Can hormones be responsible for weight gain?

[Guest Olivier de Sillègue]

Hi everyone,

I've been taking hormones for a little over a month now, and I'm wondering if perhaps T is responsible for some weight gain I have been experiencing. I've started a week ago to watch what I was eating and try to eat more fibre with a balanced diet, but no matter what I do, I just keep climbing up and up. The gain is small every day, but it is there. Strangely enough, I seem to be getting looser in my clothes!

I'm really confused.

Is anyone experiencing the same?

[Guest (Lightsider)]

T tends to add muscle which is heavier than fat. Also Muscle is tighter than fat so yes...I can see how you could gain yet your clothes would get loser.

[JJ]

Body chemistry is quite different on T from what I have read. The whole reason body builders abuse it. What is likely happening is that your body is building muscle and converting some fat-like the excess layer bodies on estrogen have-to do it. Muscle is denser than fat and weighs quite a bit more. T also does have a bad rap for adding weight to trans guys because our bodies think we are teens going through puberty and can drive us to eat accordingly if we are not careful. But since we also build muscle easier then exercise can offset that too. Sounds like it is the muscle conversion that is the culprit in your case.

Took me awhile to readjust my thinking and view of weight from female bodied to male bodied. They really are different.. Right now I am adjusting to having to eat more because I want to build muscle. Some part of my brain says eat more equals fat on the hips while science says if I don't eat more I can't get the biceps I want no matter how hard I exercise. Just basic body chemistry and the difference between being estrogen or T fueled

Johnny

[Guest Olivier de Sillègue]

Thank you for your responses, I must say I was starting to be quite worried there.

I didn't think there was that much difference between men and women regarding body maintenance and weight control. I'm going to look up core strengthening and general exercises to do daily because it seems that my ideal weight is 40 pounds below what I am actually (I am 5'5'' and right now I weight 160 pounds). I like the idea that testosterone is going to help me gain muscle mass.

[JJ]

I'm 5'5" as well and was examined by an internist when I weighed 150 lbs and was told I had no body fat and needed to gain weight. I had lost 200 lbs and do have between 20 & 40 lbs of excess skin but by the charts I was borderline weight even for a male. It shows those charts can be wrong. In fact are more often wrong than right. Especially for us.

We also need to use the male charts rather than female once we're on T because of the difference in that fat layer and muscle mass but since most males have greater bone density from puberty -which most of us don't-then that can be misleading too. My bone density was always higher than normal for a male or female according to the Drs. So I got lucky in a way -unlucky as well because something has to give in some situations and when the bone is dense then it is the joints which don't heal the same.

My recommendation is to see your Dr and get a picture of how much you need to lose. Losing weight always involves some muscle mass loss if based on cutting calories and you don't want to lose any more muscle mass than you can help. Also it can damage your metabolism to try to lose past what is actually a healthy weight for your body. If you have to use a BMI as a guide then use one of those that has you measure bone size and density as well as gender (use male) to determine appropriate BMI. There are some out there I know from experience.

Johnny

[Guest Olivier de Sillègue]

I made further research, and it appears that you're right. The website where I found my measure doesn't take into account the measurements of the body. Upon further research, I found that I am still somewhat overweight, though. I have a small frame (small bones) but instead of lowering my body mass to 120 pounds, I should be between 134-140. This is a little more encouraging.

We'll see how things turn out.

[Charlize]

When i was a male and wrestling it was extremely difficult to loose weight as everything was muscle. The only way to loose weight was to exercise hard and loose fluids. That is not in the least healthy. Now that my T levels are very low it seems everything settles either on my bottom or with luck on my chest. I've been loosing weight but certainly am not as strong and farm chore are harder than they were. Fortunately i have to keep up the activity or i would become a plumb. Just the opisite set of problems.

Hugs,

Charlie

[Guest leo]

Iv gained 2 stone in 8 months on T! It's all muscle though

[Guest DanD]

testosterone use in a female will always tend to cause more body mass, "usually," they say, "a 33 percent mass weight gain", so they advise you to stay in shape beforehand. it also does a lot of other potentially harmful things.. more than potentially in fact.

blood pressure, the way you metabolize cholersterol, and other things.

I advise reading up on it., and read the paper inserts. sad to say that we are not actually male, and putting testosterone into your body causes changes, some things we like, and some we dont, and so you need to do things to avoid the bad ones being so bad.

