Tag: fitness

“Can I get rid of my man boobs quickly and naturally?”

Awkward phrase? Sure.

But that’s not gonna get us to shy away from the topic here on Nerd Fitness.

We work on solutions to questions just like this with our Online Coaching Clients: awkward questions and challenging situations that are tough to talk about, but can be helped!

This is what we do, and we’re really good at it.

Today, let’s tackle the “moobs” situation head-on by covering all of the following in this MASSIVE guide:

• What are “man boobs?” (Gynecomastia vs Pseudogynecomastia)
• Can you get rid of “man boobs”?
• Can exercises target chest fat?
• The best workouts for reducing “man boobs” (Strength Training 101).
• The science of fat loss (Proper nutrition and “moobs”).
• What should I be eating to lose “moobs”?
• Does soy cause “man boobs?”
• Do I actually have gynecomastia?
• Can I boost my testosterone naturally to reduce gynecomastia?
• How to start reducing “man boobs” (Step-by-step action plan).

Okie dokie, let’s jump in!

What are “Man Boobs”?

Let’s chat about some medical definitions, because it’ll help us put “man boobs” in some proper context.

• Gynecomastia is defined as the benign growth of the male breast glandular tissue. The National Institute of Health states it’s usually caused by “increased estrogen activity, decreased testosterone activity, or the use of numerous medications.”^[1]
• Pseudogynecomastia is when male breasts are enlarged by fat deposits, due to an increase in body fat which distributes itself on one’s body according to genetics.

Most men who struggle with “man boobs” or “moobs” are in this second category, and the “pseudo” means they don’t really have the condition “gynecomastia.”

There is no hormonal imbalance.

Instead, the body is just storing extra fat in the chest area.

I’ll mostly be talking about shedding body fat and building muscle to lose “moobs,” but I will also talk about gynecomastia and medical conditions later.

Next up!

Can You Get Rid of Man Boobs?

Why do some men store fat in their chest?

We all process and store calories differently in our bodies.

And how our body stores excess calories is a critical concept for our discussion on “man boobs.”  

If you eat more calories than you burn, day after day, month after month, year after year, your body has to do something with all that extra energy.

If we’re sedentary, more often than not, the body will choose to store that energy as fat to be used for later.

Depending on our genetics, our body might choose to store that fat in our butt, gut, thighs, or chest.

Probably a combination of all those things.

And for some of us, a large portion of that body fat deposits itself in our chest area.

And thus, man boobs.

So, in order to start reversing the process, we need to have a two-pronged approach to tackling the “moobs” problem naturally and safely:

Exercise and nutrition.

Specifically, strength training and calorie restriction.

If you are somebody that wants EXACT instruction and a nutritional plan that is designed to help you reduce your man boobs, check out Nerd Fitness Coaching. We’ve helped people just like you do this the right way.

Can Exercises Target Chest Fat?

Fat and muscle are two different ‘systems’ in our body.

Fat sits on top of the muscle, like oil on water.

When we target a specific area for weight loss, like with a Thighmaster, all we’re really doing is exercising the muscle underneath the fat on our thighs.

And don’t get me wrong – this is GREAT (the muscle, not the Thighmaster).

More muscle is a good thing.

And yup, any exercise will result in calories burned – which is crucial when it comes to fat loss.

However, we need to think of the other systems as well:

The fat resting on top.

So, the path to get rid of “man boobs” centers on three points:

1. Eating a caloric deficit (consuming fewer calories than you burn) so that our body has to break down our fat stores (including the fat stored in our chest) for energy. You can calculate how many calories you should eat to start.
2. Strength train so more calories are diverted to rebuilding our muscle mass rather than getting stored as fat.
3. Strength train (again) to build up the muscle under the fat. Muscular pecs with a low body fat percentage look dramatically different than man boobs.

Here’s why: strength training preserves the muscles we have (and can help build pectoral muscles).

Our body also has to rebuild the muscle that breaks down while we exercise, so it uses any extra calories we have to do that rather than storing it as fat!

Think of it kind of like the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter (come on, this is Nerd Fitness after all).

When we strength train, our body will act like The Sorting Hat and divert calories coming into House “Rebuild Muscle” and away from House “Store As Fat.” 

It’s a message we really strike home in our video for Body Recomposition:

For more, check out our guide on “Losing Fat and Gaining Muscle At the Same Time.”

With a strategy of slight caloric restriction combined with enough protein and heavy strength training, we’re decreasing the body fat on top of our muscle, while also building up that same muscle underneath.

This results in tighter skin, with less padding (fat), stretched over firmer muscles.

And boom – confidence-boosting pecs that would make King Leonidas proud!

Said another way, we’ll be coming at “man boobs” from the outside and inside.

The Best Workouts for Reducing “Man Boobs”: strength Training

If we’re currently sedentary, the best form of exercise to help build a confidence-boosting physique would be strength training.

In our opinion, strength is a foundational component of overall health.

We’ll get started in three areas:

1. Build up oour pectoral muscles (chest muscles under your “man boobs.”)
2. Same with broadening our shoulders.
3. We can also improve our posture to make sure we stand tall and proud, puffing our chest out and pulling our shoulder blades back.

In order to accomplish each of these goals, we’re gonna focus on building up strength in our PUSH muscles and our PULL muscles. 

Our first stop will be push-ups, a foundational exercise for developing upper body strength.

We show the correct way to do one right here:

I don’t care if you need to do them from your knees or doing an elevated push-up:

KNEE PUSH-UP

ELEVATED PUSH-UP

We all start somewhere, and the name of the game is progressive overload – getting stronger with each workout!

In addition to the push-up, let’s consider the following as the best 5 Advanced Chest Exercises.

