Topic: Gabby's Weight Loss Journey Prior to HRT

[Gabby]

Hello all! I'll be keeping a journal of my weight loss journey here. It is a way of keeping myself accountable, but it is also hoped that any methods or techniques mentioned herein may prove useful to others. keep in mind that, although I have read several textbooks on nutrition, sports nutrition, and exercise physiology, I am neither an expert nor a professional. I will be starting with two criteria. Since I am diabetic, I will limit the amount of sugar and carbohydrates in my diet. Second, although I am nether vegan nor vegetarian, I begin most, if not all meals , with vegan ingredients, and then tailor them to my preferences. This helps keep my meals as healthy as possible.

I could work out and exercise all I want, but my workouts are only going to be as good as my fuel allows them to be. The first thing I did was I went to YouTube. Presumably, the best athletes in the world, the ones who have to be at the top of their game, are the Olympic athletes. So I typed in Olympic athletes diets and quite a few useful videos showed up. No, Michael Phelps does not count. Pizza, bowls of pasta, and Big Macs are not part of a good weight loss diet. Oatmeal in the morning is a good source of energy. It provides energy over a longer period of time without the sugar spikes. Steel-cut is the best kind to get. Stay away from instant oatmeal because it has more sugar. I stay away from fruit because it also raises blood sugar levels and any nutrients found in fruit can also be found in vegetables, so I top my oatmeal with things like cinnamon, to also help fight blood sugar; maca root powder, for endurance; and hemp seeds, for protein. I'll stop here and write more later.

Hugs,
Gabby

[Jenny_Oh]

Oh Gabby! I wish you all the success in the world, it can be so hard to loose weight but also so life affirming. I have one suggestion for you and a simple one. Eat as much as you want, but in small portions, 15 minutes apart. It gives your body a chance to generate the hormones necessary for satiety.

[Rakel]

Hello Gabby,

You are on the right track. A properly balanced diet is safe and sustainable. It will provide you with all the nutrients anyone needs without gaining excess weight. There are other diets, such as Keto that come and go in popularity, but a well balanced diet of appropriate calories is the healthiest and safest way to lose weight.

I had to lose about 120 pounds, which I needed to get my GCS. I did my weigh loss by following a few simple rules.

1. Eat a diet of 50% vegetables and 25% fruit. Fresh is best and frozen is almost as good. Canned is a last resort, but avoid anything with added sugar. The remaining 25% is a little lean meat, grains (oatmeal) and dairy (cheese and yogurt).

2. Total calories should be less than 1200 per day. This divides into 12 portions of 100 calories each, which is an average size adult portion.

3. Avoid processed foods at all costs. There are a lot of hidden sugars and fats that add no nutritional value. If the package says "Diet" then don't buy it. Artificial sweeteners interfere with insulin production and still cause blood sugar to be stored as fat. Avoid these as well.

4. Be careful about fast food restaurants. There are some good ones out there, but you must look for them. A burger, fries and a milk shake will provide as much calories as you need for two whole days.

Do not expect massive weight loss in a short time. Expect about 5 pounds a month. The diet I propose is not a quick fix. It is a diet to live with for the rest of your life.

Best wishes and don't give up.  You will get there.

[Maddie]

Hi Gabby.
Many happy, lasting, weight loss results to you!

My first meal each day is based on a 1/4 cup oatmeal and clean water.
Cut with steel

[Gabby]

Thank you everybody for the tips. You are right. Smaller, more frequent meals give a more constant supply of energy, but I am also taking it a step further. I remember in the military, at some schools I went to, our caloric intake was between one and three thousand calories per meal and I was still losing weight. Using that concept as a basis, I designed a program that forces me to workout more without having to cut my caloric intake too drastically. The reason why I am losing weight in the first place has done wonders for my motivation, and on days that I don't have much time I work out in small bouts of between 2 to 5 minutes each, but maybe several times a day.

My first objective is to develop strength in my muscles. While more strength is always good, the underlying reason behind this is that more muscle will burn more calories. So, as my strength increases, and my muscles get bigger, my body will require more calories. This translates into more calories expended daily, which means a higher metabolism! One exercise I like to do is arm circles. The beauty of this exercise is that I can do them anywhere. If I don't have time to stand up and do them, I can do them while sitting at my desk or at the dinner table. I do this by holding my arms out at shoulder level. If I don't have room to hold them out to the sides I hold them out to the front, and move them in a circular pattern clockwise, then counter-clockwise. I sometimes time myself to see how many arm circles I can do till I can't do any more. I can also do them while lying on my back and holding my arms straight up.

