Hi Bummed,
I’m trying to give you a realistic view of this whole business
Right there is a huge difference. I cannot wear a suit, nor even a 2nd layer during the warmer months. The best I can do is a polo with no undershirt, as most of my job is where there is no air conditioning. They have not been an issue over the winter months, but midwest humid summers will put an end to multiple layers.
I was in Ohio in the 60s and 70s in high humidty hot summers. When I had to wear suits I had tropical weight suites. Before insurance I was selling medium to expensive photo or stereo gear in a white shirt with tie, pocket protector with pens and screwdrivers. Boy did that pocket protector stick out. And it was not much of a second layer nor was the tie. The light weight white shirts of those days were a single very lightweight. A second full layer would have been unbelievably sweaty. I moved to the much drier west in the mid 70s.
“Yes, sorry, what I really meant was medical issues - not just drugs. In my case, there is truly no known cause.”
No cause known to you or your doctor at the time. In many puberty cases like mine, I suspect that it comes from a specific metabolic defect linked to nutritional problems triggered by puberty itself.
” LOL, you're funny - in the midwest??? Besides, I really don't want to see all the overweight people naked. I am very tolerant of body types, as we come in all shapes and sizes, but being very overweight or obese is generally a lifestyle choice - not a body type.”
Of course there are nudist clubs in the Midwest. With nearly 200 clubs there are one or more clubs in most states. The hot humid Midwest is far more comfy without clothing, a good 10-15 degrees more comfortable. Being genuinely obese as a result of compulsive eating is the same kind of choice as being an alcoholic or tobacco addict. Being overweight can happen at 50-100 calories a day too much to gain 10 pounds a year. Then there is a consideration that at least 50% of people in the USA have potential metabolic problems like mine. Before figuring out my problems I could gain 3 pounds a day on zero calories. I had 85 pounds of water on me and it was killing me with congestive heart failure. This is NOT a lifestyle choice. So at 285 pounds or more you would have judged me for the lifestyle choice of a metabolic problem caused by some of the artificial vitamins you can buy in vitamin pills and added to our foods.
“Besides, I really don't want to see all the overweight people naked.”
Now that is certainly in the top 10 excuses for avoiding a nudist club because of body shame and fear.
”I have an average build with a BMI of 23. Very low fat % for my age, and I have only gained 5 lbs since my 20s. My chest used to always be a 34-36, and my waist has never exceeded 30 - it's probably around 28 right now. I figure if I could make the calorie adjustment in my early 30s (when my metabolism tanked), other people should be able to as well. As for younger people being obese, it's terribly sad - American youth makes me think of the passengers on the spaceship in Wall-E.”
My build has never been average. At skin and bones weight my chest was 46” and my waist 34”. My waist hasn’t been 30” since I was a 10 year old. Working out a little my chest gets up to 52 with the same 34 waist. And you wouldn’t believe how much that makes my breasts fuller and more outstanding, literally, putting on muscle underneath. So your body type is ectomorphic and I am a major mesomorph. I’ve put on 100 pounds without changing what I ate and then took it off again without changing my diet. 85 pounds was water but judgmental people say all sorts of things When next I showed up at the club, nobody recognized me. Nobody decides that they want to be obese and despised as a life style.
“But I digress. My point is, I would not mind being in the company of naked people, be they thin, average, stocky, old, young, hairy, stretch marks, etc., as long as they were all in the bodies they were genetically given. I am far less tolerant of unhealthy bodies by choice. I honestly do not know what I would think of a healthy weight male sporting C+ boobs being topless - conversation starter maybe? Lol”
What you will see at a nudist clubs are a whole lot of guys with gyne, at an average incidence. There are even some post surgical young guys that joined after the surgery. Maybe 5% are flat as aboard, and 30-60% with some noticeable gyne ranging from puffy nipples and A- cups all the way out to occasional D to DD like me depending on age and other factors. I’ve never seen an H cup male in person. That is way out on the tail, statistically. At a nudist club C-cup breasts on men are not unusual. You rarely see anybody extremely obese. Most bodies are a combination of genetic endowment along with modifications by circumstances, wear and tear, nutrition and exercise. I walk a good 5 miles a day at the club where I summer, with 2000 vertical feet up and down every day just getting around from my site to the courts, wash house, facilities, pool, etc. The walking everywhere is discouraging to the obese. If you ran into me or somebody else at C cup or more at a nudist club it would be a realization of “Oh, him too”. It doesn’t usually qualify as a conversation starter unless the ladies are comparing under the breast tan free areas and you are qualified to join the conversation.