These are the types of exercises we build into the workout programs for our Coaching Clients looking to reduce chest fat and build up muscle in that area:

#1) Bench press (barbell or dumbbell).

If one piece of equipment is visually associated with a fitness gym, it would be a bench press. If you’ve never used one before, check out our guide on using a bench press safely right here.

#2) Incline bench press.

We can also work on an incline bench press to develop a more rounded-pectoral muscle that targets your upper chest.

#3) Overhead presses.

Not only can our pectoral muscles help push forward, they also get worked out when we do an overhead press (though much less so than the bench press variations.)

Varying chest exercises is a good way to help attack all different sides and parts of our chest and build well-rounded pectorals.

Here’s a dumbbell variation if you can’t train with a barbell yet:

#4) Bodyweight Dips (ADVANCED)

Once we start to develop some serious strength, we can start to level up your advanced bodyweight training with bodyweight dips! 

#5) Dumbbell Chest Fly (ADVANCED)

The dumbbell fly is another great exercise that targets the chest.  This is one you want to make sure you do with good form. Lie on a bench like you are about to do a dumbbell bench press (but you’ll want to use MUCH lighter weights to start.) Keep your elbows slightly bent and your chest puffed up. Reach to the sides until you feel a great stretch RIGHT in the chest muscle, and then come back to the starting position.

As we cover in our “how to build your own workout” guide, make sure to do a push exercise in every workout to start building up pectoral muscles. 

Again, start with push-ups.

Start doing them today.

Again, if you can’t do a regular push-up, a knee push-up is totally fine.

Just do them.

After you get cozy with push-ups, move onto the above advanced moves or follow some of the following workouts:

• Beginner Bodyweight Workout
• Beginner Strength Training Workouts
• Beginner Gym Workouts – 6 Levels

I asked the male members of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion about man boobs, and many have reported improving their appearance with these pectoral exercises.

Outside of improving man boobs, strength training will make every other aspect of your life better.

Bringing groceries in from the car, doing that thing that consenting adults do, and defending yourself against ninjas will all be much easier after strength training.

Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t include two other exercises that can change your life:

#1) Barbell Squats 

#2) Barbell Deadlifts

These two basic barbell movements are the most ‘efficient’ exercises at building strength and burning fat.

They recruit your central nervous system and every muscle, joint, tendon, and bone in our body to get stronger.

In fact, if you could only do 4 exercises for the rest of your life, I would say:

1. Squats
2. Deadlifts
3. Push-ups
4. Pull-ups

Show me somebody who is super strong at those four movements, and I’ll show you somebody who has a great physique.

Seriously, don’t neglect those PULL muscles!

This exercise might seem counterintuitive: why work on your back muscles if we’re trying to build up the muscle in our pecs?

Balance and posture.

By building strength in our PULL muscles, we strengthen and tighten our back muscles. This will naturally cause us to pull our shoulder blades back and down into proper position, and give us a better posture. 

If we ONLY do chest exercises, we’re more likely to get out of balance, which leads to contracted chest muscles, hunched shoulders, and poor posture. 

Here are some options for building up our back muscles and improving our posture:

#1) Dumbbell Rows 

#2) Bodyweight Rows

#3) Pull-ups (here’s how to do proper pull-ups)

And if you can’t do a pull-up yet, here’s a great pull-up progression that will show you how to do assisted pull-ups to build up strength, like so:

Too long didn’t read: get strong, and your life will get better.

Build muscle in the right places, and it can help you reduce “man boob” problems.

Now, if you’re all:

“Steve this sounds awesome. I want to strength train, but damn man. I’m already self-conscious enough about my man boobs.

How the hell do I get enough confidence to go into a gym when I don’t know what I’m doing!”

Great question.

If you want expert guidance, form checks, and a custom build workout (and nutritional guidance) to help you transform your physique, we have a private, 1-on-1 coaching program that spurs nerds into action.

Also, you don’t even NEED a gym to train (it might sketchy thanks to the pandemic). Here’s exactly how to start working out from home. 

Okay, we talked about exercise.

And I mentioned “nutrition” as a MAJOR component when it comes to weight and fat loss.

80-90% of “how to get rid of man boobs” will rest on how we answer the question: “What do I normally eat?”

The science of fat loss (Proper nutrition and “moobs”)

TOUGH LOVE ALERT:

I can almost guarantee that your man boobs are NOT a result of a slow metabolism or genetics (outside of how your body stores excess body fat).

It’s due to the fact that you have been consistently overeating, day in, and day out, for years. 

Once you’re done being mad at me and defensive about this, you’ll realize this is great news!

Why? Because it’s fixable.

You are not broken.

You simply need to change how you deal with food.

To do that, we’re going to focus on sustainable changes.

After all, temporary changes create temporary results.

And we want to get rid of man boobs permanently.

So, in order for us to lose body fat, we need to expend more calories than our body consumes, consistently.

Let’s put some numbers to this: 3,500 calories equals roughly one pound of fat.

So if we do the math here:

• There are seven days in a week.
• If we want to lose one pound of body fat in a week (a worthy, sustainable goal for some), we need to create a caloric deficit of 500 calories a day.
• We can do this by consuming 500 fewer calories, burning 500 more calories, or a combination of the two.

Remember this: a daily 500-calorie deficit compared to how we normally eat to lose a pound a week.

(Note: in our coaching program, we’ve found clients have the most success targeting 0.5%-0.75% of their body weight per week as a fat loss goal. This is fast enough to see consistent results and stay motivated, while not SO restrictive that it’s completely unsustainable.)

What does 500 calories look like?

Here are two examples:

• The number of calories found in a Big Gulp of Mountain Dew.
• An estimate of the calories required to run five miles.

Hopefully, those two dots above made your head explode.

