My experience "as a man" meant that gaining weight meant one of two things - belly, or upper body muscles. Where does your fat go? Could gaining weight post HRT be a viable strategy to look more feminine, or would the fat just go to my belly? I'm assuming this is very individual, but I would like to hear your stories, and especially if anyone actually persued this chocolaty idea of mine!

Interesting question. I have noticed, over the last few days, a greater amount of 'belly' growth. This maybe due to less activity due to my move, or 'Is it a result of HRT?' I have no idea. I am moving back into my normal activity schedule, more tennis, so I am hoping to loose the stomach. I hope so as I have a wedding to go to and my new pants are tighter than I would like. Too bad change does not come quickly.

About 3-4 months ago on a another forumI saw a post by a nurse who just wanted to pop in to say she's worked with a lot of trans folks through the years and mostly saw "skinny-fat" trans girls with no shape.

Her advice was to get a caloric surplus going on after a few months on HRT.  Gain the weight (without overdoing it, piling on pounds quickly is unhealthy) and it will go to the important places.  Then after some time (year or two?), you can lose the weight gained and you'll keep your shape.

I can't remark about the validity of the poster/post since this was essentially internet; another forum of all things hehe.  I can, however, 110% stand behind my own experience: that I was pretty skinny and gained 30 lbs in a year after HRT.  With 10 lbs. lost and 20 to go, my own flesh and blood that I grew up with (brother) sheepishly asked my mom if I had gotten butt/hip implants.  Totally true and awkward to hear about.  -cue comicbook guy-  Weirdest... compliment... ever...

Mod Edit: Sorry not permitted to use other forum names - ToS 1

When i first started hormones i took estradiol and Cyproterone acetate. That was almost 9 years ago. Im 20 now. Although that medication kept my body from getting masculine (bigger ribcage, larger hands, manly face), i never really got a feminine fat distribution from it.
I always had to be skinny to actually look curvy since i'd always gain weight around my midsection and boobs.

After i got my hormones offically by my doctor, i dumped the cpa and just got on estradiol as pill first, than patches and now im on gel. Since than i started exercising and lost around 30 lbs (which only came off from the male fat deposits and boobs).
It's been a year and a half now that im on this regimen and i started to gain weight again. Suprisingly all of it goes now to my hips, thighs and bum. Altough my boobs shrank from a C to a B cup, i look more feminine and feel better. 
So i did my research AND i came to the realization that everything progesterone based natural or synthetic (Progestrins) are not good for female type fat distribution unless it's used cyclical. And since cpa is also a synthetic progestrin it was most likely the reason for my bad distribution.

  What does cpa stand for? is also a synthetic progestrin it was most likely the reason for my bad distribution.
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Beret thanks for the quick reply


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Quote from: Kassie on July 16, 2015, 06:30:16 AM
  What does cpa stand for? is also a synthetic progestrin it was most likely the reason for my bad distribution.



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It stands for Cyproterone acetate. It's an androgen blocker also known as androcur.

One thing also really important for female fat deposits are the e levels. Form my experience anything below 200 PG/ml will result in male like fat distribution. Some of my trans friends also got this observation.

Quote from: beren on July 15, 2015, 10:09:58 AM
When i first started hormones i took estradiol and Cyproterone acetate. That was almost 9 years ago. Im 20 now.

You started when you were 11?

Quote from: iKate on July 16, 2015, 10:58:56 AM
You started when you were 11?

Yep. 3 months or so before i turned 12. Before you ask, i was self medicating.

Quote from: beren on July 16, 2015, 11:07:52 AM
Yep. 3 months or so before i turned 12. Before you ask, i was self medicating.

No, that's pretty much a given. I am just trying to understand how you knew about hormone levels and such from such a young age. Also starting so young I think you'd have results atypical of the average MTF.

Quote from: iKate on July 16, 2015, 11:09:43 AM

No, that's pretty much a given. I am just trying to understand how you knew about hormone levels and such from such a young age. Also starting so young I think you'd have results atypical of the average MTF.

I didn't really know about hormone levels back then, but if you mean dosage related stuff, there was a german site for transpeople back in 2007 or so. They helped me to find an online-pharmacy that sold birth control with estradiol and cpa legally to females. I just lied a little bit about my age and gender so they had no idea i was a trans kid. But i wasn't the only one back then. There were many girls around my age who did the same. 

I do have really good results and starting so young i look more feminime than most bio-females thats for sure

Quote from: beren on July 16, 2015, 11:29:26 AM
I didn't really know about hormone levels back then, but if you mean dosage related and stuff, there was a german site for transpeople back in 2007 or so. They helped me to find an online-pharmacy that sold birth control with estradiol and cpa legally to females. I just lied a little bit about my age and gender so they had no idea i was a trans kid. But i wasn't the only one back then. There were many girls around my age who did the same. 

I do have really good results and starting so young i look more feminime than most bio-females thats for sure

where did you have it delivered? So your parents did not find it


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Quote from: beren on July 16, 2015, 11:29:26 AM
I didn't really know about hormone levels back then, but if you mean dosage related and stuff, there was a german site for transpeople back in 2007 or so. They helped me to find an online-pharmacy that sold birth control with estradiol and cpa legally to females. I just lied a little bit about my age and gender so they had no idea i was a trans kid. But i wasn't the only one back then. There were many girls around my age who did the same. 

