After gland removal, can I burn excess fat off through exercise?

[Sambanova]

I just had surgery and the doctor removed fat and gland. Because my chest was quite large, there is still some fat and I'm wondering if now that the gland is gone, can I burn the fat off through exercise?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Lets talk reality.  When a surgeon removes gland tissue, not all of it is removed -- that would be impossible.  In fact, if a surgeon attempted to do that, your chest would be mutilated.  Therefore, some of your gland tissue still remains.

As for residual fat -- you can certainly try to diet/exercise it away.  But remember, the fat on the chest, abdomen and love handles is the first to appear and the last to disappear.  The problem is that when one diets, one cannot instruct one's body where you want the fat to disappear first -- really frustrating for all of us.

Sometimes I wish my brain could talk directly to some of my extra fat cells and tell them to get lost!  

Dr Jacobs

[Sambanova]

Thank you Dr Jacobs. I'm aware you can't target areas of fat to burn, I guess my real question is, now that some of the gland is removed, if I exercised and dieted to the point of being an elite marathon runner, could my man boobs completely or nearly completely go away?

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

Theoretically possible -- but everyone is individual and there are no promises.  You can get an answer by diet and exercising -- perhaps you can run in the NYC marathon next November!!!

Dr Jacobs

[Dr. Schuster]

Yes for sure. You should check with your surgeon before you start to exercise after surgery. I usually have my patients wait two weeks. Keep in mind it's not just burning the fat but also building up the muscle that will enhance your chest appearance. Even just a little more muscle mass will help.

[DrPensler]

There are two issues,First is the residual tissue fat or inadequately resected glandular tissue,second if we assume the residual is fat :how much fat are we talking about and where is it located.