I've been reading through this thread and I have to agree about the hatred of running. Although I'm unable to do so as much anymore due to a knee injury. I worked out and dieted for a couple of months pre-HRT and lost some 65 lbs. Then I started progesterone and was on it for eight  weeks prepping my body.  Now I have been on HRT for a few weeks my biggest problem is finding the energy since my T has dropped so much. Plus the wicked cravings for junk food. This has been a battle for me to stay motivated. My suggestion would be lose as much as you can before starting HRT. lol Good luck...

Quote from: Gadgett on April 23, 2012, 05:46:35 PM
Hello all,

I was just reading this thread and I've bee loving what I'm reading. I've been facing the problem of stubbornness from my belly. I'm almost able to fit back into 36 *Which means I can button them, but not without assistance.* I run pretty much about 2 days of the week as my schedual seems to be a uncertain but with this new job I can finally start planning out my day. Also I've been eating relatively small amount But I can't seem to go any smaller than 36. (

I like the rice, veg, fruits, and water idea. I might have to take such drastic measures cause I REALLY want to drop below 200 before I start in a few months. I just love pasta and meats too much I guess.
Quick tips. If you can apply some of these to an extent, it will probably be easier for you to lose weight:
-Forget meat and most animal products, or less extreme: only eat lean poultry and fish, and no more than 150 g (a little less than a fist's size) per day, altogether, the rest of your proteic foods supply coming from beans and such.
-Choose food that is high in fibre and protein: both fight hunger effectively.
-Drink a large glass of water before each meal.
-Ensure -ALL- grain products you eat are whole grain, and try to limit your consumption of them (one slice of bread is over 100 calories, after all)
-Construct your plates with approx. 1/2 fruits and vegetables; 1/4 grain products/starchy vegetables; 1/4 proteinic food (meat, beans...)
-If there are many parts to your meal, start with the least caloric. Vegetables -> Soup -> etc. They contain more water and and fibre, so they fight hunger better. And they don't contain a lot of calories. You will be less hungry for the rest, and are likely to eat less of the richer foods.
-Avoid excess fat (butter, non entirely skimmed milk, margarine, etc.) like plague (1 gram of fat = the calories of 2 grams of sugar or protein), but make sure you get a little unsaturated fats daily by eating nuts and drinking soy milk, for example. Mostly, avoid adding fat (even healthy oils) to anything most of the time, since if you're anything close to the Western average, your daily fat intake is WAY sufficient without all that already.
-Drink nothing but water (or low-caffeing infusions perhaps), except one glass of juice in the morning, and maybe some milk/substitute.
-Avoid excess sug.ar, but do not flee sugar altogether: sugar plays an important role in bringing the "I'm not hungry anymore" feeling.
-Eat your fruit rather than drinking it. Fibre tends to reduce hunger.
-Eat little but often.
-Do not eat 2(?) hours before sleep.
-Keep in mind that many times, when you feel hungry, your body is actually trying to tell you to drink. Drink water as a first measure.
-When you're hungry, eat an apple or something like that. It contains a lot of water and a decent amount of fibre, as well as (relatively healthy) sugar, which will help fight hunger much better than crackers or bread. Plus, calories from sugar tend to be burned more quickly, and are turned into fat less easily, than with other sources, so in moderate amounts (you don't want diabetes), a little sugar is actually positive.

My only worry is my body will switch back into starvation mode and I'll just lose muscle and none of the fat.
Unless you become much less active than before, the body will tend to burn fat, I'd say. Also, muscle is heavy, + women have more fat, less muscle, so it wouldn't be the end of the world.

Glad to hear things are going better for you guys. and to answer your question about other exercises you can try you can try something called drills. were you find a easy core exercise to do and set a time for yourself like 2 minutes and then rest for 30 then 1 minute then rest 30 sec and finally 45 sec for one set. I like the plank myself where you lay down on your stomach and suspend yourself on your elbows and toes. But with your back you might want to check into some other "core" relate exercises. GL.
Actually, this kind of exercise is designed for muscle development; much less for calorie burning. It won't help you burn fat much. It's even possible that you gain weight, by putting on more muscle than you lose fat. If you want to lose weight, you need to do aerobic activities like swimming, running, biking, etc.

