My first post, I struggled my whole life and just need help

[orien87]

Hi, this is my first post in this website.

I came across this website while I was looking for new ways to lose my man boobs which has been a consistent problem since the age of 10.  I didn't know a website like this existed, and it’s a relief to know that I'm not alone with this one.  I've seen some of the pictures that other members have posted and I just have to say most of the cases I have seen aren't so bad, compared to my case.

I started to gain weight since the age of 10, I was simply too inactive and I ate too much, but I didn't notice I was gaining weight till I was 13, by then my body weight had reached 145 pounds (4'-6" tall).  I kept gaining weight till I was 16 and weighted around 220 pounds (5-7" tall), I finally started to weight training and a lot cardio since then I brought my body weight down to 185 pounds (6'-2" tall) at the age of 19.  Despite loosing a lot of weight I still had large man boobs, larger even than my 50 year old father.  I don't even have to tell you that I had a horrible childhood, most people here did too, so I won’t get into more personal details.

I never sleeked out any help during my weight training so I made many errors and mistakes.  I simply did too much cardio and ineffective strength training, so I became a skinny fat person.  I looked thin and in good shape covered by clothes, but underneath I still had large man boobs and belly fat and I never increased the amount of muscle I had.  I did improve my overall appearance but I had long way to go.

I'm 21 years old and just finished my associated degree and I'm looking forward to continuing my education toward my bachelors degree, but now I considering taking a year off school so I can get breast reduction surgery.  People keep telling me that it’s not a big not a big deal, and that I should just go to the gym, but I do go to the gym, and watch what I eat, and I run 2.5 miles a day 4 days a week.  My body weight is not around 165-170 (6’-2” tall) but I still have huge man boobs.

I’m sorry if I made this post a little too long, but I feel it’s the best way to tell my story.  Basically, I’m just looking for advice, or any tips, or just a push in the right direction.  I’m new to this word “gynecomastia” and in the next couple of days I’ll look in to it.  I never saw a doctor about my condition and didn’t know it was diagnosable condition.  Should I see a doctor, and what kind of doctor?

Thank you for taking the time to read my post, I’m looking forward for any input or opinions, comments ect.

[RyanMace]

Welcome to the boards man! Great story, I'm sure many of us can associate to your story.

I recommend you to look for an endocrinologist first. An endocrinologist is basically a doctor who specialize in hormones and such, which is vital, in order to see if you got any hormoneproblems (what's causing gyno in the first place). After you've got your hormones evaluated, you should hook up with a plasticsurgeon, for a consultation. It's very important that you pick a well recognized ps, who has done alot of successfull gynecomastiasurgeries in the past.

Good luck bro!

Kind regards,

Ryan.

[gynenomore5]

i hear you man.
i understand how you feel abt the looking ok on the outside but with manboobs underneath.
and i've had MANY people telling me "you are just fat, go to the gym". but i knew it wont go away even after the most intensive training.
well, take time off and go for the surgery. it's going to be SO worth the time, pain and money.
i had mine done like november last year and i've never felt better.

for effective muscle strength training,
you need to do many reps of light weights. for example 3 sets of 30 reps
and also
a few reps of heavy weight. for example 3 sets of 4 reps.

u determine how light or heavy you want it to be.
but not too light/ too heavy though.

goodluck dude

[xunit]

I'm 21 years old and just finished my associated degree and I'm looking forward to ...

You are still pretty young.  It might be another year or two.  How much body hair have you got?  E.g., beard, chest, back.  Can you grow a beard or does it still come in straggly?

You could check with an endocrinologist, to see how your body metabolizes the different forms of testosterone (T).  Secondary sexual characteristics like body hair and muscle mass have to do with T and how your body handles it. 

[Shane_591]

Hi orien87 ....
yeah great story dude, pretty much like mine. I understand every inch of your pain!

Hang on man! You are still pretty young and you still have a lot of good years ahead of you.

I am a 40 year old guy with a degree of gynecomastia that can be defined as mild, simply because I was always able to - somehow - mask it: during my childhood and adolescence  by being fat and in the last 20 years by building pectoral muscles: I look kind of OK without a t shirt on, though, as soon as I am not training for a while and/or eating a bit badly, thus putting some weight on, my teats are more visible.
I eventually decided to get a liposuction last week ... but this is another story!

