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Everyone keeps telling me that I eat like a pregnant woman, but yet I keep losing weight, not even maintaining it. I've lost 10 lbs since November. I was 135lbs and now I'm 125lbs. Before hrt I was 120lbs, After hrt I gained 15 lbs which got me to 135lbs, but now I'm losing all that I gained and it's worring me. What could be the reason? Currently 17 months on hrt.

This is definitely a question for your doctor.  There are a lot of things that can cause sudden weight loss.  Your doctor would likely take some blood for tests to look at hormone levels and other things to try to determine what's going on.  No offense to the many wonderful people here, but this could be something serious so I wouldn't leave it up to people on an internet forum to diagnose your symptoms.

Hi Angelique,

  It's probably all that worrying you have been doing lately about whether various foods will affect your hormones adversely of not. All that worry can't be good for you. Relax and enjoy life. Your transition is going wonderfully girl. You look great.

  Hugs,
    Laurie

Diet and activity level can also do this.  My brother eats as much as I do and doesn't gain a pound.  I am approximately 273Lbs, and have been stuck near that for months despite increased activity, and decreased intake.  The difference is, my brother has a job that will frequently be very labor intensive, chases his 2 year old daughter for hours when he gets home, plays assorted sports with friends throughout the week, and has a pet to take care of.  They do nightly walks around his subdivision as well.  Eating mostly vegetables will feel like your eating a lot even though the calorie count is very low.

But as stated previously, see your doctor, because there are several reasons that this could be happening, most of them not good.

Sometimes we just are not aware of the little changes in diet and exercise that cause us to build or lose weight. In time even small changes can shift our weight one way or the other.

If you are gaining weight, you are eating more calorie dense foods, absorbing more calories of the food you do eat, or your metabolism has slowed down due to less exercise or other activities.

If you are losing weight, it is just the opposite of the above items. Also, certain infectious diseases cause weight loss.

Quote from: Dani on May 07, 2017, 10:28:03 AM
Sometimes we just are not aware of the little changes in diet and exercise that cause us to build or lose weight. In time even small changes can shift our weight one way or the other.

If you are gaining weight, you are eating more calorie dense foods, absorbing more calories of the food you do eat, or your metabolism has slowed down due to less exercise or other activities.

If you are losing weight, it is just the opposite of the above items. Also, certain infectious diseases cause weight loss.

i just thought about it, when I only ate a bag a chips and just dinner each day I gained weight, but yet once I started eating a lot I lost weight. Could I have increased my metabolism  by eating a lot?

Hi Hon,

Go to your Dr and tell her the same information that you have done so here.  You will need a thyroid test and a look at your blood picture.

It is straight forward.

For a young woman like you a balanced diet of three healthy meals a day and at least a 2 pints of water will be fine.

And hon, three healthy meals.

Cindy

Quote from: Angélique LaCava on May 07, 2017, 10:39:33 AM
Could I have increased my metabolism  by eating a lot?

If you do what I think you do, you are on your feet most of a 8 hour day. You might want to get a pedometer just to learn how physically active you really are. Combined with a healthier diet you may not be eating as much as you think you are.

Quote from: Dena on May 07, 2017, 11:57:57 AM
If you do what I think you do, you are on your feet most of a 8 hour day. You might want to get a pedometer just to learn how physically active you really are. Combined with a healthier diet you may not be eating as much as you think you are.

before I started eating a lot I gained weight and I was on my feet 8 hours a day then too. I'm eating more than I was then and can't stop losing weight.
I'm thinking about throwing myself into starving mode so my body turns everything I eat into fat instead of doing whatever it's doing now.

Before you do that, calculate the number of calories in a bag of chips. I don't normally eat them but I was gifted with a bag and it show 1,200 calories. That bag would amount to over half a day's worth of calories if I ate the whole thing. Most likely you are eating food that's not nearly as calorie dense now so it takes far more food than you have eaten in the past. In any case, follow Cindy's advice and review this with your doctor.

Quote from: Dena on May 07, 2017, 01:58:28 PM
Before you do that, calculate the number of calories in a bag of chips. I don't normally eat them but I was gifted with a bag and it show 1,200 calories. That bag would amount to over half a day's worth of calories if I ate the whole thing. Most likely you are eating food that's not nearly as calorie dense now so it takes far more food than you have eaten in the past. In any case, follow Cindy's advice and review this with your doctor.

the bag of chips was from a vending machine at work. They are hot fries. I think they are 60 calories.

