Susan's Place Transgender Resources

No matter what I do, I cannot seem to lose weight. I'm technically at a healthy weight for a girl, but I look like a really chubby guy. My face is so pudgy and round and my thighs are so big. I have tried to diet, starve myself, exercise; everything. None of it works. I have absolutely no willpower and I always binge. Then I get mad at myself because worrying about my weight is girly. I watch other guys lay around and eat as much as they want, but they stay slender. I just don't know what to do and I feel like I want to kill myself. The only thing that has really kept me from going insane is the possibility of testosterone helping speed up my metabolism and get rid of my face fat. Have any of you guys lost weight with testosterone?

"I have absolutely no willpower and I always binge."

Well, you already identified the problem.  If you are going to binge, keep some carrots, and celery, and cauliflower around.  I don't think I know any fat vegetarians.

There is a tumblr made for "trans fats" that's sort of on an unofficial hiatus. I felt similarly to you with my body. I have dealt with an eating disorder. Testosterone won't really make a change in your metabolism. One thing that could help you better understand what's going on is by tracking your food and exercise. Sparkpeople is a good resource for tracking. It has numbers plugged in for nutritional facts so you only need to plug in how much you eat. If you're able to, try to actively do something. Bike, jog, hike, swim, or just clean and organize things. I find that actually doing things would prevent me from eating and improved my mood.

I'm also not in the "healthy" range in terms of size. I'm 5 foot 3 and 180lbs.

Quote from: Jamie D on June 24, 2013, 04:19:10 AM
"I have absolutely no willpower and I always binge."

Well, you already identified the problem.  If you are going to binge, keep some carrots, and celery, and cauliflower around.  I don't think I know any fat vegetarians.

I know a bunch, fat vegans too.

I think the problem could be to do with your metabolism and how it gets affected after each time you binge. It's not the overeating part of the binge which is the problem, but the lengthy periods of starving yourself and not eating.

This changes your metabolism and the entire homeostasis of your body. When you starve yourself your body responds by compensating for the lack of food and calories so that when you do eat your digestive system has changed to not just process the calories and transform them into energy but also to store additional calories as fat for when you don't eat.

One of the staples of losing weight is to eat regularly, drink plenty of water, and take regular exercise. If you can't take exercise then do something creative or play computer games because you can also burn calories through mental activities.

Failing that, and if you're convinced that you're doing everything to lose weight and still can't, then I would seek medical attention from a doctor and get them to do some blood tests. This can often reveal a hidden reason why you're not losing weight which isn't that obvious.

You answered all your own questions. Diets never work. Starving yourself only makes your metabolism worse and makes you bigger, not smaller, and binging just makes that metabolism factor even worse!

With what you're going through, Testosterone would only make it worse. Right now I feel hungry 24/7. However, I eat small meals 5 times a day and I have absolutely no junk in my house. Never have it. Nothing for me to snack on but fruits, yoghurt or veg.

The reason you're not losing weight is because you're doing pretty much everything wrong, and that's okay, it's what we think will work but never does, it's counterproductive. If you don't see results, and you miss food you love, then you fail! It's a predictable failure so you can't blame yourself really, the way it seems right to go about it just sets you up for failure as inevitable.

The successful route: start eating 5 times a day at regular intervals around 3-3.5hrs. And schedule moderate exercise daily. Go for the daily 30. Cleaning your house counts as exercise. Walking on the spot while watching TV counts, just get 30 minutes of moderate exercise going EVERY day. Then add in any workouts on top of that if you want to lose more at a faster rate. The benefit of exercise is increased drive, energy and motivation (which helps you commit to making all those small meals lol). Exercises for losing weight are exercises that combine cardio and weights. Muscle increases metabolism and cardio speeds up the fat burning.

And most importantly schedule treats or you will absolutely and positively fail. Anyone trying to go for a healthy eating plan by thinking they'll never touch their favourite foods or sweets again, I'll tell you right now, it's not even worth starting. They will fail outright. I said I don't keep junk in my house, but I have days where I schedule to make myself a burger, or pizza, or buy a little chocolate for myself; whatever I enjoy. Then you don't look at eating bad food as a "slip up" or outright fail. It's just a treat you deserve!

Sorry to budge in but I was having the same problem in that I was losing really good and then it stopped. I think it has to do with metabolism and it really sux to watch someone eat all they want and never gain a pound.

As for the testoterone, Probably not unless it boosts you energy level to execise like a mad man.

I just started losing again and actually had to increase caloric intake from 900 up to 1300 calories a day. Digestion in itself burn calories so starving to lose weight is not really good in the way of weightloss.

Everyone is different so you really have to find what's right for your body. When I tried to follow specific diets that worked for someone else, I failed everytime and would actually gain weight.

