When you have too much fat on your chest, it can be really hard to feel confident in yourself. You may feel self-conscious about your appearance. However, chest fat is not a rare condition. According to research , around 50-60% of males have been experiencing it from a young age.
When there is an underlying cause of this excess fat, it is called gynecomastia in medical terms. It is treatable with various options, including medicines, lifestyle modification, and surgery. It all depends on the level of chest fat accumulated and the cause.
What Causes Chest Fat in Males (Man Boobs)?
There are usually two reasons for enlarged breasts in men. The first is the growth of the breast tissue, commonly known as gynecomastia. The other cause is growing fat tissues in the chest.
Gynecomastia is a common issue in both teenagers and adult men. According to research, more than 30% of men suffer from gynecomastia.
One of the major causes behind gynecomastia is hormonal imbalance in the body. In this, the testosterone levels go down in men, and the body starts secreting more estrogen or the female hormone.
Following are some of the other reasons that can cause enlargement of breast tissue in men, irrespective of their age. It is called non-physiological gynecomastia.
- Taking antibiotics or medicinal drugs that reduce the production of testosterone in the body.
- Consuming excess alcohol
- Hypothyroidism
- Human immunodeficiency virus disease (HIV)
- Excess soy consumption
- Intaking anabolic steroids
- Liver cirrhosis
- Testicle or adrenal tumours
- Renal failure
- Obesity
- Emotional stress
- Testicular injury
- Decrease in testosterone production due to mental/physical trauma
In most cases, the growth of chest fat in men is concerned with increased body weight. Excess fat gets accumulated in the chest region of some males. It increases the chest size, which looks similar to breasts.
BMI and Weight Loss
Since increased chest fat is mainly due to weight gain and hormonal imbalance, losing weight is the best way to reduce it. An increase in weight is also a common reason for hormonal imbalance. Therefore, to reduce chest fat, one must focus on a healthy diet and weight loss.
Keep in mind that spot reduction or losing weight from a target body part is a myth. You lose body weight proportionally. Therefore, if you are planning to lose weight, you should be familiar with the concept of BMI (body mass index)
BMI helps to measure the appropriate weight of a person depending upon their height. It is calculated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. BMI score is equal to or higher than 30 means that a person is overweight.
However, with BMI, you will only get to know if you are overweight. It does not count excess fat in your body. Even if your weight is appropriate according to BMI, you might still have excess fat deposited on your chest or other regions.
How to Reduce Chest Fat
Reducing fat is always burdensome, but it's never an impossible endeavour. There always comes a question about how to reduce chest fat, and the answer is by changing your lifestyle, exercising, eating well, taking medications, or having surgery.
Although targeted chest fat reduction is not possible, and fat will be reduced from all over your body, it's all of no use if you do not follow the proper diet and exercise regimen.
Every person has a different need, so exercise and an appropriate diet, like calorie deficit, are necessary, but it can differ from person to person. Therefore it is best to take the needed measures as per your body's needs.
How to Create a Caloric Deficiency?
As per research, adult men between the age of 19-30 need up to 2500 calories per day.
To reduce your overall body weight, you need to go on a calorie deficit. You need to cut down your daily/weekly calorie intake and shed calories by working out.
To reduce calories, adults need to engage in some sort of moderate physical activity daily for at least 150 minutes or 75 minutes of intensive exercise.
You can practise aerobics, brisk walking, cycling, dancing or playing sports like tennis or badminton. Intensive exercises include skipping, running, doing gymnastics, swimming, martial arts, running up the stairs, lifting weights, and more.
The above exercises will help you reduce weight. However, if you have excess fat in your body, you should also perform muscle training.
You can practise tai-chi, squats and weight-lifting to tone your muscles.
How to Get Rid of Man Boobies?
Man boobs can be embarrassing and may also have psychological effects in some cases. If you want to know how to reduce man breast, the first step is to find out whether there is an enlargement in breast tissues or chest fat tissues.
It will help you understand whether your chest size has increased due to gynecomastia or fat accumulation.
The difference between gynecomastia and increased chest fat is that the breasts are firm in the former and resemble female breasts. However, on the accumulation of chest fat, the skin becomes saggy and soft.
Once you have figured out the cause of the increase in chest fat, you can start working on reducing it accordingly. If the fat tissues have become enlarged due to being overweight, you need to start working out and controlling your diet.
However, if you have gynecomastia, you can consult a doctor and get your hormone level tested. The doctor will suggest an effective treatment.
Diet to Reduce Chest Fat for Men
The best way to safely reduce weight without causing harm to your body is to do it gradually. You can lose 0.5-1kg weight per week by maintaining a calorie deficit diet.
