Right now I'm getting finances arranged and waiting to make plans to see a doctor about HRT (luckily there's an informed consent clinic just down in DC, so it should be pretty doable in the somewhat near future). But in the meantime, I don't want to just sit around, so I'm trying to do whatever possible to increase my natural T levels.

Luckily, as I spent the past year and a half researching hormones and supplements, I think it'll be fairly easy, just as a sort of "starter" program. I've already learned that (maybe because of my PCOS) my natural hormones are very easy to tweak.

First, let me mention that I HAVE noticed a natural rise in T since getting on Thyroid Support supplements for my hypothyroidism. The past month has given me wonderful results as far as my thyroid health, and it shows in an increase of the natural hormones my body is now producing. I noticed this change BEFORE stopping my anti-androgens, which means my T levels increased enough where my normal doses of anti-androgens used to control them were no longer strong enough. Curing thyroid problems will make a HUGE difference in any kind of hormonal treatment! I rarely sleep now because I just have so much energy and stamina for my days, whereas at my worst, I literally couldn't leave the house most days and was stuck in bed.

Now, onto my supplements and such.
I've started using 6-Star Testosterone Booster from Wal-Mart (I went with the powder, but will probably chose the pills next time, as this stuff doesn't mix and tastes like clumps of Splenda/Aspertame/whatevertheeff). It's supposed to give you a natural T boost within a week, and has great reviews. I think this will work pretty well for me given my already high levels. Also looking into BCAA's or another supplement.

I'm cutting sugar out of my diet even more than usual because sugar hinders T production. I already don't like sugary things, but will switch to sugar-free Breakfast Essentials (my daily protein/multivitamin source) and will avoid sugary juices or snacks at all costs. Also, I've read that broccoli is really good for increasing natural T, so I'll probably buy some organic broccoli and eat some on the reg (organic will have a much higher source of antioxidants and amino acids).

To get rid of the boobs and butt I stupidly gave myself, I'm taking OxyElitePro right now (original formula, not the safe, new stuff they got out now). I'm hoping that not only will Oxy help burn breast and butt fat, but it will also help flush the female hormones I was taking out of my body. I'll be combining this with a mostly protein-based diet, and a lot of cardio via bike rides (which will also keep my thighs muscular, since I'm going to be spending the next month focusing on my arms instead). I'm also using Sweet Sweat and neoprene bands for my arms to burn the feminine fat I have there. So far, I haven't done this for any bike rides or serious cardio, but have still managed to lose a noticeable amount of arm fat! So I can't wait to see my results and muscle tone after a few good bike rides. I know Oxy will make building hard, but with enough protein and lifting, I've learned that cutting AND bulking at the same time ARE possible, I just won't bulk as much as normally. Also, did you know, weight lifting increases natural T levels? Win-win.

I also just ran out of MSM powder, and may buy more. I think it may have helped my muscles rebuild after a workout, and helped speed up my results. Plus, I've got some leftover hair growth cream I made that I'm going to be using on my face and eyebrows. I noticed it sparked regrowth along my hairline where strands had fallen out before due to hypo, and it's even helping my dog regrow her bald spot, so I believe it may help either grow in facial hair, or at least regrow my eyebrows faster (I've been plucking so many years, they've almost stopped growing, and I can go months without plucking and not look too hairy). With my feminine long, black eyelashes, I want my eyebrows to be the first thing to grow in the help masculinize my eyes. Everything else will have its time.

I've taken progress pics of my starter body (I've gotten into the habit of doing this) and will be checking my results against it each month so that I can tweak my program whenever necessary. Keeping a record like this also inspires me to work as hard as possible to show the fastest progress possible. I'm a man of results. This first month will likely be mostly cutting, and a little bulking, then hopefully just bulking after that. I CAN build a decent amount of muscle in that time, and hope to see a noticeable change in my arms and stomach.

I don't know how common it is for someone to start something like this prior to HRT. I know most people start on a workout plan regardless, but I wanna take it to the next level if possible. We'll see how it goes.