This is in no way correct in the process but actually works for me. I don't eat breakfast because if I do it makes me hungrier throughout the day. I usually eat one meal a day and that is around 2-3pm. This allows me not to become too hungry so that I end up eating too much and also allows for the calories to burn off somewhat before my metabolism slows down due to sleep. In that one meal I usually consume roughly 700 to 1000 calories. The colories that make up the other 300-600 for a total of 1300 is liquids in the way of soft drinks or small snacks for needed energy. But whatever you do the caloric intake should be based on your activities during the day. Chew your food slowly because it takes a while for the brain to catch up with the stomach in feeling satisfied.

Don't constanly obsess over losing weight, try differtent coloric intakes and figure out which one works for you and do not weigh frequently. Start with a weight, write it down and wait a week before weighing again. For me I don't eat anything different than before, just a whole lot less of it.

Stella is right and if you aren't losing weights after counting calories, you may need to get a checkup from your doctor.

T helps you build muscle which can aid in losing weight. But it increases hunger and even the experience of it (I start to feel literally sick when I'm hungry a lot faster and more intensely than before).
If T were some kind of weight loss drug, I wouldn't be seeing so many pasty guts and man boobs on the beach.  :laugh:

What sort of exercise have you tried? You might be better off focusing on lifting/eating a lot of protein instead of burning/counting calories, depending on what you've tried. Building a bit more muscle on your upper body would look less feminine and wider shoulders would probably make your hips look smaller by comparison.

I think it would be important to have this under control before starting testosterone, because while eventually it could give you the results you want, at first it'll likely make things worse. A lot of people tend to gain a fair amount of water weight in the first few months on t, and that would show in the face especially. I mean, it'll go away eventually, but if you're already really upset over a puffy face, it's something to be aware of. (I went up like 15lbs in the first 3 months and then it gradually went away in the next 6 months or so.) And since testosterone might increase your appetite, ideally you'd already be eating relatively healthily and exercising so that you'd gain mainly muscle and not fat.

(And, this might just be me, but I think people who don't do any kind of strength exercises (either bodyweight or with barbells etc) kind of miss out on some of the fun with starting t. I got stronger very quickly without doing anything different--for me, that was one of the first noticeable changes besides voice, and I doubt I'd have noticed if I wasn't doing any sort of exercise.)

hey dude. its physically easy but emotionally hard (for some people) to lose weight. If you cant handle a strict low calorie didet for more than a few weeks, than dont do it. In the end it all comes down to will power. Get an image in your mind of what you want and focus on it. you have to decide my brother. Either be a fat dude and be okay with it or dig deep and go for a 45 minute run in the morning and a 30 minute at night then eat less than 2k calories a day. lose yourself in your workout use it as your time to tune everything in the universe out of your mind. Save all your anger and sadness for your workout. Dont let it seep out during the day, just use it to explode in the gym or in your sneakers.

Thank you for all of the responses, I appreciate it immensely. A lot of you have said that starving isn't the right way to go, and I would have to say that I've experienced failure from starving firsthand. At present, my plan is basically that while I'm at home, I can only eat fruit and celery. When I want something else, I walk five miles to Jack in the Box. I figured this way, I get exercise and I still get to eat some food that isn't strictly "health" food. I honestly don't think I have the stamina to go on a rigorous exercise program, however I will probably doing much more strength exercise when I start T.

Quote from: Nygeel on June 24, 2013, 04:22:55 AM
I know a bunch, fat vegans too.

How did they get that way?

Honestly, that's a terrible plan. Your body needs real food and some slow release carbohydrates. Fruit and veg are in addition to real food, not instead. They're snacks and not sustainable nutrition. Eating nothing but fruit and veg isn't going to help your metabolism as there's not enough nutrition in them and a lot of fruits are composed of mostly water.

You want to get in some real foods. Some chicken breasts (no skin), red meat, oily fish, pasta, potatoes, rice, some whole wheat English muffins, bread, pita bread, wraps.

You want to eat all meals off a side plate. Like a little fish, some mash and some veg could be your dinner. A yoghurt and an apple could be a snack. Some soup for lunch with a slice of bread.

And breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so get some healthy cereal and always eat breakfast. The way to see breakfast is like the word suggests, it's a break after a fast. You haven't eaten all night, your body desperately needs breakfast. Without breakfast your body starts to starve and that's when it starts to crave sugary, fattening foods because your body is starving and looking for something for survival!

Avoid junk food. One junk food meal can be the equivalent in calories of close to daily limit! It's not worth it and it's greasy and fattening. That's why I suggest having treat days but not every day.

I cannot stress enough that if you are only eating fruit and veg at home you are still starving yourself. So when you satisfy that hunger with junk food, you're not going to see results.

Eat more regularly, eat real food and get 30mins of moderate exercise a day and then you'll see results. It's recommended everyone do at least 30 mins of moderate exercise and getting that is probably far easier than you think. Walking around prepping meals = exercise so there's two birds with one stone. Any exercise program you do should always be on top of that so just try and concentrate on standing or walking to more places.

