Transitioning without hormones?

[ibc]

Hi girls! I'm new here and have a lot of questions! But will keep it short.

I started therapy about 2 months ago, I haven't started transitioning but plan on doing it pretty soon. I'm not too sure if I wanna take hormones, first because I think it's a long and annoying process, second because I'm afraid of the side effects in my personality, and third because I wanna be able to change my body through bodybuilding, surgeries and other procedures that don't involve injecting anything or taking pills. My question is: Do you know any transgender females that have successfully transitioned without hormones? The only thing that concerns me is getting bald like a man...everything else can probably be controlled through exercise and other treatments but I don't know if hair loss can be controlled and wearing a wig doesn't sound appealing. Thoughts?

[Jessica Merriman]

Sorry, I am going to have to go with Emily on this one. You cant pick and choose what part of transition you want and which you don't. Based on this information I don't even think your therapist would sign off on your plan. This sounds disastrous.

[ibc]

Wow...this place is more judgemental than I thought. I thought the beauty of transitioning was being able to choose whoever you wanted to be, or whatever you wanted to look like. What if I wanna be a female bodybuilder? Do you even know what type of body I wanna have? Not everyone wants to be a skinny or curvy girl... What if this is part of "aligning" with my inner self like Emily said? I guess it's my fault for asking but I was expecting examples of other people who have transitioned that way (only seen a few online) not feeling like I'm being judged. It's hurtful.

[kira21 ♡♡♡]

Based on this a therapist wouldn't need to sign off her plan as she is not asking for hormones. I am going to guess that you don't want surgeries? If that's so there is nothing stopping you.

Plan A. Live however the hell makes you happy.

It depends what you want from it all. Before anyones can help you, you need to give a better idea of what you are expecting from transition without hormones.

Emily, you *can* feminise parts of your body with exercise and diet. Bigger hips, smaller waist. I do it to a small extent. I have curves.

Jessica, yes, you can pick what parts you want. People choose all the time, how they want to live their lives. We just need to know what she is expecting.

There are forum members here who do not take hormones and live as female or other gender presentations successfully. I wont name them as I don't think it would be fair to bring them under the spotlight.

Essentially it could be good for her, if she knows what to expect and wants that.

[ibc]

Based on this a therapist wouldn't need to sign off her plan as she is not asking for hormones. I am going to guess that you don't want surgeries? If that's so there is nothing stopping you.

Plan A. Live however the hell makes you happy.

It depends what you want from it all. Before anyones can help you, you need to give a better idea of what you are expecting from transition without hormones.

Emily, you *can* feminise parts of your body with exercise and diet. Bigger hips, smaller waist. I do it to a small extent. I have curves.

Jessica, yes, you can pick what parts you want. People choose all the time, how they want to live their lives. We just need to know what she is expecting.

There are forum members here who do not take hormones and live as female or other gender presentations successfully. I wont name them as I don't think it would be fair to bring them under the spotlight.

Essentially it could be good for her, if she knows what to expect and wants that.

Thank you so much for your words!!! This is the type of support I was expecting from trans sisters. You're definitely right, I wanna choose how to live my life as a female and how I wanna look. In going to therapy to find myself, that's my main goal, getting the permissions to get hormones is more of an extra perk but not my main goal here, cuz as I said, I'm not even sure if I wanna take them. Thank you for understanding.

[Dahlia]

Hmmmmmm...I (personally) know 2 post op MTF who started out as TV's...then, while living as men had electrolysis until their faces where clear, then started living as women without hormones etc for decades....then slowly developed into TS, hormones and finally SRS.
After 20 years or so....so yes, it can be possible.

And the most surprising thing is, is that they are both very stable because of the sloooooooooooooooooow development...and having lived as women for decades prior to HRT/SRS.

[Natalia]

Hi girls! I'm new here and have a lot of questions! But will keep it short.

