How do I lose shoulder and bicep muscles?

[CrissyMarie]

So something that has been bothering me is, that I still have some shoulder and bicep muscles, and they don't seem to be shrinking, no matter how long I've been on HRT.  I feel I pass for the most part in public, but I struggle to always keep my arms straight and shoulders back constantly, just so I don't get any weird looks.  I've cut protein way down compared to how I use to eat, and I don't lift weights or anything.  So I can't figure out how to lose the broad shoulder look and biceps.  I have at the moment a surfers physique, and a good bit of tummy fat.  I'm sure that jogging and aerobics will help with the tummy, but I'm lost on the upper body muscles.  So looking for advice, before I go the route of Gandhi.

[Dread_Faery]

I found that I lost a lot of upper body strength post op, I lost some pre op on HRT but Noticed a Real difference post op

[Athena]

Yoga ?

[Jill F]

1) Do cardio
2) Make others do the heavy lifting. 

[CrissyMarie]

I do a little yoga, just got into it about a month ago.  In my opinion it's almost identical to stretching.  Cardio may be my best best.  As for the post op option, that will take 3-4 years before I can afford to get that done.  Guess I will just have to get my lazy butt active, instead of just diet alone.

[Sammy]

What is Your shoulder width, Crissy? Chances might be they are still within acceptable female range but You just keep obsessing about them (I did...). I have done lots and lots of cardio and things really started to improve after I cut out proteins for at least 3-4 days per week and upped my E dosage slightly. During last 1.5 years I have lost about 3 inches in my shoulders (I was about 20) and now am at 17 (45 cm) and there is not much room left to loose. Biceps are slower to follow - lost a couple of cm, but they have really softened up and when trying to flex them, not much happens.

[Delsorou]

This is something that I vacillate on with my own body.  I have more than a few times taken selfies aimed at my shoulders and arms in various poses, just to try and see if they look bulky.  I'm sure this process looks utterly ridiculous to watch, so I hope nobody has seen me do it.  After obsessing about it for a few weeks, I will look at pictures of natal women's arms and tell myself (correctly) that my arms look totally normal for a six foot tall woman, and the tiny arms which I envy come on proportionally teeny tiny women with teeny tiny bones.  Then a few weeks later, I will obsess over it again.

In fact I was just looking at a photo of Terry Farrell earlier tonight for this exact same reason.  For me at least I don't think those muscles will be getting significantly smaller than they are now, though I sure wouldn't say no if they did.  It's only been just over a year of HRT, so they very well might.  Muscle turns over slowly on its own devices.  I tell you what made a big difference was getting an office job!  Lifting a mouse is much less of a workout than lifting brake rotors.

From your description, your body sounds very similar to mine.  If it helps any, after looking at your profile photo I was actually jealous of your arm.   

[Sammy]

This is something that I vacillate on with my own body.  I have more than a few times taken selfies aimed at my shoulders and arms in various poses, just to try and see if they look bulky.  I'm sure this process looks utterly ridiculous to watch, so I hope nobody has seen me do it.  After obsessing about it for a few weeks, I will look at pictures of natal women's arms and tell myself (correctly) that my arms look totally normal for a six foot tall woman, and the tiny arms which I envy come on proportionally teeny tiny women with teeny tiny bones.  Then a few weeks later, I will obsess over it again.

Exactly! It all comes down to proportions - btw, my bff and colleague who is sitting across me at this moment - she has exactly the same if not bigger upper arms (I would not really call them "biceps", lol) - it's just hers are mostly made by subcutaneous fat whereas in my case it is thinner fat layer on top of muscle mass. Also, we tend to have more muscle definition which is another issue unrelated to muscle mass, but it can be solved by toning them down.

[CrissyMarie]

From your description, your body sounds very similar to mine.  If it helps any, after looking at your profile photo I was actually jealous of your arm.   

Thanks sweetie, it may just be in my head, my shoulders aren't so bad anymore, just some unwanted biceps.  So I don't flex.  Here is an example for you I was with my boyfriend and brother at some place that had arcade games and such in it and there was this machine that has a round punching bag that drops down and you're suppose to hit it and it goes back up and measures your strength.  My brother did average mid range, he is 6'1" and in decent shape.  I'm 5'8" and when I punched it, I about broke the machine my brother said.  Said "I hit like Mac truck". XD lol I think it scared my boyfriend.  Because he was thinking I'm this cute tomboyish girl, and I hit the thing so hard, I had guys from behind gaming machines lean to one side from behind them to see what the hell the sound was.  Serves me right for showing off to my brother, cause were competitive, and he knows how fit I was before changing to girl.

[Sammy]

Thanks sweetie, it may just be in my head, my shoulders aren't so bad anymore, just some unwanted biceps.  So I don't flex.  Here is an example for you I was with my boyfriend and brother at some place that had arcade games and such in it and there was this machine that has a round punching bag that drops down and you're suppose to hit it and it goes back up and measures your strength.  My brother did average mid range, he is 6'1" and in decent shape.  I'm 5'8" and when I punched it, I about broke the machine my brother said.  Said "I hit like Mac truck". XD lol I think it scared my boyfriend.  Because he was thinking I'm this cute tomboyish girl, and I hit the thing so hard, I had guys from behind gaming machines lean to one side from behind them to see what the hell the sound was.  Serves me right for showing off to my brother, cause were competitive, and he knows how fit I was before changing to girl.

Can You remember Your score, btw? LOL . Last time I tried this, my wrist felt really sore for a couple of hours .

[CrissyMarie]

First punch was 120, which is because I hit it wrong, the next punch cause the entire machine to rock backwords.  And registered something like 150, which is bs because my brother did around 518.  I think I missed the sensor or broke the sensor, all I know is rule of thumb "never hit something hard enough to make your boyfriend feel insecure". XD aww poor baby.  Guess he needs to learn to man up more.

[HelloKitty]

First punch was 120, which is because I hit it wrong, the next punch cause the entire machine to rock backwords.  And registered something like 150, which is bs because my brother did around 518.  I think I missed the sensor or broke the sensor, all I know is rule of thumb "never hit something hard enough to make your boyfriend feel insecure". XD aww poor baby.  Guess he needs to learn to man up more.

Hahaha yes he does I guess lol.
If he saw what I hit at he'd run away lol

[Sammy]

Yep, You definately broke something there . I remember scoring smth around 688 three weeks ago just out of curiousity...

[Delsorou]

Where does one find one of these things?  Now I'm curious what score I would get, being largely unathletic as I am.

That one sounds like it might've been broken.  Don't forget though, technique has a lot to do with it, not just strength.  I did not realize how to properly use my body to project force until I took fencing.  Then a month later at work, I experimented with punching a pallet of oil and antifreeze as hard as I could.  Ended up knocking a case off the other side, rocking the whole pallet and that was after about six months of HRT when I could feel that I was physically much weaker.  The last time I tried to do that - before HRT or fencing class - I kind of made a shallow dent in the box I hit and just pushed myself backwards.

Incidentally, those pallets were super useful when I came out and coworkers kept misgendering/misnaming me.  I've never had more punching practice before or since!

[Wynternight]

I have to get in a lot of protein a day, at least 60 grams, due to having had bariatric surgery. Luckily it hasn't done anything to give me any bulk and I have definitely lost muscle mass with all the weight I lost. I also feel like I'm losing muscle mass since starting HRT. I need to put some weight back on these days since I'm skin and bones (you can count my ribs).

[Staci]

It takes years. It took me 6 years to lose my mass and I still have a little. Went from a 44 chest to a 36, and didn't lose much till year 4.5.