Although everyone has valid and good points for losing weight, I don't actually think that's the problem here.  If you're of a healthy weight, then you shouldn't be trying to lose weight, just aim to eat healthily and exercise in order to stay fit and well.  I don't think feeling that you're fat while being a healthy weight is a problem unique to you, I know that I struggled with seeing my weight as healthy whilst knowing that it was technically healthy, and I've heard of other trans guys saying the same thing as well.  I think there was a thread on here about it a while ago actually.

If you've still got estrogen running your body then your fat is going to gather in female places, thighs, hips and sit slightly differently on the stomach.  Because for us our fat should be carried mainly on our stomachs, having it anywhere "female" makes it seem excessive to us.

I think the solution to the problem isn't to try and carry out crazy diets until you feel that your body looks male, but rather just try and adjust the food your eating and habits so that you're well prepared for hunger increases on T when you get there.  And while you're at it, try and realise that you are at a normal weight, and the way it looks on you is only temporary.

Quote from: StellaB on June 24, 2013, 06:28:36 AM
I think the problem could be to do with your metabolism and how it gets affected after each time you binge. It's not the overeating part of the binge which is the problem, but the lengthy periods of starving yourself and not eating.

This changes your metabolism and the entire homeostasis of your body. When you starve yourself your body responds by compensating for the lack of food and calories so that when you do eat your digestive system has changed to not just process the calories and transform them into energy but also to store additional calories as fat for when you don't eat.

One of the staples of losing weight is to eat regularly, drink plenty of water, and take regular exercise. If you can't take exercise then do something creative or play computer games because you can also burn calories through mental activities.

Failing that, and if you're convinced that you're doing everything to lose weight and still can't, then I would seek medical attention from a doctor and get them to do some blood tests. This can often reveal a hidden reason why you're not losing weight which isn't that obvious.

Sorry, but that isn't true but I know it has been said over and over enough that many people believe it. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-23/two-large-meals-a-day-tops-six-mini-meals-for-weight-loss.html (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-23/two-large-meals-a-day-tops-six-mini-meals-for-weight-loss.html)

The modern human diet is so different than what we have evolved to eat and there there is SOOOO much bad information out there. People think fruit is healthy but our body wasn't made to eat it except for certain times of the year (when the body would be trying to store fat for the winter or dry season) and it causes the same liver damage that eating a high sugar diet http://www.examiner.com/article/research-shows-liver-damage-from-fructose-monkeys (http://www.examiner.com/article/research-shows-liver-damage-from-fructose-monkeys)   

Carbs sabotage you because they don't set off your satiety hormones and may actually increase your hunger hormones. Serious about loosing the excess weight? Take a look at the book, "Diet Evolution". It was written by a heart doctor and he explains a everything with science.  http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=diet+evolution+by+dr+gundry&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=13434607075&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1867577796315838619&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3hrstfb9xt_b (http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=diet+evolution+by+dr+gundry&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=13434607075&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1867577796315838619&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3hrstfb9xt_b)

Quote from: Jamie D on June 24, 2013, 05:02:38 PM
How did they get that way?

Vegetarians can stuff their faces full of carbs and sugars just like the rest of us

Quote from: spacerace on June 24, 2013, 06:21:51 PM
Vegetarians can stuff their faces full of carbs and sugars just like the rest of us

That is the truth. My stepdad is vegan and weighed over 400 pounds. He had lap band surgery last Fall and is now struggling with self image because of loose skin.  :(

I'm a big guy (5'8" 240) and I blame nobody but myself. I'm working on losing at least 50lbs by next Summer for surgery but if I don't then whatever. I'll just keep working at it...not worth stressing over. I think it's amusing there is an image out there that most transguys are hot. Hahaha, we're not different than the cis population. There are a lot more hairy, fat, bald transguys than there are hot ones.

I used to stress about weight, but as I get older I get more comfortable in my skin. Better to be fat, happy, and fed than skinny, sad, and starving. :laugh:

Quote from: Simon on June 24, 2013, 07:43:46 PM
I used to stress about weight, but as I get older I get more comfortable in my skin. Better to be fat, happy, and fed than skinny, sad, and starving. :laugh:

True that!  I hate the idea of not enjoying yourself in order to stay thin.  Screw that noise.  If I can't eat burgers or steaks or pizza, at least in moderation, that's no life!  But way I try to see it is that = protein, so if I at least work out a bit, it's not actually bad for me - it can build muscle!!!  Haha!