I started therapy about 2 months ago, I haven't started transitioning but plan on doing it pretty soon. I'm not too sure if I wanna take hormones, first because I think it's a long and annoying process, second because I'm afraid of the side effects in my personality, and third because I wanna be able to change my body through bodybuilding, surgeries and other procedures that don't involve injecting anything or taking pills. My question is: Do you know any transgender females that have successfully transitioned without hormones? The only thing that concerns me is getting bald like a man...everything else can probably be controlled through exercise and other treatments but I don't know if hair loss can be controlled and wearing a wig doesn't sound appealing. Thoughts?

HRT is not an annoying process, but exactly the opposite. It is a wonderful journey being on hormones!

Your personality won't change. What probably will change is your mood and how do you feel about your body and about your life. You might starting expressing differently, but that will only be the results of you expressing feelings and emotions that were deeply buried in your mind and kept hidden from the world.  I am on HRT and I still like eating pizza and watching Game of Thrones, but I feel extremely more motivated and happier! I am just being myself and I couldn't be myself while trying to be a boy.

Err...bodybuilding is probably a bad idea unless you really do ONLY specific female exercises. As a biologicaly male with normal testosterone levels you'll much likely get muscle development on male areas (upper torso). Without HRT it is very hard to shape your body into a female pattern, and exercising might give you the opposite of what you seek.

I don't know if you consider having SRS, but that is a procedure that will stop your body from producing testosterone...and your body needs at least or testosterone or estrogen to work correctly. Without any sexual hormone you'll enter in andropause...and it is a not very pleasant thing to have. I experienced it when I was only with anti androgens and I felt terribly tired all the time...besides the risks of getting osteoporosis. So, if you plan to do it, you'll need to be on estrogen one day or another.

Getting bald is another thing that frightens most males and MtFs. I was getting bald on my corners...but HRT halted it and now I am having a good regrowth. But even if you need a wig, there are very good and realistic wigs (more expensive). If I can't get my frontal hair back and able to grow to a good lenght I'll consider buying a good wig.

I'd think very carefully. If you indeed feel the need to transition into a woman, than HRT is what you need. As it was said, the main aspect of transitioning is being, feeling and living as a woman, and no woman is on testosterone.

[ibc]

OK, lets take a break and breathe slowly . It is absolutely fine and acceptable to transition in the manner You find comfortable and the best suited for You. That also means that no hormones are required. What raised a red flag for me was You mentioning surgeries... If You told us more about which type of surgeries You plan to undergo, perhaps we could provide extra details. But I have read many posts before where people assume that having breast surgery would amount into something equal to " natural" breasts - sorry, but it is not going to happen...
And it is perfectly fine to be female bodybuilder.. but it is unaccomplishable aim without female hormones. Why? Just look at male and female bodybuilders and see the difference . Guys are the way they are because they pump muscles and are full of testosterone... girls (at least those who stay clean) just use the amount of testosterone which they naturally have - and it is extremely low - and thus they look the way they are. If You will have Your T levels within male range and decide to pump Your muscles You will never look like a female bodybuilder... Another solution is to take testosterone blockers but without any of sex hormones in Your body this is a long-term failure too, because eventually it can lead to osteoparosis.

When I talked about surgeries I was thinking about breast augmentation and maybe nose surgery. My nose looks just fine as a male, but I don't know if it'll feminine enough as a female (that's something I'll have to figure out with time, as I said I haven't started so this is all hypothetical right now). I do believe I can be a female bodybuilder without female hormones, there's actually one transgender female bodybuilder out there called Gloria. Don't remember her lastname but she has a website and everything. She says she doesn't take hormones cuz the T helps her pump. She's too big though, I don't want to have a body like hers, I wanna post a picture of the body I wanna have but don't know how! (I'M in my phone).

And about the natural feeling of breasts, I know that silicone breasts will never feel the same as natural. But that's ok.

[kira21 ♡♡♡]

where do you live ibc? Different processes and support are in place in different countries/areas.

[Jessica Merriman]

Jessica, yes, you can pick what parts you want. People choose all the time, how they want to live their lives. We just need to know what she is expecting.

