Feminization Fitness

[spx_1112]

I'm not quite into yoga but do stretch, plank and walk.  I sometimes do push-ups and sit-ups. Hugs Shannon

[becky.rw]

Maybe I'm less doomed than I thought, weigh-in was 208, and I'm not cutting.  Noticed in the mirror that shoulder & lats looked much less imposing.  Best though, waist is thinning, but hips, butt, and breast (haha, I typed breast instead of pecs! yeah me!)  are not.   So I lost a couple inches around my chest, bra-band spot, but the size difference/cupsize stayed the same.

Sounds like a "bad thing" I know, but everyone's been trying to get me to come back down to a reasonable weight, lean&fat for a while; size was very hard on my frame, and heart, bp, etc.   Lean'ness made the lipids and sugars ok, but only because I could out-race the damage with exercise.

[Michelle_P]

You and Emily are my inspiration.
You don't have to catch me up, it's your 28" waist measurement that is my ultimate goal.

Well, I do now!   Something went kablooey the past month.   I've now been on an anti-androgen about 10 weeks, and on a lowest dose of Estrodiol for 5 weeks.  Today's numbers:

Height: 5'8"
Weight: 141.4 lbs(up)
Under-bust: 35" (down, losing upper body muscle mass)
Bust: 37"
Waist: 30"  (up.  Up?  UP!)
Hips: 36"

I don't have a thigh measurement, but my old 'male' DKNY jeans are getting snug.  Really snug. 

I don't know what happened, but I'm cutting my daily calorie intake by 500 kcal, which should get me around a pound a week of weight loss. Ultimate target weight is 136 lbs.  I'm pretty sure I'm seeing the shift in metabolic rate expected from HRT.

Now I have to go enjoy my delicious salad for lunch.

[LizK]

Since my decision to Transition in September last year I have been walking 5ks about 6 mornings a week. This has resulted in some weight loss but more importantly a reduction in the weight I carry all over my body with the last of it sitting on my gut.

My Dr told me last week I was not allowed to walk any more unless it was on a treadmill which I don't have. My hip joint is bone on bone with spurs and I have cysts in the socket along with having very little cartilage to hold it all together, my knee is slightly better but has a foreign body under the patella...maybe a bit of bone?
Not only was the exercise good for my body but great for my Dysphoria. But I can't do the walking thing and I still want to remove the gut...I am very limited when it comes to any kind of repetitive stomach bending due to having an implanted medication pump, same goes for above the head stretching...hence the walking.

I would gladly welcome any suggestions on how to exercise away that final piece in a low impact way. I am desperately trying to find a treadmill and friend has suggested he has one he will bring up for me...we will see.

Suggestions

Liz

[becky.rw]

I hate having exercise machines in my house, so I have a gym membership I use.  They'll have a variety to choose from.    If you are self conscious about the other folks there, I have never met a fit person in a gym that looks down on someone who is out of shape but sweating their hearts out on a treadmill.     I prefer the bikes to the treadmills, but I do use both.

On a related note, HRT took a huge bite out of my endurance; I was expecting it, but its double-sucky when you have a way to empirically measure the loss.   Still, I'm solidly in the calorie deficit zone daily, but with peaks of availability and valleys of interval fasting.   Essentially enhancing the embalance between even/random energy release, and hormone directed energy storage.  aka, I'm losing weight and my butts getting squishier!

[EmilyMK03]

Michelle_P:  Yup!  You're starting to experience what it's like to have a metabolism on HRT!  I also found that at around 5 months on HRT, I started having ridiculous food/hunger cravings, especially at night.  Cravings which I never had experienced in my life.  Those cravings, combined with less muscle mass and a slower metabolism is making it extremely difficult to maintain my weight.

ElizabethK:  I'm 5'7" and 125 lbs.  I run for 30 min, 6 days a week.  Additional strength training for 30 min 3-4 times a week.  And I still have a gut!  It's almost impossible to get rid of it.  I have a cis female friend who is in her early 30's, weighs only 100 lbs, and even she has a bit of a belly.  I think the only way to have a fully flat stomach is to go on a vegetarian or vegan diet.  Or maybe remove all carbs from your diet.  You have to do something extreme like that.  Personally, I'm not willing to give up entire categories of foods.  And sometimes I like to cheat and eat bad stuff (like the slice of cheesecake I had last night).  So I'm resigned to having a bit of a belly in exchange for enjoying my food.

