Which is more flattering for M2F, being 10lbs under weight or 10lbs over weight?

[Evelyn K]

Consider those two extremes. If you had to choose, which do you think works better for you?

Does a bonier face and slender body look more feminine or does a curvier filled out body and rounder cheekier face?

[Adam (birkin)]

If I may chime in as a guy, I think that girls with a bit of extra weight on them look much more feminine in general (face and body), whether they are cis or trans. Males tend to have a lower body fat percentage, so I find that excess skinniness tends to emphasize some masculine features (again, cis or trans).

[Carrie Liz]

Lol... extremes? 10 lbs is extreme? Thanks for making me feel like s***... (I'm like 30 lbs over my "ideal" weight.)

In all seriousness, though, it's not so much what you weigh, it's more where that weight is. In my opinion I'll always take someone who's a little bit overweight over someone who's a little bit underweight because I love people who are softer and curvier over people who are bony and frail. But again, it depends. Gendered fat deposits make up a HUGE part of how we differentiate the sexes. So to my eyes, early in transition super-thin MtFs are a bit more passable, because their baseline is more androgynous, and their lack of gendered fat means that usually they can start being gendered female with simple cues such as long hair. But later in transition, MtFs with more fat definitely gain the upper hand. Because once the body starts putting on "female" fat, it can really cover up a lot of the deficiencies in bone structure, where the thin MtFs will always have their male-ish bone structure more visible. If someone has boobs, a butt, round cheeks, and female thighs, it becomes WAY more difficult to clock them, even if they have some bone-structure deficiencies.

Most of the completely-passable trans women that I've met are in the "a touch overweight but still slim" range, with good curves. Again, those curves can make a world of difference.

[Jenna Marie]

Yeah, I don't think 10 lbs is extreme at all. But given a choice, I'd rather carry some extra weight, too; that's where boobs and butt and hips come from, and it softens the face and body overall.

[Evelyn K]

But I'm confused. If you have breast development and lost the extra wight, doesn't your breast size stay the same? Your waist becomes more hourly glassed shape.

Or so the theory.

[Evelyn K]

Lol... extremes? 10 lbs is extreme? Thanks for making me feel like s***... (I'm like 30 lbs over my "ideal" weight.)

In all seriousness, though, it's not so much what you weigh, it's more where that weight is. In my opinion I'll always take someone who's a little bit overweight over someone who's a little bit underweight because I love people who are softer and curvier over people who are bony and frail. But again, it depends. To my eyes, super-thin MtFs seem a bit more passable while clothed as a whole when compared to overweight ones because there's not as much difference between the two sexes when gendered fat deposits are taken away, so it's easier for an andgynous body to appear female with only simple cues like long hair. But once the fat is indeed in the right places, the overweight become WAY more passable, because a layer of female fat completely buries any deficiencies in bone structure, while the maleish bone structure of thin MtFs is usually a bit more obvious, and the lack of that "female" fat means that they don't feminize as much by the end, they'll always look more androgynous. Again, it just depends if the fat is in the right places or not. It can either REALLY help you if it's in your boobs and butt, or really hurt you if it's on your stomach and back.

That's pretty interesting about 'female fat' burying male bone structure.

[Jenna Marie]

Evelyn : A lot of what makes up breasts is fat - about 2/3 is fat for the average woman - so it depends on the woman. That's true for cis women, too. Some lose weight everywhere BUT the boobs, some it comes off the boobs first, or anything in between is possible. (If you look at cis female athletes, you'll notice that hardcore training usually = almost no visible breasts anymore. That's not typical, obviously, but it does show that weight loss can sharply diminish apparent breast size; then it's just a question of how a given woman's body chooses to react to losing weight.)

[Adam (birkin)]

But I'm confused. If you have breast development and lost the extra wight, doesn't your breast size stay the same? Your waist becomes more hourly glassed shape.

Or so the theory.

Not in my experience. Talking about before testosterone here, with estrogen in me. At my lowest weight I was a small A, I could go without wearing a bra and most people never noticed. Upon gaining weight I went up to a C and it's all fat (my surgeon groped me to confirm this -_- lol). I found that when I lost 30 pounds or so they shrunk to about a B. Really, they seemed to be proportional to my body - so even if they got bigger they didn't stick out more because I had fat elsewhere to obscure them.

[Megan Joanne]

Fat is nice and soft, muscle gives hard edges. 10lbs over is more fattering.  15lbs over would be more ideal, that'd put me at at 150lbs, for me that's as plump as I've ever gotten.  I've never liked being skinny and right now, I'm under 10lbs my average hormone enhanced weight. Got to get it all back, and then some if I can. But how?

10 pounds if fat is a lot, it don't weigh much, that's a lot of fat missing from the body. 

[Carrie Liz]

Yeah... breasts are mostly made of fat.

And I've posted this many times before, but the number of fat cells in the body does not change. When you lose weight, all that happens is that the existing fat cells in your body all shrink, and when you gain weight they all inflate.

So basically, yeah, when you lose weight, your breasts will shrink in proportion to the rest of your body. Just like they'll grow in proportion when you gain weight.

The only way to gain breast fat and hip fat when compared to other body fat is time... hormones influence where new fat cells are created. So as the old fat cells die (about 10% die each year) and need to be replicated somewhere else, slowly they'll relocate to gender-appropriate areas. The speed of this depends on how readily your body's cells are replicating, genetics, and other things. (And this is why it takes cis-women like 8 years to completely shed the teenager-y look and develop full womanly curves. Because it's not just "yay, estrogen, I'm going to store all my fat in my boobs and hips now." It takes years for the childish fat-storage areas to relocate to adult female areas.)

[Megan Joanne]

Maybe I should have seconds on the pasta tonight? 

[VeronicaLynn]

Evelyn : A lot of what makes up breasts is fat - about 2/3 is fat for the average woman - so it depends on the woman. That's true for cis women, too. Some lose weight everywhere BUT the boobs, some it comes off the boobs first, or anything in between is possible. (If you look at cis female athletes, you'll notice that hardcore training usually = almost no visible breasts anymore. That's not typical, obviously, but it does show that weight loss can sharply diminish apparent breast size; then it's just a question of how a given woman's body chooses to react to losing weight.)

While unusual, some morbidly obese cis-women are relatively flat-chested. There's really no telling where that 10lbs might go so I'll go with 10lbs under weight, though if it goes to the right places I more than don't mind more than 10lbs.

[Evelyn K]

Fat is nice and soft, muscle gives hard edges. 10lbs over is more fattering.  15lbs over would be more ideal, that'd put me at at 150lbs, for me that's as plump as I've ever gotten.  I've never liked being skinny and right now, I'm under 10lbs my average hormone enhanced weight. Got to get it all back, and then some if I can. But how?

10 pounds if fat is a lot, it don't weigh much, that's a lot of fat missing from the body. 

Meg for you, would you say losing the fat would be more masculinizing?

[Megan Joanne]

Of coarse! That's why I'm trying to get my fat back.  My stick legs don't look feminine to me, too much muscle detail. Same with my arms that are showing kind of veiny right now. I've never really had much on my face though, it'd be nice though, just a tiny bit.

Oh, and I am eating my second plate of pasta.  Hopefully those pills put that fat to the right places, not my waist.

Are you trying to find an ideal weight for yourself Evelyn? Or just curious how people will answer? 

[Chic]

10 pounds underweight. I can't wait to lose weight. I want a more feminine figure.

[Jennygirl]

I've been on both sides of the coin, and I prefer having 5-10lbs extra. My face looks softer, I look younger, and my boobs/butt carry most of the extra weight (which is a good thing imo).