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  • bleepbloopbop [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    7 months ago

    Anyone have any experience to share about weight loss or weight redistribution when going on transfem HRT?

    gonna word vomit here maybe, cw for weight talk/eating issues

    So for context I’m like, almost double a typical/“healthy” weight for my height. I’ve never had a lot of luck losing weight, despite some desire to, as being this big I’m starting to verge on things like not being able to buy shirts in regular stores that fit, wouldn’t be surprised if I had prediabetes, it’s getting harder to care for myself and wash myself and do some physical activities I like to do, etc. and I absolutely use food as a coping mechanism for like, poor emotional regulation and shit idk

    I guess my questions are mainly twofold… How does HRT interact with weight, like is it more dangerous at a higher bmi/worse diet, and should I try to lose weight before getting on it or after or does it not matter for the physical outcomes? And secondly, does getting on HRT make it mentally easier to wean off of such bad coping mechanisms? It seems like it might. Having a goal for my body and maybe hating myself less might make it easier to lose some weight/work on a healthier relationship with food successfully.

    I’m also curious about transfem/more androgynous enbys’ experiences with HRT but maybe that’ll be another post. Maybe I’m just lazy but I feel like I might want to keep some more masc aspects of my appearance/grooming. Maybe I just have to try it and see. idk. Just had to post something to get this off my suddenly very anxious brain

    • jwsmrz [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      re: weight HRT will slow your metabolism and you’ll probably eat less to fuel your body, but this also means if you binge eat as a coping mechanism at a similar level on HRT it’s likely you’ll gain weight

      To my knowledge feminizing hormone therapy does not have a difference in risk factors depending on weight. I also found that I was happier on HRT, which meant less pointless eating and drinking, so I kinda just lost weight by accident

      I posted a long ~1.5 year retrospective about my experiences with HRT here a while back, I think I deleted it due to retroactively feeling uncomfortable with that much personal information being out in the open; but i’d be happy to DM that to ya, I think I saved it on my computer.

      My attitude toward HRT when I started was “fuck around and find out, if I dont feel better in a month or two I’ll stop” and found it was great for me mentally before I even noticed many physical changes happening. I guess I feel similarly to you in that besides my facial hair I don’t mind my masculine characteristics so I generally am read as a butch lesbian, or a suspiciously pretty man at 2.5 years into HRT

      tl;dr the craziest side effect from HRT is now when i look in the mirror i’m like “hell yeah”

      • bleepbloopbop [they/them]@hexbear.net
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        7 months ago

        Thanks that helps!

        If you’re comfortable sharing I’d love to read that retrospective piece.

        I don’t even know if I really care about any potential complications, I don’t think I could hate my body more than I already do tbqh, but I feel too uneducated on HRT to start it also, so maybe that’s why I’ve got these questions? I honestly want to do DIY HRT just on like, principle, even though I know that’s kind of a really stupid idea when I have insurance and live in a relatively safe place. I guess its just a paranoia thing, and distrust of doctors/the government not to use it against me

        I have been having increasingly frequent days where mental health stuff is a struggle and I don’t know how much of that to attribute to dysphoria but its definitely part of it. I think this is something that I will go through with and be better for, if I just start, but its hard to know and very easy socially to just stay in the miserable status quo