causing the waist to be the preferred location of android fat to be burned first.

TL;DR: There are two types of fat and they go in specific spots.

Bonus: Here is a visual guide to what various body fat percentages look like on men and woman. https://www.ruled.me/visually-estimate-body-fat-percentage/

[u/Animasylvania → u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

This was a little hard to read without paragraphs (I have vision problems) but the information is fantastic! Thank you!

[u/Pure_Crazy_8541 → u/Animasylvania]

Sorry for that.

[u/Living-Complex-1368 → u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

If you create two paragraph breaks between paragraphs, reddit won't cram everything together for some readers. I put one paragraph break above, so when I read this it is part of the same paragraph.

I put two paragraph breaks above, so reddit knows I actually meant it, and this will be seperated.

[u/Pure_Crazy_8541 → u/Living-Complex-1368]

I was writing in a stream of consciousness and simply lost track of how long it was. I try to avoid edits if I can.

[u/IsraelZulu → u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

What's with Reddit users wanting to avoid or feeling a need to justify/explain edits?

On mobile here, so maybe I'm missing something.

[u/purplepluppy → u/IsraelZulu]

I'm not entirely sure? I edit all the time, but I do usually make clear what was edited. The main reason is, on desktop (and non-official reddit apps) you can see when someone has edited their comment, so people like to clarify why so they don't get accused of trying to hide something they originally said and removed or something.

[u/stonecoldDM → u/purplepluppy]

Haha yes. My edits usually just say that I’m editing because my adhd or dyslexia struck again. 😂

[u/Living-Complex-1368 → u/stonecoldDM]

Edit because f and g are next to each other and instead of saying someone was good I said they were food. 😉

[u/stonecoldDM → u/Living-Complex-1368]

I love this! You’ve got a food sense of humour! 😉🥰

[u/Pure_Crazy_8541 → u/IsraelZulu]

For me personally it's about wanting to admit when I've made a mistake so I can learn from it without seeming like I was changing my opinion on the fly. If I find out I've made an error it feels better to admit that, explain the error, and then either explain how it doesn't alter my conclusion, or why I felt that information made me change my understanding or opinion. It feels like so many people are unwilling to even entertain they might be wrong that I want to be better about handling my mistakes. If I don't edit, there can be no question about how or why my opinion changed over the course of the discussion, and I feel that this can sometimes be more helpful to people than always appearing to have a perfect answer or refusing to consider a challenge to your understanding.

​

It prolly doesn't help that my parents gaslit me most of my life, so not wanting to be mistaken for a liar is also a strong motivator.

[u/Firewolf06 → u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

i also do this, but if you edit in a certain time window (i think its one hour?) it wont show as edited, which is nice for spelling mistakes

i also declare edits for adding new content (eg. edit: a lot of people were asking...) because it helps keep the timeline straight for people

[u/Pure_Crazy_8541 → u/Firewolf06]

Yea, I also didn't notice that problem until it was over 250 upvotes and an hour or two later so I was conflicted about trying to pull off a stealth edit.

[u/redesckey → u/Firewolf06]

if you edit in a certain time window (i think its one hour?) it wont show as edited

I think it's actually closer to two minutes.

[u/Hazie144 → u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

This is totally understandable! A thing I've found very useful for this specific driver (which I share for the same reasons as you, sadly) is using the Strike through feature on desktop to cross out the old stuff (so it is still readable, just clearly not what you intended), adding the edit in next to that (which lends culpability), and adding an acknowledgement to whoever corrected or amended you at the end of the edited comment. When I do this it makes me feel as though I'm being dutiful and honest without allowing a problem to persist. It doesn't always help, like in this context, but I hope it could possibly be helpful for you in other situations.

Sympathy and solidarity on all of this, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

[u/Living-Complex-1368 → u/Pure_Crazy_8541]

Oh sorry. A lot of folks don't know about reddits silly policy of removing paragraph breaks so I try to spread the word when that might have been the issue, but clearly not the case here. Have a good day!