fitness and weight loss HRT

[Lost78]

I know many have stated to loose as much weight as possible prior to going on HRT. Now granted some have stated it doesn't matter your weight and that you could start HRT anytime. But if I want to look good and have a body like a woman, being 280 lbs, I need to loose weight. Now the healthy part of me says loose 100 lbs...that's a lot of weight, and will take about a year to achieve. That means not starting HRT for another year...that makes me another year older.... I also know you can start HRT at any age, but for me, the younger the better since I'm already 37. So I understand that HRT "moves" fat, I mean I'm not thinking my gut will magically lift to my breasts or anything, but i hear different things regarding weight loss and HRT. Many say it slows the process and makes it difficult to loss the weight others have said they lost weight. I'm torn...I want to look the best I can for the best results while on HRT, but I also don't want to jump into it and be unhealthy and "large" for a woman. No offense to the lovely large ladies out there, your all beautiful. I would just prefer to be a "new" me. And right now I'm morbidly obese by state standards and to be a new me, I need to not be. Suggestions?

[Randi]

It's a lot easier to exercise and lose weight while you are testosterone powered.  Yes, losing 100 lbs would be good.  If you can do that in three years you will be doing a good job.  You might be able to lose 2 lbs per week for a while, but it will prove very hard to sustain that without plateaus and reversals.

Estrogen will slow your metabolism and make weight loss much harder.  Loss of testosterone will lower your energy level. You DO have one advantage though.  A 280 pound person will burn a lot more calories walking a mile than someone much lighter.  For the moment, building muscle is beneficial.  Active muscle burns more calories than fat does.

[iKate]

They say estrogen makes it harder to lose weight.

I've had the exact opposite experience.

However this could be a side effect of my general healthcare regimen which involves a carb restricted diet, multiple medications which have weight loss as a listed side effect (metformin, allopurinol) and muscle loss.

I would say this: don't wait. This means you can start your weight loss now but don't delay hormones because you want to lose weight. In the end weight loss is about a calorie deficit and hormones are only part of the equation. If you eat less you WILL lose weight. However if you starve your body may look to conserve fat stores. So what I did was gradually reduce portions until I could eat half of what I used to eat and still feel full (this is similar to how gastric bypass surgery works). I lost weight easily. I started at 210, started HRT at 180 and I'm down to 158 now. My goal is 145-150 or maybe a bit less.

[Pony]

I know many have stated to loose as much weight as possible prior to going on HRT. Now granted some have stated it doesn't matter your weight and that you could start HRT anytime. But if I want to look good and have a body like a woman, being 280 lbs, I need to loose weight. Now the healthy part of me says loose 100 lbs...that's a lot of weight, and will take about a year to achieve. That means not starting HRT for another year...that makes me another year older.... I also know you can start HRT at any age, but for me, the younger the better since I'm already 37. So I understand that HRT "moves" fat, I mean I'm not thinking my gut will magically lift to my breasts or anything, but i hear different things regarding weight loss and HRT. Many say it slows the process and makes it difficult to loss the weight others have said they lost weight. I'm torn...I want to look the best I can for the best results while on HRT, but I also don't want to jump into it and be unhealthy and "large" for a woman. No offense to the lovely large ladies out there, your all beautiful. I would just prefer to be a "new" me. And right now I'm morbidly obese by state standards and to be a new me, I need to not be. Suggestions?

First thing, relax. There really isn't much difference in hormone effect at 37 vs 45. You already missed 1st puberty and even early 20's where the really big changes can happen, but after 30 it's really more or less all the same deal until +55ish where it gets even slower. Yeah, I had the same concerns and then did a lot of reading up about it all and then I was like "Oh ok, I can take my time. Good to know." I'm 41 btw, so I've got a handful of years on you.

Second, here's the thing. You're looking to make a new you, right? So why gamble with it. Hands down the best way to lose the weight is pre-hormones. It will be substantially easier. Plus it's a self test. Because if you can't focus enough to lose it while you're on T, you're NOT going to do it the 'natural work out way' while on E. I don't care about 'exceptions and crap' I'm being realistic with you. Doing it now pre-E will get you changing your life in the right direction. It'll be the first part of your life style change to the new you. Plus all the working out will pump you full of endorphins which will make your outlook so more positive and make it so you're less prone to depression.

