Well, I'm very sick with cold and flu. Been kind of bed ridden . As a result I started to eat a little more, but then I became more sick and ended up eating just twice a day. I feel like I'm ripping up at my muffin top hips, which is not nice. I can't wait to get better! Do you gals usually get more hungry when sick? I think I was having better appetite before getting sick. Now, it feels like I am eating less. I just really want to stay healthy for a change . Do you eat more when sick or not?

No. Usually I don't want to eat when I'm sick.

When you're sick it's normal not to be hungry.  It's the body's mechanism to direct all its energy to fighting infection rather than spending it digesting and processing food.


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Quote from: Deborah on January 25, 2018, 10:08:52 PM
When you're sick it's normal not to be hungry.  It's the body's mechanism to direct all its energy to fighting infection rather than spending it digesting and processing food.


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Are you a personal trainer or something? You know a lot about fitness, exercise and nutrition.  I always find your posts interesting and informative.

Wow, that was a pretty informative response. That makes sense I guess digesting would also draw down the energy tank. I'm mostly inactive now and I have needed to take some nyquil at night to sleep. It have been a few days and I am definitely feeling a little better now. If you are a personal trainer would you happen to know how plausible it would be for a FTM trans under HRT and almost no T to enter and be successful at a power lifting routine??? Could you even see any muscle gain with out T?

Quote from: Julia1996 on January 25, 2018, 10:32:54 PM
Are you a personal trainer or something? You know a lot about fitness, exercise and nutrition.  I always find your posts interesting and informative.

I'm not a trainer.  But when I get interested in things I dive in and learn as much as I can find.  I got interested in fitness, specifically running, back around 1995 so I've been at it a while.  In the past year or so I added diet and strength training to that interest list.


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Quote from: Asakawa on January 25, 2018, 10:50:01 PM
Wow, that was a pretty informative response. That makes sense I guess digesting would also draw down the energy tank. I'm mostly inactive now and I have needed to take some nyquil at night to sleep. It have been a few days and I am definitely feeling a little better now. If you are a personal trainer would you happen to know how plausible it would be for a FTM trans under HRT and almost no T to enter and be successful at a power lifting routine[emoji47] Could you even see any muscle gain with out T?

You can be highly successful at powerlifting because a lot of one's ability to get strong is not dependent on testosterone.  Rather it comes from neurological adaptations to progressively lifting heavier weights.  What happens is that when one is untrained the nervous system is only able to recruit a few muscle fibers at a time.   With training it adapts to recruit a lot more simultaneously.  You will also gain some muscle size, but not as much as you might with a high T level.  Also, the workouts for building size are not exactly the same as for building strength.

For strength you apply maximum load to the muscle so your rep range is low, usually 5 or fewer per set with a lot of rest between sets.  For size the load is smaller but the time under the load is greater so the rep range is higher, usually 6 to 12 reps per set with a shorter rest period between sets.

I would recommend you look at YouTube for some really strong female powerlifters as they also got really strong with minimal T.  A good one I watch a lot is by "megsquats".  At less than 150 lbs she is deadlifting 400 lbs and squatting 300 lbs.  Her bench press is close to 200 lbs.

Personally, I started lifting last June after over 2 years on HRT and over 18 months without T.  I had gotten really weak.  So far I've made good progress just doing basic heavy powerlifting exercises.  Right now I'm at 165 lbs bench press for 5 reps, 262.5 lbs squat for 4 reps, and 347.5 lbs deadlift for 2 reps.  I can also do 5 pull-ups fatigued after working out and on non lifting days when I run 5 or 6 miles I do 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups in four sets.

So it can be done with low testosterone.

If you do decide to start powerlifting I highly recommend you get the book "Starting Strength" by Mark Rippetoe.  It has all the information you need to get started on a really solid program.


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Oooh, thank you so much Deborah. I am definitely going to visit her youtube channel and see what I can learn there. My dad was a body builder, but I haven't seen him since I was 9 yrs old. I was always pretty weak and flimsy and I still am. I have been working out a little, just martial arts, so I am a little more fit, but I still can't do any sort of muscular motion. Can't even do one good push up or pull up. To be honest I have always been facinated by women that are power lifters and I've tried multiple times to 'light weights', but I always... always lose interest . I've never been big on sports and I am still puzzled why once I tried a martial art 6 years ago I still am going at it. One thing that I did notice when I was doing some research is that there does seem to be a difference how bodybuilders work out and power lifters work out and that reps and weight do make  a big difference. I hope at some point later on I can get myself to lift really heavy with low reps like you said. Specially if I get heavier because I am close to 200 lbs in weight . Muscle burns more calories so if it could help me lose the weight that would be good or stop me from gaining more... or make me gain more, but look slimmer  Actually I would prefer that lol. I wouldn't mind being 220lbs yet looking like a thick strong girl lol. I'm so weird. Good luck with that since if I remember right I can bench 40-50 lbs lol

If you do get started on a program like the one in the book I mentioned you will gain strength really fast.  You can expect your weights to increase every workout for at least several months.  It's really very simple (not easy, but simple) and there are only five exercises involved; squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, and then either power cleans or bent over rows.  You squat every workout and the other exercises you alternate.  So there are three workouts per week with three exercises per workout. 

You do around five warmup sets at lighter weights for each lift then three sets of five reps at your working, heavy, weight.  The next workout increase by five pounds and repeat.  As long as you're eating and sleeping enough you really can gain strength that fast for months before gains start slowing down.


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When I'm sick, I eat nothing and drink just as much.

Last time I had the flu, my fever peaked at 105F for 2 days, over a week at 103F and didn't get back below 100F until a month after starting to feel ill. During that time I ate very little and lost quite a bit of weight, but I've slowly packed it back on. What really sucked is that I had to work because I couldn't afford to take days off. At the shop, I might as well been Typhoid Mary because people stayed away from me... Far away.

Due to the environment I work in I've lost a good bit of my sense of smell and so because of that I don't have much of an apatite anymore, sick or not. Most of the eating I do anymore is either due to boredom or emotional stress.

The last time I had gotten sick, was the result of a flu shot. I thought I was gonna die. Now, I am sick because my husband's boss came into work with the flu. I still don't feel as sick as I did from the shot. At least I have an appetite.