Pre-HRT exercise and figure.

[samantha1976ts]

      I am going to begin hrt soon, but right now I am about 6ft 170lbs, and I have some junk in the trunk, but i dont want to lose it, by no means. I have a 33 in waist and a 41-42 in butt ,but I want my waist to shrink alot to give me that nice figure, yet I have not been able to figure out how to keep my butt, and lose the waist, I run and jog,I ride my bike 3 times a week for about 30 min each time. So does anyone know some good ideas and what I should do?

[mina.magpie]

Basically you'll have to lose the male-pattern fat and then gain it back in a female pattern once you're on HRT. Unfortunately you can't spot-diet or exercise. You lose fat all over your body, and the only way to control where it goes back on is with HRT.

Mina.

[Jade H]

...the mid section muscle group only.

Quite correct - But if it's FAT you're trying to target... What Mina said...

[FairyGirl]

I believe Mina is exactly right. I am 5'11" and 150 lbs (BMI = 21) which is a bit slender, but not considered underweight (BMI below 20). I just began my hrt 10 days ago, and I do expect to put on a few pounds eventually as a result. In fact my s/o encourages me to eat chocolate with the argument that it will just go back into my boobies lol

[vanna]

yup toning machines just tone

they do good job of selling but if you do not loose the fat it will never show how your lovely toned new muscles look

i have a nice female looking abdomen but has taken giving up all foods that put an ounce of fat on and lost it everywhere first.

[FairyGirl]

that's basically what I did as well- I lost 62 lbs over a 9 month period before hrt, but that last little bit of belly is the hardest to get rid of

[sd]

Yep, I am losing everywhere except where I really was wanting.
I lost a shoe size, and at least one ring size recently. 

Oh well, I am pretty much left with what I want to lose at this point, which isn't much, the rest is muscle. Oh well Spring is here, I can burn it off fast I think if my knees hold out.


FairyGirl, try not to read too much into B.M.I., it is a poor indicator of health, body fat and more. It is pretty much a worthless number really. It may be fine for most people, but if you have lots of dense muscles, you can easily be 50 pounds or more over optimal B.M.I. It does not take into account muscle or body type. Many people look 20-30 pounds less than they weigh. People have always guessed low on me, when I was 160, they thought 130, when they said 180 I was almost 220. When you look healthy, you are, regardless of your weight.

[Marshplains]

that's basically what I did as well- I lost 62 lbs over a 9 month period before hrt, but that last little bit of belly is the hardest to get rid of

I am 5 11 as well and right now at 210 lbs . I feel i should loose 60 lbs and that sounds very similar to what you did . I dont want to hijack this thread but if you could share any tips i would love to hear them   

[FairyGirl]

I used Weight Watchers online; it's what works best for me. They have lots of good tools for weight tracking, as well as recipes and ways to stay motivated. They recommend losing no more than about 2 lbs a week as a healthy rate of loss, and advocate a balanced program of steady, slow weight loss and exercise. You always lose more at first but then it levels out. You can eat practically anything you want but you have to keep track of every single thing. It does take time but I'm very glad I stuck with it.

Thanks Leslie Ann, I really don't pay that much attention to BMI as I do LBS lol 

[Marshplains]

I never thought of that Fairygirl. Thank you for bringing it to my attention . I just looked into it and they do have their act straight 

[Valerie Elizabeth]

Hey, I'm 5'9 1/2 ish, and last weigh in was 143 pounds.  I'm just curious what kind of fat loss are we talking about, before you get female patterned fat.  Last time I checked, my (male) body fat is about 4- 6%.  I don't have any fat really, anywhere, except maybe my butt.

So my question would be, do I need to lose anymore fat, or should I be trying to put it on at this point?

Also, I just started HRT (17 days ago).

[FairyGirl]

Hey, I'm 5'9 1/2 ish, and last weigh in was 143 pounds.  I'm just curious what kind of fat loss are we talking about, before you get female patterned fat.  Last time I checked, my (male) body fat is about 4- 6%.  I don't have any fat really, anywhere, except maybe my butt.

So my question would be, do I need to lose anymore fat, or should I be trying to put it on at this point?

Also, I just started HRT (17 days ago).

my thoughts are that since I don't have any more real fat to lose (at that height and weight sounds like you don't really either), I'm going to try to maintain at or near my current weight for at least a couple months into HRT (@ 2 weeks today). That's just to ensure that the hormones have "taken", so to speak, and that any future weight gain will assemble itself in the gender-appropriate areas lol

I have no idea if that is even realistic, but it sounds good 

[metal angel]

Hey, I'm 5'9 1/2 ish, and last weigh in was 143 pounds.  I'm just curious what kind of fat loss are we talking about, before you get female patterned fat.  Last time I checked, my (male) body fat is about 4- 6%.  I don't have any fat really, anywhere, except maybe my butt.

So my question would be, do I need to lose anymore fat, or should I be trying to put it on at this point?

Also, I just started HRT (17 days ago).

This is a really interesting questioon. For a biowoman that fat % on the low side of healthy, maybe even unhealthyly low, and the mass is on the slim side, but it's really hard to say what would be healthy for an F2M.

The fat distribution pattern is why women can get away with more fat, so as long as the HRT is sending it to the right places (hips and thighs) you can probably healthyly gain a bit more weight, and it probably would make you look more feminine.

