Hi Vivian,
I know they are "manly" but I think squats with fairly heavy weights are the best exercise you can do. The
amount of HGH released because of the number of large muscles involved is very high and that is
good for everything in you body. And the number of calories burned by building the largest muscles in your
body cannot be beat.
Remember muscles are what burns the calories. You lose the muscles then you will lose the ability to lost weight
or keep it steady because your metabolism will drop. For most of us we need to lose muscle to get to a normal female
shape but you really need the bigger muscles in your quads, hamstrings and butt to offset what you lose in your
upper body. A lot of men, that are not athletes, have the majority of muscles in the upper body with relatively
small lower body development.
Weight loss really comes down to determining the calories needed to maintain your current weight and then
doing weight training to increase the size of your lower body muscles to make them burn more calories. The bigger
they get the more they burn at rest and the more you can eat and enjoy food. Then through a combination of reducing
your calorie intake and upping your cardio to create a calorie deficit you will lose weight. For us it is a
more delicate balance because we do want to lose upper body muscle and spare the lower body. Squats will help
in that regard. If you try to do it through calorie reduction and cardio alone you will not be happy with the results
because you will need to eat less and less as all your muscle is lost. The body is really very smart and muscles
only need small amounts of exercise for the body knows to spare them from being used for fuel.
The type of cardio you do also plays a part and it is dependent on the type of muscle's you have. If you have a lot
of slow twitch muscle you are probably good at endurance but don't have much speed, if you have a lot of
fast twitch muscle you have a lot of speed and explosiveness but no endurance. I have fast twitch muscles and
high intensity cardio is what I require to burn fat. I don't burn any fat at lower intensity. So using a heart rate monitor
I exercise at 80% of my maximum heart rate which is equal to 220 less your age. If you have a lot of slow twitch
muscles you can exercise at a lower heart rate, around 50% of your max and burn the most calories. A fast walk
will get you to 50% sometimes.
Also... I always exercise on an empty stomach, the body will not have any blood glucose stores and will rely on fat stores
for the most part for fuel. Also make sure your protein intake is fairly high, you need it to build the lower body muscles. There are
charts on the web to determine the correct amount of protein. Once all your boy fat has been lost (belly mostly) you can work
on the muscle, but I think
you REALLY need to lose the fat first because it will become that much harder to lose if
you deplete your muscles first. I don't agree that you need fat to look feminine, I think all you will do is look fat. HRT will
move the fat around but you have to lose it first from the boy areas if you want a feminine looking body.
I had no where near a beer belly but I had a typical layer of fat on my chest and stomach six months ago and my goal
was to lose that before I started HRT. I dropped from 185 to 155 before starting HRT some. Mostly fat and I had all my big
upper body muscles intact which is what I wanted. I had a small tummy as I started HRT and that is now very flat and
female looking. I'm starting to trade my upper body muscle for fat in my lower body. I'm very slowly losing weight
because the HRT is reducing the muscles of my upper body and at the same time E is making my thighs and butt
soft and rounded. I don't think that would have happened if I started HRT at 185. I'm coming up at three months
of HRT and I feel if nothing else changes I would be happy with how feminine my body looks now. But I think
I think I can lose 20 pounds of upper body muscle the same way I've gotten to this point losing the boy fat.
I was a college athlete and my sport required tremendous strength but not much mass so during training I was constantly striving
for the highest strength to weight ratio I could obtain. Proper nutrition and training provided that and the same principles
can be used for weight loss and it can be very easy if you're smart about it. But if you do anything, build the big lower
body muscles as much as you can and lose the boy fat first... it's the best way for us to get the body we all want
in my opinion.
Amanda
Posted on: April 08, 2008, 12:24:48 PM
I hope this does not gross anyone out and I hope it's ok to post this picture
This is me at about 60 days HRT and my thighs had already softened considerable. I
know it's still like my face, a lot of boy still and no defined waist yet but I think that will come
with time as my hips continue to pad out and my belly area gets even flatter.
Photo removed for privacy reasons.
Amanda
