If you want to get rid of those man boobs, then you need to know what caused your man boobs in the first place.
As a personal trainer, the first thing I tell anyone who comes to see me about man boobs, is they should go and see their doctor.
It's important to get a diagnosis, so you know the cause of your man boobs.
What if you have an estrogen secreting tumor, hyperthyroidism, or chronic liver disease? Gynecomastia is sometimes caused by life-threatening conditions, and the only way to be safe is to go and see your doctor.
But hey, I understand. You're a guy. Us guys are reluctant to see doctors.
If you're hell-bent on not seeing your doctor, then you should at least get some blood tests done.
If your blood tests are messed up, then you should definitely go and see a doctor, you won't need me to push you.
If your blood tests are normal, you should still see a doctor, but hey, it's your choice, I can't force you.
So it's your choice…
- You can pick up a sniper rifle and take out the root cause of your man boobs with precision (i.e. get a blood test)…
- or you can carry on as you are with the blindfolded shotgun approach.
Another Reason Why Everyone With Man Boobs Should Get A Baseline Blood Test
It's impossible to know if you have some underlying disease that's giving you man boobs, unless you see a doctor and get tested.
But let's say for a moment that you're perfectly normal, you don't have any underlying illness, and your man boobs are there because you've just got a little extra body fat.
If this is the case you should still get a blood test, and here's why…
A baseline blood test done today, will help you know if the methods you are using are working.
As I explain in my program, How To Lose Man Boobs Naturally, the reason you have man boobs is because something in your body is causing you to have a hormone imbalance, like more of the female hormone estrogen than the male hormone testosterone.
So losing man boobs is all about balancing out these hormones: increasing testosterone levels and reducing estrogen levels.
If today, you started to use one of my methods to boost your testosterone levels, how will you know this method is working unless you're actually monitoring your testosterone levels?
Sure, you can monitor your progress by measuring the size of your man boobs over time, but changes in your hormones happen a lot quicker than changes in your physical appearance.
Monitoring your hormones will help you gauge which methods are working and which methods are not.
How To Get Hassle-Free Blood Tests
Thankfully, getting a blood test isn't the same arduous process it used to be in the past.
Nowadays you can get reliable, doctor approved blood tests done conveniently–without a doctor's order.
It's as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- You order and pay for the blood tests you want online.
- Visit a local lab for a blood draw.
- Wait to receive your results within 24-48 hours, confidentially via email.
And that's it!
Imagine, just two days from now you could be looking at that results table and know exactly what's causing your man boobs.
You'll know exactly what you need to do to get rid of your man boobs, rather than shooting in the dark like you are today.
What Blood Tests Should You Get Done?
- Thyroid-stimulating Hormone (TSH)
A low TSH indicates hyperthyroidism.
Hyperthyroidism is a common cause of gynecomastia, because it increases the estrogen to testosterone ratio.
- Renal (Kidney) Function Test
Renal (kidney) failure leads to gynecomastia due to decreased testosterone levels.
- Hepatic (Liver) Function Test
Your liver is responsible for breaking down sex hormones. When your liver is impaired, estrogens accumulate in your body and excess male hormones are aromatized into yet more estrogen.
- Testosterone (Total and Free)
Reduced testosterone levels directly lead to man boobs. The causes of low testosterone are endless, ranging from disease, to obesity, stress, insomnia and medication.
- Luteinizing Hormone (LH)
LH is secreted by the pituitary gland in your brain. It signals your testes to produce testosterone.
When your testosterone levels are low, your pituitary gland secrets more LH in order to encourage your testes to produce more testosterone.
When your testosterone levels are high, your pituitary gland secretes less LH in order to reduce how much testosterone is produced by your testes.
If your blood test shows low testosterone and high LH, it means there's something wrong with your testes (e.g. testicular failure, Klinefelter's syndrome)
If your blood test shows low testosterone and normal or low LH, it means there's something wrong with your pituitary gland.
- Estrogen
High levels of the female hormone estrogen directly lead to man boobs.
You can get high estrogen from estrogen secreting tumors and from external estrogen exposure, e.g. from exposure to BPA in plastics.
You can also get high estrogen levels when you're exposed to unusually high levels of testosterone (e.g. from testosterone replacement therapy or testicular tumor). The excess testosterone is converted into estrogen by the enzyme aromatase.
- Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG)
Most of the testosterone in your body is bound to a protein called SHBG. Testosterone bound to SHBG is inactive, that's why you need to measure both total testosterone and free testosterone.