Another exercise I've been doing is the squat. I am able to do a hundred at a time, so I challenge myself to do five hundred a day. This exercise tones the legs and the butt, and, since some of the largest muscles are in the legs, this exercise really helps to increase your metabolism. I've also noticed that I've been able to walk farther and stand longer without getting tired. Be back soon.

[Maid Marion]

I do a ton of gardening from a squatting position, as I grow lots of flowering shrubs.

Marion

[Julielynn]

Interestingly, I did look into Micheal Phelps for inspiration on weight loss as he consumes over 15,000 calories per day.   I was like what?!!!  When I heard that.   It seems swimming hours per day in a cold water pool can burn those like no one's business.  Handy to know.  Cold water shivers burn extra.  A book called The 4 Hour body by Tim Ferris taught me that. 

If you're diabetic, does that nudge Keto off the radar?   It seems like it would be right in line with what you had eat anyway.   It's what I do and it works.   I've found that anything you can do on a regular basis without thinking about tends to be the easiest way to lose weight.  Keto was my out, I eat pretty much that anyway.  Might look into it, but talk to your doctor, it's a drastic change and I have no idea how it would interact with diabetes medicines.   

Anyway, good luck on the journey.  I will say that every time you get on the scale it's discouraging so take measurements instead.  Measurements of waist, hip, thighs, wrists, forearms, neck, everything.   It's way more telling and keeps you on the track better as muscle weighs more and can make the scale lie.

[Gabby]

There is a Michael Phelps interview on You Tube where he explains that yes he did eat all that food, but at different periods of his life when he was experimenting with what works and what doesn't. So, one year he did the pasta for lunch, and another year he had pizza for lunch, but not at the same time. All the other videos forget to mention that.

So, yes, my diet is somewhat keto, although not by design. For lunch I'll usually have an omelette with, say, mushrooms and spinach, and some mozzarella, or maybe green chiles and cheddar. One of my favorite foods since I was a kid is pasta con pesto. Bird's Eye makes a variety of plant-based pasta you just microwave in the bag. When it's done I just pour it over some pesto and I'm good to go.

[Jenny_Oh]

My first objective is to develop strength in my muscles.

Gabby,

I'm not sure "bulking up" (strength = more bulk in males) is really the best idea if your future goal is to transition your gender identity to female. In general a large upper body and thighs are pretty obvious "tells" that somebody is male. Most people look to reduce volume in their upper body, not increase it. The exception is the glutes and squats can be great for glutes if done right. They can also just give you massive quads so make sure you're distinguishing between the two.

My recommendation would be to develop aerobic power, lots of lower intensity exercise that improve your ability to burn fat in the first place. It will take a long time to loose weight if your muscle aren't trained to burn fat no matter how strong you are. (Strength muscle fibers don't consume fat.)

[Gabby]

You're right. Aerobic exercise is important. I'm actually planning on discussing that later, as well as HIIT. But no, this hasn't caused me to bulk up. It's just toning my muscles . If, for example I did 5-10 dumbbell curls with between 30-50 pound dumbbells ( or heavier), this would cause my muscles to bulk up. But if I did high repetitions with 10-15 pound dumbbells, this would tone the biceps, and create muscular endurance, but not bulk. But strength training does add muscle, which needs more fuel, and will help give me more endurance for when I start doing aerobic exercise. It's already working. Last year when I started, I was at 320 lbs., and now I'm down to 280. I've already started doing cardio, I just haven't posted that yet. I will say that cardio and yoga have one thing in common. That is, while the goal is perfect form, doing it consistently is more important than how well you can do it. When I started doing the forward fold in yoga, I could barely reach my ankles, and now I can touch the floor. So, with perseverance you will get there. cardio is kinda the same way. The important thing is to just keep moving. If you are working out with a cardio video and you get too tired to do the entire workout, time yourself every time you work out with that video and keep a log. Your results should improve over time.