Quote from: spacerace on June 24, 2013, 06:21:51 PM
Vegetarians can stuff their faces full of carbs and sugars just like the rest of us

Exactly, we dont live off fruit and vegetables like everyone seems to think. Yes I am guilty of this.. People assume we have a 'healthy' diet just because we're vegetarian, sorry not true. For some maybe but all who I know dont either. Its not even just about what you have for dinner, its what you have between that causes problems too. Or eating too much junk food as dinner, too much chocolate or sweets etc. Exactly the same as anyone else can end up overweight

I have tried to lose but I always seem to end up going in the opposite direction and I can never understand why. My GP has told me to keep a food diary for the next time I see him so we can see whats going on. I've had alot of problems with extreme tiredness and overheating issues for awhile now. My blood tests have all come back negative for the common things so things like diet and exercise levels may be playing a role here. I am starting to go out for walks and weight lifting again just for something to do. Hopefully see some difference this time. Even if I only lost a pound or something thats all I'd need to keep going. Its when I start to put on for no apparent reason that I lose all motivation and give up

The main thing just seems to be eat less. Even if you just ate the same things you normally would, just eating less of it alone might help a bit. You dont necessarily need to be calorie counting, not sure that actually helps. Treating it as a diet is the wrong approach from the start and setting up for failure. It has to be a lifestyle change and you wont be counting calories etc for years to come. Keeping a mental note of things should help with that but as Im doing just writing things down, what time you have it at, when you do exercise and for how long etc might help to identify any problem areas where improvement can be made. I certainly dont want to give up pizza or things I love as its not enjoyable to do. You can still have these things, just in moderation. The typical advice thrown around is eat less, do more. My GP said even if all you eat is healthy stuff, if you eat too much of it or dont burn enough of it off, you still wont lose weight. The concept of losing seems so easy but actually getting it to happen can be a nightmare

just to clear something up that seems to be brewing here.

When it comes to weight loss, a calorie is a calorie. I am NOT talking about health or building musce or diabetes or how those calories affect your body in general. No matter what crap you choose to eat, 2k cals is 2k cals. 1800 is 1800 and the 3500 calories it takes to lose a pound is 3500 calories.

So i would personally blow off all this low carb high carb low fat b.s. when i am trying to cut fat  I personally respond well to a low carb diet but i realize it is because i suuuck at tracking my carbs and i am an all or nothing guy. If i can have one piece of toast i want five. Its because i am eating less calories which is a result of eating less food. it is not the result of some magical carb fairy that somehow reduces my weight by depriving me of carbohydrates.. 

Quote from: AlexanderC on June 24, 2013, 06:02:52 PM
Although everyone has valid and good points for losing weight, I don't actually think that's the problem here.  If you're of a healthy weight, then you shouldn't be trying to lose weight, just aim to eat healthily and exercise in order to stay fit and well.

I also wonder if your weight is actually the issue since you said you were at a healthy weight for a woman, which is typically lower than a healthy weight for a man.  If you have insurance, maybe consider seeing a dietitian.  A good one will help you figure out your psychological issues regarding your weight and how you eat in addition to recommending a healthy way to eat that works for you.

Healthy weights are hard to judge. BMI is bogus and it doesn't change with gender. I've seen people with a "healthy" BMI and they're actually a little pudgy. Not long back I was in that boat where theoretically I had a healthy BMI but that was rubbish. I was carrying too much fat. So that's what I asssumed here. It's hard to know what's legit healthy and what's the useless BMI healthy. What I've actually found is I've lost a a lot of fat but put on muscle. So I look extremely different to what I looked like at the beginning of the year but in terms of healthy BMI I'm starting to push back into high range. I wear 30 inch pants so I'm not even close to overweight!! But that's muscle that's caused that and I know looking at what I can stomach to look at that I do have less fat so I know to call it BS. So from one extreme to the other I've found BMI to be the worst indicator of a healthy weight. I actually find it wrong for any doc to use this exclusively in determining healthy weight. A doctor I shadowed at med school hated it with a passion because some athletes found themselves worrying about being high range or overweight and then some overweight individuals thought they must be okay because they were within healthy BMI range.

So what might be a good idea is to talk to a good doctor or nutritionist and see what they say. There's also just the idea of people wanting to look more trim but make sure It's not that you're seeing what isn't the case.

But again, eat proper food regardless. Just eating fruit and celery is a recipe for disaster and you'll make yourself very ill.

Quote from: Jack_M on June 25, 2013, 03:53:21 PM
So what might be a good idea is to talk to a good doctor or nutritionist and see what they say. There's also just the idea of people wanting to look more trim but make sure It's not that you're seeing what isn't the case.

Super solid advice.  I am afraid to tell people what they should be eating and how they should be exercising because even though I am a science person, I am not an M.D. or an R.D.  Unfortunately some medical doctors don't even know much about nutrition.  Also, anyone can call themselves a nutritionist, but you have to get a degree and go through certification to be a registered dietitian, so there is probably a little less quackery there.  For sure check on the credentials of the person you are seeing.

Quote from: spacerace on June 24, 2013, 06:21:51 PM
Vegetarians can stuff their faces full of carbs and sugars just like the rest of us

I suppose so.  All of the ones I know are very health conscious.

Quote from: Jack_M on June 25, 2013, 03:53:21 PM
Healthy weights are hard to judge. BMI is bogus and it doesn't change with gender.

