Have I been doing more harm then good? HRT/Weight Loss

[DuchessBianca]

Quick little backstory when starting HRT back in late may of this year I weighed about 243 and I finally had the resolve to improve myself and I one day want to have hopefully and attractive healthy feminine body so weight loss has been something I've been working on. Fastforward to now a little over 7 months since starting HRT I sit at a more manageable 178 pounds. During this time I've seen quite the amount of feminization of my body, less hair and 85% of the remaining hair is completely blonde, massive loss of upper body strength, arms twiggy, some slight reductions in body hair or thinning, cold all the time, some decent breast growth too and a bit more. In all that time however what I can't say I've seen much of is fat redistribution and as some of you probably read in previous post of mine I feel like my overall face feminization has been pretty poor thus far and am getting a bit discouraged. From what I read here and other places is that fat cells have a shelf life that can take up 2 to years and the hormones in the body determine where most fat will be stored, then I've read some people say that male fat doesn't really distribute at all and that it needs to be used up through diet/exercise and any new fat created would instead go where it should. For me I've been trying to lose pretty much all of that male fat (still have about 15 pounds left to lose to be my ideal weight as I'm 5'9 with larger bones so a little extra would help my appearance) so that I can be all set to just maintain/have a healthy figure.

Sorry for the long above paragraph but my main question is have I been doing more harm then good being in a constant calorie deficit pretty much the entire time I've been on HRT? At least for short term feminization? Would I be much better off just maintaining and letting the excess male fat just redistribute on its own even if it takes a very long time? I know hormonal wise women are prone to keep fat in the appropriate places with weight loss but I'm sure all of my weight loss can't be just male fat and I just feel like I'm not letting my face/body have fat to redistribute to a more feminine pattern and could be a reason why I feel not many results so far. Thanks!

[Dena]

I don't think you are doing any harm. Fat takes a while to move around and it doesn't always go where you want it. I have a little lower tummy and no rear. I would love to move that fat from front to back but it isn't going to happen. Changes will continue to happen over the next 3-5 year so don't give up hope. You are still very early in the game and there may be surprises ahead for you.

[Dani]

I have lost over 100 pounds in the past 3 years. Just eat a lot of vegetables, some fruit, and a little lean meat, bread and dairy. This is what I did. Healthy weight loss requires a long term change in eating habits. Quick diets do NOT work because as soon as you go back to your previous diet, you will gain all the weight back and maybe even more.

[Sophia Sage]

Yeah, it's still very early.  Get rid of that 15 more pounds, and then maintain that weight for another year and see what's happening. 

Now, this doesn't mean that your fat cells have gone away.  What it means is that they've shrunk.  But they're still there. According to one study, 10% of fat cells die off and are replaced every year.  Over time -- a long time, actually -- new cells will get positioned in better places, hopefully, while old cells in the not-so-good places eventually die off.

But even that can be unpredictable.  You can try slowly gaining some weight and see where it goes.  If it goes right back to your belly, you might want to consider a Brazilian butt lift -- where they liposuction out the fat from the belly and flanks, purify it, and transfer it to the butt and hips.  Most of those cells will survive and establish a new blood supply (if the underlying musculature can support it, so it's good to work out the glutes). 

[DuchessBianca]

Thanks for the replies! I'll just go ahead and just try my best to get rid of the last 15 pounds or so as fast as healthily possible then just go into permanent matenience and not have to worry.

Thanks for the tips Dani! Though for the short term it wont be an issue for me as before December hit I had planned to just maintain to maybe see if that would help things and after a week of eating about 1800 a day (about 100 os so less the matenience for me) mentally I couldn't handle it as I needed to lose this weight, kinda ironic for me considering up until HRT I never had any motivation to lose weight and have been overweight since about 11ish Haha