Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I've been on hormones for 2 years now, and while I've lost a significant amount of muscle... I still have quite a bit of tone left in my arms/shoulder area... also causing my veins to show.  Even though I'm really small, I get very self conscious about being so tone and defined.  So, I am wondering how much muscle loss comes after SRS.. if any?  And what other changes occur to your body, assuming that I get SRS at age 26?

Just guessing, so it may be worth little, but I think the majority of muscle loss is from hormone therapy, and SRS affects it little, though perminent loss of the testosterone factories may add to the effect. Repeating - just a guess.  It's been 9 weeks since surgery and no noticable effect, at least yet.

Susan Kay

Hormones will change your body for 4 to 5 years, possibly more.  I was on hormones about 15 months when I had surgery and, in the 4.5 months since, I've seen a lot of body changes, including loss of upper arm muscle. 

     Be patient and don't lift weights...   :)   The changes will (continue to) come.

I never had a lot of muscle to begin with.  What little I had generally stayed put if it was in a group that I was using with any measure of regularity...where the difference was really noted was through fat placement in places like the calves.  At this point, I have been on HRT for slightly more than half my life... 

As with many things, this will be a YMMV situation.  I know that in the ~fifteenish years since surgery that I have lost a lot of upper body strength, but that is as much due to stopping some of the athletic endeavors I was actively involved in both pre- and post-op.  And then when I stopped playing softball a few years ago, what little exercise I *was* getting pretty much came to a halt...

Endurance-wise, I note much the same thing as valeriedances reports.  When I started back at a gym a few months ago, leg endurance was not a problem.  I can knock out time and speed on a treadmill in much the same manner as I probably could have two decades ago.  Leg press is down from what I remember, but then again, it is also a different type of machine than I used as a kid.     

14 yrs post op it hurts to use my muscles. I do it and have to wait a half day at times to let the tension relax. I definately am no where near as strong as i use to be pre transitioning. I also am in mid 50's too but that really shouldn't stop me. I use to have veins before transitioning but i did have saline injections to collaspe them. Oh well i live with this pain and am no longer that young strong person i use to be. However, i do more work than most people so i get by. I carried 2 - 3/4 filled  5 gallon buckets of shale to make a long trail bucket by bucket up a long trail i made in a few days. 18 tons of shale. Yes i am weak compared to my past but i am strong compared to many.. even at 6 yrs post op i carried rubber roofing rolls up 3 stories on a ladder to fix a trans safe house in upstate NY and i was thinner and much more femme. oh how the days and yrs go byeeeeeeee

You will really notice it when you get in a fight.  I can punch somebody in the face now as hard as I can, and the most I can hope to achieve is a little bruising or a fat lip, or maybe a bloody nose.  My days of breaking noses and knocking out teeth are over.

I have to use weapons now to get anything done!

So much for the calming effect of HT! At least it's reducing the degree of damage. Not enough, but reducing is the right direction!

Susan Kay

I don't know that I lost much muscle from HRT or the surgery. I know that I couldn't lift what I had been able to do after a few years. Without the T, though, my muscles did soften in sort of a feminine way. I'm still not a cute little thing. I never was. But I've had no problems getting through life. Everyone is different. If you work out a lot, you may be able to maintain your muscle mass.  If you exercise by walking, your legs likely not change much. If you starve yourself to change your muscle appearance, like so many I have known, you could cause irreparable damage to your body.

Quote from: OliveLevel on August 10, 2011, 10:27:55 AM
You will really notice it when you get in a fight.  I can punch somebody in the face now as hard as I can, and the most I can hope to achieve is a little bruising or a fat lip, or maybe a bloody nose.  My days of breaking noses and knocking out teeth are over.

I have to use weapons now to get anything done!

LOL, um anger issues?! :P

muscle loss does come after SRS and orchi's.  without the stimulus of testosterone, muscle will eventually atrophy....not all muscle though.  Of the 3 types of muscle tissue (cardiac, smooth skeletal), skeletal muscle is most likely to atrophy

Quote from: Jamie Nicole on August 17, 2011, 07:29:28 PM
muscle loss does come after SRS and orchi's.  without the stimulus of testosterone, muscle will eventually atrophy....not all muscle though.  Of the 3 types of muscle tissue (cardiac, smooth skeletal), skeletal muscle is most likely to atrophy

Prior to GCS, I had an orchiechtomy, and had been on HRT a number of years before the orchi.

I didn't have a lot of muscle mass, but I did have the veins in my arms that a few have mentioned. I discussed this with the surgeon, who informed me
that post orchi the veins would go away. Sure enough, after the orchi the veins were gone, and I would assume the same would occur after the GCS, as
the testes are removed in both procesures.

After the orchiechtomy and GCS I would say that I have signifcantly less upper body strength. If I need to move an object across the room, I will do it
by pushing it with my legs, which remain fairly strong - and with no veins.  :D

Even at my age I do not have the upper body strength of a natal male my age. I am always amazed at the ease at which they are able to lift or move
something that I would find impossible or have to struggle with. I'm by no means envious of their strength as I wouldn't want the muscles that come
with that ability, but it intrigues me nontheless.

I've been 17 months on hormones, now 12 weeks since SRS; I have noticed some body fat growth. Muscle loss doesn't seem much if any greater. I don't know if breasts are wholey considered glands, muscle or fat, all of the above or something else, but the last month has brought on a spurt in their growth - Hooray!!! Their growth just prior to surgery was flat.  ::)

Susan Kay