“Steve, you’re saying that in order for me to counteract just sipping on a Mountain Dew while owning noobs in Fortnite, I’d need to run 5 miles?

I haven’t run a mile since gym class. And that was 15 years ago.”

Yup.

Nutrition is 90% of the equation when it comes to weight loss.

NINETY. PERCENT.

Okay, I don’t actually know the exact percentage, but 90% is dramatic enough.

I hope to get you to realize that changing your nutrition is the most important thing you can do to reduce “man boobs.”

Sure, exercise is important.

However, when it comes to creating a caloric deficit, it’s much easier to decrease calories consumed vs. increase “calories burned.”

Put a different way: would you rather pour out that Mountain Dew, or run five miles?

Let’s tie together our discussion on “man boobs” with our philosophy on fitness: we’re eating too much, and our body is choosing to store these calories wherever it sees fit.

Unfortunately in this situation, it’s choosing to store them in our chest area.

We can’t change the past.

But we can change your future…and you won’t even need a wacky scientist.

This is why we’re gonna reverse the trend: eat a caloric deficit, consistently, until we reach our goal. Then learn how to eat AT our caloric needs to sustain it for the long run.

Over time, our body will respond by burning fat from certain areas, in a certain order (again, this is out of our control).

As our body fat percentage drops far enough, it should start to remove the body fat from your pectoral area.

We have two paths forward.

PATH ONE: Count calories. If you’ve never done this before and are interested in trying, we recommend recording every meal and morsel for 3-5 days to start. (We can use a food journal, a calorie-counting app like MyFitnessPal, etc.

It’ll teach you a lot about the food you eat, and yourself. From there, calorie counting can be a viable strategy for SOME to continue to monitor and dial in their caloric intake. For about 25% of our coaching clients, this is the process that works for them.

As for how many calories we SHOULD eat, see our Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) Calculator.

It works, but boy is it challenging.

PATH TWO: follow our “simple plate” approach from our Healthy Eating Guide. Learn portions sizes, and start making slightly better choices. Focus on getting enough protein and veggies and cut back on liquid calories. Over 60% of our coaching clients find this method to be more sustainable and successful for them in the long-run.

I know that overhauling one’s diet is easier said than done.

But it’s time to take a proactive approach to nutrition.

You’re reading this article because man boobs are a real problem for you – educate yourself on what you’re eating and work on cutting back on the calories!

And that’s what we’ll cover in the next section: what foods to eat that will help you reduce your calories without you being miserable.

What should I be eating to lose “moobs”?

The Nerd Fitness philosophy on what constitutes a ‘healthy food’ can be written like this:

“Foods I can eat frequently that give me enough fuel to get through the day AND don’t make me miserable.”.

I lay it all out in our Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Eating, but this generally equates to foods like:

• Protein like poultry, meat, low-fat dairy, and legumes.
• Fruits and vegetables.
• Healthy carbohydrates like rice and quinoa.
• Healthy fats like almonds and olive oil.
• Occasional full-fat cheese and dairy.

These are the types of foods that form the foundation of a well-balanced diet.

Do you know WHY these types of foods help with weight loss?

Because if we stick mostly to this list, we’ll likely create a caloric deficit naturally.

But why tho?

The fine folks at WiseGEEK did an awesome post where they took pictures of what 200 calories of a certain food look like.

200 calories of broccoli gets you enough broccoli to fill up an entire plate:

Or half a Snickers bar:

Yeah. And who eats half a Snickers and says “I’ll save the other half for later?” 

Literally nobody.

If we want to create a caloric deficit consistently, focusing on foods that give you a ton of bang-for-your-buck from a nutrients vs calories standpoint is the answer.

Of course, I know a Snickers bar is way more delicious than broccoli – it was designed in a lab by scientists to be AMAZING!

And I’m not gonna tell you to never eat a Snickers ever again either.

Instead, we need to start being proactive about our food choices. If we’re gonna eat a Snickers, we better damn well be planning for that by reducing our calorie intake elsewhere.

And if the scale isn’t budging, and our man boobs aren’t getting smaller – we’re still eating too much!

Should we do the Mediterranean diet? Keto? Vegan?

Paleo?

Maybe!

They all follow the same premise: by changing the foods we eat, we’re more likely than not to eat a caloric deficit. Certain people respond better to certain diets than others.

I personally follow a mental model diet, summarized here:

1. Minimize and plan for processed food – they’re designed for us to overeat them. Take a look again at that Snickers bar. Do you really think you’d only eat half of one to stick to 200 calories? Of course not.
2. Eat veggies. Vegetables are nutrient-dense and light on calories. Because of all the fiber, they are also tough to overeat. Imagine eating all that broccoli. Are you going for seconds? Probably not. So eat your veggies to help keep you full. Here’s how to make vegetables taste good.
3. Avoid liquid calories. Cut back dramatically on soda, juices, smoothies, and any beverage with calories. Even most coffee orders (with sugar, cream, etc.) have a ton of hidden calories. Stick to water, and unsweetened tea or black coffee. Here are our thoughts on diet soda.
4. Prioritize protein. Our body uses protein as the building block of muscle rebuilding. Outside of repairing our body, protein will also work to keep us full and satiated: 400 calories of chicken will leave us wayyy more full than 400 calories worth of Gatorade.^[3] If you prioritize protein on your plate, you’ll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting on proper nutrition. Some great sources of protein include chicken, eggs, beef, pork, fish, nuts, legumes, quinoa, and most dairy products. Check out our Guide to Protein to measure how much protein you need every day.

These four points will help you on your journey to create a caloric deficit.

I know this is much easier said than done. After all, everybody knows they should eat more vegetables, and yet 70% of the country is overweight.

Clearly, there’s more happening here than just “I need willpower and I need to try harder!”

