How to lose muscle mass?

[Lexi Nexi]

I am trying to lose my arm muscles. They are by no means big but I want then to be either skinny or soft. I had a surgery where I was stuck in bed for a year and I lost an unhealthy amount of weight down to 112lbs. Then over the course of a few months I jumped to 145 without changing my waist line. Muscles are heavy and I find my arms muscles got stronger/bigger and my leg muscles got bigger. I don't mind the leg muscles at all since they are really shapely and I consider them perfectly girly; exactly how I would want a girl friends legs to look but the arm muscles are too much. I have had no testosterone for 2 months and started eating one meal a day and not doing much activity but they just won't atrophy like they did after my surgery. My traps are another muscle I dont want. I went crazy working out when I was younger and they won't go away. How do the trans girls in porn manage to do that? Some are sickly/gross skinny but most have small arms. My skeletal frame and wrists are very small so thats not the problem. Do you eat just carbs/ just protein/ a balanced diet? I'm sure not very many people would want to lose muscle. Will the estrogen help and I need to just wait?

[Roll]

Okay so... Take this all with a grain of salt, I have never tried this, I just read a bit about it recently. Someone like Deborah is probably far better suited to answer this question. But the gist of what I read seemed to be eat a high carb, low protein (like, none) diet while doing cardio or low intensity endurance exercise for the area. You don't want to get rid of all muscle, you want it to sort of shift to leaner muscle. The no protein thing is the problem though, and shouldn't be done for very long. Might be the sort of thing to do under supervision. If HRT doesn't take care of it, I am going to have to deal with the same issue at some point. (My family just builds and maintain muscle too easily and so it just sort of sits there without me trying. Normally a good thing, now... not so much.)

[krobinson103]

I just noticed that my muscle is melting away everywhere. Legs are still defined, but not overly so. Even there though I'm getting leaner with a thicker fat layer. Was looking today. The triangle of back, shoulder, and arms is just about non existant now. Just been eating a high protein, no sugar or carbs diet and doing light exercise along with hrt.

[Roll]

I just noticed that my muscle is melting away everywhere. Legs are still defined, but not overly so. Even there though I'm getting leaner with a thicker fat layer. Was looking today. The triangle of back, shoulder, and arms is just about non existant now. Just been eating a high protein, no sugar or carbs diet and doing light exercise along with hrt.

At how many months hrt is that?

[krobinson103]

At how many months hrt is that?

Three months hrt and a pretty hrt like diet for a few years before that (unintentional...) That and a pretty low T to start with.

[rmaddy]

HRT and wait.

[jessica95]

I am trying to lose my arm muscles. They are by no means big but I want then to be either skinny or soft. I had a surgery where I was stuck in bed for a year and I lost an unhealthy amount of weight down to 112lbs. Then over the course of a few months I jumped to 145 without changing my waist line. Muscles are heavy and I find my arms muscles got stronger/bigger and my leg muscles got bigger. I don't mind the leg muscles at all since they are really shapely and I consider them perfectly girly; exactly how I would want a girl friends legs to look but the arm muscles are too much. I have had no testosterone for 2 months and started eating one meal a day and not doing much activity but they just won't atrophy like they did after my surgery. My traps are another muscle I dont want. I went crazy working out when I was younger and they won't go away. How do the trans girls in porn manage to do that? Some are sickly/gross skinny but most have small arms. My skeletal frame and wrists are very small so thats not the problem. Do you eat just carbs/ just protein/ a balanced diet? I'm sure not very many people would want to lose muscle. Will the estrogen help and I need to just wait?

I am in no way good with dealing fitness advice, but i think going with a more cardio workout routine along with eating healthy helps?

[Deborah]

If your T is already low and you're not eating then maybe they're not going to get any smaller without you compromising your health with starvation. 

How big are they now and how tall are you?  Unless you're really short then 145 lbs doesn't give you any room to lose weight either.

