Trans Eating issues.

[natalie92]

So I know as trans women we sometimes have under eating issues, however, my problems are with eating too much. I used to work in retail and in that position I ate fast food a lot. Now I don't work at that job and am behind a computer all day. I find myself getting board or depressed and feeling the time with eating. The main reason I am not exercising is because i hardly have the energy most of the time. when I look in the mirror i just want to die... I know what I must do, but can't find it within myself to get started. Does anyone have any advice that could help me get to where I want to be.

[Ms Grace]

How are you dealing with your depression? I found that once I got treatment for mine it did change my emotional eating.

[natalie92]

I don't really have any means of dealing with my depression as of this moment. A rather large hospital is going to open a trans clinic near me soon and I have been thinking about going. I feel, however, because I don't look the part it is going to be hard for anyone to take what I say seriously.

[CarlyMcx]

Get a big box of cheerios and a plastic box to store them in.  Make them your "next to the computer" munchies.  Switch from regular soda to Coke Zero and Sprite zero.  Learn to eat salads for dinner, sandwiches for lunch, and something healthy for breakfast.  Also, eat only oven baked potato chips.

And go shopping for some cute workout clothes to wear to make the workouts fun.  Also get some small hand weights. I have seen soft ones encased in neoprene.  Keep them at your computer desk.  They make perfect fidget toys or stress balls, and they weigh around 2 pounds each.  Working them when you feel fidgety will burn calories while you are sitting at your desk.

If you work on an upper floor, take the stairs instead of the elevator, if you can.  Wherever you go, park farther out and walk in, whether it be the office, the mall, or your doctor or dentist.

Get a membership at Planet Fitness.  It's $10.00 per month and they have a corporate policy of being trans friendly.

[Valwen]

I know I emotionally eat,and board eat and well just eat too much, I am working on it. Friends who made me pink cupcakes to celebrate my name change are not helping, but I love them for it.

Depression in general kills motivation and even with therapy its something that tears at me daily. For a long time I knew I needed to start taking care of myself but it didn't matter I was going to kill myself so why bother. Starting HRT changed that to a degree, I have been trying to eat better though I fall off the healthy thing regularly, and working out mostly treadmill about 6 hours a week. I know conventional wisdom says to loose weight before HRT because its going to make it harder to loose it after you start but if you cant find the motivation to work out at all it dosen't matter how much better testosterone is for weight loss it still wont do anything.

People keep telling me I need to quit sugary drinks which for me means stopping caffeine consumption, and I need to stop eating fast food, and only eat low fat things and I know they are right, unfortunatly I cant do that and do my job or I might be able to keep doing my job (atleast till I get fired due to loosing control of my emotions in front of the customers) but if I keep the job and try and drop caffeine and go to a super low fat diet I know my emotional state which is normally on the verge of collapse will fall appart totally.

So right now I am slowly and often failingly trying to just be a bit better on the food front no big shifts. I have to do something, I lost weight every week for a few months when I started but now its stalled floating way too high for the last 2 months or so and I still need to loose 60ish pounds before I will be remotely healthy.

So I guess I don't have any great advice besides try eating a bit better every day and increase your activity as much as is reasonable.

Serena

[Ms Grace]

Natalie, none of us look the part before we start treatment (just check out the before and after section!) - if it's a proper trans clinic they should be able to deal with that. It might be worth talking to a doctor or psych about your depression, although your gender issues might lie behind it there are still plenty of strategies you might be able to use to cope. Exercise is actually pretty good.

[natalie92]

Thank you girls for all your support. I still think it will be hard for me to go in to the new clinic however if I can use that for motivation to look better before it opens that is something i am going to have to do. The cheerios idea is a good on, i will do that. Thanks for letting me keep in mind that there are a lot of people that look like me before the transition. I cannot even begin to think that I will look the way I want but if I don't try then I know I will not. Thanks for all the help!

[KristinaM]

If you are physically able, just set a simple workout and/or eating goal.  I need to get back on mine, but I can remember when I was working out regularly and eating (a little) more properly, I was so happy.  I had energy that seemingly came from nowhere, and I pushed myself because I was seeing results.

It's soooo hard to get started, but once you do, you're usually happier as you start seeing changes, and that makes it easier to continue.

I was working out to buff up my dude-self before (and I have some great photos for a before/after, lol), now I have to start working out to add curves for my girl-self.

[KatelynBG]

Oh I can help with this one. I was exactly like you. I ate away my dysphoria. What I did was first get my eating habits in order, then I exercised. Try starting small. Change the way you approach a meal made at home. For me I started eating a half avocado with breakfast, it is loaded with nutritious value and the healthy fat will help keep you full. Be careful with sugary drinks, I cut out everything except 2 servings of skim milk per week, everything else is water. Make sure you're getting 2.5 liters of water at least per day. Be careful with fruit juices, even apple juice is loaded with a whole day's worth of sugar for an average adult.

I started by trying to get 2 servings of fruit or vegetables per day, then tried for 3 then 4 and am now up to 7 per day. I live in a place with a harsh winter so I had to wait for the sprung to start exercising. I started by walking twice per week, then 3 days then switched to running and am now running 5 days per week.

Doing just these things will help you live a healthier lifestyle and you won't experience the highs and lows of fast food eating and soda drinking. I can't stress the soda piece enough, one can of diet coke has 2 days worth of sugar for an average adult, it's just not worth it.