I also recommend you to go and see an endocrinologist first. Maybe there's nothing wrong with you, but don't forget that the way your body produces testosterone or even producing too much Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) might have caused your gyne ....

My second piece of advice to you is to get this surgery done, but find a good doc, there are a lot of quacks out there.
At the same time try to get in shape as well: you will feel better about yourself and gain self-confidence, and until you get the surgery done, you would be able to mask your gyne as I did myself.
And after the surgery, keep on training in order not to make your gyne come back.


I am enclosing some advice for a better workout routine: you are probably not training in a good way right now as you wrote yourself: "I simply did too much cardio and ineffective strength training".
So for everybody else: no need to read if you are not interested in working out:

A little theory first:
Because of its design, our body no matter how much cardio or dieting you will do, will adjust to just about EVERYTHING(!!!) in order to survive and to preserve the status quo.
So at one point you will not lose any fat any longer even if you run 10 miles a day, 7 days a week and only eat a apple a day: you'd only lose muscles, thus looking even more as a skinny fat person.
Diets only work for 4 or 6 weeks in a row: this is why so many people are simply getting back to their original weight after a while. Furthermore, they even managed to ruin their metabolism during the process.
Why is that so? There are no differences whatsoever between us and our ancestors that 200.000 years ago were going around in the bush hunting antilopes or whatever. Those cavemen did not have the possibility to eat much: if they were lucky they maybe indulged in a binging spree every week or so when they captured a large animal. The conclusion is that only the individuals that had to ability to store bodyfat were able to survive and this is why our body is still designed to store fat. Period.
Fat dudes are the finest specimen of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens species!  lol !!!
It is no coincidence that being overweight is a real epidemic in most of the western countries, where there is no shortage of food. Now they are even starting in China or India.


Strategy:
The good piece of news is that you can cheat your body by trying to diversify your training (and dieting), so that your body is constantly shocked or surprised by a new type of 'stress' and will not be able to adjust right away.
This is what I suggest:
Concentrate on bodybuilding for longer periods of time, trying to build muscles (again every 3-4 weeks change exercises, strategies, number of sets and/or reps, intensity, duration of training sessions etc, so that your body does not adjust to one type of routine. However, the best way to build muscles is to use heavy weights with a number of reps between 6 and 12. Every 3 weeks of intense training have a week off, that is to say in which you don't train so hard so that your body can rest. You actually build muscles when you rest) and limit cardio to warming up in the gym and to a couple of light sessions a week, not more. Eat well in order to support your training, but avoid any form of junk food (I'll write what to avoid, a bit later).
At this point, after you put some muscles on, you might look very different, even a big bigger. Does not matter. Hang on, it is muscle, provided that you are not eating crap (junk food).
Now after 4-6 months (that depends on you) you can try to lose fat again. You'll now slightly limit your food intake (not more than 500/700 calories a day, cut down on carbs and eat more proteins and a fair amount of unsaturated fats) and concentrate on the cardio for a period of 4-6 weeks, starting to run 2,5 miles a day, 3 days a week during week 1, then 2,5 miles a day, 4 days a week during week 2, .... etc .. eventually 3 miles a day, 7 days a week during week 6.  After week 6, you will not lose any more fat ... the body has adjusted to the dieting and the cardio. Now it is time to shock it once more.
Start with your body building routine again, limit cardio to a couple of light sessions a week and begin gradually to eat more in order to support your hard work in the gym.
After 4-6 months (if needed) or even a year, you might begin with cardio and dieting again and so and so on.

