My DH is one of the men competing and as he is a big guy, yes he might lose weight faster, but that's because he has more to lose. To exclude men from participating would be, in my eyes, the same as excluding heavier girls as they also have more to lose and will lose it faster. Some of us have 5lbs to lose, some 50. It seems as though it's been the concensus to move on, but I just wanted to add my $0.02 fwiw