Akira I have always been supportive and respectful with everyone here. I have no problem with how and why people want to live and do with their bodies. Based on the information given I had no other choice of answer. There were just too many assumptions left to the reader. It sounded to me that transition "surgeries" most of the time indicate FFS, VFS and SRS. It is a fact you have to have a therapist approval for SRS. Where I live a therapist will not give you that approval without a Hormone Replacement Therapy, period. I was not judging or showing disapproval of the OP or their intent, but that the "plan" sounded flawed based on medical necessity approval.

[ibc]

where do you live ibc? Different processes and support are in place in different countries/areas.

I live in Colombia. I've done my research and I can actually get everything done through my health care fund. I'm just not too sure if I wanna go through the whole process, it seems exhausting and I'm not really looking forward to having doctors questioning who I am just to let me be me.

Akira I have always been supportive and respectful with everyone here. I have no problem with how and why people want to live and do with their bodies. Based on the information given I had no other choice of answer. There were just too many assumptions left to the reader. It sounded to me that transition "surgeries" most of the time indicate FFS, VFS and SRS. It is a fact you have to have a therapist approval for SRS. Where I live a therapist will not give you that approval without a Hormone Replacement Therapy, period. I was not judging or showing disapproval of the OP or their intent, but that the "plan" sounded flawed based on medical necessity approval.

Hey Jessica I don't think I want SRS, if I ever decide to do it I am aware that I need hormones

Well, people undergo surgeries every time and nobody would ever care why You want Your nose being that way or another. Rhinoplasty cant even be considered as MtF oriented Facial feminisation surgery as natal women undergo that one too .

And yes, female bodybuilders are essentially much slower and those taking testosterone supplements tend to masculinise and look more manly - also many of them are frowned upon by female bodybuilding community (I know a bit because I used to do some amateur lifting years ago) and with testosterone - as was mentioned - You will quickly develop male-pattern upper body. There are many former bodybuilders on this site, but they have usually toned down their muscles which can be only accomplished by diet+hrt.

Got it. I guess I just wanna be in control of my transition and my body and not having to depend on doctors and their evaluations. I'll still have to figure out what and how I wanna do it. Let me find a link for the body I wanna have and I'll post it

[ibc]

Here are examples of the type of body I wanna have:

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

I think I have sort of the advantage that I'm naturally skinny so I think it's a matter of developing and working on my lower body waaaaay more than my upper body.

And here's the post that really inspires me:

View this post on Instagram

I wanna look like that. And loved that quote.

[ibc]

Anyway thank you everyone for your words and opinions (good and bad). I'm gonna focus on transitioning and trying to find myself, I think it'll be better to step away from message boards like this one for now. But thanks again.

[kira21 ♡♡♡]

good luck ibc

[Kaylee]

Are you talking about this Gloria?  http://www.rxmuscle.com/articles/bios-a-interviews/881-up-close-and-personal-with-transgender-gloria-pisciotta.html

She was on hormones for 7 years between 13-20 years old, so she went through a female puberty already.  That would of given plenty of raw material for a breast enlargement and apparently enough time to shut down T production as she hasn't had any effects in the last 10 years.

Unfortunately unless you have that 7 year female endocrine system as a basis you would develop a buff guy body if you body build, fair play if that's what you want...

[kelly_aus]

And about the natural feeling of breasts, I know that silicone breasts will never feel the same as natural. But that's ok.

They won't look at all natural either.. They will look like 2 implants jammed under the skin.

[Natalia]

Ibc,

Don't take everyone's opinion so harshly. You are only receiving realistic and sincere opinions. They might hurt, but they are true nonetheless. Without HRT you won't be able to achieve a good feminine body shape, specially if you plan to be a bodybuilder, because your body will work on the masculine pattern.

You can live your life the way you want, of course!

I see many people that choosed to live as a woman and didn't go on hormones or had any major surgeries (FFS or SRS)...and they have major problems to pass. On the place I see a gender therapist there is a huge number of ->-bleeped-<-s and most of them only dress as a woman (some had HRT for a very short time or had only breast augmentation). They might be happy, but they need to face with a lot more social problems once they are easily spotted as trans.