You will also find out that you can’t control people who eat too much, drink too much, smoke, are too sedentary and have poor food choices and judging them just makes you a bore.
“I suppose that gets to the root of my issue. If I don't know how I would react to a guy with boobs, how would I know how to react to my own?”
Going to the nudist club will give you a chance to lose the judgementalness and accept others bodies as well as your own. You can lose the body shame and fear. One becomes educated as to what real actual bodies look like. They don’t look like body doubles and digitally altered bodies. And yes, lots of men have some degree of gyne made up of a mix of tissues and it doesn’t matter to anybody. I get my share of hugs, and then some, from the ladies. You can go to the AANR site and search by zip code where the clubs are. Many are landed, others are not and rent pools, go out on boats on the water, go to nude beaches and have house parties. AANR clubs are family clubs with children, and sexual behavior is private to your RV or room or whatever. There are adult only clubs, many fewer of them, if that is your preference.
“And as a side issue, when it comes to true gynecomastia, I think "boobs" is the correct term, since they are female mammaries. I think "moobs" is more appropriate for pseudo-gynecomastia, since they tend to be more fat than gland.”
And so you can BLAME somebody with mostly fat for doing it to themselves and then feel thankful that you are not as they are or something like that? Why does it matter? It’s the same psychologically for those having them in any mix. Would you feel better or worse if your breasts were a C cup from fat? Would it not matter to you then? I think “breasts” is the right word all the way around. Like cooking they are measured in cups, whatever is contained inside that skin is the stuffing and not visible directly.
The only thing you can change is yourself. If you want to change your genetically (and/or God) given body by cutting pieces off because of fear of what a few other people might think or heaven forbid say, then run your life that way. Do what makes you happy. A book you might want to read, THERAPY, NUDITY AND JOY. I have an advantage of retrospect, like Hammer and others of us old guys. Don’t run your life for fear of what other people MIGHT think. Don’t run your life thinking that having surgery will stop the bullies. They will find something to get you on if you are vulnerable, otherwise they don’t give a damn about your body or you. They go after any vulnerability. You won’t like living your life in fear no matter what bullies might think about anything. The breast issues for us old guys came out to zero as soon as health problems became the issue. They are more difficult and time consuming to shave than a board flat chest which you will never have. If they get big enough and are such that they become uncomfortable to live with and you need a bra for comfort, there is ample advice to be had. Get a professional fitting. Those ladies have seen it all over and over. They know how common it is.
THE AMERICAN SEXUAL TRAGEDY was written in the 50s by Dr Albert Elllis. He was a psychotherapist who worked with women. The more depressed they were, the more complaints they had about their bodies, trying to achieve a standard of beauty even possible to only 1% of the population for a few years of their life. After treatment for depression they had half as many complaints about their body. Just remember, of the 75,000,000 or so men in the USA with gynecomastia, about 20,000 have surgery each year, 1 in 3750 or so. A typical surgery will buy you 10 years more or less of membership at a nudist club. And you will have a lot more fun. The way it’s talked about here, as you mentioned is either get surgery or suffer. I’m offering you a genuinely different approach. A very attractive single woman I met vacationing at a club in California told me “Once you have vacationed nude, there is no going back”. She found it a joy to experience. And I’ve got to tell you, when you meet and socialize nude, there is no fear about “when I take off my shirt she will freak out”.
Good luck and have fun.