Losing weight before HRT or anything

[Tara.S]

Hello,

I’m a Mtf pre-op transgender who used to weigh 91kg and now i’m 83kg (still working on losing weight). How much weight shopd i lose more for my body as a female in the future?

i know females have different shapes and looks but I personally want my body to be fit. Any advice, suggestions, or tips to help please?

Thank you in advance!

 

P.S: my height is 172 cm.

[Jackie C.]

Well, one thing to remember is that we're all different. The other thing is that you'll lose muscle mass on HRT. You'll have best results at a healthy weight, which for your height is... 59-74 kg, but that's generic. I don't know your build.

 

My advice is to exercise when you can. Especially your core, legs and glutes. That'll help to "pad out" areas that as people assigned AMAB are a bit deficient in. Don't neglect the rest of you, but give yourself a little more attention on leg day. Now, that said, if you don't know what you're doing, get a personal trainer or a friend that does and is willing to help. I've done both. Learning as much as you can before you start any exercise program is a good way to avoid hurting yourself. Someone who can instruct, demonstrate and correct your form is invaluable.

 

I get that it's difficult under quarantine... though I see that most of Lebanon is quarantine-free according to my quick internet search... but keep exercising when you can. I cannot WAIT to get back to the gym. I was starting to look pretty good.

 

Hugs!

[Susan R]

Hi @Tara.S, Welcome to our forum. I started my weight loss regimen, exercise routine and HRT all on the same day. How about that for changing one’s routine?..haha. It worked well for me as I had really few issues getting down to my target weight. My wife was doing it all with me (of course, sans HRT) which made it easier to stay on the rails. I read just last week a statistic about how the thyroid on average slows down activity by 30% after 2 years MtF hormone therapy. I’m just about there. I tried and could not locate that source so take that number with a grain of salt but suffice it to say, losing weight while on female hormones is more difficult. So if losing weight has been difficult in the past or if you know your thyroid is relatively slow, you might consider getting a head start now.

 

About a year into HRT I started intensely working out at the YMCA and that continued until the covid lockdown when they all closed. It initially gained 5lbs. with no dietary changes, no increase in HRT dosages, but my exercise routine went from a 3 hour, 4 days a week racquetball/treadmill/stretching routine to just walking 3-4 miles a day, 6 days a week. That change in exercise routine is not even close to being able to maintain my current weight.  I have had to reduce my daily caloric intact during this lockdown from 1500-1700 per day to 1400-1600 per day. The calorie reduction has solved the issue.  Now my weight is steady between 174 - 176lbs. and a BMI or 24.9 - 25.2 which is right at the very top of the healthy weight category or bottom of the overweight category if you like but I’m a ‘glass half full‘ kind of girl.

 

You can use a BMI calculator to calculate your healthy weight based on height. Google will help you there. They’re a dime a dozen. Just keep in mind that even those calculators don’t take into account genetic predispositions with bone mass, muscle mass and body fat. Even though I’m teetering on the border of healthy and overweight categories based on my BMI, when I dropped down to 170lb’s. (5lbs. less than my current weight), I looked somewhat gaunt and emaciated.  My wife said my face looked more masculine because the disappearance of womanly fat revealed more facial bone structure. Needless to say, I gladly added back that 5lbs..lol?

 

Warmest Regards,,

Susan R?

[Tara.S]

A big thank you @Susan R!

Sharing your personal experience wea very helpful anf encouraging to me. I’m less worried to be honest for I want to be my best after transitioning.

i wish you good luck on your weight journey for mine is getting crazy XD

 

Bless you ^~^

[KayC]

This is a great question, Tara.  I have not started HRT but I do have some concerns about loss of muscle mass afterwards. 

I do not have a "man-ly" muscular body to begin with (Thank God!) and being "older" I worry about core strength (watched my mother and grandmothers deal with falls and broken bones in their latter years).

So, @Jackie C. 's suggestion on core, legs, glutes is a really good one.  Lots and lots of squats (yoga too) will help (wasy to do at home).  Walking is another great exercise for both weight loss, core and balance.  And of course, a balanced diet.

Congratulations on what you've already been able to accomplish so far❣️

 

[Jackie C.]

1 hour ago, KayC said:

Lots and lots of squats (yoga too) will help (wasy to do at home).

 

Be careful with yoga. The ONLY times I've hurt myself getting back into shape were doing yoga. Low stress my butt. Make sure your instructor knows what they're doing and get one-on-one attention if possible.

 

Yes, you should do it to increase flexibility but be very careful.

 

Hugs!

[SaraAW]

Prior to my egg cracking, I became a gym nut in my hyper-masc trans denial phase, it was for a couple of years.  I worked out a lot and learned a ton about losing weight and exercising.

 

To lose weight, the only way to do this is to take in fewer calories than you expend.  To do this effectively, you need to do at least some rudimentary calorie counting.  You need to ensure that your diet consists of healthy options and you should aim for somewhere 10% or less under your bodies required caloric maintenance level.  Going more than this is very hard on your body and usually results in the binge/purge or yo-yo diets.  THere are lots of free tools available to help you with this, I use MyFitnessPal.

 

As for exercise, the number one thing to remember is ALWAYS ensure you are observing proper form.  The #2, know your limits, it's okay to stretch, but push too far and you will likely injurself. #3 Make sure you observe rest days, you can still be active, but you shouldn't be full out exercising.  Things like going on a walk or bicycle ride are great activities for rest days. HIIT for cardio is probably the best. You should be cardio heavy, but you should still should include some strength training and flexibility exercises.   For flexibility, I really enjoy yoga and pilates, but even a good stretch routine is fine. For strength training, light weights, high reps, will help you build lean muscle for endurance, vs. bulking/bodybuilding. Start with developing a strong core, as everything you do will require a strong core to prevent injury.  Lower body can help feminize by building glutes and shapely calves, look to target those areas more, but you should still ensure you are training the rest of the lower body too.  You can do some pec work to help "increase" breast size. Really what you'll do is build the pecs to provide a better "under padding" for the breasts, giving them the appearance of being larger.  Simple things like push-ups are good for this.  You should still work the rest of the upper body, but again, keep the weight down and the reps higher, it will help to give you some tone, without getting ripped.  I used, and still do, Bodybuilding.com for inspiration in creating my routines, there are lots of other free resources out there too.  Now I use ones designed for women and make sure I keep the weights low and reps high.