Anyone else got any ideas as how to kick-start this thing while HRT isn't an option yet?

Quote from: D0LL on May 16, 2013, 03:07:05 PM
I've started using 6-Star Testosterone Booster from Wal-Mart (I went with the powder, but will probably chose the pills next time, as this stuff doesn't mix and tastes like clumps of Splenda/Aspertame/whatevertheeff). It's supposed to give you a natural T boost within a week, and has great reviews. I think this will work pretty well for me given my already high levels. Also looking into BCAA's or another supplement.

It is great you are trying to do all you can for yourself before starting prescribed hormones.  I  would be very very careful about taking these kinds of supplements. They are marketing-based ploys that are intended to play off the surge of interest in cisguys boosting their T levels, and I am not even sure they do anything at all - if anything, they may cause more problems.   They certainly won't do what they claim about raising T levels in one week or whatever - if they did, I suspect it would be an artificial boost.

Maybe someone who knows more about the biology of this than me will chime in, but I am not even sure they work on FAAB pre-HRT people.

Working out and building muscle is the best thing and probably only thing you can actually do yourself at this point, but that itself is fantastic for so many reasons.

Spacerace is right.

You're putting a whole lot of money in snake oil treatments. They're not even FDA regulated (no idea how safe they are) and they're formulated for cis males.

Your best bet is to wait to get to the clinic and save the money you're spending on those things for something worthwhile.

My therapist told me that eating oatmeal increases natural T (sorry if you already said that but I just skimmed through everything).

^ Really? I've never heard that before. I need to compile a list of the best foods for T production.

As far as the T-Booster, no, I'm not expecting miracles, honestly. But if it can give me a boost, I'll take it. I bought it knowing that there's a good chance it may not work. But it was only $20 for a month's supply, and that's a LOT less than I'd be spending on my boob pills, so I won't call it a loss either way.

But I DID look at the ingredient list, and I liked what I saw (I'm just not sure how effective the doses are). The T-boosting ingredient is Boron Citrate, which DOES help increase T production from what I've read. I haven't been able to find its effects in women, but the way my body produces hormones, maybe my body already thinks it's male, and will respond to this the way a cis male would. ;P I did just read, though, that it will increase T more in those with a naturally low T level, and not so much for those of us with higher T levels. Also, the other ingredients in it may either improve T or aide in my workouts in some way or another at least. So we'll see.

I'm not able to start HRT yet either so I changed my diet and started working out regularly to help build muscle. I'm not sure how effective working out is in raising my T levels because I have no way of measuring it right now but I have been losing weight and gaining muscle pretty steadily which is odd because usually it's difficult to do both at the same time and muscle takes a long time to build. I wish I had an easy way to check my T levels to see if that's contributing to anything.

The thing you mentioned about hair cream seemed interesting. How did you make it? It would be nice to see if I can get some sideburns going. 

@doll hey sounds like you have a good plan..I am in a similar boat but have yet to start medically transitioning..would you be posting your progress pics somewhere? or on here maybe?

My doctor was very happy I didn't use the supplements, said some of them are really harder on the liver than T is. She is very pro-supplements otherwise. Has told me to take probiotics and cranberry extract. So it isnt' that she is against alternative medicine approaches.

--Jay

Quote from: aleon515 on May 18, 2013, 11:55:39 PM
My doctor was very happy I didn't use the supplements, said some of them are really harder on the liver than T is. She is very pro-supplements otherwise. Has told me to take probiotics and cranberry extract. So it isnt' that she is against alternative medicine approaches.

Some people don't listen. "Natural Transitioning" can be harder on the body than HRT if someone is taking T booster junk. I say that because my Endo says the same as yours does and she says that after a hysto T is no more dangerous than taking E.

I haven't taken probiotics but I do drink raw cranberry juice to cleanse my organs. That stuff is stout and will put hair on your chest, lol.

Those supplements don't really work in those without testicles.

Quote from: onep1ece7 on May 18, 2013, 11:17:43 PM
@doll hey sounds like you have a good plan..I am in a similar boat but have yet to start medically transitioning..would you be posting your progress pics somewhere? or on here maybe?

