In my Freshman year of High School I weighed in at 307 lbs, so obviously I wasn't the most attractive guy, and I had always wanted to be the one who girls talked about..etc.

So I decided to go on a diet so far the results are
Starting Weight: 307 lbs
Current Weight: 215 lbs

So I'm 92 lbs later and I've gotten alot smaller, and I also joined the football team at the same time of starting my diet to build muscle, started out benching 115 lbs, now I can bench 210 lbs so I'm decently muscular now too.

After all this I thought I'd be looking decent and for the first time am considering going to school dances etc I mean of course I want to go to my prom this year.

Anyway the point of this whole post was, even after all that weight lost I still have alot of chest fat (man-boobs if you will, and saddle bags, love handles) I cannot seem to get rid of these trouble areas and it honestly makes me stress everytime I look in the mirror. Everyone else of course says I look great, but to me it's just kind of a kick in the groin after working so hard.

Right now I work out with football team 4 times a week including weightlifting and conditioning for 4 straight hours. I also run everyday, but no big results I'm even taking a male chest reduction pill called Gynexin (if anyone has used this can you give me more input?).

My question is....any advice about these problem areas? does it just take time? am I forced into surgery? Maybe I just need to get closer to my target weight before Im going to see big big results?

P.S. I do apologize if this is in the wrong area

Thank you in advance for responses

~Andrew

Congrats on your wonderful weight loss! My husband is not much older than you (I am guessing your age) and he has the same problem areas you have. His man-boobies and love handles never disappear completely till he is around 180. Currently he has blossomed back up to 275! How tall are you? He is 6'3", to give you an idea.

Don't let your problem areas "kick you in the groin." Almost everyone has a problem area or two...or three..... or four..... Focus on what you have accomplished and how far you have come! It is a wonderful success! Just keep up the good work you are doing, because apparently whatever it is you are doing is working for you.

Have fun at the dances this year and also at prom! Think of all the calories you will burn dancing the night away.

(I am going to tell my husband to come find your thread later. )

Thank you very much for your response, I'm actually 16 now and going into my Junior year this year, and yea people always tell me that those problem areas just take some time to go away.

I think my main problem is the mental thing of it all. Everyone tells me how much better I look, but when I look in the mirror with a shirt off all I can see is the negative about myself.

It doesn't matter how many times I tell myself this though, because I can't help but think about it almost everyday, it just kind of ruins my life for me.

One thing alot of people have told me is that drinking alot of water helps and that what Im experiencing now is alot of excess skin, etc.

Anyway I do really appreciate your post ^^

Have you considered things to improve your self image such as meditation or support groups? It sounds like you were heavy for a long time and developed such a poor self image, that now you are having trouble breaking those thoughts even though you have lost a tremendous amount of weight. It can be difficult to break these negative thoughts about the self. The problem is that no matter how much you lose you will continue to find things about yourself that you hate. Learning to love and accept yourself can be the hardest thing to do. I know from experience. I really enjoy doing Yoga and meditation.

It's almost exactly as you say heh, I KNOW I look better now...I look at old pictures and say wow was that me a year ago only?

Its just like you say I was heavy for so long I have a poor self image...so poor that even though I know that I look better I can't help but just keep pointing out the negative things about myself.

I sort of do meditation thing now, but kind of for a different reason. I like to stop and take deep-breaths for 10 mins a day just because they say its healthy and you know it gives you time to just think about life.

Who cares about highschool girls? When I was in highschool, my female teachers got most of my attention.

Almost a 100 lbs weight loss. That's amazing. Congratulations.

Almost a 100 lbs increase in benchpress. That's very good as well.

I actually read an article on time because I was concerned about my man-boobs and love handles. The article was saying that even some of the skinniest boys have them and usually grow out of them by the time they're 20-ish.

I can see why people say you look great. After losing 100 lbs, people usually do look good (so long they were fat to start with).

I doubt it bro. From what I hear, chest and abs are a lot harder to work than arms and legs.

Now a question for you. You and I have almost the same body type. Do you have any pointers and tips for losing the weight? To lose 100 lbs is great and I'd like your advice on it.

I'm all too happy to give advice, my mom wanted to lose some weight after I did and she got off around 30 lbs so far.

Heres my #1 Rule, stop drinking sodas now, and when I first started dieting I thought hey DIET soda must be good for dieting, well it turns out that its worse all that caffeine will make you retain fluid weight insanely.

Try to get down at least 64 oz of water a day as not only is it healthy it also will give your skin more elasticity enabling you to have little to no excess skin after losing a large amount of weight. (Currently I down about a gallon a day which is what a friend of mine recommended).

Another huge aspect which was hard for me was snacking, when I realized how much snacking impacted my calorie intake it was horrifying, in fact cutting out snacking in between meals in itself can make you lose weight right off the bat.

Eating 3 meals a day without snacking with an average intake of 1500-2000 calories (which yes is very hard but you get used to it) is what I suggest and what I used at first which because of also me being in my teenage years I was in an ideal position to lose the weight. Another way to do it which I have recently started is eating 5-6 smaller meals in a day and incorporating percentages.

If you want my break down now it is
1500-2000 calories per day
50% protein
35% carbs
15% fat

It is very hard to start off with, but when you notice a 5+ lb weight loss in 2 weeks or less you will just think to yourself wow this is motivating.

I really hope this can help, I'm honestly considering writing a book on some weight loss techniques I use.

And of course the part where everyone always says "Proper exercise"

Well the secrets of burning fat comes with cardio exercises, and toning your muscles with weightlifting. I would suggest doing cardio for 30 mins to 1 hour at least 4 times a week. Start out with a fast pace walk and work your way up to jogging and even a little sprinting.

This is how I lost my weight, I really hope it can help you.

The one biggest thing to understand is...diets work for some people, but I don't know about you, but I was MAJORLY overweight, and I was past dieting. It's no longer a diet, but a change of life you must grow into. If I try to eat some of the stuff I used to I litereally get sick to my stomach because I can't handle it.

P.P.S. Thanks alot for your post Proud it really actually made me think about some things, and I'm thinking and hoping I'll grow out of it and you know if people can't accept me for who/what I am I guess you know I really just shouldn't hang out around them, also if you would like more in depth details etc my email is methodic31@hotmail.com