How to look good without transitioning.

[Yuki-jker86]

My post is from male to female perspective.

I don't have a manual or anything, but I have learnt a few things through researching. this can be helpful for those who are having trouble finding a therapist etc and just want to look good for the time being.
don't ask me about makeup etc, my focus is body shape. evidently shaving is a must, unless you actually do want to be a bearded lady.
anyway...
things about body shape... a lot is determined by fat. others is determined by muscle.  men naturally have a lot of muscle bulk up top. men also gather a lot of fat around the midriff, the back, the sides of the chest, the 'love handles'. hardly any around the hips and bum. another very important factor that many don't realise is that men gather fat around the internal organs that will actually make the waist thicker.  even if you think you can't pinch much around your waist, you also have a good load of fat inside your abdomen around your intestines etc.
so! the first thing to focus on in order to get a slim waist, is to reduce your level of body fat.  you can't be selective about where it comes from so you just have to work it.  tips later.
next thing to work on is various LIGHT exercises to train up your slow twitch muscles around your torso. slow twitch muscles are the ones that are good for endurance but not strength. strength muscles will give you mass, the opposite will give you definition and smaller size. work your waist for flexibility. work your arms and pectorals hard and for a long time to firstly cause a lot of tissue damage and work your slow twitch muscles but most importantly cut out the protein for a couple hours so your muscles use other muscle tissue to do the repair work. this should decrease mass.
When it comes to your legs and hips, make sure you get protein after your workout and a bit before. do a combination of strength and endurance exercises for those areas because you really need to get mass around that area.

sound complicated? not really.
how to do it.
to reduce your fat, this is not too difficult. you have to make your body do regular work , cardiovascular work. In order to do this you can also work your legs and bum at the same time.
get a portable game, like 'angry birds' or 'where's my water'. I'm really addicted to 'where's my water'  so this is easy for me. I put the game on and I walk up and down the stairs. while I'm playing the game, I must be walking up and down those stairs constantly for 10 minutes to half and hour!! by the end, I have played a few games so I've had great fun and I'm also covered in sweat!
can also do stuff like squats.

exercises to reduce muscles mass in upper body. you can choose what you like but what I do is, I simply stick my arms out straight and rotate forwards 100 times. I rest a little bit then I rotate backwards 100 times.  hurts like hell and makes my arms chest and shoulder sore, and that is great. I make sure I don't eat protein for a couple hours before and after.

these things should help a lot!

something else that will help a lot is yoga. it helps flexibility and core strength.

oh yeah, very important, for the stomach muscles, don't do sit ups or crunches. these will make the abs gain strength and therefore size. in order to trim the stomach you need to tighten the inner wall.  to do this you basically need to suck in your stomach as much as you possibly can. do it whenever you want, suck it in and hold as tight a you can for 15 seconds. do it whenever you can remember to, and it will make your tummy more taught.

ah... did I shock you with too much writing ^_^;;;
sorry about that!!!
but I really hope you benefit from it.

also please add your own tips here!

[Pia Bianca]

I'm sure I'll try that. I Just started going to the fitness center and wondered if it would be good or bad preparation for my transition.

[Lara the Lover and the Fighter]

Great tips!  Thank you!

[Andrea J]

Get a portable game, like 'angry birds' or 'where's my water'. I'm really addicted to 'where's my water'  so this is easy for me. I put the game on and I walk up and down the stairs. while I'm playing the game, I must be walking up and down those stairs constantly for 10 minutes to half and hour!!

Won't this give you large masculine calf muscles though? You're body is a heavy thing to lift up the stairs for half an hour.

[Yuki-jker86]

Won't this give you large masculine calf muscles though? You're body is a heavy thing to lift up the stairs for half an hour.

I think I read somewhere that cis women are often jealous of trans women because of their great legs and calfs?
I could be wrong. in that case, squats can be good as well.
but also because of the length and volume of the exercise, I am sure the slow twitch muscles will be effected more which would result in smaller and more defined musculature.
I think to get large calfs a person would have to be lifting very heavy weight and only for a short period of time.

[Katie]

To be honest I am at a loss on this post. To look good without transitioning. Well that means you would look like a guy that looks good. The the conversation shifts to going to the gym to loose muscle and all that.

