So as the title indicates, I have a question about weight loss on HRT.
14 months ago when I started I weighed 149lb. Yesterday I weighed 124lb. For reference I'm 5'10". I've never been remotely overweight, but my BMI, if you pay any attention to that, has gone from 21.4 to 17.8 in 14 months. I know that usually HRT is associated with weight gain, and I know that I do need to put weight on. The thing that confuses me is that I don't think I eat any less than I did before. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm not sure if this is something I should be concerned about, but my suspicion is that I probably should be.
The very same thing has happened to me. I think I may actually eat more than I did pre-HRT, but I cannot put weight on at all. It is terrible. I mentioned it to my doctor but he just said I should eat more or drink those energy drinks. My doctors aren't concerned as my blood tests show everything to be fine. It is strange.
well, your body is going into overdrive changing itself around. im sure it takes alot more energy to convert your body from male > female, or female > male. so, if you were staying stable before, you would need to eat a bit more, unless your metabolism crashes during transition.
im 5'11 stable at 150-155 depending on the day. @ 3000-3200 calories per day and a decently balanced diet. i drop down to 140 sometimes. hoping i can at least put on a couple pounds, or at minimum, stay where i am. im affraid to lose more weight, again.
Lower T causes muscle atrophy. Muscle is more sense than fat. Therefore you may be losing muscle,
Agree with ImagineKate, that muscle weighs more than body fat per unit I understand, therefore as muscle wastes you body weight will reduce.
L Katy
Quote from: Hanazono on December 15, 2014, 05:06:32 AM
you are the envy of many women in the world. don't say anymore please ;D
Yes, please no more, cause I hate the first three posters already :) :) :)
Eating ~3000 calories per day and not being able to pack on weight??? Jeez, life is not fair :D
Exactly, I weighed around 155 lb pre-HRT and 9 months in I weigh around 170. I feel like a cow in the belly region. I'm on a 1,200 calorie diet as I don't really exercise. Still gaining weight. I now only eat salad, market fresh wraps, subway 6" subs (the healthy kind), and gave up beef, pork, and now soon to be milk and chicken. I'm trying every way possible to starve my body of fat intake. This is a losing battle and I'm fearing it's just going to keep packing on.
I also gained weight. I was borderline anorexic before I started transition tho, I had lost 60-70 pounds in like 4 months and I was barely overweight to begin with. But I was so in hate with my body and it was the only way I had at my disposal to change it til I finally realized transition was an option, but I didn't believe that would fix me. Eating came back with hope.
My weight, appetite, and metabolism have not changed since I started HRT, despite a small amount of muscle being replaced by fat. I am still maintaining my weight on 3500+ Calories per day. My BMI is normal, yet I eat far more than my obese sister does. I could probably attain a more feminine shape by cutting calories and losing weight, but I fear that my metabolism would crash and I would never again be able to enjoy so much food without gaining weight. Aside from feminization, food is my greatest pleasure in life.
I'm at 5 1/2 months of HRT and have lost 7 lbs in the past 2 months. My physical activity routine has not changed much if at all and I have actually been eating more since starting HRT (seriously, an insatiable appetite). I actually want to gain weight, so this is counter productive...
Between the time I came out and the time I started HRT I dropped from 200+ to 180. The frustrating part was after seeing how quickly I was loosing weight, once I hit 180 it just stopped. Now after starting HRT its starting to drop again. I'm at 175 as of last night. I'm not sure what my ideal weight is, but my doctor said that 180 was too high and I still had a noticeable belly. I'm thinking 160's maybe.
Quote from: Steph34 on December 15, 2014, 11:27:56 AM
My weight, appetite, and metabolism have not changed since I started HRT, despite a small amount of muscle being replaced by fat. I am still maintaining my weight on 3500+ Calories per day. My BMI is normal, yet I eat far more than my obese sister does. I could probably attain a more feminine shape by cutting calories and losing weight, but I fear that my metabolism would crash and I would never again be able to enjoy so much food without gaining weight. Aside from feminization, food is my greatest pleasure in life.
My appetite got a lot more but I don't eat a lot more. I wonder if my body thinks I'm pregnant, lol.
Quote from: awilliams1701 on December 15, 2014, 02:43:22 PM
Between the time I came out and the time I started HRT I dropped from 200+ to 180. The frustrating part was after seeing how quickly I was loosing weight, once I hit 180 it just stopped. Now after starting HRT its starting to drop again. I'm at 175 as of last night. I'm not sure what my ideal weight is, but my doctor said that 180 was too high and I still had a noticeable belly. I'm thinking 160's maybe.