That's not too drastic of a weight loss or too quickly so it's probably just normal fluctuation.  But do check with your doctor to be sure. 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Are your hormones within female levels? You my still have a guy's metabolism.

Quote from: Tori on May 07, 2017, 03:08:23 PM
Are your hormones within female levels? You my still have a guy's metabolism.

before hormones I didn't lose weight at all even though I ate less than 1,000 calories a day, I always maintained it, but yea my doctor said they are in female range when I got them checked a couple months ago.

I didn't start losing weight like this until I started eating like a pregnant woman.

If you were at 120 lbs before, that weight could be your body's preferred set point. After recalibration due to hormones the body could be trying to get back to that point.

If you were stable at 120 lbs you probably had an equilibrium. As you continue to lose weight, your caloric/energy needs decrease as well. At some point you should hit balance, where your energy expenditure is balanced by your energy intake, hormones, metabolism etc.

As others have said your weight loss was/is pretty slow. I experienced something similar. Going from 165 to 135 over about 9 months.

Once I added in progesterone my body lost 5 lbs, going from 140 to 135, and has since stabilized. Not really affected by how many calories I consume or activity level.

The calories in calories out is vastly oversimplified, as your body does a lot to regulate weight.

I would not recommend starvation mode as that can permanently affect your metabolism. Just look at the biggest loser contestants- having to eat hundreds of calories less every day to maintain their weight; in comparison to someone who was always at that weight.

Definitely get everything checked by a doctor.

Maybe consider checking your "typical caloric needs" through a bmr calculator- gives you a ballpark figure. From there examine your lifestyle, activity level, and food intake. You could try an app like myfitnesspal- free.

Also look at the rest of your health, are you feeling good, energy, sleep, mood, stress etc.


~Brooke~

You never answered my question.

I really suspect you have low E from all your postings lately.

The gaunt face, the high metabolism, and your fear that peanuts may be hindering the effects of hormones. Sounds like possible low E when all those things are added together.

That, or eat more. Muscle weighs more than fat and HRT reduces muscle. Weight loss before weight gain is common for people in the early stages of transition. Puberty takes more calories. Ask any parent of a teenager.

Those are the two fairly self evident places to start before your next doctor visit.

And don't look at a scale every day. It messes with your mind. Weight pops up and down for all of us, and you are often seeing the effects of what you ate in the days before, not the effects of today's meals. Diet is weird. And this is not a diet forum, so we are really out of our collective league here.

Quote from: Angélique LaCava on May 05, 2017, 07:24:43 PM
Everyone keeps telling me that I eat like a pregnant woman, but yet I keep losing weight, not even maintaining it. I've lost 10 lbs since November. I was 135lbs and now I'm 125lbs. Before hrt I was 120lbs, After hrt I gained 15 lbs which got me to 135lbs, but now I'm losing all that I gained and it's worring me. What could be the reason? Currently 17 months on hrt.

HIV, TB, various other possibly terminal illnesses? Increased activity? Alternatively, none of those but something else.

Perhaps doing some charity work for those less fortunate would help you focus on something other than each pound one way or another, or what each individual sip of cola or spread of butter may or may not be doing to individual hormone levels.

Quote from: Angélique LaCava on May 07, 2017, 03:42:20 PM
before hormones I didn't lose weight at all even though I ate less than 1,000 calories a day, I always maintained it, but yea my doctor said they are in female range when I got them checked a couple months ago.

That kind of deliberate starvation is an eating disorder.

You should have this larger pattern of unhealthy calorie restriction coupled with obsessive interest in what various sips and chips may or may not do to individual hormones, based on things you've seen on the Internet, dealt with by an appropriate professional.

I don't think you should be going anywhere near apps and calorie counting when you have a history of such unhealthy intake and dysmorphic expectations.

Quote from: Tori on May 07, 2017, 06:11:54 PM
You never answered my question.

I really suspect you have low E from all your postings lately.

The gaunt face, the high metabolism, and your fear that peanuts may be hindering the effects of hormones. Sounds like possible low E when all those things are added together.

