I guess since we were talking about the Mi-Bra (and the BGG2WL giveaway… ends Thursday! Get in on it!), it’d only make sense that boobs would be the topic of Q&A Wednesday, huh?
Old me with the bigger boobies
Boobs are a sore spot for me, because I’m still mourning the complete loss of mine. I mean, my girls are just… ugh. At this point, I’m afraid if I lose anymore, I’m going to have two holes in my chest. Like I’ve said before, I went from a 42DD to a (currently) 34B, and almost certain that I’m going to keep losing. I’m just gonna start wrapping an ace bandage around my bust and tying it in the back. Jeez.
Before I began losing weight, my Mother actually had a breast reduction. Mind you, her insurance covered the entire procedure for her, but it was still a gross inconvenience(to her… and to me – I’m just being honest.) When she first saw me, after it finally sank in, she said “How did you lose your boobs? You could’ve saved me the trouble of surgery!”
February 2010, flat as a board! Mama nooooo!
Before we can talk about how to get rid of boobs, take a moment to consider what boobs are. They’re fat. They’re not muscle (the muscle behind the breast is wider and flatter than a boob), though muscle can alter the appearance of your breasts.. and make it more difficult for you to have or keep them. Remember, muscle helps the body burn fat faster… so it only makes sense that this would affect the fat holding the breast up, as well.
Both men and women have the basics to develop breasts, but the estrogen surge that women experience allows for a woman’s body to collect fat specifically in the breast area. As you can see in the diagram, the fat that develops there acts like a barrier layer between the skin and the glands that help breasts do what they’re supposed to do for women… which is provide milk for our offspring. Yay for being mammals.
1: The chest plate; 2: The Pectoral muscle; 3-6: Glands for milk production and maintenance; 7: Fat; 8: Skin
Two things play a huge role in how our breasts look – the amount of fat and the ligaments that support them, called Cooper’s Ligaments. The ligaments wrap around the breast (as seen in the photo) and help it develop and maintain its shape, but it can only mold what is (or, conversely, is not) there. An excess of fat there isn’t going to allow you to get a good perk going… presuming that’s what you’re after. Not very many women seek out “pancake boobies” if they know that they can work for the perk.
How do you reduce the boobies and get a good shape after the fact? Well, if the fat is what plays the major role.. then how do you burn the fat? Cardio! Strength training! Heavy on the cardio was what worked for me… with strength training picking up the back end by not only reshaping my breasts, but still allowing my bust line (as in, the band measurement for a bra – the 42 in “42DD” means I measured 42 across the band, with an extra 5 inches of breast to accommodate) to decrease as it toned.
In doing cardio, I’d suggest a very strong, very sturdy sports bra to keep you strapped down. Ligaments (like the ones that contrl your breasts’ shape) can be strengthened, but they can be weakened as well and the last thing you want to do is make a tough situation tougher.
In shrinking your breasts, you will experience sag at first. You can fix this, though, but only through very hard and diligent work. Just about any upper body exercise can help because they’re going to make use of the necessary ligaments in some form, anyhow. You also have to push yourself in your upper body exercises – the more you push yourself, the more muscles you will use, the more you will get out of your exercises.
For me, I cling to yoga and push ups. Sure, there’s the pec machine at the gym (called either a pectoral fly or a pec deck… looks like a contraption out of Saw if you ask me) but when I’m in a pinch, nothing beats good ol’ fashioned push ups… or anything incorporating that motion in your body. Yoga is awesome for this as well – if you ask me, and.. well, you did ask me! – because between plank position, upward-facing dog/cobra, downward-facing dog, andthe side dog… you get plenty of opportunities to work out that upper body (as well as get a little definition in your shoulders and arms, as well!)
In short, with weight loss definitely comes booby loss, because sometimes our eating habits call for more fat to go there than the body originally intended. If you’ve fallen in love with what you’ve got, get ready to kiss the girls goodbye (not literally, maybe?) but know that with a little patience and a lot of work (and lots of water, too.. don’t forget that), you can definitely get your boobies back in shape right along with the rest of your body!
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Edit: I’m on a timeline with work, so I can’t respond to all of the comments the way I’d usually respond… but I see a lot of you running into trouble with exercise because of your boobs? Um, what are y’all doing? Hanging upside down by your ankles or something? I wasn’t running, jogging, dancing and whatnot when I first started losing my boobs. I was walking. It doesn’t require you to jump out and be Miss Fitness 2010 to see results. I walked with my daughter 7 nights a week for approximately 45 minutes each time. I’m serious… y’all are gon’ kill yourselves with all that boobage bouncing around trying to lose weight. I’d strongly recommend less bouncy activities (they do exist) until you can shrink it down to a size accommodated by proper sports bras anyway, or you risk weakening those ligaments I mentioned earlier. Some might rail me for that, but if they’re big enough to hit you in the face, then all that pressure is also rough on your back.. and I’m way more worried about that. We don’t want to make a bad situation worse. Seriously… ladies, take it slow! You might want to bounce around… but don’t. Find better ways to get it in that work for you and your body!