What I can Expect

[AlexD]

This might turn out to have been better suited for the FFS forum, but let's see anyways.

I'll try to keep it to a quick summary: I'm 20 years old and finally seriously looking into some hormone treatment (moving that direction when I get started back up with my therapists). I'm hoping everything turns out well but we'll see.

Anyways, what I'm curious about is how passable my face will be with just hormone treatment (probably looking closer to 8+ months of stuff, but really its in the long term that matters). I'm just wondering if I might be ok with just some HRT or if I will need FFS to cover something up (big jaw, nose, w/e).

Just to give people an idea heres a recent picture (and sorry try to ignore the stubble or general shagginess of my hair; a) I need to get a haircut soon and b) it's the weekend  )


Now I guess I'm not accounting for the magic of makeup, but I'm just curious about people's reactions to how well HRT might change my face. Like if some of those things I listed above stand out too much, or thick neck or w/e. Don't mind people being honest, in fact that only helps. Thanks guys.

PS: Oh and I was looking into one of those 'virtual FFS' things for $30 that give you an idea of how surgery could turn out. Anyone have any experience with that stuff? Worth it or what?

[annajasmine]

Hi AlexD,
Well your bone structure wont change that include the jaw and chin. For the nose I don't think that will change. You will get fat redistribution in the face and body. I do think your neck will get thinner with hrt and some weight loss. I had some change in the lips but not much. For ffs from what I read in other posts you should wait 18 to 24 month to see what happens with the hrt. I am only at 5 and a half  months on hrt so can't really tell you what expect long term.


Good Luck,
Anna


Oh you need to introduce yourself here https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/board,8.0.html

[tinkerbell]

Usually the effects of HRT can be visible after two years of therapy.  You may want to read this article in our wiki:

https://www.susans.org/wiki/HRT


tink

[Tanya1]

If yor really want me to give you my honest opinion.


Well your a bit obese and have male fat on your face. I suggest you go on a healthy diet and start excesicing before starting HRT because it will much easier to get good redistrubtion if you do.

Also it will increase your HGH. In fact I heard that there was this one girl that wasn't blessed with genetics and HRT wouldn't respond well because of that. Well, she ate healthy, excersiced and it worked VERY well on her. She looks like a GG.

If you smoke, drink or do drugs- stop that...


Judging by your features

1) Your skin isn't that rough. You don't have much facial hair if any. Doesn't look like you get a 5 O Clock shadow. According to that- I'd estimate that your skin will come out very smooth, soft and your current facial hair will very likely soften, lighten and grow slower.

2) you lips are a bit flat. GG's do have flat lips so nothing to worry about. HRT can make them fuller though so you still have a chance. 

3) You jaw isn't too bad.

4) Your hair line is very good- you aren't receding at all. HRT in my opinion and estimate will make your hair much fuller and thicker because your aren't balding.

5) Your bone structure isn't too bad. I think you have too much fat on you- that's why it's hard to see your bone structure on your face.

6) You nose isn't that bad- I've seen worse. A girl on this board had her nose changed A LOT. It got thinner. I think you have fat on your nose and it's likely to change.

7) Well your eyes are a bit small BUT HRT can make it bigger somewhat.

Your neck is a little big but I can tell you right now that it's all becuase of the fat.


Last Note: I visualized you without male fat, and year after HRT with feminization. To be honest, I think you will look GREAT. You don't look that masculinized(however you spell it). I think the MAIN problem you have is male fat. My suggestion is start doing cardio, yoga, stretching etc... Don't wieght lift though!- It will increase your T- you don't want that! They only problem I can see in you right now is your fat- that's really all.


Your shoe size may decrease due to fat and muscle loss, your hands too..

Tell me your hieght and wieght...

People's Reaction?

They will not recoginize if they don't see after a while and people that see on a regular basis will wonder what's going on.