Lastly, getting overly skinny isn't the end all solution to passing.  I do powerlifting three days a week and running three other days a week and have gotten stronger now than I was before HRT.  I also eat healthily over 2000 cal a day with the occasional massive chocolate day once a week or so.  Even with 30 lbs of fat loss my arms are only about a half inch smaller and better defined and I still pass most of the time.  HRT will change what needs to be changed with time as long as you maintain a healthy diet and keep yourself in good condition at a healthy and proportional to your height weight.


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[Lexi Nexi]

If your T is already low and you're not eating then maybe they're not going to get any smaller without you compromising your health with starvation. 

How big are they now and how tall are you?  Unless you're really short then 145 lbs doesn't give you any room to lose weight either.

Lastly, getting overly skinny isn't the end all solution to passing.  I do powerlifting three days a week and running three other days a week and have gotten stronger now than I was before HRT.  I also eat healthily over 2000 cal a day with the occasional massive chocolate day once a week or so.  Even with 30 lbs of fat loss my arms are only about a half inch smaller and better defined and I still pass most of the time.  HRT will change what needs to be changed with time as long as you maintain a healthy diet and keep yourself in good condition at a healthy and proportional to your height weight.


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I'm 5'2" so that has potential to lose weight I think. The problem is I have almost no body fat. Im not obsessed with the number so much as I will weigh more then I look due to core and back muscles and big leg muscles. When I was bed ridden and poor I did 125 lbs but tried that for 6 weeks and it didn't work. I also took more thyroid hormone for extra boost.

tops of arms are 12" inch around assuing toilet paper is 4" perside

The tops of my legs are 20" around and almost perfect since quitting test they just need a butt to connect to and I would be very happy. I would take my legs over most cis girls legs/feet.

[Deborah]

I'm 5'11" and 173 lbs.  my arms are 12" relaxed and 13.5" flexed and my legs are 24".   

If you're already eating well and not overly fat then you just need to wait for HRT to do its work.  It takes a while. 

If you want to grow your butt then there are only two ways.  One is allowing yourself to gain fat on HRT.  The other is gaining muscle in your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors) with heavy weights.  I'm trying the second method with squats and deadlifts.  Either method will work and both take time. 

Personally, I prefer the second method because it keeps me healthy.   I tried the gaining fat method too and just didn't like where that was heading.

As for the really skinny ones in porn, they are likely ectomorphs to begin with so that's just their genetics.  You have to work within your genetic body type blueprint.  If you're a mesomorphic type, which is what it sounds like, then you can't look like an ectomorph without becoming anorexic. 

Also, what has helped my mental state is comparing myself to athletic women rather than fashion models.  My body isn't going to become a fashion model short of some drastic surgeries I do not desire.  It can however approach the athletic look with hard work and time.


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[Lexi Nexi]

I'm 5'11" and 173 lbs.  my arms are 12" relaxed and 13.5" flexed and my legs are 24".   

If you're already eating well and not overly fat then you just need to wait for HRT to do its work.  It takes a while. 

If you want to grow your butt then there are only two ways.  One is allowing yourself to gain fat on HRT.  The other is gaining muscle in your posterior chain (glutes, hamstrings, and spinal erectors) with heavy weights.  I'm trying the second method with squats and deadlifts.  Either method will work and both take time. 

Personally, I prefer the second method because it keeps me healthy.   I tried the gaining fat method too and just didn't like where that was heading.

As for the really skinny ones in porn, they are likely ectomorphs to begin with so that's just their genetics.  You have to work within your genetic body type blueprint.  If you're a mesomorphic type, which is what it sounds like, then you can't look like an ectomorph without becoming anorexic. 

Also, what has helped my mental state is comparing myself to athletic women rather than fashion models.  My body isn't going to become a fashion model short of some drastic surgeries I do not desire.  It can however approach the athletic look with hard work and time.


