For all the guys who've been on T for awhile - When did you REALLy start noticing body changes? I'm three weeks on T and I CANNOT wait for my body to change but I know thats not going to happen for awhile. I'm just wondering how many months on T until you noticed your body changed
Can you be more specific about the kinds of changes you are looking for?
My voice started changing at about a week and really dropped between 3 weeks and 3 weeks and 3 days and continued. I don't really remember, but I think I had some other things happen in the first month. Probably around 3-4 months most people see a lot? It's hard to say since you're with yourself all the time, it's just really gradual. Start taking pictures once a week and compare.
Don't go by other people too much though.
Quote from: Arch on April 25, 2010, 09:58:09 PM
Can you be more specific about the kinds of changes you are looking for?
I guess fat redistribution is what I'm really asking about
Oh, that takes a really long while. I only had a little bit of love-handle to move (actually still have a bit left to go), and I did not really see anything happening there until 6 months in, and even then it was really slow going. If you really want to speed that up, the best thing is to lose that fat altogether, or at least jumpstart your metabolism a bit from where it is currently at, because what is there does not actually move because of T, but rather it will now burn faster than the gut area so you will burn it from the hips and it will reform on the gut.
Quote from: TheOtherSide on April 25, 2010, 10:10:36 PM
I guess fat redistribution is what I'm really asking about
Ah. I started really noticing it a few months in. It's still happening, slowly. I've been on T for over a year. Let's see, fourteen or fifteen months.
Lost the fat on hips and butt about 4 months in. Other changes are still happening.
I started noticing after the 2nd month, but I don't have much fat to move around.
This is probably just wishful thinking, but I've only been on T about a week and I feel like my face shape is already changing. My cheeks used to be all full-out round (as seen in my profile picture) but I woke up this morning and there there are like, indents under my cheek bones. It's almost like my face is already starting to square off. I think it's way too early for that, but I swear those indents were not there yesterday.
Quote from: Devin87 on April 26, 2010, 06:59:15 AM
This is probably just wishful thinking, but I've only been on T about a week and I feel like my face shape is already changing. My cheeks used to be all full-out round (as seen in my profile picture) but I woke up this morning and there there are like, indents under my cheek bones. It's almost like my face is already starting to square off. I think it's way too early for that, but I swear those indents were not there yesterday.
You could just be looking for it but I know mine did kind of the same thing. The muscles in my cheeks and jaw became more defined almost immediately.
Changes came gradually. A lot of times I wouldn't notice anything until someone else said something about it. My voice started changing within the 1st month but was really noticable at about the 3 month mark. My face started getting wider areound 2 months I would say. The lower area started changing almost right away. I've been on T for a little over 6 months and I just really started noticing fat redistrabution. I really didn't have a lot in my hips but what I did have is going away, my jeans are starting to fall off of me. I noticed strength increase alomost right away but probably around 3 months is when I noticed my muscles were a lot bigger without working out. Now at 6 months even more so. My feet grew a little around 2 months. I think I named everything.
I wasn't looking for it, but I noticed some my hips and thighs were smaller about 3 months in. Although I haven't lost weight (it's pretty much stayed the same, within about 3 pounds), I think I've gained muscle, lost fat off hips/thighs, and put on a little more stomach fat. But even that looks different than it used to.
I'm four months on T.
I've just started to notice that my hips have thinned out at 2 months.
I could never figure out why men with bellies wore their pants below the belly, at the hips instead of at the waist. Now I think I understand--it has to do with the way men's pants are proportioned and the way a man's fat is distributed, especially in the butt. (I had female fat distribution but always wore my slacks and jeans at the hip, myself.)
It used to faintly disturb me--and it still does--to see a man with an ample belly who wore his pants at the waist. Now I see why it bothers me--he seems to be dressing like a woman. I know a pre-everything trans man, with extra baggage around the middle, who does that. He wonders why he doesn't pass. We tell him he needs to go on T if he wants to be read as male (that's pretty obvious), but I think he'll still have problems if he continues to dress the way he's dressing now. With his large hips, he might keep wearing his pants that way. I think he's going to be in the androgynous zone for a long, long time.