That, or eat more. Muscle weighs more than fat and HRT reduces muscle. Weight loss before weight gain is common for people in the early stages of transition. Puberty takes more calories. Ask any parent of a teenager.

Those are the two fairly self evident places to start before your next doctor visit.

And don't look at a scale every day. It messes with your mind. Weight pops up and down for all of us, and you are often seeing the effects of what you ate in the days before, not the effects of today's meals. Diet is weird. And this is not a diet forum, so we are really out of our collective league here.

i did answer you. I said my doctor said my levels were in female raise. My estradiol was 168.

There is some school saying that eating more does jumpstart the metabolism and that low calorie diets just make the body adjust to the lower amount taken in per day.

Weight gain / loss for me is mostly related to my mental well being. If I am too worried / stressed out / depressed I tend to shed pounds. Maybe too much on your mind?

The other question is at what weight you feel good. I need to be at the upper end of the normal BMI to feel right. Even though I would love to get rid of my belly, I know that losing more weight makes me cranky.

As long as you are not rapidly losing weight (several pounds a week which could point to some other health issue), you are healthy and you are not getting underweight not sure I would worry much.

Quote from: Angélique LaCava on May 07, 2017, 10:39:33 AM
i just thought about it, when I only ate a bag a chips and just dinner each day I gained weight, but yet once I started eating a lot I lost weight. Could I have increased my metabolism  by eating a lot?

I don't know how I missed that. I am sorry.

I would consider those levels to be low, but not dangerously so. I'd like to see them above 300 while you go through puberty, but those levels are hard to obtain and maintain without pellets or injections. Also, sub cutaneous fat seems to come on a few years into transition and I suspect may be helped with progesterone.

Did you get your T levels taken, and do you remember what they were?

Quote from: Tori on May 08, 2017, 08:53:29 PM
I don't know how I missed that. I am sorry.

I would consider those levels to be low, but not dangerously so. I'd like to see them above 300 while you go through puberty, but those levels are hard to obtain and maintain without pellets or injections. Also, sub cutaneous fat seems to come on a few years into transition and I suspect may be helped with progesterone.

Did you get your T levels taken, and do you remember what they were?

My doctor told me that was normal levels for a woman my age so idk, I don't think she wants me over 200.
I'm on progesterone and my progesterone levels are 0.4
My testosterone levels are 9

Groovy.

Well, your doctor is running on slightly old information, but it sounds like they are doing a pretty good job, considering the type of care we can sometimes get.

Your T is a bit lower than I would like, 30-50 seems to be my sweet zone.

You know I hate Spiro but finding a doctor willing to raise your E so you can suppress T without an anti androgen can be an annoyance.

But yeah, I don't see any red flags with that regimen. Besides Spiro which really messed with me.

Ugh... I kind of hate to say it but if you want to gain weight, be less healthy. :p

I am only half joking.

I'm an actor. Have gained and lost weight for roles. It can be done.

You'll get this worked out. Remember puberty takes years. The day to day stuff can sometimes seem like you are going backwards. You aren't unique in that. We all go through it in one way or another. In six months from now, your body will be just that much further along.

I'm only just having another growth spurt up top and getting junk in my trunk like, 3 1/2 years in.

Hormones are weird.

Quote from: Angélique LaCava on May 08, 2017, 09:05:33 PM
I'm on progesterone and my progesterone levels are 0.4

Your levels are so low because you are not taking progesterone but medroxyprogesterone acetate which doesn't raise progesterone levels.

Quote from: KayXo on May 10, 2017, 08:39:47 AM
Your levels are so low because you are not taking progesterone but medroxyprogesterone acetate which doesn't raise progesterone levels.

whether they are low or not they are still working how I want because my boobs are completely round and my boobs were the reason I started progesterone. Those levels were when I was on a low dose of progesterone, since then she's raised my progesterone.

But if you are taking medroxyprogesterone acetate, measuring progesterone levels is pointless and you should state that you are specifically taking medroxyprogesterone acetate since this is not progesterone, there are significant differences between both. You may be misleading others by saying you take progesterone.

Indeed, MPA (medroxyprogesterone acetate) will have more or less similar effects on boobs as it triggers progesterone receptors but it also appears to increase the risk of breast cancer, clotting compared to progesterone which doesn't.

