Started going to the gym...

[Guest JessicaM1985]

Well now that I'm completely out and open about being transgendered to everyone, I figure it's high time to stop talking about transitioning and get going on it. The first thing on my list is dropping a ton of weight. I'm a really big girl (340lbs the last time I actually checked, which was almost 6 years ago, and I'm sure I have gained weight since then) and I wanna get down to 170. 200 would be the highest I could stand weighing. So I went last week and paid for 15 months at a good gym right next to my house. It's a local gym (re: kinda mom 'n' pop-ish), but it has good equipment, and a great staff and environment. I was busy for most of last week, so I didn't actually get started until yesterday.

The staff are also personal trainers, and one of them took an interest in training me. I go in "guy mode" when I'm there because I don't wanna put on makeup just to have it run down my face everywhere, so it was a pretty interesting, albeit awkward conversation with my trainer when he asked me what I was looking to do. I figured heck, if he's gonna train me, I gotta be honest with the guy so that he can help me. He took the news pretty well, and outside of some of the obligatory (what made you realize you're TG, etc.) type questions, he started offering me great advice to slim way, way down. Basically switch to lean meats (I groaned at this because I love my steak. lol), cut my portion sizes by at least half, drink a ton more water, and more breakfast/less dinner. More or less the bulk of my fitness plan is changing my diet. As far as the actual work out, he suggested that I do more reps with less weight, since weightlifting is a more efficient way to burn calories than cardio. I told him I'm adamant about not bulking up for obvious reasons, and he said it would be fine provided that I do as he said and use a smaller amount of weight and do more reps. He said that cardio is still important, so I should spend some time on the bikes and the treadmill, but not as much time as I should on the weights. The main goal he said for me to have was to burn more calories in a day that I eat. Makes sense.

So I more or less have figured out a good workout that will burn some serious calories.and I've cut soda and greasy fast food out of my diet completely. I've also tried to make sure that I don't eat more than 667 calories in a meal (3 times a day is roughly 2,000 calories for the day) and drink close to a gallon of water a day. Today's workout was more or less many reps of about 40-50lbs for my arms, legs shoulders and gluts, about 50 crunches, a 20 minute bike ride (meter said I did the equivalent of over 6 miles) and ended it with a 30 minute alternation of walk/jog/walk/jog on the treadmill. Even though I was completely bushed afterwards, I felt amazing and walked out of that gym with a kind of euphoria I hadn't felt in a while. I was so proud of myself for not giving up like I did yesterday. (I......er...... stopped my workout halfway through and went home. :embarrassed: )

I plan to be back there tomorrow plugging away too. Anyways, I thought I'd share since I'm finally moving towards my transition in some meaningful way and I figured that the diet and exercise tips I got from my trainer would be of benefit to you girls that wanna try and get those sexy curves like I do.

[Guest Lacey Lynne]

Jessica:

Excellent!!

IMO, you are doing THE SMARTEST THING anybody can possibly do to help their transition:

Learning and living a diet and exercise lifestyle!

We're so proud of you! For anybody starting out like you are doing, getting good knowledge about exercise and diet from people who really know it well is a really good idea. You may want to go to the www.amazon.com website and search for books by Cory Everson. She'll give you ALL the knowledge you need about diet and exercise to achieve your goals!

Her books are the best in many ways, because they address the lives of ordinary people in the real world. Other books often aim at the fitness professional or the genetic superior and are NOT good for regular people. Arnold Schwarzenegger's books are like that. Any book by Joe Weider would also be superb for you!

Remember, girl, exericse and diet are a LIFESTYLE! Difficult at first but fabulous once you're into it, and you'll LOVE how you feel and look!

Catch the spirit and get the lifestyle, girl!

Peace Lacey