If you’re struggling with portion control and challenges, jump fully into the NF community.

We cover human behavior and psychology to help you:

• Improve your environment.
• Fix your habit-building.
• Surround yourself with people that make you better (including our free private community).

We’ve helped thousands of people like you here at NF, and we really focus on nutrition.

As we said, it’s 90% of the battle!

It’s why we created our 10-level nutritional system. Each level gets a bit more challenging and healthier, but you can progress at your own speed to make your changes stick!

I’ll send you the 10-Level Guide when you sign up for our newsletter here.

Does Soy Cause Man Boobs?

You don’t have to search far on the internet for the advice “avoid soy because it causes man boobs.”

It’s repeated so much, it’s assumed to be fact.

Is it?

The definition of gynecomastia (medical condition of man boobs) mentions “increased estrogen activity” as a major cause.

So when people say stay clear of soy, they’re worried about its impact on hormones like testosterone and estrogen.

Why the concern?

It comes down to a compound found in soy called “isoflavones.” Isoflavones are a type of phytoestrogen, which acts a little like estrogen, the central female hormone.

“Phyto” is derived from Greek and means “plant.” “Estrogen” is estrogen. So phytoestrogen more or less means plant-derived estrogen.

The fear of isoflavone rests with our bodies using this plant-like estrogen as actual estrogen. A report from Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology found that this is potentially possible.^[4]

I should now note, we are about to wade into a controversial subject.

We’ll be careful and rely on good old-fashioned science and studies for guidance.

However, sometimes science can point us in a couple of different and contradictory directions. When this happens, it’s important to acknowledge the uncertainty.

Compounds in soy may act like estrogen in the body. Does this apply to men though? And do they cause “man boobs?”

A 2005 study out of The Journal of Nutrition did find a relationship between soy intake and hormone levels in men.^[5] However, they concluded these to be “minor.”

In 2010, Fertility and Sterility tackled the question on whether soy had “feminizing effects on men.”

They found it didn’t.^[6]

Their report stated:

Neither isoflavone supplements nor isoflavone-rich soy affect total or free testosterone levels.

The journal concluded:

There is essentially no evidence from the nine identified clinical studies that isoflavone exposure affects circulating estrogen levels in men.

Case closed?

Probably, but I’d be remiss not to mention the following:

There is one documented case published in Endocrine Practice, where a man may have given himself gynecomastia by drinking three quarts of soy milk a day.^[7]

His gynecomastia went away when he stopped. Granted, this is anecdotal evidence, which is far from proof.

However, it is interesting and worth noting to round out this discussion. And as mentioned earlier, the ability for phytoestrogen to act as actual estrogen does seem possible…

“Steve, Just tell me: Should I ditch soy to ditch my man boobs?”

Well, as with anything, quantity and context matters. Virginia Miller, an estrogen researcher at the Mayo Clinic, told a Vice journalist:^[8]

The amount of phytoestrogens in various soy products varies by process method.

Dr. Miller didn’t think it was too problematic to eat soy, specifically mentioning that:

Eating tofu is probably OK.

Interestingly, Miller suggested that BPA found in plastic is more harmful to our endocrine (hormone) system than eating or drinking soy.^[9]

Confusing stuff.

In general, the consensus seems to be that as long as you don’t binge soy products, the amount of phytoestrogens found in a normal diet is fine.

If you have the actual condition of gynecomastia, soy is unlikely to be the root cause.

As more and more research is being done on this subject, this answer could change.

My opinion: this is a tiny piece of the puzzle…

…not the whole picture.

If we’re overeating food every day, worrying about the soy we consume is missing the forest for the trees.

That’d be like…putting on a long sleeve shirt instead of a t-shirt for added protection, before driving 50 miles an hour into a brick wall.

Instead, maybe focus on wearing a seat belt, or better yet – not driving into the wall in the first place!

I swear that analogy made sense in my head before I typed it out.

Anyways – back to real specifics.

Here is the Nerd Fitness philosophy on soy: focus on total calories consumed and get that dialed in for consistent caloric deficit.

Only THEN, as our body fat starts to decrease, and we’re analyzing how our body responds to any and ALL types of food, see how our body responds to removing soy from our diet.

Want to have an expert guide you on this process? A fitness partner to help guide you on nutrition, including eliminating and then re-introducing certain foods? You can by checking out Nerd Fitness Coaching.

Do I actually have gynecomastia?

The only way to really know if you have gynecomastia is to go to a doctor.

They’ll be able to tell you (often with an ultrasound) if it’s a glandular breast enlargement or just fatty tissue.

They might also do some blood tests to check testosterone levels and female sex hormones like estrogen.

If you have an imbalance, gynecomastia could be a side effect. They’ll know for sure and can prescribe a treatment.

Also, they can verify that something very serious isn’t going on. In very rare cases, male breast enlargement can be a sign of cancer. Yes, men can get breast cancer.^[10]

It should be noted: obesity itself is tied to increasing the development of real gynecomastia.

Excessive fat stimulates the body’s production of estrogen, spurring the growth of actual breast tissue.^[11]

Said another way:

Pseudogynecomastia can turn into actual gynecomastia.

If you are diagnosed with gynecomastia, it’ll be between you and your doctor as to the next steps. I’ve seen men take one of three paths, as I’ve read anecdotes from our private support community for Nerd Fitness:

1. Men who had elective surgery (liposuction in some instances and skin tucks) to remove the fat due to gynecomastia. They are thankful for no longer being self-conscious about their chest areas. This is not an option for everybody for various reasons.
2. Others have worked hard to reduce their man boob size through exercise and nutrition.
3. Some have elected to not treat gynecomastia, or are working to reduce the fat around their pecs through diet and exercise before deciding what to do next.