Haha, yes, I actually took a few starting pics and will be updating month-by-month (although I'm obviously not gonna post my results until they're significant and noticeable to others). Progress pics always motivate me to beat my ass at the gym.

I've already stated that I don't think the T-Booster will help, and that I'm just trying it and at least want to see if I can get the other workout benefits from it. I guess people don't read.

The hair cream is honestly just an antifungal, water, and olive/tea tree oil. It works by clearing your skin of any fungus that would interfere with hair growth, so that you can get the best, fastest growth possible. I doubt it'll bring any new hairs in, but might help promote better growth of the ones that are already in place. At the very least, it's helping my eyebrows grow in, and it's probably been what's been helping clear my clogged pores up some lately.

Quote from: wheat thins are delicious on May 19, 2013, 02:43:58 AM
Those supplements don't really work in those without testicles.

pretty much this. but also, if spending money on herbs and stimulants makes someone more peaceful with their body until they can start the real deal, then i can understand. lets just hope all this junk isnt being purchased at GNC.

Quote from: chuck on May 19, 2013, 11:54:59 PM
pretty much this. but also, if spending money on herbs and stimulants makes someone more peaceful with their body until they can start the real deal, then i can understand. lets just hope all this junk isnt being purchased at GNC.

Ha! My dumb ass started buying herbs from GNC a year and a half ago, and about a month in I realized there was a Vitamin Shoppe literally right across the street. FML. GNC is a load of bull, but VS treats me right. :3

I'm thinking about holding off on taking the T Booster again until I'm done this month of OxyElite Pro. I'm already not drinking enough with this stuff, I really don't need to be piling even more supplements into my body. ^^; So right now, all I'm doing is Oxy.

I hear a lot of people online who say Oxy really helps give them energy and push them in their workouts. But since I've been noticing those side effects recently from rising T anyway, it's hard to say if it's helping in that aspect or not. But it may have been what helped push me in my workout yesterday. I busted out like I've been taking creatine for a month. So I guess that's pretty good for 5 days on a diet pill. I only did two workouts this week because of my schedule, but I already look like I lost some arm fat while gaining some arm and shoulder muscle. In total, I've gained 1/4" on my biceps, unflexed. I hope I can keep going in this direction.

I've also realized that what's keeping me MOST from passing...my big head on a twig neck. My neck is already too small to look good for a girl, but a guy? No way, Jose. I've also been having a lot of neck pain and strain lately, for no reason, so it stands to reason that I need to build my neck muscles up a LOT.

I started doing this exercise:

It looks ridiculous, and I would never do it in the gym. But I really like doing it leaned over my padded kitchen chairs. Definitely works the muscles a good bit. I'm doing 2 sets of 10. Unfortunately, there's nothing at my gym that really targets the neck muscles, and only one or two of the machines even give them a light workout.

If anyone knows any other neck exercises, I'd definitely like to hear of them!

Quote from: D0LL on May 20, 2013, 10:19:06 PM

I've also realized that what's keeping me MOST from passing...my big head on a twig neck. My neck is already too small to look good for a girl, but a guy? No way, Jose. I've also been having a lot of neck pain and strain lately, for no reason, so it stands to reason that I need to build my neck muscles up a LOT.

if you have a big head on a small body, why would you take a stimulant (oxy) which will decrease your appetite? I guess if its for the energy but a full night of sleep (8+ hours) should mean that your energy levels are normal.

Also, look into building your traps instead of your neck.

Quote from: chuck on May 20, 2013, 11:34:32 PM
if you have a big head on a small body, why would you take a stimulant (oxy) which will decrease your appetite? I guess if its for the energy but a full night of sleep (8+ hours) should mean that your energy levels are normal.

Also, look into building your traps instead of your neck.

I'm at around 20% body fat, looking to lower it some (maybe 15% one day? I can dream...) I'm not looking for a decrease in appetite, just all-around fat loss. And honestly, before taking Oxy, I had absolutely NO appetite. Since I've started on it, I've gained back my appetite a good bit. I could probably eat two real meals a day now AND maybe a small snack, rather than forcing myself to eat just one small snack a day like I was before. How I manage to retain any muscle mass, I'll never know.