^^^ so true.

I started T about 2 months ago. Put on ~8 lbs pretty fast...but it's all muscle. Pull ups, pushups...suddenly those are producing actual results, and of course I'm still the same height. My pants are getting looser and looser, so clearly in this case, my BMI is going up. But I'm more fit, more lean, just more heavily muscled. To me this shows me how easily it is to get confused by BMI...it doesn't distinguish muscle from fat.

(Disclaimer - I work out a lot and eat a very healthy diet. T is definitely not a weight loss supplemenst, lol. In fact it makes me crazy hungry most of the time)

Why is the BMI bogus? I just checked mine and it says I'm in a healthy range leaning towards underweight, which is spot on. It said for my height (5'5") that 180 lbs would be where I cross into obese, which I agree with, my frame ain't built for that kind of weight. I'm just wondering where the discrepancies are. It seems to offer lots of leeway until you get to either extreme. Full disclosure, I'm thin, so never paid attention to this stuff. Nor am I a doctor, or have any training in reading the results, but it seems to be about right to me.

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on June 25, 2013, 09:49:03 PM
Why is the BMI bogus? I just checked mine and it says I'm in a healthy range leaning towards underweight, which is spot on. It said for my height (5'5") that 180 lbs would be where I cross into obese, which I agree with, my frame ain't built for that kind of weight. I'm just wondering where the discrepancies are. It seems to offer lots of leeway until you get to either extreme. Full disclosure, I'm thin, so never paid attention to this stuff. Nor am I a doctor, or have any training in reading the results, but it seems to be about right to me.

It is about right for some people, but it's horrible for athletes especially.  It doesn't take body composition into account at all.  Also it is skewed at the ends, giving shorter people way more leeway than taller people.

Quote from: ChrisRokk on June 25, 2013, 10:07:48 PM
It is about right for some people, but it's horrible for athletes especially.  It doesn't take body composition into account at all.  Also it is skewed at the ends, giving shorter people way more leeway than taller people.

I noticed that, but it looks like other than really big or really small, a person can be in a wide weight range and fall in normal territory. I would assume that covers the difference in gender, as well. Again, I'll mention, I have no experience here.

BMI is not a good indicator because it assumes an average in terms of muscle and fat. But what happens is you can have perfectly healthy individuals who have more muscle than fat appearing to be overweight. Many very healthy UFC fighters for example would be considered overweight, and especially so pre-cutting for weigh ins. Even including those come weigh in time, they would be a lot of them in the very high range to borderline "healthy". For example Tito Ortiz is actually overweight at weight in!

But it can happen at the other end too where you have individuals who are actually carrying too much weight in fat and don't have much muscle at all. This is especially true for males and any females who carry weight more in the gut or "apple" shape as they call it. This is the most unhealthy form of fat storage and makes an individual have higher risks of weight relates problems.  And if you have one of those individuals who still fits within a healthy BMI range they can be argumentative if a doctor suggests they try to lose weight or exercise because according to BMI, they're healthy!

Think of the stereotypical view of a geek. Lanky, thin, hardly any muscle. Now imagine they start eating a lot and put on a ton of fat. There was very little muscle to speak of. Strictly speaking, they may have built a tiny amount through eating more but very little overall. If they were high range "healthy" according to BMI and compared with an UFC fighter at same range. It's a huge difference, and the one without muscles isn't healthy at all.

There's also the issue of beer guts and again BMI gives a lot of leeway for already somewhat skinny individuals with extremely unhealthy beer guts.

This is my first post here. *hello* ;D
I just wanted to see if I can offer some helpful advise.

I'm just starting down this road we are all walking in some form, or another.
And I'm also severely over wieght, disabled, and Glucose intolerant. But surprisingly
I'm not diabetic.  ???

There a few other things but not as important.

What is important is that I've lost 35# so far. But this is just me.

Go to your doctor. Have them run some tests. See if they can help you figure out if anything is wrong.
Ask them what they recommend intake wise. My doc said 1500 calories. I find I'm full any where between 1200-1500 depending on how my stomach feels.

Also, thanks to some help from my fam, I'm able to go to the gym 3x a week.
This is what I do there:
13min steam room
Off to warm water pool:
10min yoga
10min leg stretches (cause I have issues with them)
20 min water jogging
15min upper water weights (arms, chest)

I use a calorie counter. If you have a iPod/android type device they are pretty easy to find.
I also use bento boxes to control the amount I eat. It works along the lines of
If the box holds say 500ml, then as long as you don't pack caloric heavy foods, it will work out to 500 calories. Check out www.justbento.com (http://www.justbento.com) for better info.

Basically, find out works for you and your doctor. Educate your self on food. Find an easy cook book to follow. I used students vegetarian cook book. I'm not vegetarian, but they have excellent, quick recipes that are filling and low calorie.

Good luck!