If you’re concerned with “man boobs,” weight management is the path of action we’d recommend, whether you’re facing either gynecomastia or pseudogynecomastia. 

Reducing your body fat percentage can help keep your hormones in balance.

One important note here. Your unique situation is just that: unique.

I know many men who have treated pseudogynecomastia with diet and exercise, and I know others who are VERY thankful they had surgery to treat the symptom and are much happier as a result.

No judgment here. You do you, brother.

At this point, I bet you have an additional question: “Can hormone balance be affected in the opposite direction? By increasing testosterone?”

Is there a way to boost my testosterone naturally?

If you do suspect you have a hormonal imbalance, speak with your doctor. They can run tests and tell you exactly what is going on, why, and how to treat it.

I will not be digging into medically supervised testosterone therapy (which is above my pay grade, and between you and your doctor), but here’s our guidance on naturally boosting your testosterone levels:

#1) Strength training. I know. A few sections ago I devoted an entire area to strength training.

However, if you are looking for a natural way to boost testosterone, strength training would be a good way to go about it.

One 2017 study found, that although temporary, testosterone levels were shown to: “acutely rise immediately following an acute resistance exercise bout.”^[12]

Because of the short-term increase, consistency is key with resistance training and testosterone levels. That’s likely why “regular exercise” has been linked with increased testosterone overal.l^[13]

#2) Stress. Cortisol is a hormone that is promoted by stress and reduces free testosterone levels (in addition to signaling for your body to store fat).^[14]

The more stressed out we are, the lower our testosterone will be. What’s a cure? Being mindful.

Meditation practices have been shown to help control cortisol levels.^[15] Want to start a mindfulness practice? Scope out our Nerd’s Guide to Mindfulness to get going.

Do you know what else is connected with higher cortisol levels and increased stress? Lack of sleep! If this is you, shut off Netflix and get to bed sooner.

#3) Overtraining. There can be too much of a good thing. Studies have found that both professional basketball and soccer players drop their testosterone levels by the end of a season.^[16]

Which makes sense.

Tons of activity in a short amount of time gives no time to repair and heal. The same phenomenon has been found in ultra-marathoners.^[17][[17]]That study on ultra-marathoners is right here.[[17]. Make sure you get plenty of sleep and schedule rest days.

#4) Eat red meat. Red meat is a great source of the amino acid carnitine, which has been linked to improved fertility.^[18] Plus, it’s a good source of zinc, which has also been shown to help regulate testosterone.^[19]

#5) Your results may vary. My friend Brett over at Art of Manliness did a 90-day experiment in which he doubled his testosterone levels through diet and strength training.

To be honest with you, even if you don’t have low testosterone levels, you should strength train, be mindful, and prioritize rest.

And maybe even eat a little red meat.

And yes, I read that study that says red meat will kill you. I don’t agree with the fear-mongering.^[20]

If you want help with strength training, nutrition, or even starting a mindfulness practice, check out Nerd Fitness Coaching! We help men (and women) level up their lives by providing actionable goals and accountability.

How to Start Reducing Man Boobs

So you have pseudogynecomastia.

And you’re interested in trying to do this the old-fashioned way before going down the route of surgery.

This would be my recommended path to everybody, though remember I’m not a doctor and I would recommend working with your doctor to put a plan in place together.

OUR NON-DOCTOR ADVICE FOR A DUDE TRYING TO GET RID OF MAN BOOBS NATURALLY:

1. Take front and side photos without a shirt on today. This will help give you a frame of reference as you move forward with your changes. Pictures will round out your story.
2. Consider a tape measure and take weekly chest measurements too. Just be consistent with how you take the measurements and look for overall trends! Here’s our Guide on Tracking Fitness Progress.
3. Follow the above nutritional guidance and workout routine for the next month. Remember, I gave you four tips for healthy eating. If you requested our 10-Level Nutrition Guide, it’ll help make those suggestions permanent. Plus, I want you to start doing push-ups (on your knees is a great start). Do it immediately. It’ll help prep you for those Advanced Chest Exercises I talked to you about.
4. If the scale is dropping, and your photos are showing “moob” improvement, keep it up! As I said earlier, consistency is the name of the game here at Nerd Fitness. “Slow and steady” beats “fast and quitting” every time.
5. If you want to talk to a doctor to see if anything can or should be done about it, go for it! Medical advice is generally good advice. Bonus points if you find a doctor who strength-trains and seeks to treat through nutrition and exercise first!

I do want to stress, that many male members of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion have reported improving their “man boobs” through the strategies listed in this article.

We are dealt a certain hand from the genetic lottery: whether we gain muscle quickly or slowly, whether we lose our hair or not, and whether we store fat in our legs or in our chest.

We can get mad about it, or we can play the hand we are dealt.

Until somebody develops robot legs, I’m not growing any taller.

However, let’s not justify our internal excuses, or throw ourselves too big of a pity party.

What we do with our genetic fate, is completely up to us. And we have hundreds of thousands of people in the Nerd Fitness Rebellion who have overcome shitty genetics to transform themselves dramatically.

If you want 1-on-1 help to transform yourself, we got you!

We come in all shapes and sizes: you do you.

The goal of this post is educational. To teach us how our body stores fat, and what can or cannot be done about it.

It’s more than okay to love yourself and also want to improve your physique.

Body positivity and wanting to look better are not mutually exclusive.

We’re all works in progress, and that’s great.

If you want to use this post to spur you to change, like cleaning up your diet or lifting some weights, awesome!

I’m glad Nerd Fitness can help lead you into action:

• Reduce your body fat percentage through nutritional changes (which includes eating a caloric deficit).
• Strength train to increase the amount of muscle you have, increase the “calories burned” portion of the weight-loss equation, and increase your testosterone.
• Work with your doctor if you are reducing your body fat but not seeing any changes in your chest area – you might actually have a medical condition called gynecomastia.

