Yes, man boobs can be embarrassing. Worse still, it’s not always in your control. Breast tissue can enlarge for a number of reasons besides obesity: medications, hormonal changes or even an underlying medical condition, among others.
What you can control
Just like other parts of your body, your chest can accumulate fat. But with the right diet and exercise, you may be able to reduce the appearance of man boobs.
Before you start any new diet and exercise regime, you should talk to your doctor. In the meantime, you can learn more about what might help reduce man boobs.
When it comes to exercise, you’ll want to do a combination of cardiovascular workouts, which will help you lose weight, and targeted chest exercises that can help develop your pectoral muscles.
Ideally, you should exercise for either 75-150 minutes (high intensity) or 150-300 minutes (moderate intensity) each week. Cardiovascular exercise doesn’t necessarily mean running, cycling or high intensity interval training. It could also be walking, team sports, jogging or swimming.
You may find that once you start losing weight, it will give you the ability to lose weight faster. That’s because the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will work. You’ll burn more calories with each workout.
You can do chest exercises with a trainer, at the gym with chest-specific equipment or at home. In the comfort of your own home, try simple push-ups, weightlifting or resistance training with your chest muscles.
In terms of diet, you’ll be focused on cutting calories. This can be done by:
- eating more fruits and vegetables
- substituting unhealthy snacks for healthy ones
- reducing portion size
- changing your cooking techniques (e.g., baking chicken instead of frying)
- changing what you drink
Other options
From surgery to changing medications (or dosages) to addressing an underlying medical condition, your doctor may be able to recommend what’s worth trying and what might be too risky.