[JJ]

From my research none of those things is set in stone. There has been very little research done about the effects of testosterone on FTMs. Much is a Drs observation with no study to back it up.. Until recently we were seen as a fraction of the MTF population and too few in number to do real studies on. Om fact we were once thought to be only about 3% of the trans population. Now it is 45-50%.

You also have to take into account that some of us are mixed genetically and we all have male brains which may make a difference in how we process testosterone over a regular female. There can also be a factor that only those who experience problems are reported while the thousands who don't aren't. And while I in no way condone it I believe, as do quite a few scientists, that in the past most FTMs went thru the black market which made any medical reporting highly unlikely.

Bottom line is that we just don't know much for certain right now except that there are far more of us than ever believed before and that we react to T in widely varied ways.

When one Dr was telling me about the dangers of T for me I asked her about how dangerous having E in my system was for me as a DES baby with a 400% greater chance of cancer with exposure to estrogen. She stopped and had to admit all hormones can carry risks whether they are the ones your body naturally produces or introduced ones. By cutting down on the E in my system I cut at least as many risks as T creates. Amd I didn't gain weight. I lost. Since I lost some before T I only lost 160 lbs while on T.

Johnny

[Guest Olivier de Sillègue]

I hope that if I keep moving and eating as healthy as I can, that I will gain muscle mass and lose some fat tissues.

[Guest Jaques]

Ive put on nearly 2 stones since i began T and a lot of it is fat around the middle, i dont over eat or eat rubbish, so its either T or perhaps being older/lifestyle - a lot of it is in the genes i think.

[Guest Olivier de Sillègue]

I'm not sure what stones are But I keep myself very active and have a moderately physical job right now, so I hope it'll be all right.

[Guest aleon515]

1 stone is =14 pounds or about 6.35 kg.

--Jay

[Guest Rhy]

This is a great topic! Johnny you are a wealth of information!

I workout alot, 4-6 times a week, and eat healthy, yet I stay the same on the scale all the time. However, everyone says they see a difference in how I look and that I am skinny. According to the Charts I am overweight and Body Mass Index is "fair". Since I am not on T yet I fear I'll gain like crazy when I am. So it is really about how each person process what hormones are in their body, natural and externally taken.

I do think the best advise is to just eat right (what that means for your medical history) and exercise. The scale is just a number. Also get those doctor checkups and to keep all the health numbers (ie blood pressure, cholestoral...) in check.

-Rhy

[Guest DanD]

From my research none of those things is set in stone.

Johnny

That simple statement right there is very true too, regardless what the doctors say of course.. each persons body is diffrerent, diets are different, all that stuff, which is why we see doctors and why we get tests and do labs to see whats going on.

When i said, that they say we usually gain 33 percent, etc, that line was right out of Sheila Kirk, MD's book Hormones, which is for transsexuals. (and she herself was MTF too.)

I personally used to find her book annoying because it sort of painted this wonder ful flowery picture fot MTFs and foretold gloom for FTMs.. I dont think you can automaticly just say that FTMs are going to experience all kinds of harm by taking Testosterone, but i must say that some of the bad things she mentioned, i have aquired since being on Testo. whether thats due to the T or not is open for debate, I have no idea.

I started T in 1995 and was basicly healthy, didnt notice a weight gain, but i did start to work out then, out of fear of getting fat and also because i just felt like i hadnt really kept up my ahtletic side, seemed to be too hard to do some things that shouldnt be, and of course the T seemed to help with me feeling stronger, but hard to say since at the same time i did some general excercises, (like you did in gymn class, you know) and got some light dumb bells to use..figured I sit and watch TV doing nothing I could grab a dumb bell while watching or do some stretches. cant hurt, might actually get some muscles or a nicer male contour, if I worked out a little bit, and i did end up with more strength and stamina, and felt really good about it at the time.

i was really healthy then, in general, and when i had my surgeries in 1997..

but then i went thru some really bad stressful things later, and around the same time was that T shortage when Steris labs was shut down for a while..i couldnt get T for over a year, and during that time,, went thru awful life experiences and health problems, i gained about 100 lbs in 7 months because i was immobile from a back injury then too. Since then, My blood pressure is bad, and got worse over time, which is one of the things they warn about. but like i said, maybe you could blame the LACK of Testo for so long as much as the Testo itself? my labs werent showing any direct connection thats obvious.

lately i have Adema too, which is one of the other things she warned of in her book. but is it from the Testoserone? I dont know.

at the same time, other things are just as likely factors in causing it, the injuries to my knees which will never get better, only worse in time..i wonder if thats related to the problem with the lower legs, but they tell me no. , but thats responsible for me not walking like i used to in the first place. it just seems to me that if i hadnt hurt my back or hurt my knees, i wouldnt have gained weight, and would have kept more active if the back and the knees did hurt so much when i do.

alot of person info in there, but, you can its easy to see some of this stuff is in the book, and here i am with the same issues mentioned..on the other hand, how much is coincidence anyway?