Quote from: Reagan on April 23, 2012, 06:04:28 PM
I've been reading through this thread and I have to agree about the hatred of running. Although I'm unable to do so as much anymore due to a knee injury. I worked out and dieted for a couple of months pre-HRT and lost some 65 lbs. Then I started progesterone and was on it for eight  weeks prepping my body.  Now I have been on HRT for a few weeks my biggest problem is finding the energy since my T has dropped so much. Plus the wicked cravings for junk food. This has been a battle for me to stay motivated. My suggestion would be lose as much as you can before starting HRT. lol Good luck...

If you're still on progesterone (which I personally don't recommend at all to begin with, but that's not the subject), your cravings might be related to that. The time when women have appreciable doses of both P and E in their body is generally around their period, as well as around pregnancy, right? During those times, they can have various symptoms, including cravings.

Reply to "A"
"If you're still on progesterone (which I personally don't recommend at all to begin with, but that's not the subject), your cravings might be related to that. The time when women have appreciable doses of both P and E in their body is generally around their period, as well as around pregnancy, right? During those times, they can have various symptoms, including cravings."

I personally don't care what your opinion is of my hormone regiment or whether ornot you approve or not. Please refrain from your comments on it . I didn't ask for your opinion. I'm not sure what it is that make you qualified to make a comment like that anyway. As I'm seeing one of the top Endocrinologist in my state. Who by the way has over 30 years of experience dealing with M to F transsexuals and their HRT regiments. I believe I will take her opinion over yours.

Thank you.

I'm sorry if I have angered you, but I assure you that I hadn't intended to confront you at all. I do not want to doubt your endocrinologist's skill either. However, I didn't know anything of your situation, and thought that maybe such a side effect was possible, and maybe you had not thought about it.

As for the comment on progesterone, again, I knew nothing of your doctor, and as every professional I have met did not think it was a good idea to take it, I assumed there was nothing wrong with it... Moreover, I would never think of saying I have a "valid" position to claim my opinion more valid than a doctor's. I really don't know what makes you say that.

Again, I apologize. I don't really understand what made you this angry, but sometimes, I can hit a sensitive spot without even knowing I touched anything to begin with...

So, the point of the thread wasn't just to talk about losing weight. I also wanted to talk about some of the other stuff we have to do to prep for HRT. When did you start learning to apply make-up and nail polish?

A, I don't find your comment rude or confronting at all... I don't think it's your problem...
Don't stop giving advice to people Most of us would really value comments such as that you made to Reagan...

Quote from: A on April 24, 2012, 04:48:25 PM
As for the comment on progesterone, again, I knew nothing of your doctor, and as every professional I have met did not think it was a good idea to take it, I assumed there was nothing wrong with it... Moreover, I would never think of saying I have a "valid" position to claim my opinion more valid than a doctor's. I really don't know what makes you say that.

When my endo discussed HRT with me, he simply said "We'll start you on low dose E first, review at 6 weeks and if you want, then we can look at spiro.  We could consider progesterone later, but there's some controversy about that so I'll talk to you more about it when the time comes."

Informed consent and empowering your patients to make their own decisions - something I look for in all my health care providers.

A, don't stop posting, I find your posts interesting.  It's very easy to take offence on a forum - personally I reread any post that offends me at least twice and with time in between before replying to reduce my chances of saying something rash.

Quote from: Ashley_C on April 25, 2012, 12:33:11 AM
So, the point of the thread wasn't just to talk about losing weight. I also wanted to talk about some of the other stuff we have to do to prep for HRT. When did you start learning to apply make-up and nail polish?

I learned it from my hubby actually (FTM). He's been very informative in a lot of areas although he's concerned tht I'm going to end up some 40 yr old teenie bopper. lol