How do you get rid of armpit fat? Can underarm exercises or workout work help? Learn the best ways to lose fat under the armpit including exercises, weight loss, liposuction, and surgery, as well as some of the ways to hide those bra bulges.
It is normal to have some armpit fat. However, having too much, extra or excess underarm fat (as well as back fat) is not only unsightly but also embarrassing and unhealthy. Your axilla or underarm area will appear saggy or with a ‘double wave’ that will make your clothes look strange i.e. a fat bulge around your bra area (between your armpits, chest arm) is not what you want.
Furthermore, fat under or near your armpits can limit your dressing options especially if you love sleeveless or strapless clothing i.e. wearing a sleeveless or strapless dress or top with those huge chunks of fat on your armpits is going to make you look awful.
Overview
Whereas most people would imagine they have fat around the armpit, it could be an axillary accessory breast tissue (also referred to polymastia, multiple breast syndrome or supernumerary breasts). This is mostly a congenital condition where you will have an additional breast lacking areolae or n1pples along with embryologic mammary streak especially on the chest wall, vulva, knee, lateral thigh, buttock, face, neck, ear or armpit.
When you have it on your chest wall or armpit area, it can easily be confused with one on your underarm. It is found in “2-6% of women and 1-3% of males” [radiopaedia.org]. It can be corrected by mainly surgical incision or liposuction.
Is your fat under armpit a lipoma?
Fat lump in the armpit or lipoma is a harmless non-cancerous condition. If they are small, they should be left alone. Lipomas can also be on shoulders, neck, arms, back, buttock or thighs. If they cause pain, feels hard or get bigger, they can be removed surgically.
Is it prominent lymph nodes?
Before you conclude you have it, you need to be certain it is not prominent lymph nodes you might be having. This requires an expert to diagnosis you well.
Why you have underarm fat?
Body fats are important as they help in “transporting fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K” [www.fitnessforlife.org] absorbs shock (protects internal organs), are a source of stored energy, insulates your body from heat loss, among other important roles function.
The human body has a tendency of storing excess fat on the stomach, hips, butts, thighs, calves, back, chest and underarms. In general, women tend to have slightly higher amounts of essential fats compared to men. Having an excess of them in the body is not healthy.
Some of the reason why your body stores excess fat include poor eating habits and food choice, excessive stress, toxins present in food, frequent and excess alcohol consumption, sedentary lifestyles, lack of sleep, some medications, certain hormones, among other reasons.
Another possible cause or reason for bra bulge in women is the size of breast you have. Larger breasts tend to increase the fat around it. When pushed against her arms, her armpits might appear to be having a lot of fat when they actually don’t. Other factors such as pregnancy (makes breasts larger), breastfeeding, etc. can also create the fat armpits appearance.
Our focus today is on underarm fat especially ways on how to get rid of this excess bulge on your axilla. You know what causes them, you should be having a hint on how you can get rid or reduce it. So how do you lose them effectively and fast?
How to get rid, lose, reduce, eliminate or burn fast
If you want to lose (also called bra bulge or bra fat), there are many bra bulge removal options available with the popular ones being exercises, liposuction, cosmetic surgery for removal of extra fat in your armpits, dieting and overall weight loss. We will discuss each of these options of getting rid of underarm fat in details.
Removal men and women (guys and girls)
The underarm fat removal for men or and women or girls are more or less the same. There are not specific methods that are meant for men and those for women. However, during some procedures such as surgical removal, procedures might slightly differ due physical differences of men and women.
Exercises and workouts for toning, reducing and losing them
There are many exercises available, the ones that require weights (underarm exercises with weights or with dumbbells) as well as those you can do without weights (with no equipment) even while at home. You are going to give you a few with illustrations pictures or videos (exercises for armpit fat with illustrations). You can find more YouTube.
If you imagine you can lose weight at a certain spot, it is not possible. However, routine coupling fat burning cardio and some of the exercises “ work to tighten up the muscle groups around your armpit to help diminish the appearance of underarm fat” [popsugar.com]. Since exercises will help you build muscle and tone this area, it will reduce fat around this area.
Generally, exercises will not only help you tone your muscles but also increase your metabolic rate, body mass, core strength, reduce risks of various disease such as breast cancer, dementia, diabetes, coronary heart diseases and stroke, colon cancer, besides weight loss and mood boost.
“If you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day for a week, you should lose about 1-2 pounds [webmed.com]. This must be coupled with good diet choice and other healthy habits. So, what exercise gets rid of armpit fat or what are some of the best exercises that can give you expected results?
Lateral plan walk workout
This exercise targets your arms, chest, abs, and shoulder and it is one of the very effective exercises for armpit fat. Ensure your pelvis level and stomach muscles pulled towards your back. Before you begin your exercise. See the gif illustration below, courtesy of POPSUGAR.COM for one complete rep.
Push-up rotation exercise
The list of best workouts is long. This is yet another great workout you should give a try. It will strengthen your arms, chest, shoulder, lower back, abdominal and chest. It is a perfect exercise to remove extra armpit fast. See illustration video below on how it is done.
Bent-Over Reverse Fly
Another exercise to get rid of them is the bent over reverse fly which can help you tone shoulder, armpits and chest muscles. You need to have two dumbbells to do it and it can be done at the gym or home. See the video below for illustration on how you can do it.
Lying Chest Fly underarm fat workouts
The lying chest fly is another good exercises which you can do at home if you have two dumbbells. This will benefit your front shoulder muscles, upper back muscles, serratus anterior (muscle found along your ribs), biceps and chest muscles. You could lie on the floor or use your exercising ball.