[LizK]

Thanks rwOnnaDesuKa and EmilyMK03

I don't much like the idea either of a treadmill. One of the things my Gyno keeps saying to me is its a about shape and not so much weight. I don't ever expect to get it completely flat. If you were to do a Pinch test on my skin anywhere but my stomach it would be lean. So i am looking to reduce size and completely removing food groups is not always the best way. Energy out V calories in...if you burn more than you take in surely you must lose weight? It confuses the hell out of me because doesn't it go something like... as we exercise we build and strengthen muscles which is heavier than fat...so you can exercise lose the fat and not the weight...in theory...IDK sigh!

What i have noticed is that after the last three months on hrt I have put on about 4kgs but my waist is about the same size, my hips and chest are both 5-6cm bigger than when I started HRT, my legs look better than they have in years so i think the distribution is starting. I would love to capitalise on this and see if I can't move some of this gut...

I do cheat..have always loved chocolate...I haven't had an appetite like I have now for many years...quitting smoking helped add another layer of complexity and it is something I will never do again.

Liz

[becky.rw]

Its inevitable that we like to "succeed"; and weight loss can be the most deceptive of the bunch; I once cut from 250lb down to below 180lb; and at one point was doing it solely for the positive reinforcement of the number going down.  Up to 2lbs/wk at one point; which is massive, and usually very unhealthy.

After a trainer scolded me, I swapped what I measured as an indicator of success.   Morning resting heart rate, and most importantly, how much your heart rate will drop from max in one minute's time when you stop exercising.   Nice thing is that this number directly correlates to cardiac fitness.  40+ is considered the realm of the immortals.   

On E out vs E in; it *IS* true; very true.   But there's a hitch.
Your body can, and will, relentlessly modify the amount of water it holds.   And to give you a scale, I've lost up to 10 pounds on a bike ride, while drinking over a gallon of water.   Energy output of the ride was about 4000 kcal; which should mean I utilized a pound of fat on the ride, not 10 pounds, and certainly not 18 pounds.     Next morning I was almost the same weight as before the ride.     I can only guarantee that 1 pound of fat got burned.   I can not guarantee how much water your body will gain or lose.

Perfect example of this, all the time, "diet plan" sellers hawk this lose 7 pounds in a week thing often.  What they don't tell you, is that it's the 7 pounds of water bound in glycogen stored in your liver and muscles, and maybe a few ounces of fat.    Water that can and will be recovered as those organs replace the glycogen that was used as soon as you start eating normal food.   You didn't lose 7 pounds of fat, and you didn't gain 7 pounds of fat later.

My personal experience as a math geek, is that the only way I could come close to knowing ground truth, was to plot weight every day, taken at exactly the same time and condition; and then call the moving 7 day average my current weight.    needless to say, that was VERY annoying.

[Michelle_P]

Elizabeth; something that might work better than a treadmill would be an elliptical trainer.  It seems to take the same effort (or more, if you crank up the resistance!) but doesn't pound the joints so hard.  I was having knee problems and moved from a treadmill to elliptical about 8 years back.  A well-made elliptical (bearings in the joints, and a magnetic, rather than friction brake that you work against) should last a very long time.  If there's a gym nearby that you can get into on a day or week pass, you might be able to try one out and see how it feels.

And like rwOnnaDesuKa says, more data is better.  I use a piece of software to log everything I eat and drink, my exercise, and weight.  It's illuminating...

[V]

Michelle_P:  Yup!  You're starting to experience what it's like to have a metabolism on HRT!  I also found that at around 5 months on HRT, I started having ridiculous food/hunger cravings, especially at night.  Cravings which I never had experienced in my life.  Those cravings, combined with less muscle mass and a slower metabolism is making it extremely difficult to maintain my weight.

ElizabethK:  I'm 5'7" and 125 lbs.  I run for 30 min, 6 days a week.  Additional strength training for 30 min 3-4 times a week.  And I still have a gut!  It's almost impossible to get rid of it.  I have a cis female friend who is in her early 30's, weighs only 100 lbs, and even she has a bit of a belly.  I think the only way to have a fully flat stomach is to go on a vegetarian or vegan diet.  Or maybe remove all carbs from your diet.  You have to do something extreme like that.  Personally, I'm not willing to give up entire categories of foods.  And sometimes I like to cheat and eat bad stuff (like the slice of cheesecake I had last night).  So I'm resigned to having a bit of a belly in exchange for enjoying my food.

