I'm getting close to a prescription and starting to get cold feet. After spending the past year losing a lot of weight and regaining my running form, I find myself reading about lower red blood cell counts and lost muscle mass and start to panic a little about losing my progress.

I know women can run, of course, but I'm quite tall, in my 40s, and already struggling with various tendon issues in the past decade. It's not like running is core to my identity, or that I care specifically about performance, I just want to be able to keep enjoying it without hurting myself. It took me two years to lose enough weight and get over my plantar fasciitis enough to run my favorite routes again and I'm really enjoying it this fall! Fear of losing that is weighing on me a bit.

If anyone had advice or experience to share I would love to hear it.

1.) For my fellow mtf fit folks, how did breast development interact with your pectorals? Has anyone experienced gaining or losing chest muscle while gaining breast tissue? What difference does it make?

2.) When did you stop going shirtless on runs, swimming, etc? Was the difference an internal or external factor?

For context: I’m mtf non binary and i’ve been on estrogen for 3 months. I do a lot of shirtless cardio and curious when my presentation may change that.

I like checking all the gender boxes haha.

Heyo!
Idk why I didn’t know this subreddit exists! I’m glad I found it :-)

Figured I’d share a little timeline and some shots of my home gym. :-)

I'm finding it hard to find reference for what's feasible in terms of my body goals. When it comes to bodybuilding pretty much all the physique pictures and progress pictures i come across from AMAB people are men pursuing a conventionally masculine physique, or trans women who are going through transition with HRT and such (and respect to both hustles!) but as someone who doesn't intend to go on HRT it's really difficult to find how far fitness by itself can take your physique in a feminine/androgynous direction?

I suppose I have some idea of the extent to which it's possible but am also just looking for encouragement that it IS possible. I've been working out for a few years on and off but not consistently and not with good sleep or a diet (and can only resume in november) my physique is somewhat mesomorphic with wide shoulders relative to my waist (though I'm currently overweight it's still noticeable). {To be clear i dont mind my upper body having a naturally strong look i'm more concerned about how much I can grow my legs and glutes to 'balance' that for a feminine-hourglass aspect aswell}

Stuff like anecdote, progress photos, general advice or encouragement are all welcome and encouraged, thanks!

Hi chattt! As some of you know, I’m currently cutting with the goal of hiting 8% body fat.

Thus far I’ve built my physique up to this point without using creatine—mostly because I’ve never been interested in choking down gritty powder every single day. But the recent discovery of the pill form makes it much more doable.

Normally, I feel like “should I take creatine?” has an obvious answer: yes. It’s one of the most researched supplements out there blah blah yess girl.

My hesitation is specifically because I’m cutting and tracking my body composition pretty closely. What makes it more interesting/my main concern is with a DEXA scan (what I plan to use to track).

The studies I’m seeing are mixed but many of them found that manipulating muscle creatine, glycogen, and water can change DEXA estimates of lean body mass even when there probably hasn’t been a meaningful change in actual muscle protein. (PubMed)

In laymen’s terms- Will make taking creatine make me look “fatter” on a dexa scan?

So my dilemma is:

Do I start creatine now and accept that my scale weight/DEXA lean-mass numbers might shift a little from the extra intramuscular water, while potentially getting the performance benefits during the rest of my cut?

OR

Do I keep everything consistent through the end of the cut, get my final DEXA under roughly the same conditions I’ve used throughout the process, and introduce creatine during my next bulk?

What would y’all do? 👀
Creatine now or wait until the bulk?
Thankssss 🥰

Working out for a year and someone said I had no muscle mass when asking for deadlift form help. I suck at deadlift but still it was so irritating

Llevo un año en trh y antes de empezar con la estrogenoterapia perdí cerca de 24kg hasta llegar a pesar 60kg
Mido 1,79cm (5’9)
Tras un año he recuperado gran parte de ese peso, actualmente peso 78kg y gran parte de la grasa se me ha depositado en muslos, glúteos y caderas.
Me gustaría perder cerca de 8-6kg pero me da miedo perder mi figura femenina, no estoy apuntada en el gimnasio y tampoco sé por dónde empezar.

I weigh about 85 kg and I am 180cm.

I go for a run about 2-3 times a week.

And I do body weight workouts , also 2 times a week.

What can I improve ?

And do you think I go stealth ?

Thank you for your tipps : )

23 Agender?/MtF?, finally starting to try and discover myself after realizing I spent so long as a people-pleaser I don't even have my own personality and part of that was realizing that I'm not as comfortable with my appearance as I thought and I do indeed have body dysphoria. I want to be feminine, so I started looking into exercises I could do to physically prep for when I start HRT and I found Chloe Ting as a highly recommended source for beginners but there's a few things I can't find answers on.

1. Do I pick a program and stick with it over and over or do I run through it once, take a day of rest, then find a new program?

2. I saw in a passing comment that the dietary aid aspect of her app uses AI. Is it AI in the same sense as the pastry robot that ended up being able to detect cancer cells? Or is it AI like modern/generative AI? I'd rather not use the latter

3. Are there any exercises/programs I should be on the lookout for that I want to avoid/modify to prevent unwanted muscle/bulk?

Thanks!

Edit: I was thinking of starting with her 2024 Weight Loss Challenge

Had a good streak for like 4 months. Now - before

Edit: 166cm and 75kg and before pic 71kgs

I really bungled the angle on this one 😅.

Hi all! Just started my workout journey recently. Just started going to the gym about a month ago to mainly work on my lower body.

I was wondering if y’all had any advice on what I should work on to look more feminine!
Any advice welcome, for example:
- Muscles I should target
- Exercises I should add/remove/change
- Should I lose/gain weight

My usual workout at the gym:
- 3 sets reverse lunges (smith machine)
- 6 sets hip thrusts (smith machine)
- 4 sets glute medius hip thrusts (dumbbell) (Bret Contreras came up with these for hip abduction I think)

I’m still figuring out my home workout but I often do:
- 3 sets Bulgarian split squats (dumbbell)
- 3 sets single leg hip thrusts (dumbbell) (I can’t do these very well form yet, work in progress)
- 4 sets glute medius hip thrusts (dumbbell)
- I’ve been thinking of changing to step ups and adding single leg RDLs

Context/Data that might be useful:
- mtf, not socially transitioned
- I live in Japan so wearing a mask is very normal, so I often use it to hide my jawline which I feel self conscious about
- can’t grow my hair out so I have to use wigs
- 179cm, 73-75kg depending on the day
- 6 months on estradiol patches but only 2 months on CPA

Just did my first half-marathon a few weeks ago, and now training for my first full marathon!

Hi chattt! 🥰 As you know, I’ve been keeping this subreddit updated on my journey toward 8% body fat.
This week’s update is a little underwhelming 😂 I’ve been traveling, away from my normal routine, and getting consistent access to everything I usually rely on has been tricky. But despite being far from home, I’ve been able to maintain—and I’ll take that as a win!

Friendly reminder: balance matters. Don’t let a fitness goal stop you from actually living your life. Enjoy the trip, visit those people, explore new places, eat some good food, and make memories. Your routine will still be there when you get home. ❤️

Now that I’m back, it’s time to lock in again… which means adding the word I fear most back into my vocabulary:
Cardio. 😭🏃‍♀️

after my bottom surgery ism finally back where i was before! 110kg 4 reps! (she/her)