Question for the lifting crowd (women pls)...

AmandaLeighisme

I've been working on myself for the past few months - mostly just not overeating and trying to move more. But I feel like to really make some changes, I need to add bigger and better things into my routine.
Lucky for me, there's a sizable home gym in my parents' garage. Dumbbells, barbells, little girly weights, benches, a rowing machine... you get the picture. My dad's in pretty good shape.
Anyway, I've been considering adding some weight lifting to my routine because otherwise I have the strength of a toddler. I'd like to build practical strength, if that makes sense. Like I'd like to be able to say "I can pick up/move a person in an emergency situation" (a goal I fully understand is not going to happen for a while even if I were to start lifting this second).
But my question is - how has the loss of chest (boobs) been for the ladies who lift/bench considerable amounts (like weights in the range of a person)? I know with any fat loss, the body doesn't really discriminate between flabby thighs and fatty breast tissue.
Any insight would be awesome, I'm just trying to do all the research possible so I know what to do for what I want and best reach my goals.


A

usmcmp

Lifting has no real impact on boobs. Boobs are fat and tissue. Lifting may help firm the muscle under the breasts, but it would add minimal perk to them. Boobs and pecs are very different parts of the body.

jennifurballs

I've lost very little in my boobs. I've been lifting weights for a little over three months and I definitely see muscles in my chest, arms and shoulders. I guess it just depends on how much your boobs grew when you gained weight. Mine were always about this size. It certainly won't hurt and it will help your metabolism and burn calories. Because I have a lot of weight to lose, I do 45-50 minutes of weights and at least an hour of cardio every day. When I reach my goal weight, I'll probably cut back on the cardio and focus more on weights because I enjoy it so much more. Rowing is a great exercise for your whole body!

AmandaLeighisme

USMCMP:
Yeah, I get that. I guess I just fear that I'll end up too flat because I have a more sculpted chest... does that make sense?
I just like my boobs and I don't want to lose like 4 cups because I exercised them away. It's shallow, I know.
Also, this isn't to say that I don't want to lose any inches off my chest. My D's can certainly go down some without much protest from me. I just don't want to end up like an A-cup because of this.

Jennifurballs:
I've never particularly been in good shape fitness-wise (I've always been a weakling). But the last time I was the weight that I'm aiming for now, I was a pretty full C cup, so I'm hoping that's about the size my boobs feel best at.
I definitely loved the rowing machine but since it was moved out to the garage I'm sad because it's been 95+ lately and I'm not gonna go bake myself in a hot garage. I'll die.

Thank you both for getting back to me so quickly. Like I said I'm just incredibly shallow when it comes to that and I figured I'd ask people who do lift what their experiences have been.

yopeeps025

in for moobs getting smaller. :happy:

pamcris

My boobs are still there lol. I haven't noticed any difference in them. I heavy lift 3x a week. Squats, bench, overhead, dead lift and rows for strength. And then I use the small dumbbells (10 lbs) the other 4 days for definition. I can see a big difference in my arms, clavicle area and shoulders, but my boobs seem the same.

AmandaLeighisme

I probably just psyched myself out seeing pictures on "ladies who lift" type blogs.

pamcris wrote: »

My boobs are still there lol. I haven't noticed any difference in them. I heavy lift 3x a week. Squats, bench, overhead, dead lift and rows for strength. And then I use the small dumbbells (10 lbs) the other 4 days for definition. I can see a big difference in my arms, clavicle area and shoulders, but my boobs seem the same.

Do you mind if I ask how heavy of weights you deal with usually??

astrampe

Why would lifting make you lose your boobs? It not as if you turn into a man becuse you lift heavy things..... Mine actually is quite a bit perkier due to bigger pecks.....

AmandaLeighisme

No, no. Of course. And I didn't mean to make anyone think I was saying weight-lifting women look mannish or anything.
I've just seen pictures (and not all of them were the body-builder women who obviously are doing a lot more than what I want) where the women have fit muscular bodies but their chests are pretty flat.
Now I can't say whether these women were particularly busty before they started working out so I could just be panicking over women whose chests never looked like mine anyways.
I just wanted to get a feel from women who actually lift weights as to whether that was a legitimate concern.
Thankfully I'm finding that I was just worrying over pretty much nothing.

ana3067

AmandaLeighisme wrote: »

No, no. Of course. And I didn't mean to make anyone think I was saying weight-lifting women look mannish or anything.
I've just seen pictures (and not all of them were the body-builder women who obviously are doing a lot more than what I want) where the women have fit muscular bodies but their chests are pretty flat.
Now I can't say whether these women were particularly busty before they started working out so I could just be panicking over women whose chests never looked like mine anyways.
I just wanted to get a feel from women who actually lift weights as to whether that was a legitimate concern.
Thankfully I'm finding that I was just worrying over pretty much nothing.

This is most likely because they are at veeery low body fat % for women. So obviously, they will lose fat in the boobs. I am small chested, I have lost size in my chest, but it is related to my diet and not my exercise habits.