Having been on hrt for the last 16 years, I'm having trouble remembering what my metabolism was like beforehand. Added to that, there is the component of age as well, as my metabolism is less because I'm older as well as the hrt regimen. It's hard to lose weight, but for me, it's more about trying to improve my fitness level and also get a better body shape. The weight loss comes as a side-effect (albeit a very welcome one).

The lower muscle mass is something I can definitely remember changing though, that is quite dramatic. Especially so when I realised I couldn't do press-ups like I used to.

Food cravings, ah yes! I have those, but I can't remember ever not having them. I've always liked chocolate and brightly coloured cocktail drinks. Back before I transitioned, my male friends used to laugh at my "feminine food and drink habits".
I do have a very strong willpower though, so I can shut off from the cravings if I really need to. And I find that abstinence breeds more abstinence, I eat less and hence want less to eat.

125 pounds is quite low! I'll never reach that level, but I'm not too worried because that's not my target.
Giving up all treats would not be nice, I like to have a bit of chocolate or some crisps now and then, I don't think that does me too much harm.
I just had my NHS health checkup, and everything was good, low cholesterol (for the first time ever in my life!!!) no diabetes, good bmi figure (not that I put too much emphasis on that stuff anyway), and bp was 84/110, which the nurse said was good, and she gave me less than 1% chance of developing heart problems or diabetes. So I am doing something right 
I too have a bit of a belly, but I find that it's all about good posture. If I let my muscles relax and slouch, I get a belly. If I keep a good posture and 'deportment', my belly has all but vanished.

Well, I do now!   Something went kablooey the past month.   I've now been on an anti-androgen about 10 weeks, and on a lowest dose of Estrodiol for 5 weeks.  Today's numbers:

Height: 5'8"
Weight: 141.4 lbs(up)
Under-bust: 35" (down, losing upper body muscle mass)
Bust: 37"
Waist: 30"  (up.  Up?  UP!)
Hips: 36"

I don't have a thigh measurement, but my old 'male' DKNY jeans are getting snug.  Really snug. 

I don't know what happened, but I'm cutting my daily calorie intake by 500 kcal, which should get me around a pound a week of weight loss. Ultimate target weight is 136 lbs.  I'm pretty sure I'm seeing the shift in metabolic rate expected from HRT.

Now I have to go enjoy my delicious salad for lunch.

Yep, you're experiencing the 'hrt effect'. You'll get used to it and eventually forget about it as it will just be 'normal'. But after such a small amount of time on hrt, I can appreciate that it's all still 'new'. That's part of the fun of having a second puberty 
I measured my waist today, and as usual I get two different readings. If I slouch and completely relax, then it's 30", if I hold a good posture then it's 29". Note that I'm not "sucking it in", just standing straight and trying to keep a good body posture. But I don't know which figure is the true waist measurement?
Since doing my exercises, my hip measurement has gone down    But what can you do? I don't have the benefit of an underlying bone structure to retain a wide hips size when I lose weight. It's just another thing I'll have to put up with as part of the 'trans experience'.
I too put on a lot of weight on my thighs on hrt. The problem came when my inner thighs began to rub together when I walked. It got extremely painful. I have noticed them slimming down a bit since starting my exercises, which is good for walking, but I don't want my legs to get too skinny. I know I'll never have "thigh gap" like cis-women can have, my legs are simply too close together, damn my pelvic bone!
You'll eventually see that on hrt it's ludicrously easy to put on weight, welcome to the world of women! 
Yep, salad, yum (not) but my body thanks me for it.

Its inevitable that we like to "succeed"; and weight loss can be the most deceptive of the bunch; I once cut from 250lb down to below 180lb; and at one point was doing it solely for the positive reinforcement of the number going down.  Up to 2lbs/wk at one point; which is massive, and usually very unhealthy.

After a trainer scolded me, I swapped what I measured as an indicator of success.   Morning resting heart rate, and most importantly, how much your heart rate will drop from max in one minute's time when you stop exercising.   Nice thing is that this number directly correlates to cardiac fitness.  40+ is considered the realm of the immortals.   

On E out vs E in; it *IS* true; very true.   But there's a hitch.
Your body can, and will, relentlessly modify the amount of water it holds.   And to give you a scale, I've lost up to 10 pounds on a bike ride, while drinking over a gallon of water.   Energy output of the ride was about 4000 kcal; which should mean I utilized a pound of fat on the ride, not 10 pounds, and certainly not 18 pounds.     Next morning I was almost the same weight as before the ride.     I can only guarantee that 1 pound of fat got burned.   I can not guarantee how much water your body will gain or lose.