Some people are SOO slick & smart that they will know what your doing...LOL. it happened to some people here...Your breasts can become quite noticable. Your previous clothes may not fit you well. You may look ridicilous in male clothing. People may stare because you may look a bit wierd.

Women will notice first though.


So far I haven't gotten any of that though but my aunts and mom are asking me what I'm doing to my skin, why my acne is gone and why it's looks softer...


Some people can't pass as male after 4 months, some after 2 years, some after many years- it depends really...

[AlexD]

Thank you for all the input Tanya!

Yeah, I'm afraid that I've let myself go after college (I was in much better shape back in High School). Didn't feel like there was any purpose in worrying about it at the time.

However, since I decided that I wanted to go this route I knew I wanted to work a lot of this extra weight off (161 lbs at 5'8'', dunno what I should be at). Couple days ago I started getting on my parents exercise bike and working up from there.

However I'm not sure what else I should do; most of the other stuff I have around here to work out with would build muscle more then anything, and I don't want that. Does anyone have any suggestions on some exercise activities that I can do that will burn fat with as little muscle buildup as possible?

I've also been starting to cut out all the extra junk food (haven't had a soda in about 5 days, heard that they can really add up) and trying to watch everything I've been eating. Hopefully after a week or two I can start seeing results (it's only been about 5 days now).

Oh and about the small eyes... Someone mentioned I squint a lot, and the more I thought about it, I might need glasses. I might want to wait a bit though and get started on HRT. Maybe then I can get some more femme ones and that might help my overall look. Thanks again!

[shanetastic]

heyas Alex,

I think Tanya pretty much covered it nicely there hehe.  So now I'm going to answer it in the broad sense!

Anyways though, it's all pretty much personalized to some extent.  Of course, I guess some things are all broad and taken for granted with HRT (ie breast growth or something).  Your features aren't bad at all, so I wouldn't worry about those too much.  Losing weight might be beneficial too, but I mean that's entirely up to you and your self image. 

P.S. You said start back up with your "therapists" as in plural?  Just find yourself a good gender therapist and take it from there   I'm sure you'd turn out perfectly fine since you would be starting so young.   

[AlexD]

Nah, I meant a single therapist. Sounded right in my head when I typed it for whatever reason.

Well this helped quite a bit, one of the major things I was worried about was my face. That just leaves my voice and my frame (chest and shoulder width). Voice just seems like something I'm just going to have to work at before I go full time. Unfortunately for the most part I'm stuck with my chest width so I'm not sure what I can do about that. It may just be me being paranoid, but I think they're a little too wide.

[Tanya1]

Nah, I meant a single therapist. Sounded right in my head when I typed it for whatever reason.

Well this helped quite a bit, one of the major things I was worried about was my face. That just leaves my voice and my frame (chest and shoulder width). Voice just seems like something I'm just going to have to work at before I go full time. Unfortunately for the most part I'm stuck with my chest width so I'm not sure what I can do about that. It may just be me being paranoid, but I think they're a little too wide.

Eat cooked vegetables, Salads w/o dressing, fish, lean meats such as boiled chicken, brown rice. Forget the beef and pork- very unhealthy. Make sure you use olive oil for cooking oil.

Get 3 meals of the stuff I listed above.


Then as a snack have FRUITS. Fruits are high in carbs which you need for your metoblism and your body needs to eat something after a while to keep the metoblism going.

Also take NO FAT milk!!!


You should do cardio Alex, 20-30 minutes NON-stop everyday. Drink lots of water(forget all other beverage except milk). Then you should do some strechting afterwards and also beforehand. Yoga is excellent! Biking is great.

Forget pushups, crunches for now because your T level may be a bit high and they can build you a six pack(which you may not want)

Once on HRT, do crunches as they lower your waistline.

If you stick to a good diet and excersice routinely like 4-5 times a week, you should become more fit...

[lady amarant]

However I'm not sure what else I should do; most of the other stuff I have around here to work out with would build muscle more then anything, and I don't want that. Does anyone have any suggestions on some exercise activities that I can do that will burn fat with as little muscle buildup as possible?

