Q: Dear Fun and Fit:
I live where exercising outdoors is practically impossible and I struggle to use my indoor treadmill, Wii Fit
Stacey
Kymberly: Oh, Stacey, I could kiss your plump and nicely toned cheek for giving us a saggy boobs question for our first blog! Think of all the hits we’ll get when people type in the key word “boobs.” Yes, We will become the porn fitness leaders of the internet world instead of the highly respected pros we thought we once were. Alexandra, you had better handle this one as you are the one with the smaller (secret code for “deflated”) boobs.
Alexandra: If your boobs (let’s call them “plumpers”) are saggy and clinging to your ribcage, who cares about your skin? You’ve got bigger problems. And how much of that extra 20-30 pounds can you realistically blame on the saggers? I’d go for 10 pounds. So you only have another 10-20 to go! You are part way to your goal already. Do you like push-ups? Sure, you do. Every woman I’ve ever met loves them (Ahahaaaaaaa). But if you can get some muscle tone going under all that sag, you’ll look perky and youthful.
But what if you don’t like push ups?. Here’s what you do — lie on your back on a mat or bench or even your bed (if it’s an extra-firm mattress). Do you have some weights? You are not off the hook if you don’t. Just grab a few bags of beans or cans of sauce from your cabinet — they can be your weights. I’ll let Kymberly describe your chest press form while I go check the mirror to assess my perky youthful qualities!
K: Good try foisting the chest press description on me. I want to emphasize the push-up option. Alexandra is so right that the secret to retaining firm frontage while working on weight loss (a separate question addressed in future blogs) is to build up the musculature underneath. Push-ups are free, available everywhere, easy to pack, and the perfect option for lift and anti-sag. As your pec (chest) muscles strengthen underneath the breast tissue, you will have the internal support to get the look and lift you want. Push-ups also strengthen the mid and upper back muscles, which will assist in holding you erect. Another KEY component to keeping the girls (also now known as your “plumpers”) up while bringing the weight down is posture. Standing tall, proud, and extended instead of rounded or even slightly hunched is like losing five pounds visually in a nano-second. Now when we recommend push-ups, we suggest you start with your hands and knees on the floor and aim for ten push-ups, three to five times a week for a couple of weeks. From there, strive to whip out (no, not the plumpers, you rascal) fifteen push-ups. Once you are comfortable with fifteen knee push-ups, try five on your hands and toes and ten more on your hands and knees. The goal is to work up to about twenty toe push-ups every other day. Give yourself two months or so to get to that goal. Not only will you see a positive difference in your cleavage, but also you will be on your way to weight loss and some pretty nice arms and posture.Locked and loaded!
A: What? Is that a math problem? If 5 push-ups are traveling toward 10 trains, at what speed will you crash on the carpet? Get a good bra and take a nap. Nah, get to work. Put a nice bowl of water on the floor and take a slurp each time you drop down on the push-ups. Not only will you know you dropped far enough down, but all that liquid will help your skin get ever so plumpy!
Dear Readers: What do you do? Do you go cosmetic, or get down and give ten push ups!?
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michelle,i have done many cosmetic procedures, but i needed to do them for my own self esteem, and to help maintain my self-image, or for my work. i could not stand to look at my face in the mirror and always see sagging or hollowness . it was done f
Large boobies sag more than small ones, deflated or not. Push ups are great for the muscles underneath but will not affect the sag factor. The smaller the boobage the better, but beyond that, get a great bra or go for alterations. There is no universe in which being fat makes you look better. Being fit makes you look better. Do the damn push ups.
Your boobage? Can we steal that? We think Betty and Veronica always look better pointing forward. Headlights up!
Let’s face it, fellow big boobers. The only thing that works after a “certain age” is plastic surgery. I’ve done chest flys and push ups till my arms are ready to fall off. My girls still look like two bags of chicken fat laying on my ribcage. At 68, I’m not about to go thru the sturm und drang of plastic surgery! Get a good bra and fuggedaboudit. Keep working out, though – your overall appearance is better with it than without it, and the health benefits go without saying.
It may be the time of day, but I’m not certain what you are attempting with this blog. It seems you may need to do stand up comedy and forget about blogging because to find information in the midst of all the ha ha stuff is pretty difficult.