Want help knowing exactly how to progress from here? 

I have MULTIPLE options for you. Pick the path below that best aligns with your goals and timeline:

1) If you want step-by-step guidance on how to lose weight, eat better, and get stronger, check out our killer 1-on-1 coaching program:

2) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion. 

Sign in the box below and not only will you receive our free weight loss guide, but our step-by-step plan for starting a Strength Training practice:

I know it’s easier said than done to say “f*** the haters,” but seriously, f*** the haters.

Take your shirt off at the beach: you deserve to enjoy the sun and sea like everybody else.

We’re all a work in progress, and I hope this post helps you continue to work on yours!

-Steve

PS: No seriously, f*** the haters:

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All photo sources can be found in this footnote right here ^[21]

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Did you know today is National Respawn Day?

This is definitely true and not a holiday that I just made up.

Okay I did make it up, and it doesn’t matter what day it is – you’ve decided you want to try again, and you’re trying to make the changes actually stick this time.

Luckily, whether this is the first time you’ve had to respawn or the 50th, you’re in the right place.

I’m going to share the same step-by-step strategy we’ve used to help 15,000+ nerds restart their routines in our Coaching Program, and we’re gonna have a tiny bit of fun along the way.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Why It’s Okay to Start Again
• Restarting Step 1: Forgive Yourself
• Restarting Step 2: What Went Wrong?
• Restarting Step 3: Change a Variable
• Restarting Step 4: Respawn
• Restarting Step 5: Supercharge Your Results
• Get Back in the Fight (Next Steps)

Why It’s Okay to Start Again

So you already bailed on a goal or habit or routine this year.

Welcome to the club.

It’s called “being human!”

There are 8 billion of us.

Statistically speaking, MOST people have already abandoned the resolutions they’ve set for the year, because that’s just what humans do. ^[1]

We all start with hopes and dreams for what we hope to accomplish, but then we encounter this ugly thing called “reality.” We find out that maybe we picked the wrong goal, or we tried to do too much, or life managed to get in the way.

This is amazing news!

I like to think of life like a giant video game, which means we’ll need to get comforatble with dying, starting over, and restarting! That’s what makes a game actually fun.

As the saying goes, “Success is moving from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” So, congrats for already finding a strategy that doesn’t work for you right now.

Let’s get to work on fixing that!

First, we must…

STEP 1: FORGIVE YOURSELF

We’re often our own worst critic and our own worst enemy.

When we fail at a task or goal, that voice in our head will very quickly point out all the things we’ve done wrong or how we’ve screwed up.

We might call ourself a nasty name, or berate ourselves for not having enough discipline.

There’s another way to think about this:

• You discovered a strategy or tactic that doesn’t work for you! For example, if you went Keto and bailed, great! That’s a diet that doesn’t work for you. I personally love carbs, so Keto sounds terrible to me too!
• Treat the voice in your head like a roommate. You just both happen to occupy the same brain. Just because our brain thought something doesn’t mean it’s true! I like to think of my thoughts as if they came from Chaz, a weird roommate. He means well but he doesn’t always know what he’s talking about. Also, he has a ferret.

You’re reading this, which means you’re trying to improve your life.

You found a few methods that don’t work for you.

And you’re ready to try again.

This is amazing and should be celebrated.

As NF Coach Matt explains in the video below, “self compassion” is really important when attempting to fulfill New Year’s resolutions:

STEP 2: ASK WHAT WENT WRONG?

So, you conducted an experiment with your goals for this year, and you did not get the results you were expecting.

That’s neither a good nor a bad thing. Like any other experiment, it just… IS. You had a hypothesis (“I am going to stick with THIS diet, and THIS workout plan”), and that turned out to not be true.

Great! That’s information we can use, my scientist friend.

Let’s write down specifically what your experiment entailed. 

What were you trying to do.

• “I was going to run a mile each morning.”
• “I was going to eat strictly Paleo every day.”
• “I was going to transform into a mythical phoenix.”

Look at your list: this is a combination of variables that don’t work for you right now.

IMPORTANT POINT: Learning from the millions of people that have come through Nerd Fitness over the past decade, my guess is that your experiment didn’t work out for one of two reasons:

#1) You built an idealized goal for a romanticized few of life, not reality.

Life is chaos, and we all have a lot going on. When we expect we’re going to have a beautifully organized schedule, and our kids won’t get sick, and work won’t run late…we’re setting ourselves up for failure.

As John Steinbeck said, “Now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.”

We need a plan that fits into the chaos that is life, and is not built for a clear/easy schedule! Those don’t exist.

#2) You tried to change ALL the things:

• Your goal was 1,800 calories a day instead of your normal 3,000.
• You tried to run 7 days a week when you don’t exercise at all now.
• You said you were going to write 5,000 words a day but don’t write normally.

Instead of change all the things completely or don’t change anything, what if we changed a few things, a tiny bit?

We’re never going to get everything done, certainly not all at once. So like a video game, we need to stop trying to fight 10 level-100 dragons at the same time when we’re a wimpy level-1 wizard!

We need to pick ONE target, that’s our level, and then as we level up and get stronger, tackle bigger monsters.

So, let’s try to do less with our next experiment, okay? It’s better to succeed at ONE new habit, than it is to fail at all 10 aspirational habits!

STEP 3: CHANGE A VARIABLE IN YOUR EXPERIMENT

You’re reading this guide, which would lead me to believe you’re interested in trying again to lose weight, build muscle, and/or get in shape.

To avoid getting the same results, we need to change the variables in the experiment to try and get different results.

You know, science!

Remember, any good experiment has accurate measurements for their changing factors! You don’t just put “some uranium” in a nuclear reactor. You know the exact amount.