Free testosterone is the portion of testosterone that isn't bound to SHBG and is free to act on your tissues.
High SHBG can lead to man boobs, by decreasing free testosterone levels.
If your SHBG levels are high, then lowering it can lead to higher levels of free testosterone.
- Beta hCG
Beta hCG levels are elevated in testicular tumor.
Just so you know, beta hCG levels are also elevated in pregnancy, so they are also used as a pregnancy test.
- DHEA Sulfate
DHEA is produced mostly by the adrenal glands. It is used to make testosterone.
Like testosterone, unusually high levels of DHEA (e.g. due to adrenal cancer or hyperplasia) are aromatised into estrogen, which can lead to man boobs.
- Serum Prolactin
Prolactin is secreted by the pituitary gland in your brain.
High levels of prolactin (e.g. due to a prolactin secreting tumor) inhibits the release of gonadotropin releasing hormone, which thereby results in less LH secretion (LH is a gonadotropin), and hence less testosterone production.
I used to recommend what was once a solid reliable lab for doing hormone tests with, but I'm not sure of their reputation of late. When I find a reputable one again in future, I'll be sure to update this post.
Once you've got your results, provided there's no underlying medical condition that's causing your man boobs, you can start getting to work at using natural methods to finally get rid of your man boobs once and for all.
Hi Garry.
Thanks for the great info.
I was wondering if you think the following supplements (tablets) will help me as they strongly relate to the hormones above.These supplements come straight from Vince Gironda’s book “Unleashing the wild physique”
Kelp (10×150mcg iodine tablets per meal)
Complete vitamin B complex (5×daily)
Vitamin c (5×500mg daily)
Digestive enzymes (2×per meal)
Omega 3 fish oil (5×daily)
Choline and inositol (2500mg of each daily)
Olive oil capsule (5×daily)
Calcium (5×per meal)
Now of course this may seem alot of supplements especially the top one 50 kelp tablets a day. But according to vince, low thyroid is the number one reason for slow metabolism and increased fat accumulation. Kelp increases thyroid hormones and contains 44 natural sea minerals. The choline and inositol supplements help with fat metabolism via the liver. Also help when you have non alcoholic fatty liver.
The only problem with these supplements is that i buy them from a local health store in London called “Holland and Barrett” and they all contain maltodextrin in their ingredients. So Garry, will that cause an insulin spike? or not because i guess all supplements contain trace amounts of carbs. And the reason why i am asking is because i am also following vince’s maximum definition diet where i am meant to be eating zero carbs (tuna fish and supplements only). Vince used to get his supplements from NSP nutrition but they have closed down. So i was wondering if you could help?
Hi Sarmad
I know Holland and Barret, and I don’t advise getting ANY supplements from that place because they pay no heed whatsoever to artificial and unhealthy additives in their supplements.
I advise avoiding maltodextrin. It spikes blood sugar, suppresses growth of probiotics, and it’s made from GMO corn. It may not be a big deal if you’re just taking one supplement containing maltodextrin, but when it comes down to taking multiple supplements, there’s no evidence to show that it’s safe.
I get my supplements online, where you have a greater range of organic and/or all-natural supplements to choose from that come with no harmful additives. See if you can find better alternatives on Amazon.
Hi Garry,
Firstly, thank you very much for the really quick reply. But how safe would it be to buy supplements from Amazon? How would I know if the supplements contain what the container actually says? And would it be safe to trust Holland and Barrett for buying calcium, vitamin d and fish oils because maltodextrin is not on their ingredients list? Last time I bought Kelp from H&B there was no mention of maltodextrin on the website but when I got the bottles via delivery, the bottles contained maltodextrin.
Secondly, since I am eating zero carbs (tuna fish, natural mineral water and supplements only), do you think this would be healthy in the long run, or is it better for me to use this diet only for a bodybuilding contest phase then change to a healthier high fat high protein diet?
Thirdly, sorry for taking more of your time but I bought your 3 books, HTLMBN, chest sculpting blueprint and also PHIIT a long time ago, but they all go into detail about compound exercises. As an amateur bodybuilder what isolation exercises do you believe are great for building biceps, triceps, forearms, rear delts, traps, hamstrings and calves? And do you believe in carb loading and natural diuretics for bodybuilding shows?
And finally, just out of curiosity, if you don’t mind, where are you based, London/ Los Angeles / New York/ Toronto…?
Thanks Garry
Sarmad