Can you have gyno without buds?

[Gino]

This whole subject is very confusing to me as there's so little information on the web about men with breasts. Most of what I found was from sites supporting transgenders which suggest that even with physician assisted HRT the likelihood of a man growing breasts beyond a small B is statistically very small.

Then again I have seen pics and read accounts of explosive and FAST growth to very large proportions with HRT and without HRT using herbal supplements.

That said, I see so many questions on whether or not someone has gynocomastia and I wonder why this Q has not been answered definitively. It's been my understanding that real breasts absolutely must have started with buds under the nipple and those hard buds continue to slowly grow over the course of two to three years or more to become a full sized breast.

So can this be summarized as buds equals boobs? and no buds equals Moobs?

[Amiga]

I think you have it right that buds = gynecomastia and no buds = pseudogynecomastia (fat) but I'm not an expert. 
Also I have no idea the conditions required for buds to form in males. Clearly a hormone imbalance (due to age, medicine side effects, tumors, cancers, intentional use of HRT, etc.) is one cause, but are there other ways in which budding can happen? No clue here.

[Amiga]

I worry that just being 50+ and the resulting reduction of Testosterone combined with obesity is enough to cause buds. Or is some other catalyst always required for that process to begin? Regardless, I need to focus on losing weight.