What Are Men Self Conscious About

We’re self-conscious beings, always observing blemishes on our face and bodies which are invisible to the passer-by, but appear disastrously hideous in our minds. From a few spots on the face to a double chin, we all have our own imperfections which we would love to improve.

We therefore decided to run a survey to 680 men, asking them about their deeply embedded insecurities.

Some of the results were very interesting. Unsurprisingly, it is our bellies that lead the way, with 72% of people stating they don’t feel happy with their stomach. What was interesting however was that almost 15% are unhappy with their legs, while ‘moobs’ were the second biggest factor at 23.5%.

We then asked what party of the body in particular are you most self-conscious about. Legs once again stood out, as the second biggest body issue that men are concerned about.

We then focused in on what it is on our body that really grinds our gears. Keeping with the stomach issues, an issue with obesity is the number one concern, however it is very closely followed by a want for increased muscle.

Even people who have built up a fair amount of muscle will often feel insecure regarding their size, with an increased amount of people admitting to struggling with muscle dysmorphia. This is a form of body dysmorphic disorder, where someone feels they are too slim and frail, the opposite of anorexia.

Teeth was the third biggest issue, a feature mocked by the American media in TV shows, portraying British people as buck toothed oaths. Then again, this probably wasn’t helped by rock stars of the 60’s such as Keith Richards.

Disclaimer: Have you seen a picture of Keith Richards recently? He’s gone and done some work on his teeth, he’s got a great pair of pearly whites at the mo, that was a shock!

It is often documented how much pressure females face every single day when confronted with images from the media of a paper thin model, claiming to be the ‘ideal weight’. It hasn’t often been discussed how much pressure guys face as well, with images of bodybuilding men in ‘peak physical fitness’.

Superstar Hollywood actors are often seen topless, with ripped abs below a strong chest, big biceps and boulder shoulders. It is a motivating and inspirational image, but something which is realistically unachievable for many people, considering time and body limitations. For many of us, we will do the best we can with what we’ve got, however these images can put unwanted pressure on us to experiment with our bodies.

63% of men felt that there was too much pressure on them to look a certain way. This figure still isn’t as high as when asked to females on the pressure faced on keeping up a certain appearance, but the pressure does seem to be growing for men.

Avoiding Moobs

A common pitfall for many of our male readers, one issue with obesity is it creates the appearance of boobs on a man's chest. This can damage a lad's confidence, therefore we have gathered some general tips on how to combat this issue and what you need to know.

• Forget what your scales say, it isn't your weight you should be focusing on, but your body fat percentage. At the end of the day, this is fat, so that is what you should be targeting. Get your body fat percentage checked in your local gym and you will then have a starting number (e.g. 25%) and you can set weekly or monthly targets. You cannot lose fat in certain areas, only all over the body, therefore you have to start working on lowering the figure.
• One of the biggest mistakes guy's make when dieting is cutting out fats from the diet. Despite the word creating negative connotations, these are largely misunderstood. If you remove fats from your diet when cutting, then your testosterone levels will drop drastically, creating an imbalance on testosterone to oestrogen. This is one of the major factors in creating 'moobs'.
• Lift weights. This can help boost testosterone levels in the body naturally. You can also build the muscle underneath the fat, so once you've removed the excess fat you can have a great body underneath popping through. Just remember, until the fat is removed, you won't truly be able to see that muscle you're building.
• Keeping on the subject of test levels, sleep can have a strong knock-on effect. You therefore need to ensure you are getting a sufficient amount of sleep every night (between 7-9 hours). This is also the period when you are building muscle and repairing the damage from the gym.
• Limit alcohol in your diet. I hate writing this one, as I'm a big fan of a night out, but alcohol is one of the biggest reasons. A heavy night drinking can wipe out all your hard work. Plus that kebab on the way home doesn't help.