Ok so hey I transitioned years ago. I go to the gym almost every day. I play a full contact womens sport. I leg press on the fourth set 855 pounds. I am IN SHAPE and I have muscles.

I COULD CARE LESS! I am a woman and theres nothing more to say.

KAtie

[Jess42]

Won't this give you large masculine calf muscles though? You're body is a heavy thing to lift up the stairs for half an hour.

I would definately think a traedmill at a level position would be better though because you aren't using your legs to lift your body up. Just working them out but it really depend on how much you weigh.

I think I read somewhere that cis women are often jealous of trans women because of their great legs and calfs?
I could be wrong. in that case, squats can be good as well.
but also because of the length and volume of the exercise, I am sure the slow twitch muscles will be effected more which would result in smaller and more defined musculature.
I think to get large calfs a person would have to be lifting very heavy weight and only for a short period of time.

This definatly could be true because my legs are really feminine looking, without the nasty hair on 'em of course. Just enough fat to muscle ratio to have a little definition without being "cut". Calves fit nicely without being too big. Watch out for squats though because I would think that would define the muscles more in the butt and upper thighs. I could be wrong though.

I'm losing weight by eating less. I don't workout because I don't want to lose too much of the subcutaneous fat and would rather lose muscle mass instead of defining them more. Of course I've never had real good muscle definition anyway though, thank god for that.

[Yuki-jker86]

I concentrate on the stairs because I know that it works your buttocks and thighs really hard.
I think it is important not to have too much definition, but the fat distribution that comes with hormones will fix that. for the moment, without hormones I think it's more important to slim the waist, build up the buttocks and hips etc and lose fat.
this will change the balance from the male top heavy form.
focusing on the thighs and buttocks and hips, will certainly make this part look more pronounced and help attain a more hourglass figure rather than the v shaped figure.

Katie, it depends on your focus, it depends on how you can feel most comfortable. I understand that there are girls out there that don't feel that their figure is as important as other stuff. for me, it is mostly about my figure. I hope this explains.

[Andrea J]

I think to get large calfs a person would have to be lifting very heavy weight and only for a short period of time.

I'm not an expert or anything but don't cyclists get muscular legs? And that's an endurance sport.

Btw, there's a body feminization workout video on YouTube called "Body Feminization Exercises For Transsexuals" It might be useful.

[Yuki-jker86]

yes, I took a lot of tips from that video
I feel that some of them aren't the best idea though, such as crunches which would make the midriff more muscular and not so slender.

hmm, yeah some cyclists do have big legs. I think there are different types of cycling though aren't there? I think some olympic cycling is very high intensity and short bursts. I think endurance cyclists would be likely to have slimmer and more defined legs. who is that guy...  oh yeah Bradley Wiggins. http://pinterest.com/pin/64528207131642075/

[Joanna Dark]

I think I read somewhere that cis women are often jealous of trans women because of their great legs and calfs?
I could be wrong. in that case, squats can be good as well.
but also because of the length and volume of the exercise, I am sure the slow twitch muscles will be effected more which would result in smaller and more defined musculature.
I think to get large calfs a person would have to be lifting very heavy weight and only for a short period of time.

Just walking or cycling is prolly best for the legs but most guys legs are either skinny and bony or muscular. I'd be mortified. I had to undergo biotherapy (kind like chemo) when I was 21 which was one of the main reasons I put off transitioning and I had to inject myself weekly with the medication which was FedExed to me. And when the nurse showed me how to administer it she was showing me how to do it in the arms or stomach, because cis males don't have fat on the thighs. But then she looked at my legs and had me pull down my pants, grabbed my thigh fat and told me "wow you're really lucky. You have legs just like a girl, so you can inject in in your thighs. You have plenty of fat there." She said I was the only male she ever met that could inject it in their legs. The medication had to go into fat. Most males prolly wouldn't be so happy to be told they have fatty legs just like a woman but neeedless to say I was!

But woman on the whole have fatty thighs and calves. The only way to achieve that for most males is HRT. But if you're not on HRT or planning on it, I would stay away from any exercise that involves weights.

[Yuki-jker86]

Thanks Joanna, that is great advice.
I didn't mention weights at all, but that is something I agree with whole heartedly.
weights are something to avoid.

well... I would use weights for one thing. hips.