I wouldn't suggest you try to gain weight, you are probably ok as is, but it wouldn't hurt much if you did gain some extra feminine curves.

Blood cholesterol etc. might be a good thing to keep an eye on though.

To the Original Poster, if you are going on hormonal therapies very soon, just dopn't worry about it till then, when i went though (female) puberty i suddenly lost weight and it all came off my belly. If you start some exercise after starting hormones you might get a similar effect?

but your figure sounds pretty feminine already, i have about a 31" waist and a 41" butt as a biofemale with no extra T etc. i predict that couple of inches of belly fat will be easy to loose (or move) with some feminising hormones to help. does that story sound likely to the transitioned M2F females?

[Myself]

Hey, I'm 5'9 1/2 ish, and last weigh in was 143 pounds.  I'm just curious what kind of fat loss are we talking about, before you get female patterned fat.  Last time I checked, my (male) body fat is about 4- 6%.  I don't have any fat really, anywhere, except maybe my butt.

So my question would be, do I need to lose anymore fat, or should I be trying to put it on at this point?

Also, I just started HRT (17 days ago).

Don't do anything!

Muscles will dissipate and turn into fat.

Your body fat and muscle percentage will change while you stay at ideal weight.

Don't gain and don't lose for your height I think!

[Naturally Blonde]

I was quite thin prior to HRT but since HRT I have put weight on where I didn't want it to go. Some people who are a bit over weight have a better chance as they have fat already and can work on the areas they want. I didn't have any fat so I had to wait and see where it might go.

[biogirl]

sorry to intrude!  i'm very new here.  also a biological female.  will post a proper intro soon, but i couldn't resist replying to this.  from an aesthetic pov i would imagine that having a small amount of fat at the belly would be more female-like than not. there is a bit of something i read about ages ago (in some anti-anorexia campaign, i believe) that they called the "fertility curve." essentially you'll have a small amount of stomach fat, a little "pooch" if you will, if you're female and fertile, even if you're rather skinny.  i have noticed that men often have very flat stomachs if they work out a lot.  the distribution of belly fat is different, obviously, but i wouldn't work on getting rid of fat on the stomach all together. i'm not sure if various topical estrogen creams could help with this, but perhaps they could? simply an idea, i haven't tested this at all!

[Pippa]

Over the last six or so months I have lost about two stone.   First I cut out the rubbish, no burgers, no pizza, no crisps biscuits or sweets.   I tend to avoid the aisles of the supermarket where these are displayed.  If you don't buy them, you can't eat them.

I have a low calorie cereal for breakfast, a light lunch but a proper dinner.

For exercise, I do a lot of walking.   To lose weight you don't want to do too many exercises that are high impact or which leave you energy deficient.   That only makes you hungry and more likely to binge.   Gentle cycling, walking or swimming are best.  Avoid a lot of weights, a few reps with light weights for toning is all that is needed.

I am at the stage where the hormones are starting to kick in and move fat to more feminine areas.   You do need some fats in your diet but avoid saturated fats.

It worked for me but I still have some weight to lose.   I realise that this is a long term goal not a short term fix.

Pippa

[Myself]

uhh I'd think estrogens directly over there might increase fat storage.
But then again it might now.. I doubt it would help though..
As it been said, everyone is likely to have some fat on their belly, unless they do really intense training and get the packs out or something :X
the question is how much fat do you really have there right now ^^ which might be hard for us to see that it's really low if it is..

[Tammy Hope]

I have a plan but I have a problem...

I started, on July 1 2008, ar 308

One year later I was at 258...having plateaued since April

Now I've crept up just a bit to about 265 (dangit!)

My intention is, in no more than two years ( and preferably less) to lose down to around 140 (at 2 pounds a week that would be right around December 1 2010 but I'll be okay with as much 5 or 6 months later than that - but anything past labor Day 2011 would be very disappointing)

Over the last 20-30 pounds of that I am strongly considering a low-protein diet I saw somewhere on line designed to reduce muscle mass (I want to be totally weak by the time I'm done strength wise, I guess I'm a sucker for stereotypes in this case)

At that point, I hope to be starting HRT (fingers crossed on the money) and I'd like to start that sometime in early 2011.

Then, after hitting the target, I want to hit the donuts and Ding Dongs and let the E put about 15-20 pounds back into the boobies and the hip/tush area.

The problem?

I'm not sure I can wait a year and a half to get on HRT if the money becomes available. I'm getting pretty obsessive about getting started on them.

And I have no idea what will happen to reshaping the body if I start them too soon.

But I suspect I'll be stuck as a BBW if I do.

[Hannah]

Laura I've been low-carbing it for over a year now, half of which during hrt and the weight loss hasn't really slowed. I mean, it did, but I think that was from not needing to carry as much weight around and not the hormones themselves. It's a really nice, clear headed way to live and you don't HAVE to buy the expensive shakes and candy bars they sell either, theyr'e just fun treats every now and then. Just an idea.

I'm really into the psychology behind obesity, and I think being on hrt with slower weight loss is probably more productive for an overweight transexual than trying to lose the weight first. Of course one needs to be in a reasonable range for the medications to be used safely, but in my completely medically untrained opinion I'd think 250 would be ok.