Do men really need their own weight-loss programs?

The leaders in the industry, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, have targeted men. Working under the premise that “men approach weight loss differently,” Weight Watchers for Men offers a “customized online system built for men, just men,” the program’s Web site says. Jenny Craig has enlisted actor Jason Alexander as a spokesman and promises guys that they can occasionally splurge on beer and fries.

But do men lose weight differently than women do? Or are these “for men” programs gimmicks?

A bit of both. Arizona-based weight-loss doctor Craig Primack, speaking for the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, says there are a few ways in which men diverge from women in approaches to losing weight. But he suggests the differences aren’t big enough to require separate programs: “I think (the companies) are looking for subtypes of people to market to.”

That’s probably a smart business move, as the market is, well, huge. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that about one-third of all men are obese.

Men, Primack says, “tend to underestimate how much weight they have to lose, and they won’t start until they have 50 pounds” to shed. Plus, he says, “In society now, it’s not frowned upon when a man is mildly overweight.” The same doesn’t hold true for women.

Men also are generally taller and carry more lean muscle mass, which helps in losing weight, Primack says. “For women, baby weight often puts them behind the eight ball, and they get a second hit around menopause, when they gain weight around the middle.”

“When you have more muscle, you burn more calories at rest. We tend to see the men lose weight at a quicker rate than women,” agrees Misti Evans, a clinical dietitian and director of weight management and diabetes education at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.

Plus, women tend to carry extra weight in the hips, thighs and stomach, which is often is more difficult to lose than the typical male “apple shape,” where weight is concentrated in the stomach, she says.

Although 80 percent of its patients are female, the center’s programs don’t separate support groups by gender, because the behavioral therapists believe everyone can benefit from discussing their experiences together, she says.

The programs are individualized to tackle each patient’s issues, but she’s noticed a trend among new female patients: self-doubt.

“Typically, women deal with this more than men and have tried a number of things (before joining the program), and have that little voice in the back of their head telling them they’re going to fail,” Evans says.

Primack notes that while women are generally “slow and persistent” in their approach to weight loss, men tend to “initially lose faster, 15 or more pounds in three or four months. But then they get a little complacent” and their progress slows.

Beyond that, Primack says, “the grand stereotypes are that women are more emotional eaters, and men are habitual overeaters.” To lose weight, both eaters must change their habits. “An emotional eater needs to learn to ask, ‘Am I really hungry?’ before eating, while an overeater needs to look at portion sizes,” he says.

Weight Watchers launched its for-men program in 2007, says Jason Carpenter, men’s editor of WeightWatchers.com. “Before then, we spoke to everyone the same way, and the perception was that Weight Watchers was a women’s company, a women’s program.” Three years later, Carpenter says, the men’s program has proved popular.

“The program itself is exactly the same” as the overall Weight Watchers approach, he says, in that it assigns a point value to every food according to its fat, fiber and calorie content. “But the men’s Web site now engages men differently.”

Weight Watchers won’t say how many of its members are men. Jenny Craig reported that 10 percent of its clients are male.

As with Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig’s basic approach is the same for men and women: “When someone starts our program, whether male or female, we work with them to understand their eating style, lifestyle and food favorites,” Bellach explains.

The company customizes a weight-loss plan for clients.

“Men do very well with Jenny Craig, as it allows structure where they handle their consultations over the phone, eat three meals and three snacks per day at designated times, follow pre-planned menus, and food preparation is minimal. Men tend to lose weight very consistently,” Bellach says.

Stefanie Scarlett of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.