Go by BMI. Look for BMI calculator and plug in your height/weight. You want to be 25 or below. This is for average bodies not muscular or athletic ones .
Quote from: ImagineKate on December 15, 2014, 03:50:13 PM
Go by BMI. Look for BMI calculator and plug in your height/weight. You want to be 25 or below. This is for average bodies not muscular or athletic ones .
Last time I got under 25, I was WAY too skinny. I actually looked malnourished, and an idiot doctor told me I should lose even more weight. I have a frame that would make most of the NFL jealous, and still have more muscle than most men do. Another doc told me I was in pretty good shape, even when the BMI said I was "obese". According to BMI, most professional athletes are "obese", even with less than 5% body fat. Now that I had an orchi and take estrogen, I have more body fat deposits, but still retain quite a bit of muscle mass on a monster frame. BMI is out the window for me. If I got under 25 again, I would have no breasts or butt and look pretty much like a dude.
*tears phone book in half*
Well when I came out I made a deal with myself to loose weight. I have a ball park of where I want to be. From what I read it is better to loose the weight before HRT then after so figure when I get there I will be in a good starting point for development. Lost 15 already but many many more to go. On a night side I am saving money since I have not had a monster or Starbucks in a month.
Vicky
I am back to high school weight and can't eat eat enough, and honestly I'm not that fond of eating. Doctor wants me to gain like 40 pounds per my height. Ugh.
Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk
Quote from: Hanazono on December 15, 2014, 04:53:43 PM
some people have heavier and denser bones which is good against osteoporosis?
I know one person who's got really heavy bones even though he looks fairly light weight... his name is Logan
Do You know him in person :)
Are they made of adamantium?
Quote from: Hanazono on December 15, 2014, 04:53:43 PM
some people have heavier and denser bones which is good against osteoporosis?
I know one person who's got really heavy bones even though he looks fairly light weight... his name is Logan
My weight is lower now on HRT but still within 5 pounds of where it was before. I struggle to eat enough food to make it past 1000 calories a day. I'm a picky eater, sue me.
same here actually... I don't think you should worry.
I used to weigh 58 kilos before HRT(20 BMI) and have oscilated between 52 (17BMI)and 56 (19BMI) since... (4 Months in)
I do absolutely no exercise (4k steps day average... 10k record in a day since starting HRT)
And yup I'm eating a lot more... Barely reached 1000cal a day before... Average between 1600 and 2000 a day since...)
I'm also perfectly healthy according to blood tests and oxygen saturation rarely drops from 98%
I wouldn't worry... Seems normal in my experience at least.
My weight is going down... I need to bring this up with my doc next visit. Thing is, I'm eating a bit more, still exercising but this week I had to slow down a bit because we are short staffed and I couldn't get time to go to the gym.
HRT is also making me hungry. Does my body think I'm pregnant or something?
Quote from: ImagineKate on December 19, 2014, 08:10:59 AM
HRT is also making me hungry. Does my body think I'm pregnant or something?
Increased appetite is supposedly a common effect of estrogens. I have been warned about it several times, and indeed it seems to be replacing dysphoria as a cause of my binging, so that I still eat way too much. I envy those who say they actually lost weight on hormones.
A body incapable of giving birth cannot "think" it is pregnant. Unless you are on injectable E (which is too strong for people early in the HRT process), the levels of E attained by transgender females are not nearly as high as the levels associated with pregnancy.
While I do have some physical changes, overall, I haven't gained or lost weight. I'm 6'1" and 175 lbs and have hovered around that weight for a long time. Before HRT and during, no major difference.
Prior to starting HRT a few weeks ago, I had been losing 2 lbs a week for about 4 months. After starting HRT, I am quite a bit more hungry, but even though I'm eating more, my rate of weight loss seems to be the same.
I wish I could trade genetics with some of you ladies "struggling" to gain weight, really I do. I gained 50 pounds in 6 months on the same diet just going on hormones and I had to stop because it was getting so bad. It's torture having to choose between being obnoxiously fat or feminine. Sure do wish my biggest problem was I can't gain any weight no matter how much I eat. -_-
Quote from: Steph34 on December 20, 2014, 11:22:12 AM
Increased appetite is supposedly a common effect of estrogens. I have been warned about it several times, and indeed it seems to be replacing dysphoria as a cause of my binging, so that I still eat way too much. I envy those who say they actually lost weight on hormones.