For your next attempt consider adjusting one of the following variables:

#1) Change the exercise variable: 

Did you actually enjoy the exercise you attempted? If you discovered that you hate running, great! Never do that again. “Exercise sucks,” so I would pick something you actually enjoy.

Did you try to exercise 5 days a week for 60 minutes a day? What if you instead decided to just go for a 5-minute walk every day to build the habit first, and then increased the difficulty?

#2) Try a substitution rather than addition: 

ADDING a brand new exercise routine into a busy schedule can be really challenging. The same might be true with severely restricting your calories, which can be really uncomfortable and make you hangry and angry.

Let’s try this instead: Substitution! Here are three examples:

• Making healthy swaps with our diet: How you eat is 80-90% of the weight-loss equation, and you’re already eating every day. So focus on substituting a vegetable for fries once a week, or swapping sparkling water for soda. You can also keep a food journal and change up your breakfast twice a week.
• Temptation bundling: combine an exercise/activity you want to do with an activity we already love: Listening to a great audiobook, but only when we’re out for a walk or on the treadmill, or joining a friend on a bike ride (to a winery or pub!).
• Do ONE activity mindfully every day: meditation is amazing for developing the skill of being present and cultivating awareness, but it might be tough for us to set aside 20 minutes to sit alone with our thoughts. So why not practice being mindful during something you’re already doing! Practice mindfulness while brushing your teeth or washing the dishes in the sink. No extra time required, all of the benefits!

#3) Adjust your “win scenario”:

I get it. You were able to train in your home gym for the first few weeks of this year, going for at least an hour.

But THEN…work got busy. And you only had 30 minutes, which wasn’t enough time to get through your workout. So why not set the win scenario at “30 minutes,” or “15 minutes,” or just “1 exercise”? Lower the bar!

This is not an on-off switch. It’s a dial that we can turn UP or turn DOWN based on how busy our life is that day:

Let’s imagine we’re on a 10-year journey, and we’re trying out all sorts of tactics, strategies, and pace of change to see what works best for us.

Doing our workout today is not nearly as important as building a routine of working out that fits into your life for the next decade.

We can stop asking, “Do I have time for my workout” and instead ask “What workout do I have time for?”

Remember that it all counts. There’s nothing that says “a workout must be 60-minutes in a gym.”

Example: if you roll out your yoga mat for 1 set of 1 exercise, it counts as a win. Doesn’t matter if did a full hour workout or just a 5 minute set of push-ups.

It all counts.

We can turn the dial all the way down, we just don’t want to turn it off.

STEP 4: RESPAWN and try again

When you play a challenging video game, you’re going to die. A lot. (I died literally thousands when playing Hollow Knight, one of my favorite games in recent memory).

What happens after you die in a game?

You respawn, and try again!

You’ve learned a new tactic or pattern. You have a new technique. You’ve uncovered a secret. You also have all the knowledge of every past attempt. You’ve also just gotten better. So you try, again.

And again.

And again.

And then you succeed, and that works for a while. Until it stops working. And then you change your tactics again and keep going.

There’s no shame in failing when it comes to our health. Life is one giant experiment, we’re all disasters, and we’re all trying our best!

Here’s Joe, who made dozens of attempts to get fit until he changed the right variable and got results:

We have hundreds of stories of normal people who kept failing, but kept reading and trying, and then finally – something clicked.

And that next attempt is the one that changed their life’s path.

This next attempt might be the one that works for you too!

Keep trying differently, keep failing differently.

You can do this!

STEP 5: SUPERCHARGE YOUR RESULTS

I know hacking your experiments to get better data isn’t exactly “scientifically smart” or “morally responsible,” but I’m the one writing this guide and we’re all friends here, right?

Once you start your new experiment, here’s how you can stack the deck in your favor:

#1) Write everything down. Write down your workouts. Write down what you eat. Treat it like a science experiment, and you’re collecting data! Plan ahead. Be PRO-active (“I will do Strength Training Workout A at 4pm and tonight I’ll have roasted chicken and bacon-wrapped asparagus) instead of RE-active (“What should I do for exercise right now?” and “Ah, what’s for dinner? Oooh, Burger King!”)

For more strategies here, check out our guide Tracking Your Fitness Progress.

#2) Recruit allies to your team. Don’t go this alone, as you’re more likely to succeed based on the people you spend time with and hang around. So recruit allies. Start spending more time with healthy people that empower you (even virtually), rather than unhealthy people that enable you and drag you down. Join a running group online. Find a lifting “accountabilibuddy,” or someone you can check in with.

We have a free Nerd Fitness Facebook group with thousands of people ready and willing to support you!

#3) Hire a professional. There are two types of coaches worth the investment:

• An in-person trainer if you are looking to supercharge your form on specific exercises like Olympic lifts, squats, deadlifts, etc. An in-person trainer can be good for people that need the accountability of somebody they’ve paid to meet them in the gym. Here’s how to find a good trainer!
• An online coach that represents mobile, worldwide accountability. I’ve had a coach for years and it’s changed my life. Knowing that I have a workout and nutrition strategy to follow each day is game-changing.

As Coach Matt explains below, sometimes “outsourcing” help can be a real game-changer when trying to get in shape (or back in shape):

GET BACK IN THE FIGHT

An old mandrill named Rafiki once taught me: “Yes, the past can hurt. But you can either run from it, or learn from it.”

Okay maybe he taught that to Simba in The Lion King, but I too learned the same lesson:

TO RECAP:

#1) Forgive yourself. You wouldn’t talk to somebody else the way you talk to yourself. So have some freaking compassion! You’re trying.

#2) Identify what experiment you JUST tried. Write down what you believe went wrong over the past few weeks. Congrats – you found a strategy that doesn’t work.

