Will this go away with age/exercise?

[dedondecre]

I'm 15yo, 5'8", 160lbs.

Here is what I look like:


(the middle picture and the far-right picture are from a few weeks ago; the rest are from today)

Essentially, I have two questions:

a.) Is it likely that this will go away with age? I started getting extra chest fat when I was around 12, and it seems like it's been slowly improving over the past year (peaked when I was 13/14, I would guess), although I really have no way to tell.


b.) Is it likely that this will go away with exercise? I have lost about 10lbs running in the past couple of months (and I started lifting weights a few weeks ago), but I'm still overweight and have excess fat around my stomach and hips. Should I wait until I've lost more fat to make a judgment, or is it pretty safe to say now that I have gynecomastia?

There is a larger version at
img204.imageshack (dot) us/img204/5482/gyno.jpg

[Dr. Elliot Jacobs]

You are in great shape and your gyne is very minimal if at all.  Certainly, waiting and observing cannot harm -- and building up your muscles in the process also cannot harm.

However, be prepared to find that, down the road, there may still be a very small amount of residual tissue on your chest.  Then it becomes a choice of living with it or considering surgery.  Most guys would be thrilled to have a chest like yours even now.

Dr Jacobs

[dedondecre]

You are in great shape and your gyne is very minimal if at all.  Certainly, waiting and observing cannot harm -- and building up your muscles in the process also cannot harm.

However, be prepared to find that, down the road, there may still be a very small amount of residual tissue on your chest.  Then it becomes a choice of living with it or considering surgery.  Most guys would be thrilled to have a chest like yours even now.

Dr Jacobs

Thanks for the reply, Dr. Jacobs. Perhaps it's more an issue of body image.

At any rate, it seems to be responding at least a little to exercise. I just dug up a (poor-quality) picture I took at 172lbs before I started working out, for comparison:


Not much of a difference, but I think it's helping.

[vintage]

Increase protein in your diet and follow a decent weight lifting plan, muscle is hard to build for anyone.