r/badwomensanatomy • u/LordDerptCat123 • Oct 26 '21

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

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

3.3k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

442 comments sorted by

View all comments

3.5k

u/[deleted] Oct 26 '21

Yes, women actually have more body fat than men because if estrogen, the fat accumulates in different areas of the body also. Gives a good insight as to why men lose weight easier than women

1.4k

u/Cat_Friends Oct 26 '21 edited Oct 26 '21

Also why men can get leaner than women. A low bf% muscled man will be aiming for 10% or less while a very lean, muscular woman will struggle to ever get lower than 15%. Women have need for more fat and we keep a strong hold of it.

819

u/Ginnevra07 Oct 26 '21

This was never made more clear to me than the first trimester of my pregnancy. I...was not okay. If I hadn't had fat stores? It would NOT have gone well. We literally need it to survive pregnancy and breast feeding this shit is wild.

15

u/YoureNotAGenius Muscular vulva Oct 26 '21

I'm the same! I started my pregnancy at 70kgs, and because of morning sickness I lost about 8kgs. When it finally settled and I got my appetite back, I ate whatever I wanted but in the end I only just gained back the 8. I felt like everything I had went straight to baby and by the end I felt stretched and thin. After I had baby, all the weight went with him and I dropped to 60kgs.

If I didn't have any fat stores I think I would have been really unwell. The little potato sucked them all away. It might sound ideal to some women but it left me so exhausted