I'm currently losing weight and am taking progesterone to get bigger tiddies. I know I also have to be eating something for breast growth to occur, so I should be gaining weight instead, but I'm currently on a weight cycle down. Should I keep taking prog, or should I hold off on taking it, lose weight, then go back on when I try and cycle my weight back up?
TerminalEncounter [she/her] - 1.4yr
Stick on it, what did you think the harm with staying on it was exactly? Coming on and off isn't the greatest for your body but it probably won't harm it much long term, there's just no need.
Feminizing HRT is magic, it'll still do fat remodeling even as you lose weight. If you want extra reassurance, you can weight cycle trending down but have the occasional weight gain mixed it. You will still develop breast tissue. You may feel frustrated by the pace, but that's just the deal with feminizing HRT and your own genetics. Cis womens breast develops from like 11 year old to 25 year old, its long haul even though we get to speed it up a bit in comparison. Don't get too caught up in numbers like kilos or BMI. Focus on healthy eating habits. If the calories out are greater than the calories in, you'll lose weight (incidentally, fun fact, you lose weight by breathing it out through CO2). You might need to readjust how many calories in you need with a feminizing hormone body system.
You might hear about some trans femme people who struggle with breast development while losing weight, often they're quite low BMI in the first place and honestly just need to gain weight instead of being caught up in the number. For those people in particular, there's a lot of stuff going on way outside of mere HRT and diet. You're supposed to have a higher body fat percentage with an estrogenized system.
8
EstraDoll [she/her, he/him] - 1.4yr
Stick on it, what did you think the harm with staying on it was exactly?
My only real concern is that while I have a prescription for prog, even after insurance, this stuff is a little pricey (a little over $1/day based off my napkin math) and I don't want to be taking it at a time when I can't be making good use of it. I guess I'll keep on it though
5
TerminalEncounter [she/her] - 1.4yr
It's a marathon, not a sprint. Both weight loss and feminizing HRT. Have you started prog yet? Maybe you could delay a few weeks or whatever but ultimately you're just delaying the stuff that help your dysphoria longer than it's already gonna be.
5
EstraDoll [she/her, he/him] - 1.4yr
I've been on it for months now, and I felt fine with and without it
4
TerminalEncounter [she/her] - 1.4yr
Then stay on it. I was thinking maybe you'd only just started recently, but if it's been months you might as well stick with it and keep the good fat remodeling going.
4
EstraDoll [she/her, he/him] - 1.4yr
does prog help with that or is it just the E?
2
TerminalEncounter [she/her] - 1.4yr
We don't have tons of evidence about prog for trans women, it probably helps with dealing with longer term stuff like bone density and general health. It likely will help with breast development and I'm not sure what the evidence for fat redistribution is, I'm pretty sure it helps fill out everything else. There's breast tissue that develops and then there's fat that needs to head up there too, bigger breasts is a combo of both with extra fat being dominant. The different routes we take doesn't help either, some people are ordered it as PO but instructed PR and some people are told NEVER do prog PR even though bioidentical prog is probably fine for the purpose (all under researched).
3
Sam [none/use name] - 1.4yr
Provided you are not dangerously underweight, being in a calorie deficit shouldn't seriously hinder breast development. The effects from Progesterone can take a long time to manifest, so even if you only did see improvements while gaining weight, it would still be a good idea to stick with them until then. From my personal experience I was in a severe calorie deficit for alot of my initial HRT and on and off again throughout, and I have never noticed any difference between that and when I was gaining weight.
EstraDoll in traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns
HRT QUESTION: more in post
I'm currently losing weight and am taking progesterone to get bigger tiddies. I know I also have to be eating something for breast growth to occur, so I should be gaining weight instead, but I'm currently on a weight cycle down. Should I keep taking prog, or should I hold off on taking it, lose weight, then go back on when I try and cycle my weight back up?
Stick on it, what did you think the harm with staying on it was exactly? Coming on and off isn't the greatest for your body but it probably won't harm it much long term, there's just no need.
Feminizing HRT is magic, it'll still do fat remodeling even as you lose weight. If you want extra reassurance, you can weight cycle trending down but have the occasional weight gain mixed it. You will still develop breast tissue. You may feel frustrated by the pace, but that's just the deal with feminizing HRT and your own genetics. Cis womens breast develops from like 11 year old to 25 year old, its long haul even though we get to speed it up a bit in comparison. Don't get too caught up in numbers like kilos or BMI. Focus on healthy eating habits. If the calories out are greater than the calories in, you'll lose weight (incidentally, fun fact, you lose weight by breathing it out through CO2). You might need to readjust how many calories in you need with a feminizing hormone body system.
You might hear about some trans femme people who struggle with breast development while losing weight, often they're quite low BMI in the first place and honestly just need to gain weight instead of being caught up in the number. For those people in particular, there's a lot of stuff going on way outside of mere HRT and diet. You're supposed to have a higher body fat percentage with an estrogenized system.
My only real concern is that while I have a prescription for prog, even after insurance, this stuff is a little pricey (a little over $1/day based off my napkin math) and I don't want to be taking it at a time when I can't be making good use of it. I guess I'll keep on it though
It's a marathon, not a sprint. Both weight loss and feminizing HRT. Have you started prog yet? Maybe you could delay a few weeks or whatever but ultimately you're just delaying the stuff that help your dysphoria longer than it's already gonna be.
I've been on it for months now, and I felt fine with and without it
Then stay on it. I was thinking maybe you'd only just started recently, but if it's been months you might as well stick with it and keep the good fat remodeling going.
does prog help with that or is it just the E?
We don't have tons of evidence about prog for trans women, it probably helps with dealing with longer term stuff like bone density and general health. It likely will help with breast development and I'm not sure what the evidence for fat redistribution is, I'm pretty sure it helps fill out everything else. There's breast tissue that develops and then there's fat that needs to head up there too, bigger breasts is a combo of both with extra fat being dominant. The different routes we take doesn't help either, some people are ordered it as PO but instructed PR and some people are told NEVER do prog PR even though bioidentical prog is probably fine for the purpose (all under researched).
Provided you are not dangerously underweight, being in a calorie deficit shouldn't seriously hinder breast development. The effects from Progesterone can take a long time to manifest, so even if you only did see improvements while gaining weight, it would still be a good idea to stick with them until then. From my personal experience I was in a severe calorie deficit for alot of my initial HRT and on and off again throughout, and I have never noticed any difference between that and when I was gaining weight.