I want to be slender and pretty. （￣▽￣）

EDIT: I know you guys could always say eat less, but I'm a growing girl, lol. The real question is how do I lose muscle mass more quickly while still getting that female body fat distribution and all that cool stuff that comes with puberty.

Eat low calories, and for the calories you do eat, aim only for a bare minimum healthy level of protein.

On top of that, do very long sessions of medium-high intensity cardio. Like, 70-75% of your max heart rate. They need to be long, like over an hour, because you need to burn up stored glycogen to start burning muscle.

Ya lose muscle when your body needs glucose and it won't do that until it's not getting enough from food to meet its needs.

Quote from: pretty on March 21, 2012, 02:25:00 AM
Eat low calories, and for the calories you do eat, aim only for a bare minimum healthy level of protein.

On top of that, do very long sessions of medium-high intensity cardio. Like, 70-75% of your max heart rate. They need to be long, like over an hour, because you need to burn up stored glycogen to start burning muscle.

Ya lose muscle when your body needs glucose and it won't do that until it's not getting enough from food to meet its needs.

Alright, I edited my post before you posted, so read that. Basically I'm concerned that if I eat less my body will have less to build my new body.

And won't running give me huge legs?

Quote from: alyx. on March 21, 2012, 02:04:27 AM
I want to be slender and pretty. （￣▽￣）

EDIT: I know you guys could always say eat less, but I'm a growing girl, lol. The real question is how do I lose muscle mass more quickly while still getting that female body fat distribution and all that cool stuff that comes with puberty.

You sit on your ass and play video games (not any button mashers though like God Of War)  and eat cheesecakes 

or you know you could leave that for post op

You could eat once a day and lots of cardio

PS How big are you anyway

  There isn't really anything you can do other then not doing any upper body exercises/work while you wait for hormones to reconfigure your body.
 
  I did the starving yourself method and it worked but I gained an eating disorder in the process.

  I look super skinny like models you see in magazines, I have barley any muscle mass.

  I don't have any curves either. 

   

Quote from: alyx. on March 21, 2012, 02:04:27 AM
I want to be slender and pretty. （￣▽￣）

EDIT: I know you guys could always say eat less, but I'm a growing girl, lol. The real question is how do I lose muscle mass more quickly while still getting that female body fat distribution and all that cool stuff that comes with puberty.

That smiley.... may be one of the cutest I've ever seen.... In short,I don't think there's much you can do aside from HRT. Maybe just neglecting exercise all together, but that's not good for your overall health.

Quote from: alyx. on March 21, 2012, 02:28:48 AM
Alright, I edited my post before you posted, so read that. Basically I'm concerned that if I eat less my body will have less to build my new body.

And won't running give me huge legs?

Well, just eat a lot of fruit then. And stick with not getting too much protein. But still do the long cardio. Doing a lot of running might make you skinny depending on how much you eat but it's certainly not gonna make your legs any bigger.

Granted, HRT is going to cause you to lose muscle mass on its own but, you said faster, lol.

As others have said:

HRT, time, only very light and high rep weights, and lots and lots of cardio.

You need to be doing just a tonne of cardio: 5+hrs/week. And it should be things like the elliptical (WITHOUT holding on) and running (but learn proper form: no heel strikes). Cycling can be good too, but not as much for what you specifically want.

I'm fine with having slightly muscular legs because I play competitive badminton. But I have to do a lot of this to reduce my upper body mass. HRT will help, definitely, though.

Reducing muscle mass is NOT (really) about your diet. You don't need to go into calorie deficit: that's for fat loss, not muscle loss!

Don't be the lazy couch potato. I read somewhere that exercise is good for transitioning which makes sense because the faster blood moves the faster estrogen moves. I would do a lot of cardio and an occasional light weight workout.

Why would anyone ever lift any weight at all if they aim to lose muscle mass? Weight lifting helps in maintaining or developing muscle, period.

Anyway, it may not be optimal at all for your health, but if you want to maximize muscle loss, avoid exercise altogether. If you do exercise and it burns your muscles as energy, it means you are past the point where there is practically no fat to burn anymore... Which means, zero curves or breasts. And unless your genetics naturally make you super skinny, as in, fat is hard to find at all, as soon as exercise burns muscle, I'm pretty sure you're past a danger line where you put a burden on your global health.

You see, exercise needs muscles. The body won't burn muscles for exercise energy unless it's in serious lack of nutrients. It would be its last resort, just before making you faint.

I'm not an expert, but I did listen in physical education and biology classes, and as far as I can tell, moving without fuel or fat is dangerous, period.

On the other hand, though, cardio exercise will probably help in fat redistribution. Even when the total fat percentage doesn't move much, or even when it increases, it's proven that visceral fat tends to diminish with cardiac exercise. (If you want to learn more, to the conditions that you live in Canada and understand French (._.), you can watch the Découverte episode on "Le grand défi Pierre Lavoie" on www.tou.tv) Visceral fat is fatty tissue that surround the organs in your abdomen. Less fat in those areas, if the fat mass doesn't change overall, means more fat outside of those areas. This equals better health, but also better curves.

I asked a very similar question in another post (no idea how to link to it) because I also have some muscle mass that I want to get rid of. The general consensus from the replies really has been proper diet, exercise, and let time do its thing. I hate the time answer a lot and want results now;) but so many people posting on here are right. Don't rush things.