A body incapable of giving birth cannot "think" it is pregnant. Unless you are on injectable E (which is too strong for people early in the HRT process), the levels of E attained by transgender females are not nearly as high as the levels associated with pregnancy.
I would like to see something to back that up because I think it is incorrect. After all, MtFs stopping hormones suddenly are known to lactate similar to when one gives birth and estrogen levels dive. Also when my wife was undergoing IVF, once the embryos were implanted the fertility doctor gave her a course of estradiol slightly less than what I'm taking now and she had to take it until she tested positive for the pregnancy as determined by HCG levels. He said it was to trigger the pregnancy in conjunction with another injected hormone done before she went under. They also gave her progesterone. Without this hormone combination the embryos would have simply been discarded as in the menstrual cycle. (It happened when she didn't take it on time every day) So while I may not be pregnant, the hormones may be triggering something to prepare the body for a possible pregnancy, hence increased appetite. This is kind of the point for fat reserves on females vs that on males.
Everything the body does is regulated by hormones. Even your pain medicine acts by suppressing certain hormones.
Quote from: DrummerGirl on December 20, 2014, 05:12:33 PM
Prior to starting HRT a few weeks ago, I had been losing 2 lbs a week for about 4 months. After starting HRT, I am quite a bit more hungry, but even though I'm eating more, my rate of weight loss seems to be the same.
Same here. I'm losing about 1-2lb/week and my waistline has been shrinking. I was a tight 34" a few months ago and today I measured a comfortable 30". I didn't work out at all this week as we are short staffed and I usually go on my lunch break so I've had to work during lunch just to catch up.
It seems the older I get, the tougher it is to loose weight and maintain it. ??? Fat goes to places where it shouldn't like my face and stomach, and does not go to places it should like my thighs and ass. I'm 5'8" and I've been stuck around 140lbs for a very long time, where as before I could be at 133-135lbs with ease, which looks better on me. When I started HRT years ago, I cut carbs and lost a lot of extra weight. I've never paid any attention to calories, never will, only carbs and it's worked for me.
I'm 5'10 too and I weighed about 120 going into hrt. I finally started gaining weight after about a year on hrt. Its been super gradual and even now I'm struggling to keep on the weight. Its nice to see others who have my kind of metabolism cause eating becomes a chore just to keep on weight honestly. I recently lost like 5-7 lbs, I went from 145 to 138. I'm trying to gain weight since I just look a lot more curvier at a higher weight. Anyways I've been eating as much as I can since starting hrt and its worked out for me. The fat mostly goes to where it needs to be, like my thighs, hips and a bit to the boobs but that's due to genetics. If I could control where the fat would go it would be mostly to my boobs lol. I do have a bunch of stretch marks even though the weight gain has been steady. It seems those tiger stripes aren't avoidable :laugh:
Quote from: ImagineKate on December 20, 2014, 05:25:16 PM
After all, MtFs stopping hormones suddenly are known to lactate similar to when one gives birth and estrogen levels dive.
I would like to see the evidence there. I would assume that, if true, it only applies to those who are on mega-doses of estrogen that would mimic pregnancy, and is therefore not applicable to people on typical doses. Pregnancy is mediated by a complex set of hormones changing in particular patterns that we will never experience.
QuoteSo while I may not be pregnant, the hormones may be triggering something to prepare the body for a possible pregnancy, hence increased appetite. This is kind of the point for fat reserves on females vs that on males.
There are many other explanations for the larger fat reserves on females relative to males. I personally am not convinced that future pregnancy is the main purpose, because even post-menopausal women with low E tend to store more fat than men. Fat helps retain body heat, which was important before the invention of artificial heating systems. Since females tend to have less muscle and therefore slower metabolic rates, more fat was necessary to retain heat. Also, properly located fat stores may be seen as attractive by some men and therefore increase female reproductive success through increased attractiveness. Plus, like I said, the levels of E attained by transgender females are generally much lower than pregnant women's levels, the only exception being those who are on particularly strong injections. And obviously, your increased appetite is not having much of an effect, if your waist is shrinking so nicely. I personally do not buy the theory that hormones alone cause weight gain; human behavior is so complex and the same hormone will affect different people in different ways. That is evident in the widely disparate effects people reported above.
Almost any physical variance can be attributed to mating display. Boobs, body fat, scent, dimorphism of any kind. If it serves no practical purpose then it probably exists because it made it easier to get a mate. Particularly now in humans because we control our environment more than any living creature. Wish I could be around in a few hundred years to see how we end up after easy travel and communications make likes and dislikes more homogenous and less local.