I think i was actually harmed alot by the LACK of testo in 1999, since thats the time period everything went to hell and back. its never a good thing to bounce around hormones, they should be kept steady, without alot of sudden changes.. this should be just common sense. and having it completely cut off for over a year didnt do me any favors. another funny thing, it wasn't until that time that i started to lose my hair. yet its supposed to be connected to testosterone use? I think STRESS itself is a MAJOR MAJOR contributor to all kinds of health problems and weight gain anyway.. i think doctors underestimate the damage all those stress chemicals/hormones do to your system. not to mention just how you feel in general of course.

they say the LDLs and the HDLs in females is generally better, and Kirk attributes this to estrogen, and claims MTFs have several health advantages to their Estrogen use, while also stating FTMs are harmed.. for example, their LDL and HDL tend to flip opposite to what they should be. --the claim is estreogen keeps the LDLs low and the HDLs higher. but Testo tends to make the HDLs go low and the LDLs go higher. I know my doctors check for that one, so it must be prevalent enough that they check for it. although, they would check for it anyway regardless of course.

another thing to point out is, people's bodies dont stay the same as they age anyway..we could blame alot of my things on the Testo but just as well might be just age or genetics. my mother gained alot of weight around 40, and ended up with alot of similar issues. Hard to really know if a drug or hormone use is causing some condition, if that might have happened anyway, you'd have no way of knowing anyway.

(shrugz)

Just do whatever ya gotta do to make yourself sane and comfortable and happy with life the best you can. Even if T caused me problems I'd still be absolutley crazy insanely miserable if i never got on T or had to stay the same as i used to be.(female)... so I'd never say I regret it, just that i should have done it much younger, all that stuff, i think that younger bodies bounce back better from surgeries and hormones and things..and then you dont have so much of your life wasted drowning in misery from having to endure all that usual gender crap. if only i could have used my real name when i was a teen, or 18... pretending nothing matters is a hard thing to do along time.

[Guest Gregg Jameson]

Hi Olivier,

Great questions!

It's important to monitor yourself as you go, which it seems you are very inclined to do.

My newest GYN also specializes in Transgender Medicine, she offers hormonal treatment and follow-up care for both MtF and FtM.

She strongly suggests all of her clients, regardless of gender, stick to a vegan diet in order to minimize any additional issues.

That's her suggestion. Her clients may take it or leave it.

She also suggests people start immediately on a vegan diet for at least 30 days if having any current issues with health, whether weight gain, inflammatory issues, autoimmune issues, fibromyalgia, pain, high blood pressure, heart issues, high cholesterol, etc.

She suggests people interested in doing so start the "Kick Start" on the site for the Physicians for Responsible Medicine at www.pcrm.org.

(It is her opinion that many people will see some gains in health and in fewer symptoms with just 28-30 days of this Kick Start type of a vegan diet. She hopes these changes will inspire clients to continue with a vegan diet as a lifestyle. People often ask if they can get enough protein for muscle maintainence and/or for muscle gain with a vegan diet. She says "yes!" Many nutritionists say "yes." There is at least one well-known vegan bodybuilder. I am getting addtional amounts of vegan protein by supplementing with vegan protein drinks/shakes. Just FYI, I can easily get 34 g of protein per 8 oz. shake if I want to do so.)

This suggestion isn't something everyone will want to do, or will choose to do; yet, I'd thought I'd offer this information to anyone interested in taking a look at this option.

Hi Dan, That's quite a history. Sounds like things became very complicated for you. I am sorry this has been the case for you.

One of the culprits for poor health, for weight gain, for high blood pressure, for depression, heart disease, etc., is a prolonged increase in two other hormones named adrenalin and cortisol. These are activated, increased and ongoing in prolonged stress responses. I wonder how much these two hormones were involved in some of the ongoing health complications?

There's a very interesting article explaining how this can mess with our health: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/SR00001

I hope you gain in your health every day!

Good Health to All!

Brad