Elmhurst your a killjoy…
For me the humor is a large part of the benefit, sort of likethe old kids movie where they sing about “a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down”, Of course to bring back all the underlying muscles I will need to do 4,378 modified pushups a day…So I better get started. So encourage me with comedy people and maybe I won’t think so much about actually doing…be still my heart….exercise. A friend of mine insists on calling it “activity”. He may be right. Actually elmhurst, whatever works for you. I think the lovely thing about a blog is that every blogger is free to express and enjoy her/his own thoughts and feelings. I hope you have a lovely day. I am definitely planning on one.:)
Ahhahaaaa. I want to be the sugar; my sister can be the castor oil! Nah. Good news – you don’t have to bring back the underlying muscles; they’re still there. Maybe just not paying rent for a while. And to encourage you, here’s a little secret – don’t do push-ups if you hate them; do push-downs. Lower yourself then cheat to get back up. Same muscles. After a while getting up in the true push-up technique will be easier. Try it and let us know!
We appreciate your input as we truly do wish to do our best to get out the message that fitness can be fun. We’ll try to be more succinct and obvious in future!
If you only do (or eat) what you like, you will only get what you got!
Hmm, now you have me humming the Stones’ song – “You can’t always get what you want. You can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” But sing it to yourself in your voice; I’m not a good singer!
Five years ago I woke up one January morning and took a good look in the mirror, quite literally. I cried for the rest of the day on and off. I was 215 pounds, at 5′ 7″, 46 years old, I looked like the blob from outer space. By November 1st I was 147 pounds, and looked and felt great.
Yes, push ups, light weight training, and one of the best elliptical trainers around … three times a week, 1.5 hours. The remaining 4 days I speed walked in the mornings (no running for me, I have arthritis). I had to get up an hour earlier to make time for the gym and the walking, but that was ok after two weeks or so. No special diet either … I dropped most of the meat except for a juicy steak every now and then, no deep fried anything, lots of fish, veggies, fruit etc. … by June/July I could have eaten anything, my metabolism was running overtime.
I regained 20 pounds over the past two years, went into menopause, had a great deal of personal loss, and I had a bad fall that made moving very painful for almost 7 months. Now I do Yoga (my gym closed, a victim of the recession), still do my walks … and started to loose some weight again. Perhaps by Christmas I will have lost most of what I gained. But I can only stress what is also mentioned here and elsewhere on the web … there is no pill, no wrap, no “theraphy” no nothing that will replace the simple equation “eat less (or better) + move more = weight loss” .
Thanks for your heartfelt input. Also, you need to add weight training. See: http://funandfit.org/2010/08/950/. Something tells me you’ll achieve your goal.
Congrats on your weight loss and motivation! I too woke up one morning to a scale that said 270 pounds and asked myself “How did that happen?” I started going to my friend’s trainer and lost 30 pounds the first three months. These last two months have seen only a 5 pound drop. Since I have at least another 60 pounds to go, I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help my skin “shrink” while I am working at this. I drink lots of water, and was on a 1220 calorie, 120 carb diet strictly fish and chicken and green veggies. I am starting to sneak cheats since I am not seeing any more weight loss, although I have lost 3 pant sizes. Any advice for the skin shrinkage? I cannot afford plastic surgery, nor do I really want to go under the knife!
Hi Bristol: Take a look at my answer to HawksPoint about weight training.
1. You lose more weight with weight-training added to your routine. (see the post we reference for more details)
2. Your skin will look better with muscle definition, rather than the looseness you reference.
3. Keep it up with the water as that relates to the suppleness & elasticity of your skin.
4. Don’t put so much emphasis on the scale – the 3-size drop is what you should notice. This has to do with a number of factors, including time. Actually, why you drop clothing sizes while staying up in weight would be a good question for you to submit to our blog so we could answer in detail.
5. Why did you choose a food diet that makes you want to “cheat?” You are better off eating a realistic diet in which you keep some (not most, just some) of the “junk” food in your diet. Just eat two fewer bites of everything. When the mind senses denial, it can play weird, obsessive tricks on you.
Besides our super deluxe grasp of fitness, Alexandra also has an advanced degree in counseling, so can speak with authority. (of course, no-one listens, especially her kids).
Hope that helps. Keep up the good work.