Perfect example of this, all the time, "diet plan" sellers hawk this lose 7 pounds in a week thing often.  What they don't tell you, is that it's the 7 pounds of water bound in glycogen stored in your liver and muscles, and maybe a few ounces of fat.    Water that can and will be recovered as those organs replace the glycogen that was used as soon as you start eating normal food.   You didn't lose 7 pounds of fat, and you didn't gain 7 pounds of fat later.

My personal experience as a math geek, is that the only way I could come close to knowing ground truth, was to plot weight every day, taken at exactly the same time and condition; and then call the moving 7 day average my current weight.    needless to say, that was VERY annoying.

It is possible to over analyse things 
Personally I don't believe in any kind of fad diet, there's really only one true way to lose weight, and that's to eat less and excerise more.
I'm trying not to obsess over 'the numbers' if I can help it, but tracking one's progress is very addictive!

I have decided to add in a few more exercise types into my little routine, rather than simply up the rep count. I've noticed that as long as I work a different muscle group for each type of exercise, I can keep going for the whole routine without overdoing any one area.
I tried out the new routine on Thurs and Fri, and it seems to be feasible.
If anyone is interested, my routine is now:

(12 reps of each unless stated otherwise):
Side to side warmup stretches
Planking hold 30 sec
Left side planking reps
Left side leg lifts inner and outer reps
Right side planking reps
Right side leg lifts inner and outer reps
Squat-thrust reps
Press-up reps
Half sit-up reps
Right leg lunges reps
Left leg lunges reps
60 star jumps

Let's see if I can maintain that little lot over the next 5 days!
Onwards...

[V]

Things are going really well with the exercise routine. I've gone up to 13 reps of each exercise, and done that for the last week and a half. My back does ache a fair bit, but then I knew it would because I broke it and it'll always hurt. So I just push through that pain. At least I get a break from it over the weekends.
My latest measurement and weight was backed up by having my weight checked at the doctor's yesterday, when I went in for my annual Asthma checkup.
Weight now 132 pounds!!! That's a bit lower than I expected, and it's the same again today, so not a fluke. I'm just 2 pounds from my target.
Waist is now an easy 29", and if I hold a straight posture, it drops to 28.5", but I'll take it as 29". Never ever thought I'd reach that number. I'm so close to my 28" goal.
The only downside to all this is that my hips have got slimmer too, down from 37" to 36" I guess you can't have it all.
My original hope was to get down to my goals of 130 pounds and 28" waist by 2018 (yeah, I know, I always give myself plenty of time) because I might be getting married that year, if my boyfriend finally agrees.
So it looks like I'm going to reach my goals somewhat before 2018, if so, then the challenge will be to keep that weight, and try not to lose any more, or gain any...
We'll see.
My thanks to everyone on here who wrote words of support, you all helped me a lot!

[barbie]

Things are going really well with the exercise routine. I've gone up to 13 reps of each exercise, and done that for the last week and a half. My back does ache a fair bit, but then I knew it would because I broke it and it'll always hurt. So I just push through that pain. At least I get a break from it over the weekends.
My latest measurement and weight was backed up by having my weight checked at the doctor's yesterday, when I went in for my annual Asthma checkup.
Weight now 132 pounds!!! That's a bit lower than I expected, and it's the same again today, so not a fluke. I'm just 2 pounds from my target.
Waist is now an easy 29", and if I hold a straight posture, it drops to 28.5", but I'll take it as 29". Never ever thought I'd reach that number. I'm so close to my 28" goal.
The only downside to all this is that my hips have got slimmer too, down from 37" to 36" I guess you can't have it all.
My original hope was to get down to my goals of 130 pounds and 28" waist by 2018 (yeah, I know, I always give myself plenty of time) because I might be getting married that year, if my boyfriend finally agrees.
So it looks like I'm going to reach my goals somewhat before 2018, if so, then the challenge will be to keep that weight, and try not to lose any more, or gain any...
We'll see.
My thanks to everyone on here who wrote words of support, you all helped me a lot!

Yes. Keep going on. A long-term goal is more important.

BTW, I stopped running for 5 days because of the bad air quality here (dust from China). I wish to see a clear sky this weekend.

barbie~~

[jujubes1986]

i really have to start working out... im 7 days away from my SRS with Dr Brassard!

