A step in the right direction.

[LittleEmily24]

So, its no secret that we live in a bit of a harsh and unforgiving world in general, more so if you are trans =/ dangers galore, discrimination abundant and ignorance unwavering. BUT, if its any ray of hope, I'd like to share an experience I had yesterday afternoon:

I went to the gym as I usually do to work out with my PT, and she had been suggesting i go into the sauna after cardio. This obviously made me feel a bit hesitant because while i use the female bathrooms, I feel that using the women's locker room and facilities at the gym might be a cause for problems. My PT is a very sweet and young girl, younger than me (19) so she is part of the new, more tolerant, generation. She told me "f*** what people say, i doubt you'll run into any trouble, its really all about whether or not you feel comfortable enough going in, but I won't have any issue and no one else should either, and if they do, just ignore them."

While I admire her encouragement, i took it upon myself to ask management instead. Going towards the manager with my usual "expect the worst but hope for the best" attitude, me and my wife spoke to the manager and his response was half expected and half surprising:

He said to us; "Wow... ok.... you'll have to forgive me because im not gonna lie, in the 15 years I've been running this place, this is the first time i've ever dealt with this kind of thing." he was saying all this in a very non-chalant and positive kind of manner, with genuine confusion on what to do, but it gets better, he went on to say; "I'm glad you came to me with this because we live in an evolving society and I think its very important to become not only acquainted but also comfortable with this kind of situation. I personally don't have any issue with you using the women's facilities because I understand the world we live in, but just to be sure, I wanna go ahead and ask corporate about it. Even though I don't care, there's a lot of ignorant people who come to this gym, and i wanna be able to brush off any uptight ladies that might come bitching to me about this."

To quote what he said after: "life works in mysterious ways." it just so happened that on the day i chose to ask the manager about this, I was lucky enough to find out that corporate (the 2 owners of the LA Fitness franchise) were actually going to be VISITING that VERY GYM tomorrow (now today obviously), so it was almost like right place right time kind of thing.

The gym manager told me that he is about 98% sure that corporate wont have any issue with it, but just to be 100% sure, he would have an answer for me today. He even said that if anything they can just make a copy of my psych's formal letter and keep it in my file in case another manager is not aware of the situation.

I think its safe to assume that the reason this is the first time he's dealt with this issue in 15 years is because normally transfolk wait until they've reached a passability where they don't have to worry about being mistaken as the "dude in the girls locker room!", and I'm in what we all call the "awkward phase" where I don't really look entirely female but I also don't look entirely male either; so I cause a bit of confusion every time i just walk into the gym.

But anyway, I just felt that this was a step in a hopeful direction for progress. This happened in Miami Florida btw and my zone is a very old-fashioned hispanic area, so its pretty much in my nature to expect the worst. South America is still struggling to just embrace or accept the idea of being gay... let alone being trans. So to see that this level of acceptance is available to me even in my awkward phase, gives me a lot of hope and i hope it gives others hope as well. <3

[Debussy]

Wow. From all the stories I've heard, I go around expecting MUCH worse then what usually happens. I'm really amazed people are being that understanding with you. Transition is full of fear, so it only makes sense we would expect the worse. It must feel pretty good to have your expectations turned around like that

Aside from that, do you do mostly just cardio at the gym? Do you do strength training, just on lower body?

And keep us updated on the response you get from corporate :O

[LittleEmily24]

Wow. From all the stories I've heard, I go around expecting MUCH worse then what usually happens. I'm really amazed people are being that understanding with you. Transition is full of fear, so it only makes sense we would expect the worse. It must feel pretty good to have your expectations turned around like that

Aside from that, do you do mostly just cardio at the gym? Do you do strength training, just on lower body?

And keep us updated on the response you get from corporate :O

I know I was so surprised by the exchange that it gave me a bit of a confidence boost as well as a hopeful boost.

And to answer your questions: I do about 30 minutes of PT and then an hour of cardio (sometimes an hour and a half if I feel up for it) on the elliptical. I do pretty much endurance training and we mostly work on abs and legs and not so much arms and back (though we do incorporate it mildly), my trainer knows that I'm trying to just tone and slim down my upper body while actually building better ab and leg muscles. I mean, i know hormones will play a BIG part in this, but if I can avoid getting huge muscular arms; im sure as hell going to avoid it hahaha. I mean its good to exercise every part of your body, but you don't have to train every part in the same way. With abs we mostly use our body weight instead of using machines, and with legs we do a combination of body weight and weight lifting, and as for upper body, we stick to low-weight high-rep workouts (pretty much muscle toning workouts).

Though I gotta add this (and my PT even told me this too): Being fit is 80% diet and 20% exercise. You can do HOURS of work-out and not gain anything if you're eating habits aren't clean.