And yes, traps, that's what the machine at my gym kinda works on! (But only kind of.) Are there any good at-home exercises for the traps you can suggest? Either way I'm still going to work on my neck exercises also. Hopefully get rid of some of the terrible neck pain I've been having. I've got scoliosis pretty bad, and I think my new job that has me standing around a lot is just destroying my spine. :/

Quote from: D0LL on May 20, 2013, 11:56:17 PM
I'm at around 20% body fat, looking to lower it some (maybe 15% one day? I can dream...) I'm not looking for a decrease in appetite, just all-around fat loss. And honestly, before taking Oxy, I had absolutely NO appetite. Since I've started on it, I've gained back my appetite a good bit. I could probably eat two real meals a day now AND maybe a small snack, rather than forcing myself to eat just one small snack a day like I was before. How I manage to retain any muscle mass, I'll never know.

And yes, traps, that's what the machine at my gym kinda works on! (But only kind of.) Are there any good at-home exercises for the traps you can suggest? Either way I'm still going to work on my neck exercises also. Hopefully get rid of some of the terrible neck pain I've been having. I've got scoliosis pretty bad, and I think my new job that has me standing around a lot is just destroying my spine. :/

if you have a barbell or even dumbells shrugs are pretty much the bread and butter of traps.

Quote from: chuck on May 21, 2013, 12:17:20 AM
if you have a barbell or even dumbells shrugs are pretty much the bread and butter of traps.

Thanks, I'll start adding those to my workouts.

SO FAR, my OxyElite Pro is my best friend. I had to cut down to 1 pill a day for a week while I was insanely sick (I didn't drop it so I could keep it in my system and ramp up immediately once I got better). Somehow, without working out for a week, I've gotten much stronger at the gym, and I feel invincible once I finish a set. I feel the normal fatigue when I go to failure, but as soon as I set the weight down, I feel like I haven't even done anything. There is no (or very little) muscle pain the next day, and my muscles are packing on pretty fast for the few workouts I'm squeezing in to my weeks.

I'm continuing to slowly lose fat from allover, and didn't notice it was allover until I realized my calves have become much more defined. GOOD. Even with the fat burning, I've gained about another 1/4" to my biceps, and I think another 1/4" to my thighs as well (I'm losing hip and thigh fat the quickest). I've only worked my abs twice this week, and already I look thinner, more toned, and my torso looks a lot longer. I'm so amazed. Can't wait to work on them again tonight! My stomach is definitely starting to look more masculine already. Oh, and I've been wearing my neoprene belt and Sweet Sweat on my breasts, and I've lost around a cup I'm guessing (it's not much, but enough for me to be happy that I'm going in the right direction this time).

Also, I've started tanning in the hopes that it will help me pass more. As silly as it sounds, my skin has always been too pale/yellow to match my black hair. My pink lips also stand out more with such virgin skin. I've come to the realization that while pale women are dang sexy, pale men don't come off as masculine as tanned men (or maybe I just don't pull off my pale skin as well as most guys, haha). Around here, real men are the ones who spend time working in the great outdoors, and I certainly do not look that type at all. ^^; I haven't seen of any other transmen who tan to pass, but I guess I'll see what it does for me. If nothing else I think it'll make my skintone look less sickly. For some reason my genetics seem like they tried to compete when creating my skin colour, so my Irish side gave me my paleness while my Italian and Mexican side tinted that paleness a yellow colour. :/

I wanted to try an AI, but everything seems to be controversial. So I'm just gonna buy some Zinc and call it a day.

Also, I took my second dose of OEP too late the other day (around 5pm, yikes!) and basically tripped my ass off in dreamland. There was some other realm that didn't really have a ground or anything, just trees growing out of the dark abyss, and this other realm bat flew into a girl's mouth and ate her insides out. I don't think I'll ever let myself take the second dose so late again.