#3) Pick a new path, try a different variable. A good scientist meticulously tracks their data and writes down their hypothesis. I would change one of the following:

• Exercise: do less – focus on building the routine and doing it consistently. Here’s how to exercise in a way that doesn’t feel like exercise.
• Nutrition: change less. If you couldn’t stick with a diet for 3 weeks, it was too restrictive. Try a different path. For help, check out our Guide to Healthy Eating. It’s designed to build on one small tiny improvement over time.
• Win scenario: don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.”

#4) Then try again.

For #5 (“Supercharge your results”), I have two perfect ways to help you respawn today:

Consider our Online Coaching program, and I also send out a free newsletter twice a week to help you stay motivated and entertained.

It’s the best newsletter in the galaxy, I promise you.

For the Rebellion!

-Steve

PS: If you want more tips and tricks on how to stick to your goals this year, check out 5 Hacks to Effortlessly Build Healthy Habits in 2024.

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Photo Citation: Oh My Goodness! Shut Me Down, The Iron Giant, “Hello, old friend. Is he ready for me?”, Happy Halloween!!, At the blacksmith’s (Part 2), Medieval Blacksmith

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“Damn you Netflix, how did I just watch 10 episodes of Stranger Things, I have stuff to do!”

We’ve all been there. There are the things we know we SHOULD do, the things we NEED to do, and the things that we WANT to do.

More often than not, the WANT wins out over the NEED and SHOULD.

It’s like trying to win a tug-of-war against a tractor pulling in the opposite direction. It’s why we struggle to get to the gym after a long day of work. It’s why we opt for Taco Bell instead of taking the time to cook a healthy meal.

Today, we’re going to give you a quick life hack that can help you start leveling up your life and actually get things done that need to get done!

What is Temptation Bundling?

I bet you’ve said the following: “Before I can watch TV, I need to exercise.” And yet, TV ends up winning over exercise almost all the time, especially if it’s after a long miserable day at work.

So, instead of “if I do this, then I get this” What if we combined the two into one epic activity?

That idea is called “temptation bundling,” a term coined by Wharton Professor Katy Milkman: ultimately, you combine something that needs to be done with something you want to do.

She describes the idea in a paper entitled: “Holding The Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling.” ^[1] The goal is to get us to do things we need to do by combining them with things we want to do, removing the “either/or” temptation and getting us to ACTUALLY do stuff:

Participants were randomly assigned to a full treatment condition with gym-only access to tempting audio novels, an intermediate treatment involving encouragement to restrict audiobook enjoyment to the gym, or a control condition.

Initially, full and intermediate treatment participants visited the gym 51% and 29% more frequently.

Long story short: the people in the study who were told they could listen to addictive audio books only while working out visited the gym 51% more frequently than those who were just told they should exercise more.

Here’s some Nerd Fitness examples:

In love with the show Arrow? I am, and I want Stephen Amell to be my best friend.  Don’t say, “I can only watch Arrow after exercising.” Change your phrasing, and try this instead: “I can only watch Arrow WHILE exercising.” Bring your iPad or Laptop to the gym, and only watch particular shows while you are on a treadmill, walking, or using the elliptical.

Addicted to Clash of Clans on your phone? Only allow yourself to work on your clan while at the gym, in between sets of deadlifts. Same goes for looking at TikTok or Instagram: only while resting in between squats!

Maybe you can only listen to Serial or The Rewatchables while walking, doing a particular work task, or even completing a chore at home like cleaning or laundry. An hour episode while walking could result in you racking up 3+ miles on your walk to Mordor!

Afraid to try cooking a new healthy meal? You can ONLY listen to a podcast or music in your house while you are cooking. BLAST it at top volume while having fun making a mess trying to cook.

Now, although this study teaches us that bundling a healthy life-improvement activity with one you enjoy can help you make a change, the boost can oftentimes be temporary.

The study went on to say that the “allure” of the audiobook + gym combo wore off after a few months, thus furthering the suggestion that the best chance for long term success is to truly “enjoy the journey.”

Long story short: this can a great strategy to get started, and a great way to identify types of exercise or strategies that work for you, long term results might require leveled up strategies!

But that’s fine – we’re going to be using it to build long term habits.

Try the temptation bundle challenge

If you can implement it properly, temptation bundling can both increase your time spent doing a healthy activity while also helping you limit the unhealthy one.

Now, you might be saying, “Steve, doesn’t this make the fun activity less enjoyable and the exercise/health portion less efficient?” 

Possibly, but that’s not the point! Sure, I would love it if you went to the gym, completed a kickass workout, ate a healthy meal, and then got 8 hours of sleep.

However, this isn’t Imagination Land, and I know the best workout plan is the one you actually complete. This is infinitely better than the perfect workout plan that makes you say “meh, I’ll start tomorrow.”

So what do we do? We use temptation bundling to get us started, and then use drive to keep us going. When we build interest ih the activity itself, we shift our focus from “I’m enduring this workout” to “I can’t wait to see how much better I am this week.” The change can become permanent.

Your turn: what’s one activity that you love to do, and one that you know you should do more of? And how are you going to implement this strategy TODAY to your daily routine? Here are some other rapid fire examples:

• Are you studying or getting some work done? Get your favorite snack or beverage only when you are doing it.
• Try walking outside (or a cardio machine) – that’s now the only time you’re allowed to listen to your favorite podcast/audiobook.
• Try pairing chores like ironing, doing laundry, or cleaning dishes while watching your favorite tv shows or a new movie you’ve been waiting for.

Your turn!

What’s one temptation bundle you are going to combine and start TODAY?

-Steve

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Photo sources: Visiting Friends, A good Sunday to you, Rain doesn’t stop a photographer

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