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I used to work out alot and its really mking my butt hard and man shaped. I can't ever see getting the heart shape by exercise although you are absolute right your way is better. For some reason I was never attracted to athletic women like at all I don't want to be athletic at all: that doesn't mean overweight and out of shape but I can't lift things more then 5 lbs since my surgery and that what men are for. I guess its a way of coping with my disability but I have no more desire to be strong. They lift heavy thing so we don't have to. I also have this need or really strong desire to be physically weaker then my partner. I just "romantic wrestling" where I lose every time. I have this weird thing where I want to be a subservient female. I know thats bad for womans rights and most don't agree with that in 2018 but I really like be the subservient in everything.

[elkie-t]

I'm not a doc, nor gym guru, but my understanding is that if you're already low on T, you cannot gain too much muscle mass already, and if you did then it's not gonna get away easily.

I would think, that you should fatten your hands (as in add carbo and fats to your diet to gain some weight) to cover up your muscles to look feminine (female body is supposed to be soft and normal body fat index for a female is much higher than for male).  I presume you are on E as well - not just low on T, so your fat would be stored in appropriate areas.

Also, add stretching to your exercises  - the longer your muscles are, the less bulky they appear.


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[tgirlamg]

Hey Little Sister,

Yes... HRT and patience will be your friend... I lost about 20 pounds of upper body muscle in the first year and about another 10 more much of it in my back after that... I was very solid in the upper body from years of surfing a lot.... I'm 5' 8" and 138 pounds now and the loss of back muscle reduced my bra band size from a 36 to a 32"

All will be well

Ashley 😀❤️🌻

[Roll]

the loss of back muscle reduce my bra band size from a 36 to a 32"

Well that is the best news I'll hear today. I know results vary, but I have definitely have prominent back muscles and have been self conscious about having a 40 band size at this point. I figured with weight off it would drop to 38 or so (I can pinch at least two inches of pure fat still around lower bust), but that still feels high for end result. I figured back muscles would be only a small change, but If I went down even half of your result with 2 more inches offI'd be sitting pretty at 36. Seems too much to hope for, but at the same time, mathematically realistic.

[Deborah]

Mine went from 39" to 36" with fat loss even with all the weights I lift. 


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[Lexi Nexi]

I didn't know your bra # size could go down. Mine feels like ribcage but now that you say that I have alot of muscle under my arm pits/(lats?) I remember working those alot. Theres not much fat left. Seems to be staying in the breast area.

2 months away from testosterone (I assume that means on estrogen HRT?) isn't enough to even begin the reshifting of body fat that will have an effect on your figure.

Seriously consider whether compromising your strength is worth an appearance change. I've worked for years to maximize my core and leg strength and do what I can to keep my muscle bulk all over to a minimum, however strength and especially endurance (which is where women excel over men) are my objectives.

The workouts many people do in gyms are very much intended to add bulk and aren't optimal for strength so the main thing you can do is tailor your exercise to that end.

My reference for this was Mark Twight who wrote a book on training for high altitude mountaineering, focused on strength to weigh ratio. His advice was to only do strength training in very high intensity -- sets of 3-4 reps to failure. That's worked amazingly well for.me of course with the proviso that at that intensity your form has to be perfect to avoid injury.

And of course that means protein and nutrient rich foods.

I'm in a unique situation: My body doesn't make test. So I have to take a huge dose each week. I stopped taking that in october 2017 . I see the HRT doctor in feb so no estrogen for me.

As far as gaining strength gym training I can't really. The bottom half of my back has about 20 metal rods holding it together and I have osteoporosis at age 35 for some weird reason. So I can't really do anything physical. I thought I would turn into a very obese person but instead I got really skinny at one point 130~lbs but people said I didn't look healthy and I really didn't like having skinny legs. I was bed ridden 20 hrs a day for a year. Then 1.5 years into my surgery my weight just shot up 35 lbs and my waist stayed the same size. I did nothing different other then lie in bed and sleep all day.