Don’t forget that weight loss is not the whole goal & that muscle weighs more than fat! Feeling better, toning & firming up as well as dropping sizes is all good!
Also the right diet needs to include the right fats in order to digest your foods & to keep you & your skin healthy.
Congrats on your weight loss and motivation! I too woke up one morning to a scale that said 270 pounds and asked myself “How did that happen?” I started going to my friend’s trainer and lost 30 pounds the first three months. These last two months have seen only a 5 pound drop. Since I have at least another 60 pounds to go, I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help my skin “shrink” while I am working at this. I drink lots of water, and was on a 1220 calorie, 120 carb diet strictly fish and chicken and green veggies. I am starting to sneak cheats since I am not seeing any more weight loss, although I have lost 3 pant sizes. Any advice for the skin shrinkage? I cannot afford plastic surgery, nor do I really want to go under the knife!
Congrats on your weight loss and motivation! I too woke up one morning to a scale that said 270 pounds and asked myself “How did that happen?” I started going to my friend’s trainer and lost 30 pounds the first three months. These last two months have seen only a 5 pound drop. Since I have at least another 60 pounds to go, I am wondering if there is anything I can do to help my skin “shrink” while I am working at this. I drink lots of water, and was on a 1220 calorie, 120 carb diet strictly fish and chicken and green veggies. I am starting to sneak cheats since I am not seeing any more weight loss, although I have lost 3 pant sizes. Any advice for the skin shrinkage? I cannot afford plastic surgery, nor do I really want to go under the knife!
I agree…I have found that eating healthy with lots of fruits and veggies, is the biggest help of all. That with giving up sugar and most white things. Such as white bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, ect…
I too used to do a treadmill & elliptical, but now have a torn Meniscus, that may need surgery. I find out the 27th. Si for the past 4 months I have been trying to baby it along….Hopefully IF I have the surgery, I can get back to working out again.. Some days I miss it, and then there are those days, that I don’t. I know that once you stop exercising, it’s really hard to start again. I used to be faithfull, 6 days a week for 1/2 hour X2 times a day…. At least I have a physical job, so that keeps me moving. The eating healthy for the past 4 months I have lost 30lbs….
So it’s a combination of both. Healthy eating & exercise….
Thank you so much for this motivating post Hawkspoint, I am stuck and in meopause and can’t stop gaining weight. I do eat better and excercise, on thyroid meds and bio-identical hormaone replacement but still nothing. I do cry alot because I miss my old body. I NEED to do this, I will be getting married in about a year and I want to look good in my dress.
Anyway, it is so hard and nice to know other people understand.
Thank you to all of you. This was the very first post we ever did for our blog and we have tried to refine and improve as we go along. Elmhurst, we appreciate your comments as they help us improve. Here is what Fun & Fit is all about – with over 50 years’ combined fitness experience, we’ve seen the world get less, not more, fit over the past 25 years. So we figure the activity (thanks Athelas) will be more palatable with a giggle or two. If you go to our website, you’ll see that we consistently give up-to-date advice with a humorous twist. Big Sweaty Hug to you all!
I had a friend in San Antonio Texas who went thru a bad divorce and dropped 50 pounds, and her breasts were horrible. The doctor prescribed a May Marie Bra. Told her to wear it day and night. Eventually her breasts were firm again. I bought the bras because, being busty and an athlete, it is the only bra I’ve ever worn that I can run in and absolutely not bounce. No sports bra I know of can really make that claim.
I don’t know if they’re available anywhere else in the US, and you can’t just buy them off the rack. You are fitted.
Perle
I think I’ve seen those in Germany. I remember wearing two sports tops when I was pregnant as I was so large and bouncy. I was afraid of giving myself a black eye! Luckily, or not, my kids nursed almost everything out of me. Now instead of being a 36C, I”m a 34 Wanna B!
Thanks , Just what I needed to hear, I have a 40 year old after me… I know , his too young … SHhhh..!!!
My “boobage” is attached. When lose weight and tone they are still just that…. attached. I WILL NOT DO PUSH UPS (Bad history with high school drill seargent type p.e. teacher) but love machines, jazzercize and walking but, still, the only thing that keeps those “girls” perky is a custom fitted bra (and even THAT is a challenge). May Marie…. you may see me soon!