Pre-HRT slim down, questions/advice needed.

[Jess42]

What I did to lose a lot of weight was to fast for two days. and them limited caloric intake to about 900 per day. I never eat breakfast, because believe it or not it makes me really hungry later on during the day. Sometimes I would eat lunch around 3 PM and no supper or dinner. If I was more active, I would add a little more clories.

As for the "spare tire" I have a little curve to my belly but I have love handles that were there when I weighed around 135.

[Jen72]

I too need to quit smoking and lose a lot of weight 6ft and 245.  Would like to lose at least 50 or so lbs.  At the moment I have a low metabolism for the most part always have.  I have read somewhere something that might help besides exercise of course is coconut oil (virgin kind) working up to 2 tablespoons per day twice a day.  Hard to eat it but dissolving in coffee and oddly icing sugar helps making it more drinkable.  Keep the amount of coffee/tea/herbal tea less so make it easier to get down couple gulps and away you go.  It apparently actually targets belly fat which is I would assume the most important area we want to lose:)  As far as its effects with HRT I have no idea just getting myself together as you can see my picture I need a real good overhaul:)  I know I have let myself go maybe it is due to I really am trans and have been abstinent all my life I think I have too much T and now gotten to point I guess means I need some E/P or whatever in me to get me at least normal even if I don't go all the way all unknown at this point.  Grown in to a furball maybe that can change too:)  Pesky T!:)

Worst case is coconut oil probably cant hurt and if you happen to lose some weight hell ya!

[TessaMarie]

Please do not use ankle weights, they are extremely bad for your joints and your legs in general.  If you want to add additional resistance you could carry weight in a small back pack that is placed correctly on your back and not hung down low to the small of your belt.

This is good advice.  Looking back, I think I was just lucky that I did not cause some damage to myself with the leg weights.

[Jess42]

  At the moment I have a low metabolism for the most part always have.

That is my whole problem too. My metabolism is so slow that I gain five pounds smelling a cheeseburger. I cannot eat three meals a day if I I gain way too much. I only eat one meal around 3 PM which gives it time to digest before going to bed and slowing my metabolism down even more. I found I can maintain my wieght with 1800 calories a day, anymore and weight goes up. To lose I have to limt it to 900 calories a day.

This is a kick in the derierre, its not called a slow metablosims as much as it is called and extremely effecient metabolism. Or at leas that is what a doctor said. I look at it this way, I save a lot on my monthly food bill.

[Asniceasme]

I asked a friend of mine who has studied nutrition and physical training, about tips to help me lose weight. He doesn't know about this side of me though. Anyway, he looked at my diet, he looked at the amount of physical activity I do everyday, and said that I pretty much needed to lower my portion sizes for meals from home, cut back my calories slightly (or increase exercise to combat increased calories), two meals a day would be ok for me...but the big thing was to drink a litre of water every morning. The reasoning was that the water would help flush out your system, it would kick start your metabolism, and it contains no fats or oils etc

[Jen72]

A good amount of water sounds like a great idea Asniceasme.  I noticed you mentioned not fats or oils.  Why I thought I would mention this is that coconut oil is different.

Coconut oil is a saturated fat however it is different as it contains Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) where most fatty acids in out diet are long chain.  The MCT are metabolised differently in that it goes directly to liver and is changed to ketone bodies.  Pertaining to weight loss what it does is give you energy that burns more fat then normal energy.  As well it is not healthy to cut all oil/fat from diet I know it sounds odd but fat even animal fat is healthy as it gives you energy to oddly burn fat but it all depends if you are sedentary (guilty myself) this would help but help a lot more the more exercise you do as it helps burn more fat then any other fat.

I am just copying some info from a site feel free to goggle it and correct me if I am indeed wrong or anything.  But if this stuff works it might even help with dysphoria but for me at least it has not done a single thing to that probably because it helps mental disorder which GID is not really mental disorder as it is in my view a hormonal/mental/physical combination difference then average person.  Just opinion on later not a doctor or anything and why I said difference not disorder. 

All this being said I have no idea if it is helpful on the hormonal side for us it might be great it might be a detriment I really don't know and if I do transition I will perhaps use me as a guinea pig.  As it may and this is just may help with weight loss and perhaps make the mental side less bumpy or hoping it might:)

Merely conjecture on my part but if relatively harmless and there are benefits why not?  My only credentials is that I had gone to college for a cook with some basic dietary knowledge as well as understanding we do not want to starve body of all type of nutrients including fat/oil yet hard to avoid too much with current processed food out there.

P.S.  Working on making a shortbread cookie to make it easier to take oil might not work as well but easier to eat it of course flaw is the sugar aspect but...  First batch tasted great but just needs some work:)  Post that eventually in cooking section.

[Sophia Hawke]

An update for those that are wondering.  Been on HRT for 8 Months Now roughly.    Down to 160lbs from 197.   Turns out, genes are playing a factor.  Most of the women in my family are very skinny and small.   Losing weight doesnt seem to be much of an issue now as i eat quite a bit and maintain my weight(although now alot of weight is moving to breasts and other areas whilst im losing the old man fat pretty quick).   Still smoking, though this problem will likely be rectified shortly.

[northcountrymassage]

I just wanted to post something here, besides a huge congrats to Sophia!!!  You can use coconut oil and sea salt as a replacement for butter on toast or english muffins and it tastes really yummy.  Also after a ridiculously long plateau in my weight it has FINALLY started to come off again, yaaay!  To date I have lost 65 pounds since July of last year.  If I can lose another 40 to 45 pounds I will be a very, very happy girl.  Quick question for you ladies, did you notice that you may not be losing weight but everybody else would comment on the weight you had lost?  Also I took my chest measurement at the beginning of all this and supposedly by the tape it says I'm the same but I know I have B cups now and the girls are still growing. :-)

[Leeloo_Dallas]

An update for those that are wondering.  Been on HRT for 8 Months Now roughly.    Down to 160lbs from 197.   Turns out, genes are playing a factor.  Most of the women in my family are very skinny and small.   Losing weight doesnt seem to be much of an issue now as i eat quite a bit and maintain my weight(although now alot of weight is moving to breasts and other areas whilst im losing the old man fat pretty quick).   Still smoking, though this problem will likely be rectified shortly.

That's awesome!  I'm fairly similar sized as you. 5'11" started at 184 lbs pre-slimdown.  @ 159 right now, not on HRT yet.  Lots of P90X, weighted squats, and eating smaller portions.