Basically, cutting your intake of protein and fat down to about 10 or 15% each of total kCal, while scooching your good carb (starchy veggies, lots of salad, fruits etc.) intake up to the 60 or 70% mark is a good start. Might be worth your while trying vegetarianism, or even better, veganism for a while, if you can hack it.

Add to that lots of sustained, low-level cardio, and you'll look like a marathon runner in no time. Try incorporating the cardio into your day, since it doesn't burn as much fat when yuo are in a resting state. Ride your bike to school, take the stairs instead of the lift, etc.

[AlexD]

Thanks for all of the input guys! Starting to look into what I can do for that stuff. Few random questions though.

Now does it matter whether or not I should wait to start HRT until after I'm done working all the extra junk off? Or would it be fine to start losing the pounds and then start up on the hormones partially way through? (would suck waiting even longer to get started on HRT, but if it really makes a difference I'll look into it).

And another question is about cardio. I'm more familiar with the muscle building exercises which I used to work off weight in the past, and outside of just running or bicycling I don't know too many cardio exercises. Does anyone have any suggestions for certain workouts that helped them? Or any websites that lay out a good routine?

Anyways thanks for the info guys! It's really helping!

[lady amarant]

Hey Alex - Initially I was thinking - just need to do this, just need to do that.

But you know what? The longer you wait, the more you masculinise, the more frustrated you become - start HRT and start your diet and start exercise. New fat deposits will settle into female patterns even as you are losing the male flab and muscle, and the growth hormone your body is producing from the exercise will give the oestrogen an added boost.

Do like Nike says: Just Do It.

[AlexD]

Sounds like exactly what I want. 

Guess I'll continue with the exercise and start HRT as soon as possible.

[Keira]

One thing though, keep doing musculation exercises for the lower body.
I mean weights, not cardio or resistance.
By keeping the muscle mass up in the buttocks and legs you'll lose more
weight and muscles in the upper body (since the body sends
proteiins where they're most needed) and you'll burn a lot more
fats than if you let all your muscles disapeer.

[lady amarant]

One thing though, keep doing musculation exercises for the lower body.
I mean weights, not cardio or resistance.

Would that be very low rep work to improve muscle activation and power instead of actually building muscle?

By keeping the muscle mass up in the buttocks and legs you'll lose more
weight and muscles in the upper body (since the body sends
proteiins where they're most needed) and you'll burn a lot more
fats than if you let all your muscles disapeer.

My big problem is that I have waaaaay too much muscle mass down there due to a life-time of horse-stance and heavy squats - I can't get my size jeans (gal styles though) past my legs!

That said, it would be nice to hang on to some of the physical fitness I developed as a male instead of turning myself into a marathon runner!

[AlexD]

One thing that I've been wondering/worrying about is the muscle mass around my chest and shoulders. Reading around these forums, I've seen quite a few girls comment on how lose a lot of width around there after an extended amount of time of HRT.

I'm not worried about it going away very quickly, but just pressing around there I honestly notice very little muscle mass, or even fat; which seems to be placed elsewhere on my body. Unfortunately one of the biggest things I've noticed that might create an issue for me down the road is the width of my shoulders and chest. I'm hoping that in time they could have decreased, but after taking a closer look at myself I don't really see much to lose there.

Just wondering if for any of the girls who noticed changes in the upper body (I guess even the rib cage), did you a decent bit of mass up there beforehand? Because feeling around all I've noticed is just the width of my rib cage and shoulderblades.   

[Keira]

If you truly had little pecks, side asnd back and shoulder muscles, then you'd look weird, so you've got some for sure. What size female tops do you wear? If your fit into a medium cotton blouse, you've got nothing to worry about.

[AlexD]

Good question that I don't know the answer to. The only tops I have are several Junior size t-shirts and such, so I'm not sure about a medium blouse. Maybe inch size could help?