@Arch: Do you a have picture (not necessarily of your friend) of what you're describing? I wear my pants low on my hips to hide them and have done so for years.
I have a very high waist and wearing my pants that high will do one of two things: make me look like a major dork or make me look like a large hipped female (now with facial hair and manly voice).
I find that wearing my pants lower on my pants hides my hips, squares up my body, and helps me to pass. Especially when tucking in shirts. When I try to wear my pants where they're actually supposed to sit, I get "she" and "ma'am" significantly more often (1 out of 5) than normal (about 1 out of 10).
Quote from: Adio on April 26, 2010, 06:29:01 PM
@Arch: Do you a have picture (not necessarily of your friend) of what you're describing? I wear my pants low on my hips to hide them and have done so for years.
I haven't come across a picture, but most men I see who are in fairly good shape wear their pants right above the hips, at the start of the waist, not high on the waist. Women have higher waists than men, so it's quite common for a woman to wear her pants high. But when a man has a noticeable belly, that dramatically changes his options. If he belts right above the hips, he's belting under the gut. That looks pretty unattractive, but his only other alternative is to belt higher up the waist so that he looks more like a woman.
I think that if you wander around at the mall or the grocery store and keep your eyes open, you'll see what I mean. Look for an older guy (seventy or eighty) with a pronounced gut, who belts his pants around the gut instead of under it. I tend to see older men doing this, and it looks odd. (Especially in polyester, lol.)
Of course, most of us look better without the spare tire anyway. ;D
I noticed that, too. I can even make woman's dress pants work if I wear them below my belly. The big belly sticking out just screams male and wearing pants at the waist is more female.
I've been on T for 8 weeks...n my hips/ curve went away.
Quote from: s1ncere on April 26, 2010, 09:48:10 PM
I've been on T for 8 weeks...n my hips/ curve went away.
That was FAST!
My curves are mostly gone, too. Not like I had much to begin with.
Hey, just as an aside: are hormones really a life-long thing?
if so, is there such a thing as taking them just to achieve the permanent changes (the voice and the facial hair, I think it was) if you don't want to commit to them forever? would that be worth it at all?
just curious. thanks.
sex hormones are lifelong. If you have natural E then you can stop the T and be OK. If not , you will need one of the hormones from an outside source.
Quote from: LordKAT on April 28, 2010, 06:21:04 AM
sex hormones are lifelong. If you have natural E then you can stop the T and be OK. If not , you will need one of the hormones from an outside source.
what's natural E, if you don't mind?
The estrogen your body produces on its own. The production shuts down after some time on T, but starts up again if you stop (thus maintaining bone health, but also reversing some of the temporary masculinizing effects).
If you have an oophorectomy, you'll no longer be able to produce hormones naturally, and T or female HRT becomes a medical requirement for you.
Quote from: kyril on April 28, 2010, 06:50:05 AM
The estrogen your body produces on its own. The production shuts down after some time on T, but starts up again if you stop (thus maintaining bone health, but also reversing some of the temporary masculinizing effects).
If you have an oophorectomy, you'll no longer be able to produce hormones naturally, and T or female HRT becomes a medical requirement for you.
ahh, very good to know. ->-bleeped-<-, you're knowledgeable! thanks. :)
do you perchance know the time it would take to effect the permanent changes?
usually within the first 2 years
Quote from: jimmymot on April 28, 2010, 06:10:52 AM
Hey, just as an aside: are hormones really a life-long thing?
if so, is there such a thing as taking them just to achieve the permanent changes (the voice and the facial hair, I think it was) if you don't want to commit to them forever? would that be worth it at all?
Some people who start and then stop say that some of the so-called permanent changes are affected to an extent. I have no experience with this myself.
Back when I was busy equivocating for my then-partner, I considered taking T for maybe six months, mainly for the voice, and then stopping. That's the right choice for some guys, but I'm definitely not one of them. I kept it in mind as a possibility; but about five or six weeks in, I suddenly realized that it wasn't going to happen. The longer I'm on it, the more this is true. Whenever anyone says something about stopping and starting, I get one of those "from my cold, dead hands" moments.
I think I'm hooked. Better cast me in one of those public service videos about the dangers of controlled substances. :P
Post Merge: April 28, 2010, 02:47:12 PM
Quote from: LordKAT on April 28, 2010, 07:00:35 AM
usually within the first 2 years
Although if you're lookin' for chest hair, it could take considerably longer. Or not happen at all.
Quote from: Arch on April 26, 2010, 05:01:57 PMIt used to faintly disturb me--and it still does--to see a man with an ample belly who wore his pants at the waist. Now I see why it bothers me--he seems to be dressing like a woman.
I know... except it bothers me greatly. It also makes them look like a nerd as well. A wussy, fat nerd. We have a guy here who wears his pants that way but he's a dorky bastard anyway.
Quote from: Arch on April 28, 2010, 02:46:05 PM
Some people who start and then stop say that some of the so-called permanent changes are affected to an extent. I have no experience with this myself.
Back when I was busy equivocating for my then-partner, I considered taking T for maybe six months, mainly for the voice, and then stopping. That's the right choice for some guys, but I'm definitely not one of them. I kept it in mind as a possibility; but about five or six weeks in, I suddenly realized that it wasn't going to happen. The longer I'm on it, the more this is true. Whenever anyone says something about stopping and starting, I get one of those "from my cold, dead hands" moments.
I think I'm hooked. Better cast me in one of those public service videos about the dangers of controlled substances. :P
Post Merge: April 28, 2010, 02:47:12 PM
Although if you're lookin' for chest hair, it could take considerably longer. Or not happen at all.
Hahaha. I know all about the dangers of controlled substances!!
It is mostly for the voice that I am interested in taking it temporarily. My voice is semi-low for a female but still too high for my liking. especially when im anxious. lol.
as Arch says, once you start, you may not want to stop.
I agree with the "once you start you may not want to stop" thing. I was planning on going on T for awhile mostly to lower my voice and grow my man parts a bit and then stop after that, but after being on it for just over a week, I don't think I want to stop. I'm loving the changing of face shape I'm seeing and surprisingly now that's changed to one of my primary goals, and that'll go away if I stop. I always want the beard now, and that'll take years on T to really come in and thicken up. Plus I just love the way it makes me feel. Especially now that I'll have a job and will be able to afford it (something that wasn't certain when I first started), I want to keep on it forever.
Quote from: Devin87 on April 30, 2010, 07:54:25 AMI always want the beard now, and that'll take years on T to really come in and thicken up.
I kept telling myself that I didn't want facial hair, didn't want facial hair, didn't care about that...well, my ex didn't want me to get furry.
Then just a few weeks into HRT, I'm hanging out in the lounge with some friends, and out of the blue, I say, "I want facial hair."
It's still light and it's still patchy and it's still wispy. Urgh. And I curse my blondness.
GROW, dammit!!!
Yeah, I'm lucky in that what I already have is dark and kinda thick (thicker than the hair on my arms or legs, but not as thick as my father's beard). I'm lucky and that from my PCOS I've already got pretty decent sideburns (which I shave twice a week since right now they just make me look like a hairy woman, which I don't want to be seen as). I want to try just a nice, neat little chin patch and maybe a mustache. Mostly I want the facial hair so I can shave it off, though. I'm a total classic gentleman-- as soon as I have enough hair to justify it (or maybe before...) I'm buying a classic straight razor shaving kit with shaving soap that I whip up in a mug and a strop and all that fun stuff.
I've got a question, too. I know a lot of people talk about skin changes on T and I can't really vouch for anything like that so far since a few days after starting T I just happened to get all sunburnt, which is making my skin all messed up on its own, but now I'm noticing that my face is feeling almost waxy. Does that have anything to do with the T?
Damn, I can't wait for facial hair! I've got some rough stuff under my chin and I feel like a pubescent boy counting his face hairs. "I've got a beard, can't you see, it's right there!" (looks under microscope)
My partners just told me she doesn't like beards and moustaches :( i'm totally devastated. But she says i can let it grow just once so i can see what it looks like
Hi all,
I'm new here
I have been on T for about 15 years and from what I remember I started to notice slight changes after about 8-10 weeks.....such as voice deepening, no more periods......it was great
After a few months the facial hair started to come in very light I didn't have much for hips to begin with so there wasn't a big change there. My face shape started to become noticible after at least 6 months or so.
