Without surgery, my story--- some hope for some?

[abc321]

Hey there,

***Excuse me for making this a bit long, but it may be very beneficial for some to read this (I think!)

I am a 22/m. 6" and 190 lbs. Ip until a couple years ago I had a fairly normal chest. When I was 16-19 I had a real fast metabolism, and had something like a six-pack, normal chest, etc. Well-- I have been smoking marijuana since i was 15 (and please--- I dont need any stupid replies judging me about this as ive seen in other posts), and have always had a voracious appetite!  Last couple years I have been eating a lot, smoking a fair amount of weed, and although I am not "fat" by any means, or overweight, I became out of shape. I got a bit of a "beer" belly, and worst of all, the gyne. I suppose by looking at the pictures here, it's what most of you guys would say is around a 3.5. At first I kind of ignored it, but I would get some comments from my friends at swimming pools, or when I am shirtless in the house (ie. hog breasts, perky breasts, etc). It made me quite depressed, and ashamed of the way I looked. I'd look in the mirror with disgust with my shirt off, and I am not sure how much "gland" is too much gland, but I definately feel a bit of rubberyness around my nipple area.

So I started researching on the internet, and I have to say when I got to this website-- it made me MORE depressed. Why? Because everyone would say that surgery is the only answer, and a lot of the posts here made me feel like I had something terrible and surgery is a must. It really made me feel even more ashamed of the way I look to see everyone pushing surgery on guys who had chests flatter then mine.

Anyhow-- I thought before I started seriously thinking about surgery, I should try a few things first. 1.) Stop smoking weed (I know this is very debatable if this even causes gyn, but I tried anyway)) 2.) Stop eating like a pig and watch what i eat and 3.) Run on the stairmaster downstairs for 25 minutes, around 5 days a week 4.) Pushups & situps

Now--- I know some guys have a lot of gland and seriously have troublesomely large breasts, and surgery really should be considered. However for me, and I know for many other guys, the majority of their gyne is probably fat. Did you ever wonder why dancer girls and athletic girls tend to have smaller breasts (excuse the generalization, but I noticed it to be quite true)?   Two months after doing those 3 things, my chest has become much more toned, and the gyne has seriously gone down. It is not GONE completely, but no longer does it sag down, it has shrunk in size, and because of the exercise it looks a lot firmer and more masculine. I no longer feel like I need surgery-- on top of my chest being smaller; by exercising, my abs are more firm, and in general I feel a lot more confident about my body.  Even if exercise wont get rid of gyne completely, for people like me, it has gotten rid of some of the excess fat in the area which was really making it bad. I honestly felt hopeless before, and now I realize you CAN take some control without surgery.

What else did I realize??? Most guys do not have completely flat chests anyway. I was just in huntington beach, ca for the weekend on the beach I realized most guys do have their chests protrude a bit and a lot of people seem to have some form of gyne.  There are other things besides surgery you can do to make your body look better and feel more confident about it.   So, guys-- all I really suggest is that you do not get freaked out by reading this board and feel like you have something completely unnatural that needs to be cut off as quick as possible. That is how I felt after reading some of these posts. A lot of posts here suggest any guy whose chest is not totally flat should go and get surgery. A lot of guys have big chests, and it's not always something you need to be totally ashamed of. Before thinking about sugery, at least TRY some serious cardio and dieting to see if you can improve things yourself. By improving the way the rest of your body looks, you may feel confident enough in your body that you do not need surgery. In my case, my gyne definately shrunk a bit after exercise (or quitting the weed could have helped, but everyone says weed makes no difference?), and my chest definately looks more shaped.   I know it wont work for everyone, but it did for me and it could for you. Anyway-- that's my story.

[headheldhigh01]

shame that couldn't be quantified somehow.  thing is, while i think it's worth a shot, i doubt it would help most people, i've seen lots of people talking about how they almost killed themselves trying to work theirs off unsuccessfully for years.  i know you said you're aware the gland tends to stay, but with real gyne, as opposed to pseudo, the nature of breast tissue is to retain fat in spite of weight loss, which is why women keep theirs.  but interesting to read, can't blame anyone for trying, and if it improved for you that's all good.  but for what it's worth, i don't think it will help 95% or more of the rest of us.