I lost about 15 lbs JUST by eating clean, at some point the weight loss slowed dramatically and it was at this point that I knew i had to step it up a notch and start working out now i've gone down a total of 40 lbs. 4 months ago I was 235, and this morning I clocked in at 194. Its hard work but the results make it sooooo worth it.

[Debussy]

I'm curious- what do you mean by eating 'clean'? Avoiding processed foods?

I try to eat a balance of veggies/grains/proteins/dairies without too much processed foods. I shop at trader joes *_* and go as much organic as I can.
But I mean, as I'm typing this there's a bag of lays to my left... yum...
buuuuut I'm usually pretty good about it.
(and a box of lemon heads... YUMMY)

I think my biggest problem is my eating habits. For example, yesterday I woke up at 10, ate a bowl of soup (which didn't fill me up)
Then around 1:30 I had a burger and a salad- which was the last thing I had yesterday. I didn't eat dinner, hah.
sometimes I don't eat until 3 pm, or skip meals... I think thats a problem... I was 170 6 months ago and now I'm 180... And I'm 6 ft tall. I've never weighed this much ever. I'm going to get back on my running schedule, which I took a long break from...

I'm kind of obsessive about my upper body. Sometimes I feel psychotic I lift things in extreme ways just to make sure I put the least amount of work into my upper body. When I worked stocking a grocery store 3 months ago, I would have anxiety every night I had to stock the bulk section which required lifting 50 lbs bags. It gave me such horrible dysphoria I had to quit my job :O

[LittleEmily24]

Well, its kind of a combination of eating the right things at the right times, staying away from processed foods and most importantly; PORTION size.

for example; eating whole grains and veggies is great, but if you eat a pound of it... its still not good for you lol.

Eating clean also means eating more fiber, drinking more water, staying away from simple carbs and empty calories. Also, not eating carbs at night or before going to bed.

My usual thing is carbs and protein and fats all in the morning (to give you that energy you need for the day), for lunch there can be some carbs as long as its good carbs (no white stuff, all whole grains) and some greens and protein, and for dinner strictly protein and veggies. Its also important that you're technically constantly eating all day and drink a lot of water. If you snack (on healthy things of course and in normal portion sizes) on something every 2 hours, your metabolism speeds up and keeps going, so you burn more and more fat than you would if you only ate 3 meals or if you starved yourself. Water alone increases your metabolic rate.

There are little tips and tricks to avoid overeating or to increase metabolism lol but if I put them all on here it will make pages among pages of things >_<

I shop at trader joe's too I love the freezedried fruits and the Chile Spiced dried mango xD and i sometimes cheat with the Speculoos cookie butter hehehe. i honestly envy you 0_0 I'm only 1 inch taller than you and I weigh 195 >_< I feel fat now.

You should never skip meals because as I mentioned before; if you are eating all day (healthy things) your metabolism speeds up and you burn burn burn ^_^.

[AnneB]

If I can recommend a little light reading too...  "Eat Right For Your Type", is a book, written by a specialist (MD), that deals with eating the food that work/agree with your body chemistry..  You have to know your blood type tho.. A, B, AB, O.. and EVERYONE should know their blood type!    really, it is an amazing book, that has some real-world examples of how -not- to eat based on your blood type.  ex.  I'm an O, and O's should -not- eat cauliflower, but I LOVE cauliflower!  I wont say what it does to me, just that, you wouldn't want to take a road trip with me for several hours afterwards.. Any glutens, corn, kidney, navy beans, lentils, cabbage (and my heritage is from Eastern Europe.. NO stuffed cabbage!!!)  Bad, bad, bad for O's.  More Avoids from the book.. BACON??!!  Ham & pork...  hmmm, time to get a new book..  LOL

Eat the wrong type (chemical makeup) of food, and you'll never lose weight.  And quite possibly, end up overweight, bloated, tired, sick, blah.. like putting diesel fuel in a gas car.. it isn't even using the wrong octane.. it's using the wrong fuel base..  anyway, see if you can find it in a half-price books kinda place..  lemme grab mine, for the author.. brb..

ok, back.. Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo wrote it, there is a companion book, "Cook Right For Your Type", same idea, a cookbook based on your blood type.. 

Short version.  foods have a chemistry, and if you mixed the wrong chemical makeup with your bodys chemical makeup, there is a battle.  Eat foods that go -with- your bodys chemical makeup, and you're safe, healthy, in tune.

Anyway, just an idea..  I cut out several of the Avoids for type-O and I felt better.. backslid with bacon, but then, who doesn't?

[LittleEmily24]

Anyway, just an idea..  I cut out several of the Avoids for type-O and I felt better.. backslid with bacon, but then, who doesn't?

i have a painfully large weakness for wings and ice cream >_>... Not in combination LOL.

[AnneB]

When I was in a sports bar on an overnight in De Moines last week, I asked the waitress if she had chicken wings.. 

She raised her arms and said "Do these look like chicken wings to you??"   






ok, that was bad.. even for me