For this, you need to do a calorie deficit of about 600 calories. It means adult men must consume up to 1900 calories per day.
Let us see what food items you must include in your diet to facilitate weight loss and what products you should strictly avoid.
Here are some of the things that you need to include in your meals:
- Fibre-rich foods like whole-wheat pasta or bread, apricots, fruits like orange and apples with peels, peas, spinach, sweet corn, brown rice and more.
- Low-fat protein food like milk, peas and lentils, fish, yoghurt, cheese, eggs and tofu.
- Low-calorie snacks like carrot, celery, unsweetened muesli and porridge oats.
Following are the items that you must avoid during your weight loss journey:
- Sweetened cereals, excess sugar, white bread and rice.
- Excess nuts or olives.
- Items with too much salt.
- Alcohol
Also Read: How to Reduce Face Fat? | Face Fat Removal Through Surgery
Exercise to Burn Chest Fat
Exercises are always a good option for removing and burning fat from the body. Some exercises for targeting the chest muscles include the bench press and push up. It is possible to perform these exercises with or without weights.
Here are some exercises that will help you burn chest fat-
1. Pushups
Pushups are simple exercises one can get done without any help. It has various benefits like strengthening the chest muscles and reducing fat.
- First, get down on all your fours, and place your hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
- Now straighten your arms and legs.
- Then, lower your body and touch the floor with your chest. Now, push yourself back up.
- Repeat the sets of pushups as per your convenience and strength. It is best to start with sets with 10 reps each.
2. Chest Press
The chest press is an upper-body strengthening exercise that works on your chest, shoulders, and arms muscles.
- First, lie on a bench with a dumbbell in your hand and position the dumbbells at the shoulders.
- Slowly raise the dumbbells above the top of the chest while exhaling in a comfortable and stable position.
- Then lower the dumbbells while inhaling and come to the starting position.
- You may vary the weight of the dumbbells as much as you want but start with three sets of 10 repetitions.
3. Chest Dips
Chest dips are a helpful exercise in targeting the chest muscles. It can be done by machine-assisted equipment or by a simple bar.
- For this, you need a parallel bar. Grip the bar with your hands and raise yourself above them.
- Ensure to keep your arms parallel with your head and body in a neutral position. And keep your knees bent.
- Now slowly, while breathing, lower yourself down and continue until your shoulders are just below your elbows.
- Then lift yourself back into the starting position while exhaling.
- Repeat the exercise as per your convenience and strength.
4. Cardio
Cardio exercise is one of the most vital exercises which help you burn calories and lose fat. If you're comfortable walking, it'll be a fruitful cardio exercise for you. There are various alternatives such as swimming, running, climbing, dancing, and so on.
5. Maintaining a Posture
Strengthening your posture is equally essential while reducing the stubborn fat from the chest. It is best to sit straight up, back straight, and broaden your shoulders. This posture improves the sagging chest.
All of these above-mentioned chest exercises are great for ensuring that you develop chest muscles while reducing excess fat.
Summing Up on How to Reduce Chest Fat
It can be difficult to get rid of the fat on the body. It takes patience and passion for doing so. Also, it is not possible to reduce the targeted fat by choosing just one specific place to focus. You will have to reduce all the excess fat from the body.
For this, you have to indulge in doing things the right way that can help you reduce chest fat. It means following a routine that includes a diet of healthy foods, refraining from processed foods, and an appropriate workout plan.
Although all of this will not work in a few days, it will help you to get a solution for how to reduce chest fat if you can stick to a healthy lifestyle for some time.
FAQs
Does Chest Fat Go Away?
Yes, chest fat goes away with a healthy diet and regular exercise. There are many different diets designed to help people lose weight. However, none of them is specifically geared towards reducing chest fat. Different people have different body types and will see different results from following a specific diet. Along with dieting exercises like cardio, some targeted chest exercises like chest presses, pushups, etc., help reduce fat reduction.
Why Can't I Lose My Chest Fat?
There can be many reasons why one can't lose chest fat. The most common is the fat accumulation over the chest region due to lack of exercise and a poor diet. However, there are some medical conditions as well, like gynecomastia, in which even after following a healthy diet and exercising, one can't lose the chest. In this situation, it is best to seek professional medical help.
How Can I Lose Chest Fat Without Exercise?
It's difficult to lose weight in general, and reducing targeted fat is a full-on challenge. So if you are trying to lose chest fat without exercise, it is not possible. For losing fat, an adequate diet along with proper exercise is mandatory. But if the cause of chest fat is some underlying disease, then there are other options like medications and surgical intervention to lose the chest fat.