I do have really good results and starting so young i look more feminime than most bio-females thats for sure

I actually meant how you knew your hormone dosages and blood levels were affecting fat distribution.

Quote from: Kassie on July 16, 2015, 11:32:30 AM
where did you have it delivered? So your parents did not find it


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Ehm they were shiped discreetly and since im someone who orders so much from the internet even at that age, my parents did not suspect anything.

Quote from: iKate on July 16, 2015, 11:34:56 AM
I actually meant how you knew your hormone dosages and blood levels were affecting fat distribution.

I was trying to gain weight when i was offically prescribed hormones and under a doctors care. At first i was a pills and had slightly lower levels under 200 pg/ml. The fat got on female AND male places. It was nice to see that after dropping cpa i actually got fat on my hips, but the male fat deposits had to go away so i lost weight.
Then i switched to patches on a higher dosage. And the last 4 months i've been steadily gaining weight and it all goes to my hips and bum. No male places so far thank god. My e-levels are around 400 pg/ml right now so im sure that it had an impact on it. And there're some friends of me who did have the same experience.

ANNDDD through research   Pear shaped females often have really high estradiol levels, while apple shaped girls with big breast tend to have lower estradiol and higher test levels.

Interesting discussion. Obviously I cannot discuss the dosages, but I have definitely experienced this fat re-distribution bit. When I was on my initial low dose, I got zero fat redistribution, Though I needed to lose weight (and still do - with a target of 20 Kgs to lose - tough at my age!). Anyway on low dose of Oestrogen I had the overall positive benefits (soft skin. more emotional, breasts etc) but none of the fat re-distribution. Because of my dysphoric breakouts my Doctor increased my Oestrogen level 8 times over a year. Since he did that for the last 6 months all the new fat has gone to my lower abdomen, thighs (mostly inside), buttocks and hips. The fat that I have lost from my diet and exercise is come from my upper body, arms and some off my upper belly. A few months ago I had a bit of a health scare and had to stop my Oestrogen. I was able to start again after  a 3 month gap (oh that was a nightmare!), but I had to cycle up again and and its only just recently that I have noticed the female fat deposits to be going back on my buttocks , thighs and hips. So there is obviously a point in ones total Oestrogen levels where it is a tipping point. I feel thats probably the point where you go from a  low dose to a full transition dose. So basically you cannot get the fat re-distribution until your overall level of Oestrogen reaches a particular level. Also of course one thing to remember is that even though you take your pills or patches or whatever daily (or injections weekly),  its the cumulative effect which is important as the body adjusts to expecting  hormonally to be female as I believe it stores and builds up your overall oestrogen levels

I've seen medical studies that show that the body, when it is gaining or losing weight, is not really "redistributing" fat cells, which would imply that gaining weight increases the number of fat cells and losing weight decreases them. That's not how it works. The number of fat cells in the body always remains constant. (Unless you're gaining a very significant amount of weight, in which case it increases.) When you gain/lose weight, all that happens is that the body's existing fat cells are inflating and deflating with stored fat.

So basically, even with hormones, the body can't magically "store" fat in different places. Your bloodstream carries generally equal amounts of energy throughout the body, and cells regardless of location take that energy and either store it or release their own stored energy to fuel the body's non-fat cells if there's not enough.

So hormones can't influence where the body stores fat while gaining/losing weight. You'll still store any fat from weight gain in the same places where fat cells already exist.

However, with that said, hormones DO influence where new fat cells are created in the body as new fat cells are created. With estrogen in your system and low levels of testosterone, new fat cells will tend to be created in the boobs and hips/butt/thigh area, which means that slowly over time proportionally more fat will be stored there. "Redistribution" happens because the body's fat cells are constantly dying and being replenished, at a rate of about 10% per year (depending on age.) So that's basically what's happening, is that the body's fat cells in masculine areas slowly die off year after year, and then under the influence of estrogen they are reborn in new feminine areas.

Age and genetics obviously play a factor. Some people are biologically programmed to grow fat in different areas, and also younger bodies renew and regenerate themselves faster than older bodies.

Quote from: A7A on July 13, 2015, 10:59:23 AM
My experience "as a man" meant that gaining weight meant one of two things - belly, or upper body muscles. Where does your fat go? Could gaining weight post HRT be a viable strategy to look more feminine, or would the fat just go to my belly? I'm assuming this is very individual, but I would like to hear your stories, and especially if anyone actually persued this chocolaty idea of mine!

I wish my fat would GO! Banished forever into the Black Forrest, home of the cake

But, thighs, calves and lower abdomen for me, plus some up top to my breasts but far from enough to make me happy pre-HRT

When I started hormones, I was near underweight and the fat went mostly in the right places or about 20 pounds of it anyway. Over the years I put on a bit more weight that I should have and some was distributed all over my body but the excess ended up where my father would put it. I gain a spare tire and a belly. I am within 10 pounds of goal weight (took time off for voice surgery) and most of my body is back where it should be but hopefully I will lose more of the tire and tummy because I think there isn't much else to lose.