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Heyla all,
I figured some reassurance that this is natural would be good on this
thread. *g* This is pulled
together from a couple of sites that talk
about it; as well as my own input. :-)
So... Why Does Dieting
Cause Breast Shrinkage?
Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is you are losing
body fat.
Nice job! The bad news is that when women lose body fat, they
lose body fat everywhere, including in the breasts. It would
be great if
you could selectively reduce fat from certain places on your body and
leave it on others, but unfortunately
you can't control where the fat
comes from.
The predominant tissue causing the bust to become plump and round
really
is fat. That's right, fat... a vast matrix of adipose (fat) tissue
surrounding the mammary glands. The more
fat you store in your breasts,
the bigger, firmer, and rounder your breasts appear. The reason our
breasts shrink
during weight loss is relatively simple: fat cells in the
female breast effortlessly store excess body fat (that's why
they get
bigger when we gain weight), and -- just as fast as they store excess
fat -- the fat cells in our breasts
are the first to release stored fat
when our bodies need it for energy... like when we diet and exercise.
So, if you're
on a diet and don't do something to impede the release of
fat from the breast (especially those of you who are using
"fat-burners")...
your breasts will shrink.
How much you lose from the breasts compared to other body parts depends
on your genetic
endowment. The breasts are part glandular tissue and
part body fat. The amount of glandular tissue is genetic and can't
be
changed. The amount of body fat can be changed. If a woman has more
glandular tissue than body fat, then the reduction
in breast size with
fat loss will be minimal. If a woman has more fat than glandular tissue
in the breasts, then the
reduction will be more noticeable.
There's nothing you can do to prevent at least some size reduction when
you
lose fat. If you ever get a chance to look through the magazines at
the fitness models, you'll see that virtually 100%
of the ones who don't
have implants are flat-chested. Same thing is true for ballerinas and
any other athlete with
extremely low body fat. (Trust me - I was a
gymnast / ballerina and at 16 I was concave!!!!)
To compete successfully
in fitness or bodybuilding, women must have
extremely low body fat - like low teens or even single digits (that's
like
having NO visible body fat whatsoever). Most women don't need to go
to these extremes to look good. A body fat level in
the mid to upper
teens is better than average. If you avoiding dropping below the mid
teens in body fat %, you will
prevent major reductions in chest size.
If anything, training with weights will make your entire upper body look
better
and it will not reduce breast size below your genetic threshold.
It might even give them a slight "lifted" look because
the muscles
underneath the breasts will be more developed. This may not happen
overnight however - we will loose fat
from them; then the skin will
shrink back around their new size; and only then will the muscles be
able to show off
their new perkiness. :-)
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