Does losing weight make your boobs smaller? Everything you need to know

You're not alone ladies - we've all wondered whether losing weight makes your boobs smaller.

After taking the leap to join the gym, the next big commitment is to develop a steady fitness regime along with a healthy diet and stick to it. It's quite an accomplishment to know that you've adopted a healthy lifestyle for good, and while many women will enjoy the benefits of exercise like toned muscles and extra endorphins – some are surprised to find although their body fat has melted away, so have their boobs.

It might sound like an urban myth, but it's true that when you lose weight, you also lose your boobs. Many women lament that they want to slim down but not at the risk of dropping a cup size too. Well, experts have explained everything that happens, meaning you'll know exactly how much weight loss might affect your own boobs.

losing weight make your boobs smaller Credit: Pexels

Does losing weight make your boobs smaller?

First off, it's important to know that breasts are predominantly made up of fat, as well as breast tissue. When you exercise on a regular basis, you'll experience fat loss as part of the process of slimming down and toning up, and that means that fat all around your body – including your breasts – will be affected.

However, that doesn't mean that our boobs are the first parts of our body to slim down.

"Because of where they are on our bodies, they’re just out there for us to see," Angela Fitch, MD, of the University of Cincinnati’s Weight Loss Center told Women's Health. "So we probably notice them more than our backside or thighs. But fat is going to come off wherever it’s going to come off. It doesn’t have a preference."

The more you have, the more you have to lose

It also appears that the more you have, the more you have to lose. A 2012 study from the American Journal of Human Biology pointed out that bustier women weighed more, had a higher body mass index and more body fat than women with smaller boobs.

Naturally, if you've got bigger boobs, you've got more fat there to lose. However, we all store fat differently – some of us around our bellies, others on our thighs – and that means while some have a lot of fat stored in their breasts, others don't.

This means that not everyone will notice if they've got a smaller bust from exercising or not. It depends on how much fat you've got there and how much overall body fat you've got too. Shape magazine states that you'll need to lose 20 per cent of your weight in order to drop a whole cup size.

No, they won't sag

The main concern women have about their boobs getting smaller when they lose weight is that'll sag. But you needn't worry too much, because you'll only notice the skin looking stretched and your ladies drooping more than usual if you've experienced drastic weight loss. That is, you've lost a significant amount of body weight or you've slimmed down very quickly.

If you lose weight in a slow, sustainable way, your boobs might get smaller, but there shouldn't be too much stress on the collagen and elastin to make them look saggy. Keep clear of yo-yo dieting and seeking any "quick fixes" and you'll be fine.

No matter what happens to your body – whether you start exercising on the regular or not – know that everyone's body changes as we age and sometimes, there's not much we can do about it.