I'm gonna have to agree with everyone else here. BMI is beyond crap. Yes, it can be helpful for some people sometimes. But generally it isn't accurate enough to be worth the trouble. If you can't look at yourself in a mirror and see your fat to muscle ratio, a BMI number isn't going to do much to help you.

I know I have yet to start on T, but I've noticed drastic changes in my body's fat content just from the hormonal changes that have come from me stopping my phyto-estrogens. It's been between one and two months now, and my body has dropped over 2 inches from my ass and an inch from each of my thighs. I've also gone from an almost 34DD to a 34C.

As a hypothyroid sufferer, this is the only way I've really managed to be able to lose weight in any part of my body. Diet and exercise generally don't work for me, unfortunately. I even tried extreme dieting (~1500 cal a day) and 1-2hr jogs every morning for 3 weeks (with weight training exercises and extra cardio 2-3 times a week). In the end I gained a few pounds. So if diet and exercise don't work for you, you may want to get a checkup to see if you're having any problems preventing weight loss. If you're getting your thyroid checked, have a saliva panel done, not a blood test; it will be cheaper and WAAAAAYYYYYYYY more accurate because it tests the amount of thyroid hormone your body is able to use, not just the amount it produces. My blood tests showed my body was making the perfect amount, but I was so sickly by that point I almost wasn't able to leave the house. Despite my negative test results, I took thyroid supplements and felt almost perfectly healthy within two weeks.

Also, I hope you realize starving yourself does NOT work. That diet method makes you more likely to gain weight and become generally unhealthy.

Thanks for patiently answering my questions, guys. So essentially, someone who is really cut can work "all the way through" their healthy range and pop out into the unhealthy range even though they're beyond fit. If I'm finally getting this right?

i eat pretty much what i want - whenever i want these days, if i really want a cheeseburger i'll have one, but thats they key - ill have one :p and i wont go over my calorie limit to do so, doing that ive lost heaps. really, just download an app for your phone (myfitnesspal has a desktop version if for some reason you dont have a phone from this decade) ive only just started getting active really, i mean ive been walking around for a while, but ive recently purchased a new set of awesome inlines and im looking to eventually do slalom. losing weight is maths - you can lose weight even if you want to sit on your butt all day long.

Quote from: Devlyn Marie on June 27, 2013, 12:10:08 PM
Thanks for patiently answering my questions, guys. So essentially, someone who is really cut can work "all the way through" their healthy range and pop out into the unhealthy range even though they're beyond fit. If I'm finally getting this right?

Yup, or even be unhealthy in the healthy range. For example, I'm high range healthy right now but wear 30inch pants. I just have a ton of muscle in my legs (footballer thighs; cyclist calves) and have started putting on more  muscle in my top half. I've still got some fat to lose, of course, but nothing major. Now if someone was the same weight as me but doesn't exercise at all, that weight is more fat than muscle, they'd definitely not be as "healthy" as me and yet we'd be considered equal according to BMI. That individual would best be advised to exercise and try and trim down a little, but BMI healthy ranges can be like the beer goggles of weight issues: can make people believe they're healthy when they're not.

Also along with that comes athletes who are in low range of healthy - that's not actually healthy for them either.

Or some one like me. I am severely (really severely) over weight, yet essentially I'm healthy, or so my doc says. If I got the wieght off most of my physical stuff would disappear. And I'm working on that.

Knowledge will be the greatest help. Knowledge is the greatest power.  ;D

Quote from: chuck on June 25, 2013, 10:35:38 AM
just to clear something up that seems to be brewing here.

When it comes to weight loss, a calorie is a calorie. I am NOT talking about health or building musce or diabetes or how those calories affect your body in general. No matter what crap you choose to eat, 2k cals is 2k cals. 1800 is 1800 and the 3500 calories it takes to lose a pound is 3500 calories.

So i would personally blow off all this low carb high carb low fat b.s. when i am trying to cut fat  I personally respond well to a low carb diet but i realize it is because i suuuck at tracking my carbs and i am an all or nothing guy. If i can have one piece of toast i want five. Its because i am eating less calories which is a result of eating less food. it is not the result of some magical carb fairy that somehow reduces my weight by depriving me of carbohydrates..

Sorry, not true. Have any science or medical studies to back up your claim? Humans did not evolve to eat the massive amounts of carbohydrates that is in our modern diets. What we eat makes a huge difference in how hungry or full we feel or if I body wants to create energy or store fat.

Corroborating the bogus-ness of BMI.  At my height and weight (5'5" and 185) I'd be in that obese range.  However, if you looked at me, I am far from it.  My thighs are solid muscle (I still have quite a bit in my abdominal region as well) and as we know that weighs more than fat.

Also, I'm a chubby vegetarian.  This is more due to having to be on cycles of steroids, but I'm sure my diet doesn't help.  I need to get back to a much more plant-based diet.

Don't think that concern over weight is just a "girly" thing.  I know many more men than women who are vain about their weight.

