I have been lurking around these boards for about a year now. I have had a somewhat mild case of gynecomastia ever since I could remember. I have always been an athlete (football & baseball) but have suffered from the traumas of having this dillema. I am now 17 and a junior in high school. It has a affected me greatly. It dictates what t-shirts I am allowed to wear, how I feel about myself, taking my shirt off any front of others/loved ones, going to the pool or beach. Everyone wants to look good, and I just feel I dont by having gynecomastia. My parents know I am upset. They took me to see two doctors with our medical insurance (Kaiser). Both doctors basically ignored my concern/the problem and told me to wait till im like 23? and done with puberty to see if it goes away or not. That is six EFFING years of my life!!! Probably some of the most important!!!
A few months ago I dediced I wanted to lose weight and get down to a certain body fat percentage. Keep in mind I was 6'3 215lbs. That is nothing to be a shamed of when you are avidly working out at the gym and gaining muscle. But I had certain fatty areas around my body that I wanted to go.
I started dieting, cutting calories, doing morning cardio... etc. A good site for fitness info is
www.johnstonefitness.com - he has his own cool success story, but the forums there are very supportive and alot of people in the same bind of losing weight. I was on and off a diet/workout plan for about a month and managed to lose about 5lbs. Then the next month I decided to get serious - I went to
www.vizualxcellence.com and hired Christ as my trainer/fitness guru. He gave me a full workout routine and a key diet to fit it, maintaining muscle and losing weight/becoming cut at the same time.
This is only my second week on his program, but I am now down 197lbs after stopping creatine (-5 lbs or so water weight), and plain out burning fat! I am able to lift weights too for some muscle gain with his program too.
Anyways, I noticed something very peculiar... while losing a ton of fat off my stomach , and around my overall body, I was also losing fat off my chest. I still had the big pointy nippes, but the fat was coming down to a more concentrated area. Instead of fat being layered on my overall chest, now it is just down to the gynecomastia area behind my nipples.
Another strange thing.... the actual gynecomastia has been getting smaller, is becoming softer, and some of it disappearing. I tried to think, how could this be ? Only since I have been on this program has this been happening. Last night I was looking around these boards.... I noticed a thread pertaining to flax seed oil. I saw that someone was taking it to see if it would help their gynecomstia because they hear it would. I searched some on the internet and found that reports show that flax seed oil can help gynecomstia go away. Well you know what, the program I went on requires a certain amount of flax seed oil each day, because it is a heart healthy oil, helps to burn fat, but coincidentally also has an anti-estrogen. I believe this is the reason my gynecomstia is subsiding.... dont get me wrong, the gland is still there.... but its just starting to disappear. I take flax everyday and will keep doing so, to see if this completely resolves my gynecomstia. Without as much gland, and it so fatty.... I am doing fasted morning AM cardio, which is the best time to burn fat. I have already lost a considerable amount of fat off my chest, and I am going to keep doing so, as the fat will start to go, from where my gyno is.
These are basically just some thoughts, and my experience so far. If anyone would like to contribute and or ask questions. I will update from time to time with progress. Maybe surgery is not the only way to get rid of this problem
Rob