Then for the last 10 weeks I didn't really eat much. Maybe 1200 calories a day on most days with once a week eating 2500. Drank only water. So that lost me 15 lbs not sure if it was fat or muscle was a little fat but I only have a little bit left on my belly. Cup size actually went up but still a B to fill my biggest B bra I had and nipples look and feel more like girl nipples then guy nipples?    My thigh high boots are easier to put on too; more room around the tops and haven't relaced them. My dresses feel looser. The slope of my shoulders is a little flatter bra straps dont slid down. How do the trans porn girls on the internet get so skinny? Drugs? I'm not going to do that.

Normally I found it easy to go from 205 to 155 lbs. But going below this seems really hard. My frame is really small so that shouldn't contribute to the weight much. I know my legs are heavy so I don't worship the scale but more of the tape measure.

Plus I like being physically weak so my partner can over power me. Seems weird but its like how I like being really submissive in my private life and like it when someone I trust has almost complete control over me. I really feel lost without that dominate person in control which is in total contrast to who I am when dealing with people in public. So yeah I don't want to be strong.

[elkie-t]

I didn't know your bra # size could go down. Mine feels like ribcage but now that you say that I have alot of muscle under my arm pits/(lats?) I remember working those alot. Theres not much fat left. Seems to be staying in the breast area.


I'm in a unique situation: My body doesn't make test. So I have to take a huge dose each week. I stopped taking that in october 2017 . I see the HRT doctor in feb so no estrogen for me.

As far as gaining strength gym training I can't really. The bottom half of my back has about 20 metal rods holding it together and I have osteoporosis at age 35 for some weird reason. So I can't really do anything physical. I thought I would turn into a very obese person but instead I got really skinny at one point 130~lbs but people said I didn't look healthy and I really didn't like having skinny legs. I was bed ridden 20 hrs a day for a year. Then 1.5 years into my surgery my weight just shot up 35 lbs and my waist stayed the same size. I did nothing different other then lie in bed and sleep all day.

Then for the last 10 weeks I didn't really eat much. Maybe 1200 calories a day on most days with once a week eating 2500. Drank only water. So that lost me 15 lbs not sure if it was fat or muscle was a little fat but I only have a little bit left on my belly. Cup size actually went up but still a B to fill my biggest B bra I had and nipples look and feel more like girl nipples then guy nipples?    My thigh high boots are easier to put on too; more room around the tops and haven't relaced them. My dresses feel looser. The slope of my shoulders is a little flatter bra straps dont slid down. How do the trans porn girls on the internet get so skinny? Drugs? I'm not going to do that.

Normally I found it easy to go from 205 to 155 lbs. But going below this seems really hard. My frame is really small so that shouldn't contribute to the weight much. I know my legs are heavy so I don't worship the scale but more of the tape measure.

Plus I like being physically weak so my partner can over power me. Seems weird but its like how I like being really submissive in my private life and like it when someone I trust has almost complete control over me. I really feel lost without that dominate person in control which is in total contrast to who I am when dealing with people in public. So yeah I don't want to be strong.

To look healthy, your body fat index must be around 25% for female... so, don't starve yourself, even without physical exercises.

[Roll]

To look healthy, your body fat index must be around 25% for female... so, don't starve yourself, even without physical exercises.

I'm not sure that number is accurate for trans women. Isn't a good bit of the fat % for cis women part of the uterine lining? (Though obviously to have any sort of breasts or curves, body fat should still be a lot higher than guys.)

[Lexi Nexi]

I'm not sure that number is accurate for trans women. Isn't a good bit of the fat % for cis women part of the uterine lining? (Though obviously to have any sort of breasts or curves, body fat should still be a lot higher than guys.)

Yeah I thought it was like 12% or 10%. Wikipedia time!

[Deborah]

The problem for trans women is that we tend to accumulate fat around the waist.  So at 25% you just end up with a big round belly. 


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