As much as I don't want to excuse or allow obesity, or that the advice in this thread is extremely applicable in reducing the rates of obesity, I will say that

As much as I don't want to excuse or allow obesity, or that the advice in this thread is extremely applicable in reducing the rates of obesity, I will say that fat loss for women is indeed harder. This video[1] explains in greater detail, but essentially all of the hormonal changes a woman goes through on a month-to-month basis can have drastic effects on their ability to lose fat, to keep up performance while exercising, as well as water/nutrient absorption on a week-to-week basis. These changes do not happen to men, and they are additional considerations when a woman needs to lose weight. Not that they aren't insurmountable, or that the topic itself isn't for more advanced athletes, but we can generalize this to say that it is more difficult for women, so I'm not surprised that the gap would widen given those additional constraints. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k