Quote from: JessicaH on June 27, 2013, 11:46:00 PM
Sorry, not true. Have any science or medical studies to back up your claim? Humans did not evolve to eat the massive amounts of carbohydrates that is in our modern diets. What we eat makes a huge difference in how hungry or full we feel or if I body wants to create energy or store fat.

absolutely true. as a few posts above me said "losing weight is maths'. if you read my post a bit more closely you will find that yes, what we eat affects how we feel etc etc. But the bottom line is that if you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you burn 2300 calories a day and only eat 1800, you will lose weight. It does not matter if you eat 1800 calories from chocolate, steak or broccoli. You will lose weight.

I am not talking about how foods will affect your energy or your health in general. I simply stating a proven fact. Burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. I dont really need to cite any sources, you can crack open an 8th grade science book and get the same info.

But 

here is something that might help. Note how the article says "Weight loss comes down to burning more calories that you take in"

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432 (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432)

Quote from: JessicaH on June 27, 2013, 11:46:00 PM
Sorry, not true. Have any science or medical studies to back up your claim? Humans did not evolve to eat the massive amounts of carbohydrates that is in our modern diets. What we eat makes a huge difference in how hungry or full we feel or if I body wants to create energy or store fat.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg51.imageshack.us%2Fimg51%2F7126%2Fio86.jpg&hash=d690313f29204f7fbb25ff8cefc8410e843f545c)

looks pretty conclusive to me lol

Quote from: chuck on June 28, 2013, 02:37:11 AM

absolutely true. as a few posts above me said "losing weight is maths'. if you read my post a bit more closely you will find that yes, what we eat affects how we feel etc etc. But the bottom line is that if you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you burn 2300 calories a day and only eat 1800, you will lose weight. It does not matter if you eat 1800 calories from chocolate, steak or broccoli. You will lose weight.

i really cant stress this enough - sure its not going to be all yay nutrients - but losing weight really isnt hard - ive lost over 60kg now and i eat what i want when i want - i just dont go over my calorie limit each day. if you want to hit all the nutrients youre meant to have - good luck - but the 'easy' way works and it works especially well if youre weak willed and really like eating bad things ;D

I would try lifting, unless economic or medical circumstances forbid it. Just seeing some muscle in the places you want it can take some of the sting out of seeing curves in the places you don't, and in addition to the whole exercise-balances-your-mood thing, I find that just being able to feel that I'm that much stronger than I was really helps when I'm feeling hopeless about my body. Also, if I have a protein shake for lifting in the morning, having that solid start meal-wise keeps me on a more mentally even keel up through lunchtime.

Quote from: spacerace on June 24, 2013, 06:21:51 PM
Vegetarians can stuff their faces full of carbs and sugars just like the rest of us

This^^^ +1 LOL

Quote from: chuck on June 28, 2013, 02:37:11 AM

absolutely true. as a few posts above me said "losing weight is maths'. if you read my post a bit more closely you will find that yes, what we eat affects how we feel etc etc. But the bottom line is that if you eat less calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you burn 2300 calories a day and only eat 1800, you will lose weight. It does not matter if you eat 1800 calories from chocolate, steak or broccoli. You will lose weight.

I am not talking about how foods will affect your energy or your health in general. I simply stating a proven fact. Burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. I dont really need to cite any sources, you can crack open an 8th grade science book and get the same info.



But here is something that might help. Note how the article says "Weight loss comes down to burning more calories that you take in"

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432 (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432)

WHAT you eat affects hormones like insulin that will store food as fat rather than produce energy. The medical community has been almost as ignorant in fighting obesity as it has in working with trans people.  The American Heart Association still recommends a low fat diet which is the worst diet of them all, especially for your heart. Most "medical professionals" and fitness experts still recommend eating many small meals throughout the day, but that is a recipe for obesity and health problems. The sad thing is, their info didn't come from science but was repeated so many times it became a fact ( like needing 8 glasses of water a day).

Two meals spaced 8 hours or less a day would be optimum for health and weightless since it will fill your belly and tell your brain that you are eating enough and having 16 hours a day for your body to burn out excess sugars keeping your body receptive to insulin , etc.   low blood sugars along with propper sleep encourage your body to produce more human growth Hormone (hgh) which is VERY helpfull to those of us in transition. Young people have much higher levels of hgh and its one of the reasons that younger transitioned get better results.

But hey, I don't need to convince anyone on any of this.

You keep trying to argue the 2 meals a day logic and the science honestly isn't there.  It isn't possible to be as active without eating more throughout the day.  If you don't want to be so active then eating twice a day would be fine but wouldn't result in an as healthy individual so it's weighing up the pros and cons.  The evidence and science is more there for eating more regularly with regards to metabolism and the obvious results from fitness programs and healthy diets eating around 5 times a day.  I've lost 20lbs with 5 meals a day and exercise since January and yet I used to eat, guess what?  Twice a day!  So I can't say that diet did anything for me whatsoever, and I wasn't a junk food addict either.  The science for 2 meals a day are based on inactive individuals and results concentrate on BMI, which is a bad indicator of "health".