Quote from: KayXo on May 10, 2017, 04:43:18 PM
But if you are taking medroxyprogesterone acetate, measuring progesterone levels is pointless and you should state that you are specifically taking medroxyprogesterone acetate since this is not progesterone, there are significant differences between both. You may be misleading others by saying you take progesterone.

Indeed, MPA (medroxyprogesterone acetate) will have more or less similar effects on boobs as it triggers progesterone receptors but it also appears to increase the risk of breast cancer, clotting compared to progesterone which doesn't.

every doctor I've asked said progesterone is  Progesterone. They said the only difference is  Some people prefer one over the other. I'm sure if they've asked their doctor they would say the same thing.

When I told my doctor i wanted to start progesterone she wrote me that prescription so obviously medically it's considered progesterone.

If you are taking medroxyprogesterone acetate, you are not taking progesterone as there are molecular differences between both and different effects on the body with both. However, they are both progestogens. Please refer to studies, the scientific jargon and you will understand what I mean. Doctors who prescribe these hormones should know the differences between them or else something is not right.

I'm sorry if I'm being annoying but I think this is an important point not to overlook and this is why I'm insisting so much.

Quote from: KayXo on May 10, 2017, 05:15:12 PM
If you are taking medroxyprogesterone acetate, you are not taking progesterone as there are molecular differences between both and different effects on the body with both. However, they are both progestogens. Please refer to studies, the scientific jargon and you will understand what I mean. Doctors who prescribe these hormones should know the differences between them or else something is not right.

I'm sorry if I'm being annoying but I think this is an important point not to overlook and this is why I'm insisting so much.

im sorry, didn't realize you went to school for medicine.


In my opinion I think a doctor would know more about a medication. I read everything about medrpxyprpgesterone online and all of it is opinion based.

I'm not having any bad effects, I'm honestly feeling great since starting it.

One of the things we like to do most is over analyze. Trying to find the slightest imperfection.  Angelique, based on your pictures you really don't have much to worry about.  Sodas at 160 calories per. (I was drinking up to a half gallon a day.  That's 640 empty calories. Breads and pastas are others that are calorie laden. Then there is fried anything. And who does not like McDonald's frys. Having said that. In order to satisfy your curiosity you should make an appointment with a dietician.

Quote from: Angélique LaCava on May 10, 2017, 05:31:43 PM
im sorry, didn't realize you went to school for medicine.

I didn't. You need simply understand and know that the molecular structure of one is not the same as the other and as a consequence, effects can be vastly different on the body. For instance, MPA partly activates androgen receptor (the reason it opposes estrogen's beneficial effects on lipids like HDL) while progesterone doesn't. MPA has significant glucocorticoid activity (researchers speculate this is why it increases the risk of clotting and breast cancer risk) in contrast to progesterone which has very weak activity. Progesterone exerts anti-mineralocorticoid activity while MPA doesn't. Progesterone metabolizes to sedative neurosteroids while MPA doesn't.

You can read all about this in studies in journals.

QuoteIn my opinion I think a doctor would know more about a medication.

They should. But, in practice, not always as I have realized. They are not gods, they can't know EVERYTHING so if we, the patients, can help, then why not?

QuoteI read everything about medrpxyprpgesterone online and all of it is opinion based.

Findings in the large and randomized WHI study where ciswomen given medroxyprogesterone were more likely to have breast cancer, more likely to have cardiovascular complications aren't opinions.

QuoteI'm not having any bad effects, I'm honestly feeling great since starting it.

Good but some effects take months to years to manifest.

Quote from: KayXo on May 11, 2017, 09:19:17 AM

You can read all about this in studies in journals.

KayXo,

Not everyone here is a research scientist.  Many people do NOT know one medical journal from another, which ones are good references and others not so good.

Yes, we have the internet and good BASIC information is available through this medium.

I have been a practicing Pharmacist for over 40 years, working retail and hospital pharmacies. When talking to non-medical patients, I often have to simplify my statements. Quoting studies in medical journals often goes over most peoples head. I had to keep information simple and straight forward in order to achieve a useful level of understanding by the patient. When talking to a patient i have never seen before, I have about 15 seconds to asses their ability to understand the purpose and side effects of their medications. I try to be practical in my approach. A little bit of understanding is better than Nada.