Pushups are a good workouts
“Pushups strengthen your chest, shoulders and arms, creating muscle tone around the armpit area” [livehealthy.chron.com]. Ensure you do around 15 to 20 repetitions. There are many variations of pushups you can do and all of these variations will help you get rid of fat under armpits. However, as a starter, you might not be able do 15 to 20. Begin with those you can and slowly increase the number.
Which are the best exercises to try?
The above are not the only best exercises. There are many others that include inclined dumbbell (or inclined chest fly or press), mountain climbers, straight triceps kickbacks, use of resistant bands, robe jumps, hammer grip row, compass jumping jacks, hanging arm curl, triceps dips, and so on.
Cardiovascular exercises
Due to the fact that you cannot spot reduce fat, the above workouts cardio (aerobic) and strength training exercises to help lose weight not just on your armpit but on your entire body for a balanced and toned body.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and weight training muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms” [cdc.gov].
Eat healthy diet to reduc htem
Besides exercises both cardio and strengthening (including all the exercise to lose these buldge) we have discussed, diet plays a role in your effort to reduce fat on your underarms. Eat a lot of vegetable, protein and fat, eat while seated from a single plate, try calorie control, do not skin meals, drink a lot of water, get rid of tempting foods from your home as well as eat lower carb foods. Avoid refined sugars and starches.
Liposuction and cost
Another option to get rid of armpit fat for women and men is liposuction. This is particularly important if you cannot get results from dieting and exercises to reduce them. This is one of the fastest ways to get rid of underarm fasts since it takes about 1 to 2 hours.
A small incision is made on the sin in your armpit crease, a cannula is inserted and used to dissolve and extract fat. The average underarm fat liposuction cost or price ranges between $1,500 and $5,000 depending on a number of factors.
A cosmetic surgeon is required during the liposuction fat removal on armpits. A number of techniques are used that include traditional (no fat dissolving agent), ultrasound assisted (uses sound waves to liquefy them), tumescent (similar to super wet but uses more liquid) and super-wet (uses local anesthesia, saline solution and adrenaline to dissolve fat) or even Accushape Laser Lipo.
Surgery and cost
The other ways to get rid of them fast is to undergo an armpit fat removal surgery (underarm surgery or lift). It “tightens loose, sagging skin and removes excess fat deposits in the upper arm that develop with age or significant weight loss” [surgery.med.umich.edu].
This is a procedure that needs a qualified and experienced cosmetic or plastic surgeon to ensure none of your blood vessels, nerves or lymph nodes are touched and it involves an incision to get rid of extra fatty tissue and/or skin before the wound is sutured closed. Best results can be achieved if this procedure is combined with liposuction. It is recommended when you have very large bulges.
After the process, ensure you get a good removal surgery post care to ensure minimum scarring. The average armpit fat removal surgery cost or price ranges from $4,000 –$8,000 depending on if you require an arm lift, the location, and experience of the surgeon.
How to lose them fast– in a week, a day or quickly
We have seen a number of ways to lose or reduce underarm fast (a day, week, or quickly). If you so badly want to get rid of fat on armpit fast, you should consider either liposuction (the best and less costly) or surgery (good if you want an arm lift).
If you want to lose them in a week or shorter, exercises and dieting might not give you best of results. They take time and require a lot of dedication. Do not be carried away by the many sources online which tell you that exercises can get rid of fats on under your armpits in a day or two.
How to hide them
Unless you opted for liposuction or surgical removal, the other options will take while. You still want to wear your strapless dress while attending a wedding while you do not reveal the excess fat you have. How can you go about that? How do you hide this bulges?
Best bra to hide the bulge
As one means of hiding them as you are trying the various methods to get rid of bra fat that includes exercise, dieting, etc., you need to know how to choose the best bra for this bulge or bras to cover side fat or hides the fat completely.
Good armpit fat bras choice can make a big difference. Avoid bras that have small cups, as they cause breast tissue to pucker under your arm. Go for bras that have panels offering extra side-coverage i.e. bras with fuller cup size as well as wider and taller bands. Bras such as No Side Effects Full-Coverage Contour Bra, Olga on Your Side Full-Figure Full-Coverage Bra, Simone Perele Women’s Celeste Demi Full Cup Bra, Prima Donna a La Folie Full Cup Bra among others will be a good idea.
Flattering clothing (including sleeveless and strapless dresses
Besides wearing a bra that hides them, you need to ensure you choose flattering dresses and tops that will hide the fat under your armpit. Who said you cannot wear strapless top just because you have fat on your armpits? It is all about the choice you make.
Most brides tend to think only their bras could affect how their fat on armpit appears. They are worried to wear strapless dresses. However, if you make it an extra inch higher and ensure it fits well, the fat on your underarm will not show. Furthermore, a little creativity when wearing strapless dress will also save the day for your wedding or cocktail dinner. I hope you now know how to hide armpit fat in a strapless dress!
References and sources
- http://www.fitnessforlife.org/highschool/hs-chapter-13/topic-133-importance-of-body-fat
- http://radiopaedia.org/articles/accessory-breast-tissue
- http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Armpit-Fat-Exercises-37231152#photo-37231152
- http://livehealthy.chron.com/top-5-ways-rid-dreaded-armpit-fat-3926.html
- http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/adults.html
- http://surgery.med.umich.edu/plastic/patient/adult_procedures/brachioplasty/