Women often worry about losing weight and subsequently shrinking their boobs. However, if you’re losing weight slowly and in a healthy way, your boobs should not experience any drastic changes.
It’s important to note that all bodies are different. So, it’s completely normal that your boobs may change slightly when you lose weight.
Weight Loss
When you lose weight, whether it’s due to a diet or surgery (both of which are great!), your overall body fat will shrink, and some of that will come from the chest. But it’s important to remember that spot reduction isn’t a thing, and the breasts are composed of more than just fat, according to Shape magazine. There’s fibrous tissue, which acts as the skeleton, and glandular tissue that makes and pumps out milk, and then fatty tissue, which gives your boobs their size and round shape. So when you lose weight, your boobs can get smaller and more saggy, depending on how much fatty tissue has been lost.
To prevent this, you can try exercising to strengthen the pectoral muscles in your chest. This can help hold up your boobs, especially if you’re losing weight slowly over time. Fast weight loss, on the other hand, can lead to a faster change in your cup size.
Estrogen Levels
Estrogens are hormones that play a major role in female reproductive health. They stimulate the growth of secondary sex characteristics like breasts during puberty and promote menstruation, pregnancy, and other reproductive functions in women. They also help regulate other body systems in both males and females, including heart, bone, and muscle health. Estrogens are made in the adrenal glands, which sit on top of each kidney, and in body fat. The most common estrogens are estradiol (E2), which is produced in the ovaries, and estriol (E3), which reaches peak levels in the placenta during pregnancy.
Some people, especially transgender women, begin to notice nipple development as soon as they start taking estrogen. This is because estrogen stimulates the tissue that makes up the nipple, and this stimulation is combined with the natural redistribution of body fat to create fuller breasts.
People who are more than 50 years old and on gender-affirming hormone therapy typically experience less dramatic changes, but they can still experience nipple growth. This is because women in their late 40s and early 50s are often entering perimenopause, which means that their estrogen and progesterone levels are beginning to decline.
Low estrogen can occur for a variety of reasons. Many times, it’s a sign of approaching menopause or an underlying condition like nutritional deficiency or genetic conditions like Turner syndrome that prevent the ovaries from producing enough estrogen. Other times, it can be caused by cancer treatments or surgery to remove the ovaries.
Bone Structure
Your skeleton is made up of 206 bones. The outside of each bone is solid and rigid, a hardened structure called compact bone (say: KON-tuh-bull). Inside each bone is a honey-comb shape of holes called trabecular (say: tr-BEK-ul) bone. This is like scaffolding or a sponge and provides support for the compact bone. This spongy bone protects the inner part of each bone, called the marrow (say: MAIR-oh). Marrow is where your blood cells are made. In many bones, the marrow turns into fatty tissue as you get older.
Most of the bones in your body are round. But there are some exceptions, including the bones in your legs and pelvis. The bones in your pelvis form a bowl-shaped structure that protects the organs of the lower digestive and reproductive systems.
Each leg is attached to the pelvic bones and a long, slender bone in your back called the ilium. The ilium attaches to your spine, which is made up of 33 bones called vertebrae (say: VEE-tuh-bree). Your spine lets you bend and twist, but it also protects your spinal cord, which sends messages from the brain to the rest of your body.
The front of your ribcage is a flat bone called the breast bone, or sternum. The sternum can be flat or curved, and it might sit level with your ribs or it may be higher.
Muscle
You’ve likely heard that working out your chest can make your breasts bigger and perkier. But here’s the bad news: Your boobs don’t contain muscles, and they’re made up of fat. So, while chest workouts may tone and strengthen the pectoral muscles that lie underneath your boobs, they won’t increase their size.
That’s because your breasts are primarily composed of glandular tissue and fat. The fat in your breasts helps give them their soft texture and the shape that we associate with a “fuller bust.” Any time you lose weight, you’ll lose some fat, but it’s not possible to selectively lose body fat from a certain area (like your boobs).
Your pectoral muscles do play an important role in helping us perform exercises that involve pushing, like push-ups. And, according to Ruchika Rai, women’s health and fitness coach and founder of the Combat Yogini Program, exercising your chest can help make them a little “perkier.” But, she stresses that they’ll never be as big as you can get them through breast augmentation. That’s because your boobs don’t have any muscles in them, but your pectoral muscles do. So, if you want bigger boobs, you’ll have to work those muscles harder.
See Also:
