Breast size fluctuates because of the amount of fat in your body. Get fat, get bigger boobs, get thin, loose the breast fat. The tissue will remain. Like female body builders, if they stop training and return to a normal size and body fat percentage, their breasts come back.

That's probably cause marathon runners have to train for endurance while other runners who run sprints and short burst have to train their bodies to give maximum speed in the least amount of time.

So while sprinters have to have huge muscle mass which need to be used for short amounts of time, marathon runners have to make sure their bodies are able to keep moving even when it's low on energy and tired as hell.

The problem that we have is that when we train for running there is always a possiblity of our body becoming bulkier in terms of muscle mass, so the lessen the chances of that a girl trying to loose mass from thighs (me included) would have to run at least 1-2 km distances on a regular basis.

or you could also try some of the stuff posted here on an older thread:
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,124337.msg974437.html#msg974437

Quote from: Oriah on August 04, 2012, 09:28:29 PM
here is a fantastic feminizing workout routine video


Body Feminization Exercises For Transsexuals

I've tried some of these and they are awesome - except for the part where you need a stick of some sort - I've broken some of the stuff in my room trying to use it 

Holy effing face palm... I'm done.

.

Thing is, in "starvation" mode, before your body even starts to think about maybe burning muscle, you lose all your concentration, and feel weak. I don't think I can take it. Especially if I'm supposed to do exercise. I'll pass out, just that. As for muscles lacking the proteins to repair themselves... It may be true that when you just sit there and need calories desperately, your body starts degrading your muscles.

But if you add exercise, it's a very different matter. The way I see it, every time you work out, there are small tears that appear in your muscles. Those are injuries, and the way I understand it, injuries usually get priority in who gets to have nutrients. So to repair your broken muscles (because they must be repaired - it's not smaller fibres we're talking about, but partly torn fibres) the protein has to come from somewhere. And if you're in a deficiency, well, I'm suspecting it won't be pretty.

Anyway, whatever I try for that, I should wait until my HRT development is roughly done, so that I can't stunt any growth, because things are mostly done growing. This sounds like the smartest way of doing it.

Also, Isabelle...

I see skinny and not-so-skinny legs there. What this tells me is that marathon runners don't shrink their muscles by training, but instead lose a lot of fat and only minimally increase the muscle's size itself. If an athlete is really skinny, it's that they have little fat -and- have naturally small muscles, isn't it?

My physical education teacher told us that: whatever exercise you do, your muscles -will- grow - depending on what kind of training you target, its growth will just be different. And I saw a conference with Pierre Lavoie, a world-class marathon runner, and he said roughly the same: my muscles grow, of course, but not nearly as much as those of a sprinter. Instead, they gain a lot in endurance.

And this totally makes sense to me. There are trainings that literally aim to increase size (power-oriented weight training), but whatever you do, if you stress a muscle with exercise more than what it's used to, what you're telling it is "you're not good enough - you need to get better". Why would it -shrink- to respond to stress? I'm sorry, I'm not trying to fight you to death over this or anything, it's just that I've been given more evidence against than with you. :x

Awesome. Well, it seems you know all about it so, good luck with your thighs.

Sigh, I never said I knew it all, neither did I intend to fight and discourage you.

  that wasn't a fight. And, I'm not discouraged at all. I'm quite happy with my thighs.. mostly because I went on a strict calorie restriction diet for about 4 months, and walk between 4 and 8 K's everyday.

QuoteThing is, in "starvation" mode, before your body even starts to think about maybe burning muscle, you lose all your concentration,

This is pretty much untrue, here's a link to the Wikipedia about starvation response.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starvation_response#cite_note-6

A very interesting link, thank you.

I'm sorry for reacting that way. It's just that you reminded me of my mother, who always goes "Fine, then, if you know everything, just do whatever you want!" as soon as I "resist" her advice because I want to understand it properly. So with her, it's, take what I say without a question or you're not getting any advice from me. :c

And whoa, this has broken some of my convictions, which I was oh so sure I was taught in school: I thought no fatty product ever circulated in the body, and all fat was always made into a sugar-like component before being released by fat cells. Geez, I feel awful for all those things - lies actually - that I've said to someone in another thread. I still doubt the effectiveness of that fat-loss laser, but anyway. I don't like to say lies, even if I thought they were the truth. ._.

But uhm, back to the topic. This is interesting. I guess the reason I lose concentration when hungry is psychological. After all, when we did that activity at school, 30 hours of fasting to be reminded that 30 hours is the average time between meals in humanity (x_x), I do remember that after about 10 hours, we were all feeling fine again after being all "uuuugh, I'm dying" for a while.

But this still makes me think that it's not a good idea to do this right now. After all, I may be at 10 months of "HRT", but I've only really been on an anti-androgen and a minuscule dose of estrogen, all that time. Since my body is going to enter a growth phase when I finally get a decent dose, maybe it would be wiser not to do any major dieting until the bulk of the growth is behind me. What do you think?

(Also, uhm, right now, I'm so slow with everything, and working so hard just to get my life functioning okay, that I don't think I'm quite ready to be adding exercise to my routine. If I try to do too many things at once, I feel I'll crash like I already did too many times.)

Calorie restriction is hard word. It's not easy at all. I was "fortunate" enough to have an eating disorder as a teen so I've had practice. The trick isn't to eat nothing, the trick is eat low calorie food. Fruits and vegitable should be your main food source as most are very low in calories. An apple has about 25 for example. Bread on the other hand is very high in calories but comparatively low in nutritional content. A peanut butter sandwich is above 300 so, not a good choice. You'd be just as full if you ate 2 apples. The typical western diet is atrociously high in calories because of all the bread and pasta type things we eat. Generally I stick to about 1200 per day and walk a lot. It works.

Yeah... I love apples. Thing is, groceries here don't seem to. Apples are always, if not downright disgusting, in a not-so-attractive state. :/

Actually, I think fruit are evil. Pears are delicious, so you buy 5-6 of them at a time, but you can't eat them before they get ripe, 2-3 days later. And then they ALL get ripe at the same time, and will ALL go bad in a couple of days, so you eat them like crazy for two days and then nothing for the rest of the week. T_T

Seriously, I love fruit. I think fruit don't like me.

I buy fruit and veggies every three days or so, depending on the season. I only buy what I'm going to eat so I dont waste mone/ food, and also so I dont over-eat. Unless you live in a food desert area of a city, its really not hard to keep a constant supply of fresh produce.

  I'm surprised of the increased size of my thighs.  They fill out the relaxed fit jeans I wear.  I expected this, the fatty thighs, and not the muscular ones I have now.  My Dr. says this is unusual, but not that rare with certain males on the female HRT.  They do not have the rippling furrows that the gym rats have.  This effect is welcomed here and adds to my already large hips in a more feminine profile. 

  Joelene

Well, uhm, considering how much I struggle to cook (takes me a good 3 hours for a short recipe, not including the dishes, and kills me for whatever is left of the evening) and how much of a freaking hassle it is to go to the grocery store (think of preparing cart in the morning, take bus with cart, stuff cart in locker somehow, walk to the grocery store despite being completely dead after a tiring day at school, come back with cart in bus, and probably super heavy bags on shoulders because it never fits, all that in freezing cold and a crappy coat, unpack; a good 3 hours if I hurry)... I'm really scared of the eventuality of going to the supermarket any more often than once a week. And even that is a lot to ask. I used to go every week or at least every two weeks, but not anymore. I've lost the courage of doing all that. I just don't have any energy left after school. Now I stop by the one next to my home where they sell only overpriced crap when I really have nothing left to eat.

Oh, and guess what? The best point is, busses barely run on week-ends. Once an hour, 10-15 o'clock, confusing changed circuits. Awesome.

That's just how I am. Awesome from A to Z in everything I try. >_>

.

Wear a backpack? Put your fruits and veggies in your backpack and walk. I don't care how far it is. Walk and eat fruit. Basically everything you're saying in this thread A, is that you're lazy and can't be arsed doing any actual work or putting any effort in. This is why fat people get fat and stay fat. They eat ->-bleeped-<- food and don't exercise because its too "difficult". To me, that is simply astounding. We, in the developed world have access to better and more food than any other people at any time in history, yet we choose to shovel sugar and processed wheat into our fat necks and complain about how fat we are and that "society" has the problem.... becaus they're too lazy to bother to learn about how to feed themselves good food. All this attitude is doing, is ruining our health systems by costing a fortune and making for some very unhappy people by making us loose family members many years before their time.

Isabelle is pretty much right, but maybe its worth trying a different way of getting at the same thing. This is what I am doing.

Set a calorie level that is at least 25% lower than what is a `maintenance' amount for you. You can work down to that level over a few weeks if that makes it easier, its not a sprint.

Eat whatever you want, including junk food, and use a spreadsheet to keep track of the daily amount you eat - its important to promise yourself you will always be honest with this, even when you've had a bad week. I average mine over a full week, which allows for good days and less good days.

What you will find yourself doing, particularly if you're taking in a bunch of empty calories, is that you'll be trying to work the system - eg. you'll work out that proteins maybe make you feel fuller for the calorie amounts they have, and that fruit is a good way to fill up in the mornings, and that maybe you can do without the afternoon snack. Trying to `win' within the rules will inspire diet changes.

Anyway, thats whats working for me and I've been doing it for a year. I've had some setbacks, but real progress is being made.

Oh, and I have lost thigh weight doing this (while on HRT), but they are still pretty big.

muuu: Well, the cart is for easier transportation of food. Even if I don't wait so damned long between each time I buy food, as soon as there's more than a few fruit and vegetables, or some soy milk, or juice, or cans, or yogurt, etc. it gets really, really heavy on my shoulders. If I did what you say, the cart would be plenty, but since I go at most once a week (>_>), I have the cart + 2-3 bags.

Isabelle and muuu: Well, I wouldn't call it laziness, really, because I want to do such things and feel awful for not doing them. When there's someone in my life, life is easy and I can accomplish anything, as long as that person is there to support me and tell me what I should do daily. But alone, things are so very hard. So I think part of this thread (at least the last few posts) is getting people to kick my butt to get me doing something.

When I lived at my mother's, she asked and minutes later, I would generally be onto whatever she'd asked. But it's like I don't have the required authority over myself to do anything. Same with school. I work like a charm with the teacher there, but oh gosh, how hard it is to keep up with homework.

And whilst I normally need much more encouragement than most to do pretty much anything, when it comes to eating healthy, people in my family, from a long tradition of grandmas who "stuff children's bellies so they're nice and plump and look healthy", keep telling me I should eat more, that I look sickly, etc. Just what I need.

My psychiatrist tells me it's part of my ADD and I shouldn't expect to ever be normal/not constantly need someone beside me to tell me what to do here and now. From what I understood the kind that needs an "auxilary frame" (someone else) to function are one of the worst kinds, because they always feel like children, and there isn't so much they can do on their own. Very encouraging.

All my life I've been depressed, overestimating myself and saying I just had to function normally. Looks like I should just accept it and move on from there. But how do you do that? Even the professionals have no idea. "We can't do anything in your place; it has to come from you." But can't you see how much I'm trying, and how desperate I am?

My special educator has no idea of how to help me. I'm hoping she can help more once she talks with my psychiatrist. And that the ergotherapist I'll see in a few days will be able to diagnose something / find solutions / whatever. Because seriously, I've had it with functionning as well as a ten-year-old.

I think I wish I were normal in this regard much more than I wish I weren't trans.

AmyBee: Well, as for -amounts-, generally I'm good. I don't eat lunch and just snack on some sunflower seeds and an apple if I have some at noon, at school. Because preparing food to bring to school is too much for me; I constantly forget, on top of generally not even having food because I don't cook. Anyway, in general, on school days, I quickly eat something before catching the bus (generally a bit of bread or a bowl of oatmeal with a glass of juice), and then run to catch the bus. And then at night I eat -something-. Generally I snack on some quickly grabbed stuff or something. Sometimes I'll reheat something I've made, or that my mom generously cooked for me.

The main problem is -what- I eat. Despite taking a multivitamin, always getting whole grains and almost never opting for the unhealthy option, I'm anemic and I seriously don't think this is the only eating-related problem I have. Basically even just eating what I like would be great for me. But I don't, because the crackers and overpriced bruschetta from the store are easier to eat.

And well, as for understanding what does well and what does bad, I think I'm not too bad. Most of what I like the most is healthy, and I mostly dislike junk food (and feel way too awfully guilty whenever I eat it anyway, so I seldom eat any). The main thing is getting myself to get up and go to the damned grocery store, and then cook those damned ingredients.

(I'm sorry, I know you neither need nor appreciate all this negativity. I guess the stress and disappointment by myself from these last few weeks is adding up to me feeling emotional today.)

One thing that's good for anaemia (and generally good) is molasses. Very bioavailable iron and calcium, and loads of vitamins and minerals in there. A mug of hot water with a spoonful of molasses melted in is is a very, very good supplement, and doesn't constipate like iron supplements tend to. I also find it takes a big edge off hunger.

O_O And here I thought molasses were just as nutritious as sugar.