[Deborah]

A few months ago I got my body fat down low enough that I had a six pack and my bones were poking through my skin.  Still my waist was 32".  I don't think there is anything I can do short of becoming anorexic to get it smaller than that.

So I quit worrying about it.


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[V]

A few months ago I got my body fat down low enough that I had a six pack and my bones were poking through my skin.  Still my waist was 32".  I don't think there is anything I can do short of becoming anorexic to get it smaller than that.

So I quit worrying about it.

Y'know, there's a lot of sense in this. I've reached my weight loss goal of 130 pounds, (actually I undershot it and got down to 128, but it's back to 130 now), and my waist measurement is 29.5" when I completely relax my torso muscles. When I hold myself in a good posture, and stand properly, my waist is 28.5"
I can see my ribs and bones, and I really think that if I lose more weight, I'll just end up underweight, and have no shape at all, and all to try to get a 28" waist.
So I think I'm gonna concentrate on staying where I am now, and stick to my exercise routine mainly to keep myself as healthy as I can reasonably be.
A 28" waist is just an unreasonable goal, and I'm happy where I am now.

So the moral of all this is? Weight loss is possible, even post-op, with a spinal disability and low mobility. But getting that dream body shape? Well I couldn't achieve it, and I don't want to resort to surgery. My skeletal structure is what it is, and I just gotta accept it. So 38 - 28.5 - 36 is what it's gonna be!

[barbie]

Y'know, there's a lot of sense in this. I've reached my weight loss goal of 130 pounds, (actually I undershot it and got down to 128, but it's back to 130 now), and my waist measurement is 29.5" when I completely relax my torso muscles. When I hold myself in a good posture, and stand properly, my waist is 28.5"
I can see my ribs and bones, and I really think that if I lose more weight, I'll just end up underweight, and have no shape at all, and all to try to get a 28" waist.
So I think I'm gonna concentrate on staying where I am now, and stick to my exercise routine mainly to keep myself as healthy as I can reasonably be.
A 28" waist is just an unreasonable goal, and I'm happy where I am now.

So the moral of all this is? Weight loss is possible, even post-op, with a spinal disability and low mobility. But getting that dream body shape? Well I couldn't achieve it, and I don't want to resort to surgery. My skeletal structure is what it is, and I just gotta accept it. So 38 - 28.5 - 36 is what it's gonna be!

Yes. I guess your body figure is now healthy. Keeping it in the long term is more important!

barbie~~

[Michelle_P]

Look at it this way.  There are a LOT of ciswomen who would dearly love to have a waist of 30" or less.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm
Measured average height, weight, and waist circumference for adults ages 20 years and over
Women:
  Height (inches): 63.8
  Weight (pounds): 166.2
  Waist circumference (inches): 37.5

The 30" waist is in the 10th percentile for women over 50, and the 5th percentile for women over 60.  Yes, our waists are smaller than the vast majority of US women our age already.

Barbie, V, Deborah, and I all likely have Body Mass Indices in the 5th percentile (95% are higher).  Lots of data here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_252.pdf

[Deborah]

Well, that made me feel better.  Even after gaining 25 lbs my waist size is less than the 50th percentile for women my age or less than the 15th percentile for men my age. 

I still feel big though, :-(


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[barbie]

Look at it this way.  There are a LOT of ciswomen who would dearly love to have a waist of 30" or less.

Interesting.
Here in my country, the average height and waist size of females at their 20s sampled in 2004 are as follows:

Height: 159.7 cm = 62.9 inch
Weight: 52.9 kg = 117 lbs
Waist: 67.3 cm = 26.5 inch



The average waist of females starts to exceed 30 inch at their 50s.

barbie~~

[Devlyn]

Look at it this way.  There are a LOT of ciswomen who would dearly love to have a waist of 30" or less.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/body-measurements.htm
Measured average height, weight, and waist circumference for adults ages 20 years and over
Women:
  Height (inches): 63.8
  Weight (pounds): 166.2
  Waist circumference (inches): 37.5

The 30" waist is in the 10th percentile for women over 50, and the 5th percentile for women over 60.  Yes, our waists are smaller than the vast majority of US women our age already.

Barbie, V, Deborah, and I all likely have Body Mass Indices in the 5th percentile (95% are higher).  Lots of data here:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_252.pdf

Average is 5' 4" and 166?    Jesus, I'm going back on the doughnuts!