The right type of diet is the one that the dieter will actually consistently follow through with.

Dieting is effort month after month.

Results happen when you try.  Different things work for different people.  Most of the time, people who can't lose weight with one method aren't giving it enough of a chance to even know if that method is right for them. 

Count  calories, find problem areas, tailor and trim your diet using calorie counting AND other tricks such as limiting your carbs to under 150 per day or whatever you want.  Maybe 2 meals works for someone, maybe it is 5.  Whatever it takes to keep the numbers balanced.

Quote from: JessicaH on July 02, 2013, 10:42:53 PM
WHAT you eat affects hormones like insulin that will store food as fat rather than produce energy.The medical community has been almost as ignorant in fighting obesity as it has in working with trans people.  The American Heart Association still recommends a low fat diet which is the worst diet of them all, especially for your heart. Most "medical professionals" and fitness experts still recommend eating many small meals throughout the day, but that is a recipe for obesity and health problems. The sad thing is, their info didn't come from science but was repeated so many times it became a fact ( like needing 8 glasses of water a day).

Two meals spaced 8 hours or less a day would be optimum for health and weightless since it will fill your belly and tell your brain that you are eating enough and having 16 hours a day for your body to burn out excess sugars keeping your body receptive to insulin , etc.   low blood sugars along with propper sleep encourage your body to produce more human growth Hormone (hgh) which is VERY helpfull to those of us in transition. Young people have much higher levels of hgh and its one of the reasons that younger transitioned get better results.

But hey, I don't need to convince anyone on any of this.

Two meals a day will work just as well 15 meals as long as they are composed of less calories than you burn. Also, if the medical community is ignorant about weightloss why would you ask me to cite a source? Anyhow, I think we will just agree to disagree. 

Quote from: Jack_M on July 03, 2013, 05:12:48 AM
You keep trying to argue the 2 meals a day logic and the science honestly isn't there.  It isn't possible to be as active without eating more throughout the day.  If you don't want to be so active then eating twice a day would be fine but wouldn't result in an as healthy individual so it's weighing up the pros and cons.  The evidence and science is more there for eating more regularly with regards to metabolism and the obvious results from fitness programs and healthy diets eating around 5 times a day.  I've lost 20lbs with 5 meals a day and exercise since January and yet I used to eat, guess what?  Twice a day!  So I can't say that diet did anything for me whatsoever, and I wasn't a junk food addict either.  The science for 2 meals a day are based on inactive individuals and results concentrate on BMI, which is a bad indicator of "health".

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-23/two-large-meals-a-day-tops-six-mini-meals-for-weight-loss.html. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-23/two-large-meals-a-day-tops-six-mini-meals-for-weight-loss.html.)       I will stay out of this thread since everyone is happy with old info. Have fun.

I have read that already and as a man of science, it's frankly a mess and doesn't really prove or disprove anything. Anything that qualifies health in terms of BMI is an instant give away as to its lack of usefulness. Whereas comparing a similar study with folks who eat 5 times a day and exercise, and including more relevant indicators like body fat would be a far better study.

Right now I stick with what works. 2 meals + exercise + testosterone = forget about it! It's not going to work and if your body doesn't have enough fuel you struggle to do your actual best with exercise. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturday's I do an at home work out and Taekwon-do. I couldn't coordinate having enough fuel to handle that + work. But spacing out meals to stay constantly fueled does work.  I've done the 2 meals a day while cycling to and from work and I got fat. I eat 5 times a day now and workout and I've lost 20lbs. Maybe that study worked with those individuals based purely on BMI but we've already established how BMI is bogus anyway.

If one wants to be thin and healthy, one needs to care just as much about exercise as they do about food. In order to get the best out of exercise, small regular meals works best. It means you eat, wait an hour, exercise, then eat an hour or less after. And the results when people do that are always the preferable and more ultimately healthy results. When they release a study where non exercising individuals eat 2 meals a day and get better or similar results than exercising indivuals get on small meals throughout the day, maybe I'll care, but any report that uses BMI as an indicator and doesn't focus on exercise being as equally important as food is an instant red flag for me.

Try eating foods with a low glycemic index. Starving yourself and then binging causes blood sugar spikes and increases insulin resistance. If you keep your blood sugar pretty much constant throughout the day, you'll burn fat better.
Also, you can make an ice cream substitute if you have a blender. I find it's a lot easier to lose weight if you think you're eating junk.
I use:
1 frozen banana
17-20 frozen strawberries
1.5-2 cups unsweetened almond milk
Just blend them together on the setting you use to crush ice. It takes a little while and you have to stir it a bit, but it makes about two bowls. If you add nuts, it'll keep you fuller longer too.