Third, sure you could get put on that thyroid medication to help you lose weight. I know a transwoman doing this now and they are heavy and you can see them losing the weight, but she also has started being much more active with working out and changed her diet - but even she admitted it's being one hell of a struggle and wished she had started everything else (sans the meds) pre-E.

Fourth, you weigh 280 and want to lose 100 so you'll be 180. How tall are you? I'm 5'10 and weight 170 and goto the gym 4-5 days a week for about an hour long work out (sometimes a little longer and sometimes a little less). I'm back to my 32 inch waist line I had in high school and I look fit and trim for my frame, but still want to lose another 10 lb's to maximize it out. I start out at 190 lbs and I'd say it took about 3 months to drop 20 and more importantly change my dieting habits/awareness and speed up my metabolism. Do you think you're doing to drop 100 in 12 months? I don't think you can, because this isn't that show Extreme weight loss where people lose 50% of their body weight in a year by being on a rigorous workout program that keeps them in the gym 4-5 hours 7 days a week. So realistically, this weight loss is gonna take a serious Food Awareness Mental Makeover on your part. Life style change in the extreme, and you're going to fail for a while until you really learn to nail it down. And it's gonna take you a few years. Let's just be real about it.

What else takes a few years? Electro. And what do so many trans women say about Electro? "I wish I had started it sooner." They say that especially in regards to going full time.


In Summary,
As you transition you're going to need new tools for the new road ahead. Put those tools in place now and have them cemented in a rock solid foundation that allows the rest to be substantially less difficult. Get the weight down by changing your lifestyle into that of a healthy proactive person, and start getting Electro while you do so.

Hell its what I'm doing and my therapist is repeatedly flabbergasted by how positive, informed, and happy I am for a transwoman. I changed my life for the better, everything else that happens down the road is sweet bonus!

[Valwen]

I can't speak to what will work for you but I have had the opposite reaction, before I started HRT I could not find the motivation to work out, you could put a gun to my head and tell me to walk a mile and I would look you in the eye and tell you to pull the trigger.

Hormones, diet, medication none of it means much if you can't find the motivation to get up every day and actually put in the work. I tried at least a dozen times over the years to work out or diet, but depression and a lack of any hope for my future kept me from getting past a day or two before I gave up. Sense I started HRT and saw an actual light at the and of the tunnel I have found myself spending an hour a day 6 days a week on a treadmill and looseing weight, will i get down to an ideal weight I don't know but it is going down. Then again if I had waited another year there is a good chance I would have seen rapid weight loss, decomposition will do that to your body.

But yes if you can wait and convince yourself to work out regularly you will very likely see better results before HRT.

[Lost78]

I'm 5'10. And I have been on a restrictive diet for a while now, and I work out an hour a day, more on the weekends. I am starting to see weight loss and who knows if I could drop 100 in a year. But it is ideal, I'm starting  to see a gender therapist in a few weeks, so I'm sure I'll be working through a lot of stuff with that. I'm conflicted with when to start HRT, everyone says weight loss first, so I guess that's when I'll do it. im hoping to be 50 pounds less by Oct, and I'd like to start HRT by Jan. but the way my wife is talking, it might never happen, or I lose my family. So my luck is I'll never be on HRT, cause the risk is too high to loose everything in the process. So I guess I'm at a dead end. I don't know.

[KristinaM]

Echoing what others have said.  HRT is just part of the equation (a big part, yes, but just part of it).  Weight loss is part of it, body hair removal is part of it, therapy is part of it, saving money for surgeries is part of it, learning to use makeup is part of it, growing out your hair is part of it, I would also say wardrobe, but your body size is going to change dramatically it sounds like.

You've got a half dozen other things to work on in the mean time while you wait for HRT.  Get to work on those and it can help you feel feminine while you wait.  Is it even medically possible for you to get hormones, say, next week?  In most cases there's a good bit of hoops to jump through first and that takes time too.