AmandaLeighisme

ana3067 wrote: »

AmandaLeighisme wrote: »

No, no. Of course. And I didn't mean to make anyone think I was saying weight-lifting women look mannish or anything.
I've just seen pictures (and not all of them were the body-builder women who obviously are doing a lot more than what I want) where the women have fit muscular bodies but their chests are pretty flat.
Now I can't say whether these women were particularly busty before they started working out so I could just be panicking over women whose chests never looked like mine anyways.
I just wanted to get a feel from women who actually lift weights as to whether that was a legitimate concern.
Thankfully I'm finding that I was just worrying over pretty much nothing.

This is most likely because they are at veeery low body fat % for women. So obviously, they will lose fat in the boobs. I am small chested, I have lost size in my chest, but it is related to my diet and not my exercise habits.

I thought that low of BF% usually shows more of the "ripped" look though? Some of these women don't look like they're of a particularly low BF%, which is why I noted that I could be worrying about women who have always been on the smaller end of breast size.

ana3067

AmandaLeighisme wrote: »

ana3067 wrote: »

AmandaLeighisme wrote: »

No, no. Of course. And I didn't mean to make anyone think I was saying weight-lifting women look mannish or anything.
I've just seen pictures (and not all of them were the body-builder women who obviously are doing a lot more than what I want) where the women have fit muscular bodies but their chests are pretty flat.
Now I can't say whether these women were particularly busty before they started working out so I could just be panicking over women whose chests never looked like mine anyways.
I just wanted to get a feel from women who actually lift weights as to whether that was a legitimate concern.
Thankfully I'm finding that I was just worrying over pretty much nothing.

This is most likely because they are at veeery low body fat % for women. So obviously, they will lose fat in the boobs. I am small chested, I have lost size in my chest, but it is related to my diet and not my exercise habits.

I thought that low of BF% usually shows more of the "ripped" look though? Some of these women don't look like they're of a particularly low BF%, which is why I noted that I could be worrying about women who have always been on the smaller end of breast size.

Can you share some pictures as examples of what you are referring to? You can be a very low body fat without being "ripped." You will look "ripped" if you have the muscles built up. So... basically actual skinny people lol.

MsHarryWinston

Ok just relax and accept that lifting doesn't make you lose your boobs you will be fine. Unless you start taking steroids and T to get to world bodybuilding level. Then maybe, yeah boob shrinkage.

AmandaLeighisme

I was seeing it mostly in CrossFit competitors, if that makes any difference.

AmandaLeighisme

Yes, of course. I'm pretty sure now that my fears were unfounded. I just figured the best way to find out would be to come to people who know a thing or two.
Thank you everyone who did reply.

ana3067

A lot of these women are in the lower 20s for BF%, but they all have normal boobs to me. THey are all wearing sports bras.... of course boobs look more squished in this type of attire.

AmandaLeighisme

Guess I was just mentally comparing them to some MMA fighters?

ana3067

The MMA fighters also appear to have somewhat higher body fat.

spatty_harris

All the ladies in the crossfit picture have visible abs, which would indicate a body fat % of probably less than 15% - so quite low.

Gina Carano struggles to make 145lb cutting weight (around 10lb water, not specifically fat loss). Not sure who the other 2 are, but in my opinion, all those ladies pictured have pretty sizeable assets considering they're in sports bras.

Losing fat will make your chest smaller, lifting heavy weights will help you lose fat faster.

usmcmp

AmandaLeighisme wrote: »

ana3067 wrote: »

AmandaLeighisme wrote: »

No, no. Of course. And I didn't mean to make anyone think I was saying weight-lifting women look mannish or anything.
I've just seen pictures (and not all of them were the body-builder women who obviously are doing a lot more than what I want) where the women have fit muscular bodies but their chests are pretty flat.
Now I can't say whether these women were particularly busty before they started working out so I could just be panicking over women whose chests never looked like mine anyways.
I just wanted to get a feel from women who actually lift weights as to whether that was a legitimate concern.
Thankfully I'm finding that I was just worrying over pretty much nothing.

This is most likely because they are at veeery low body fat % for women. So obviously, they will lose fat in the boobs. I am small chested, I have lost size in my chest, but it is related to my diet and not my exercise habits.

I thought that low of BF% usually shows more of the "ripped" look though? Some of these women don't look like they're of a particularly low BF%, which is why I noted that I could be worrying about women who have always been on the smaller end of breast size.

How much boob you have when you get down to low body fat (20% and under) is entirely about how much tissue you have in your breasts versus fat. I'm a female bodybuilder with very high lean mass. I don't look "ripped" at 23% and I have large C's. When I am down past 18% I look ripped and I have small B's or A's. I've also had two kids and my boobs have always been mostly fat.

You won't know how much of your boobs will be there until you get to where you want to be. Lifting doesn't impact how much breast tissue/fat tissue you have. Lifting helps you preserve lean mass (and be stronger) through the weight loss process. It doesn't build or destroy your boobs

*hopefully they don't remove this anatomy picture.

deksgrl

^^ This. The amount of boob loss is related to the amount of fat loss. Lifting itself isn't going to cause considerable boob loss. Fat content versus other breast tissue varies from one person to the next, so how much boobs you lose with fat loss can't be predicted.

Try it and see. It's really easy to put fat back on if you don't like your look.