FOOD:
Basically during the bodybuilding phase you are supposed to produce lean mass, not increasing body fat.
Eat well, especially proteins, unsaturated fats (from nuts, fat fish, olive oil etc) and a good amount of good carbs, that is to say with a low glicemic index. High G.I. foods break down quickly in the body, leaving you feeling hungry soon after. More importantly high G.I. will cause a rise in blood sugar, to which the body responds by creating insulin. This hormone (this is the short version explanation), would prevent your body from burning fat!!
High G.I. carbs are contained in every form of sugar, including sodas, white bread, pastry, most types of rice, potatoes, pizza, pasta, alcohol etc etc ... that is to say most of the food now available to us!
Check the internet for more info, make a search on glicemic index
You should basically limit as much as you can eating those foods for the rest of your life: losing weight is fairly easy, keeping it is damn difficult! I would suggest that until you do not reach your ideal weight you should never eat High G.I. carbs.
There is one exception though: during the bodybuilding phase, just after the gym you can eat a big banana (very rich in sugar) with a low carb protein shake: that will help your post training recovery.
Remember that combining high G.I. carbs and fat (eg eating a cheese cake) is a no go!
On the other hand, low G.I. foods are rich in fibers, contain far less calories and take more time to digest: more importantly they do not contribute to blood sugar spikes. These foods leave you feeling satisfied after a meal.
Foods that rank low on the Glycemic Index should be incorporated into every meal. (all types of vegetables, rye bread, many types of fruit, beans and so on).

Eat always small frequent meals (5-6 times a day) during the body-building and the cardio phase: each meal should more or less have the following calorie break-up:

40% protein.
40% low G.I. carbs
20% fat (unsaturated fat).

Cut down on cheese, dressing, butter and so on: too many calories! You are not working out in the woods chopping down timber, are you? 

During the cardio phase you'll only lose fat (and not muscles), provided that you'll cut a bit the low G.I. carbs (though making sure to eat at least 150/200 gr carbs a day, very important) and eat a bit more proteins and unsaturated fats (nuts, fat fish oils, olive oil etc, agian NOT BUTTER, BACON, CHEESE etc)
Do not lose more than 1 kg a week: if you do it is muscles you are losing, not fat.

I know, it is hard work, it requires a lot of discipline, but it is worth it because it will improve your gyno, your general health before the operation and and your self-confidence. It is 20 years I have been working out and I am a totally different person now, physically and mentally.

Find a good gym, with a good instructor that can explain this stuff in depth. I am only trying to give you some guide lines. You need to understand how it works.
If you have an instructor who is giving you the same training routine to be done for more than 4-6 months in a row, the usual diet in which you are starving without any results whatsover (and the boobs still hanging because you have no muscles) ... well, the guy's jackass and does not know much about nothing.
So why are big, lean guys making huge progress by always doing the same routine?
Three reasons:
1) good genetics, which neither I nor you have.
2) steroids.
3) a combination of items 1 and 2.

I hope I could help a little ... good luck!

PS: I am from europe and we use grams and kilograms here, so bear with me! I do not know the US system

[orien87]

xunit
Yes, I can grow a full beard and I do have chest hair, in fact too much for my personal taste.  I'll look up an endocrinologist by next week.

Shane_591
thanks for the info, it sounds like a good system.  My work out was completely different than yours.  I'll try it, but its more complex than the simple work out routine I had, I'll see how it goes.

I'll talk to my parents about my problem and my struggles, I bet they'll tell me that I'm just fine and that I'm over reacting about the boobs thing.  I just checked my weight and now I'm up to 180 pounds, I guess I gained weight over the winter, buts thats no big deal my training its getting better and tougher each day.  When I'm back to 165 I'll see a surgeon about the operation to get things rolling.
Thanks for the input everybody!

[Shane_591]

Hi orien87 ...

To find good routines, try to get some books written by Stuart McRobert:
you are a so-called 'Hardgainer (like the vast majority of all trainees) and most of the workouts that are published in the popular press and magazines are too hard and not effective for normal people (without genetic advantages and not taking steroids) and will either be ineffective or induce frustration and injury if attempted.

And remember also that, cardio and building muscles are 2 different things: either you do one thing or the other!
You can't both lose fat and build up muscles: that's an impossibility.
Food is also extremely important, even more than training ... so get more information about what you can eat and what you can't eat first.
In the phase in which you work out to build muscles, don't be on a diet either..if you eat what I am telling you to eat, you put on muscles ....

good luck with your training ...


shane