I work with nutrition a lot so I can definitely say that making sure you're getting enough in the way of essential vitamins and nutrients (carbs, protein, and fats included). Doing things like skipping meals can actually do a lot more harm than good since it tends to slow down the metabolism and makes all the work (and starving) you're doing counter-productive. I find that keeping a SMALL caloric deficit daily works really well for me in terms of my weight and my self-image, but everyone is different. I have enough energy to get my run in, get through my day, and I'm starting to feel really good about myself.

As for the weights thing, I know from experience that high reps at very low weight is fantastic for definition, but does keep the muscles active. I have no idea how that affects changes you might begin to see on hrt, and that was the question that I asked somewhere else. The important thing is figure out a routine that works for you, and that you can be good about sticking to. Diets that are too restrictive usually lead to lots of cheating (and usually the foods that I reach for when I would cheat we're the absolute worst things for my body) and an exercise regimen that is too intense leads to 'taking days off'

Hope that this helps

Quote from: A on March 22, 2012, 11:04:36 AM
Why would anyone ever lift any weight at all if they aim to lose muscle mass? Weight lifting helps in maintaining or developing muscle, period.

This is false. Light weights with high reps will streamline muscles and 'tone' rather than 'build.' It's about promoting the slow-twitch fibres rather than the fast-twitch ones. It's why runners have skinny legs: they're effectively doing (ultra) high rep, low weight resistance training on their legs. So you can do the same for your arms. We're talking 30-40 reps, and about getting a light burn.

But even definition is a bad thing, no? And even the most endurance-oriented training, with the smallest amount of actual strength involved, inevitably leads to small mass gains in mass or, in the situation we are facing, slows the muscle mass reduction because the muscle is kept active.

Or so my physical education teacher said. I fail to understand how it could be otherwise... I mean, the least active a muscle is, the more it shrinks, no? rachl, if you had further explanations, I'd love to understand.

Finally, about small caloric deficits, I'd still tend to be cautious about it, even if all vitamins, etc. are gotten. Could you ask a specialised health professional? Cause in weight loss and pure promotion of health, of course, it's a great solution. But I think HRT needs a little more calories to work with. It feels like a teenager in the most critical point of their adolescence who would diet. I get the impression it's a bad idea. But if you're sure, I guess it's all right. It works well with non-HRT people, after all.

My suggestion ? don't eat LESS eat normal portions of food, avoid high protein - high fat, meals, This basically puts most take aways and ready meals into the bin anyway ! You can eat meals like that occasionally, but not daily. avoid trying to starve yourself - sure you will loose weight, but the weight will never stay off. You'll end up putting it all back on again, and more. Exercise daily,  go for walks, as an example. Try and cut down on red meat, eat as little as you can. If you do like eating meat, only eat lean cuts of meat. Keep that to 100/150 grams a portion..? If you eat Fresh cooked Chicken, take the skin off, and remove any fat, from the chicken.

Basically eat what you like eating, though, but in sensible portions. Plus the bad food, cut down on that, and replace them with healthier options. I was pretty big 12 months ago.. I wont say how big. But suffice to say I have lost over 3 stone, through just changing my eating habits, and types of food I eat at any one time.

Oh, drinking (beer, or what ever) doesn't help either, as it contains junk calories.  You'll put on lots of weight. But drink lots of water, even diet coke if you like, to help. Makes you pee a lot, but also makes you feel full between meals too.

All that with allowing the HRT, to change your body, should help you I think. Some one recently mentioned trying yoga, as an exercise, I might actually give that ago soon myself !

I want to second that. Meat, especially, is globally hurtful on your health (considering, of course, you get all the nutrients from somewhere else), especially if you eat lots of it. And even more if it's red meat. But past basic health, I'm sure the more you get, the easier it is for your muscles to maintain their mass. Meat, if we forget the fat, is just a big lump of huge (excessive?) amounts of protein, after all.

Another theory is lifting heavy weights with low reps breaks muscle down so how does it work when you break the muscle down and no longer have the T to build muscle after breaking it down?

Quote from: A on March 22, 2012, 12:33:55 PM
But even definition is a bad thing, no? And even the most endurance-oriented training, with the smallest amount of actual strength involved, inevitably leads to small mass gains in mass or, in the situation we are facing, slows the muscle mass reduction because the muscle is kept active.

Or so my physical education teacher said. I fail to understand how it could be otherwise... I mean, the least active a muscle is, the more it shrinks, no? rachl, if you had further explanations, I'd love to understand.

I was in working through a kinesiology degree, got certified as a personal trainer, and was a national-level athlete for years.

There's nothing wrong with definition: it's called being "toned." Men/women just have different goals.

There are massive amounts of poor information out there, and people who you'd think are experts are clueless. It's why I left the field: I didn't want my work lumped in with theirs. People seem to think that if you do anything (including any type of weights), you'll gain mass: F*&KING FALSE!

Rachl: But we can assume the old "high weight, low reps" addagio works for gain of mass right?

Im trying to get some butt and thighs

Quote from: Bird on March 22, 2012, 02:40:15 PM
Rachl: But we can assume the old "high weight, low reps" addagio works for gain of mass right?

Im trying to get some butt and thighs

Oh definitely. 3 supersets (you do one exercise, then its opposite: like a biceps curl, then a triceps extension) of 10reps maximizes size. If you want to balance size and strength gains, 6reps (with more weight) is the way to go. But it's imperative to do it with proper form: if your form has to break down, the weight is too heavy.