Paranoid about exercise

[Dana88]

So! I am a little overweight. Currently at 5'9" I weigh in at 200 lbs. I'd like to get down to 160 lbs. That said, August 2014 I was up to 243 lbs. So I've lost 43 lbs over the last 8 months. BUT! I'm super paranoid about exercise. I've been doing only cardio, though have fallen off the wagon a little bit, but am getting back on. I know I need to do more than just cardio to get past this 200 lbs mark, but I'm SOOOOO paranoid about putting on muscle/retaining the muscle I have.

When I went through a denial phase years ago I really hit the gym and put on some upper body mass in a silly effort to 'man up' (I'm actually in terms of bone structure pretty narrow shouldered for a genetic male, so I hope to get back there eventually). However that upper body muscle mass hasn't really gone away.  I've only been on real full dose HRT including T-blockers for the last month, so I, of course, am not expecting that muscle mass to have diminished already in any meaningful way.

Basically I'm just paranoid about exercising and making my body hold on to what I have or God forbid put on any more muscle (especially in my upper body). Does anyone have any workout regimes that have worked for them, or suggestions of what I can add into my workout routine that won't make me hold onto muscle mass or put on any more?

[Katie]

I am not paranoid about muscle. On the other hand I play a full contact sport against women that are most often 20 something and I am 40 something so I need to be in decent shape or I get run over.

I might be different because I don't care what other people think if I have muscles.........

[Dana88]

I am not paranoid about muscle. On the other hand I play a full contact sport against women that are most often 20 something and I am 40 something so I need to be in decent shape or I get run over.

I might be different because I don't care what other people think if I have muscles.........

It's not an issue of other people judging me for having muscles ;-). It's an issue of how masculine/feminine I feel personally, and it's something that makes me personally feel dysphoric.

[DrummerGirl]

Running worked really well for me.  My muscles have leaned out quite a bit, and I've lost a ton of weight.

[charlotte15]

When I went through a denial phase years ago I really hit the gym and put on some upper body mass in a silly effort to 'man up'  However that upper body muscle mass hasn't really gone away.  I've only been on real full dose HRT including T-blockers for the last month, so I, of course, am not expecting that muscle mass to have diminished already in any meaningful way.

Been there, done that. Give your body some time. Stop exercising. My muscle mass is receding away nicely, turning into fat. (When it's fat, you can run to burn it away by jogging and dieting, but I don't want to lose my boobs so I just give myself more time :-))

I'm at 6 month HRT, after 2 years of anti androgen, so I may be further along the line, but it happens. Don't rush it. And girls with muscles are sexy too!

[Dana88]

Been there, done that. Give your body some time. Stop exercising. My muscle mass is receding away nicely, turning into fat. (When it's fat, you can run to burn it away by jogging and dieting, but I don't want to lose my boobs so I just give myself more time :-))

I'm at 6 month HRT, after 2 years of anti androgen, so I may be further along the line, but it happens. Don't rush it. And girls with muscles are sexy too!

Yeah, I know that the muscle mass decreasing is a matter of time, and that it's not going to happen overnight. I was just asking in terms of exercise is there anything that's 'safer' that won't make me retain muscle mass that I have?

[charlotte15]

Tough. Anything will have an effect, because of the spillover effect: exercising even just one group of muscle in isolation, say the gluteus (for a sexy butt), has an effect on the whole. I don't want anything left in my arms so I'm abstaining at the moment. I'm waiting for 1 year on HRT to start running.

If you really want to do something, I'd just suggest you run too, but to lose muscle mass, it may have to be more intense than jogging.

Just look at those marathoners. Can't see any bulging muscle :-)

[katiej]

+1 for running.  Look at marathon runners.  They're all skinny and have very little muscle tone...especially in the upper body.

[Wednesday]

I think one of the most interesting options would be long cycling/running sessions and some lower body/core workouts to prevent injuries and overloads. Biking and running workouts (always 45 minutes or more) are great fat burners. Cycling and running just give you lower body mass, which can be feminizing to an extent (specially for cycling, it gives you thighs and gluts). Unused muscles tend to burn, so, basically when running/cycling/doing core-lower routines, those upper body muscles should slowly disappear.

[Ms Grace]

Agree with running. You need muscles or you won't be able to stand up - muscles aren't the issue, I know, it's how bulky they are so avoid the mega protein shakes and body builder exercises and you should be fine especially if you are on HRT.

[Emily E]

Running and Cardio are good but if you feel you really need to hit the weights use ultra low weights (1-5 pounds) and increase the reps to 100 per set this will help convert your muscles from the thick fast twitch type (associated with strength which men generally want) to thin slow twitch type (associated with endurance which women generally want).  There are a lot of fitness and exercise websites out there designed for women which will feature exercises designed to specifically keep the muscle mass low (just like you women don't want to be all muscle bound) while increasing fat burning potential.   Good Luck

[saraht123]

I decided to start walking/cycling about 6 months ago to see if I could lose some upper body mass. I haven't started hrt yet.

My hip measurement has gone up 2". My waist is down by about 1". My shoulders (total edge to edge width) are down 1.5". My thighs are up by 1". My upper arms are down 0.5". Calves and forearms haven't really changed much at all.

My weight has gone up by about 5 lbs. Overall, I'd say the effect on my body shape has been feminising and my center of gravity has shifted downwards.

On the downside, I've lost a bit of fat, but not very much. Hopefully I'll get this back if I can get on hrt. I miss having a bit of fat (particularly about the face) as I find it smooths everything out a little for me and makes my features look less angular.

Oh, and I read endurance/cardio/running/cycling lowers testosterone slightly

[katrinaw]

Walking, Jogging and watch dietary intake for me... In winter I get snow-sport exercise, summer do some bike riding... but the walking / jogging is best with diet, IMHO.

With you Dana about personal feeling of femininity

L Katy

[Emileeeee]

I have the same fears. It sounds like we're roughly the same size with the same goals. I avoid upper body work like the plague. I tried yoga and they had me doing push-ups as part of it and all I could think about was that my upper body's going to bulk up again.

I've found walking to be pretty effective, but I have special circumstances. I'm able to spend an hour in the morning and another hour at night walking every day because that IS my commute. I also wear a backpack with my laptop in it during the walks. I really can't tell it's working, but I've had people at work tell me that I'm visibly losing weight and it's only been a couple months. 

[saraht123]

I tried yoga and they had me doing push-ups

Me too! I thought it was going to be all zen and flexibility, but it seemed really upper body intensive. I enjoyed it otherwise and I'm looking for something similar but not at all strength orientated. It might have been the particular style of yoga I went to.