Now 15 years later I have a great looking mustache and goatee, I moved away after I had some surgeries to start a new life, people I work with and friends have no idea I was born female.
One thing I notice that T has done to me is made me a more aggressive person, that was to be expected.
If you were to pass by me you wouldn't take a second look and wonder, it took a couple years being on T to get that result.
Take it easy,
Waynerob
QuoteI'm noticing that my face is feeling almost waxy. Does that have anything to do with the T?
Yes It is the excess oil starting to make its appearance.
Quote from: LordKAT on April 30, 2010, 11:53:51 PMYes It is the excess oil starting to make its appearance.
I was hoping that my lifelong eczema/dry skin/allergies would miraculously disappear, but they haven't. My hair is a bit oilier, and my forehead and my nose and my chin get oily, but that's it. I guess you can't have everything.
Post Merge: May 01, 2010, 01:40:30 AM
Quote from: waynerob on April 30, 2010, 10:34:22 PMNow 15 years later I have a great looking mustache and goatee
Hi, Waynerob.
Every time I see or hear the word "goatee," I remember a student essay that I had to grade years and years ago. It was one of those idiotic "remembered person" essays (I wisely took it off the syllabus the very next term). The student kept talking about some friend or relative who had a "goaty." I couldn't make sense of it for the longest time and thought the guy had a pet goat or something. Sort of an exotic pet, like a potbellied pig.
Spell check fail.
Now I'll never be able to grow one without laughing. Goatee, I mean.
oh, man, this thread is making me want to the take the stuff. damn my lack of insurance!
Post Merge: May 01, 2010, 10:08:42 AM
Hey, can anyone tell me exactly what changes in a person's face when they use T? thanks.
I can't grow a goatee, the only place I don't have facial hair is from lower lip to chin. and of course around eyes and nose.
Quote from: jimmymot on May 01, 2010, 03:11:56 AM
Post Merge: May 01, 2010, 10:08:42 AM
Hey, can anyone tell me exactly what changes in a person's face when they use T? thanks.
Oily skin and fat leaves and sometimes the jaw muscle builds up a tad.
Quote from: LordKAT on May 01, 2010, 12:13:57 PM
I can't grow a goatee, the only place I don't have facial hair is from lower lip to chin. and of course around eyes and nose.
Oily skin and fat leaves and sometimes the jaw muscle builds up a tad.
How long have you been on T?
Quote from: LordKAT on May 01, 2010, 12:13:57 PM
I can't grow a goatee, the only place I don't have facial hair is from lower lip to chin. and of course around eyes and nose.
Oily skin and fat leaves and sometimes the jaw muscle builds up a tad.
awesome, thanks.
shame about the goatee!
Some changes are very subtle. Some guys take pics monthly and compare (I didn't, though I do have a bunch taken at different times that I can compare). Others you don't notice until you finally notice. Like just this week I noticed that I have some hair (fair amount, too!) growing on the inside of my forearms. Sweet!
Jay, on T 21 months
People tell me that my face has changed. I'm not sure how different it looks or in what way. I do have a videolog that I started about a year ago. I supposed I could compare an old vid with one from a couple of months ago, but the first camera I used was pretty lousy, and it's hard to see any detail.
Maybe it's just the sideburns.
Oo, the idea of photographing myself regularly to observe changes appeals to me both scientifically, and narcissisticly. I will definitely be doing that if I ever get on the stuff. lol
Quote from: jimmymot on May 01, 2010, 03:11:56 AM
oh, man, this thread is making me want to the take the stuff. damn my lack of insurance!
Is there no low-cost clinic in your area? T doesn't cost much, but the initial blood work can be a killer. And therapy is expensive, if you go that route...sometimes you can find someone who does a sliding scale, or you can get really cheap therapy through an LGBT center.
Yeah, T is pretty cheap. Mine's like 40$.