Question

I seek to avoid middle age spread,

However, exercise just brings me out in muscles!

This is not helpful as a crossdresser

what should a girl do?

Reply

Well, walking is good for the legs etc and shouldn’t build up too much muscle.

It also keeps the bum in shape.

I think most people would suggest that swimming is probably your best bet.

Keeps the whole body reasonably trim as long as you go for long-term rather than aggressive swims.

Reply

Being poor, kept me fit.

I Was a wreck at thirty.

But as I never had a car, kept doing everything on my bicycle, and never had the money to eat too much, I’m actually very fit for a 48

Don’t be scared of a little fat.

At a certain age, it actually makes you look more femme.

Reply

Do gentle exercise or walking.

Anything that will slightly raise the aerobic rate. but will not be too hard on the muscles.

Also try stretching more.

This will elongate the tendons and muscle tissue and stop your muscles from looking as defined.

More tai chi, less kickboxing!

Apart from that, do everything else you enjoy.

If you do not use a muscle you get hypertrophy-muscle loss! ,

However, it is surprisingly hard not to use a muscle once you have it!

life’s too short, relax, get drunk and walk somewhere!,

Not all at once though!

Reply

A high fiber diet and lots of water will eventually reduce weight.

Initially, you may appear to put it on a little, or at least hit a plateau,

You may not lose more than a few pounds.

It takes quite a while to remove fat, as it is very high in calorie content.

Invariably your body gets enough from you current diet.

Exercises should be gentle and progressive.

i.e. start with a little rather than long arduous sessions.

Exercise should take account of circulation (cardiovascular) and metabolic rate (the rate at which we burn the energy we take in).

Muscles should be exercised by high repetition low impact.

Cycling is very good as is swimming but walking will help as well.

There are exercise profiles for the abdominal wall and these would be helpful.

Rather than list the exercises, there are lots of sites with good advice just type ‘tummy exercises’ in Google.

Many of these are for use in pregnancy and would offer some help without building up the obvious male muscle profile.

Hope this helps a little

Reply

I have just remembered another thing!

it takes about ten to fifteen minutes to “warm up”

so just stretch gently, and bring your aerobic rate up slowly, and then you will be into fat burning mode,

Try to exercise at about 140 beats per minute, for at least half an hour.

This is often described as “breathing harder but still able to talk”

This will burn the maximum fat.

However, if I remember correctly, it takes about 3500 calorie burn to lose one pound.

This would mean an hour a day every day and you will lose a pound a week.

So all this, combined with a one thousand calorie eating deficit, from what you are doing at present, will make you lose 3 pounds a week.

This is a good rate to go.

However, quite a hard life change to go straight into

Reply

Forty minutes a day, every day building it up, will reduce the amount of fat in your body.

Fat burning takes a while to do, as it is not as easy to break down like other forms of energy that we have available.

You’ll need to run on grass or trails to make it easier on your muscles.

As well as this, you will need to keep running day after day.

I notice a difference if I can do 14 days without a rest day.

Vary the distance and pace if you wish to get fitter.

Going that extra step of running twice is another big step.

Early morning runs are good.

However, they are really hard work.

They will though, eventually reduce fat.

I know you are looking at losing muscle so it is a matter of lots of running.

Well, that is what I do, and I know it works.

For a fat gut try speed work.

The 1-minute effort with a jog recovery 10 times.

Reply

I hate to admit this middle age stuff but I have arrived.

A year and a half ago I started doing pilates.

I took 5 to 6 inches off my waist and started eating better.

I was amazed at the new me.

I got confused with my son twice in one month.

You have to stay with the pilates and I do the class twice a week.

It works on the core which is the midsection and everything falls into place.

I’ve never had anything that has come even close.

Legs are more toned, arms slimmer.

This is something you just have to do.

Reply

If you want to remain lithe and trim, exercise, eat sensibly, and avoid female hormones!

Estrogen makes your body’s metabolism slow.

As well as this, it will make your taste buds revitalize.

Chocolate then becomes an addiction,

Your body fat rises,

You get water retention, and whilst you lose upper body muscle mass in a very big way, it is replaced by fat.

It gets worse once you have rids yourself of your testosterone factories.

That is why most postop ts women put on 2 dress sizes when compared to their weight pre-transition.

I could get into size 10 or 12 jeans, now it is size 14 or 16.

It does upset me greatly, but Life Is As It Is.

Testosterone is the best drug for keeping you slim but to some of us it is a poison.

Reply

You can prevent muscle bulking whilst burning plenty of calories, and improve existing muscle tone, quite easily.

This is provided you can ignore the gravitational pull of the sofa.

Resistance-endurance exercise sessions such as Bodypump, which should be readily available at your local leisure centre or health club, do the trick perfectly.

By concentrating on lifting lighter weights for many repetitions, eventually towards exhaustion, you cab burn large quantities of calories, increase strength, endurance and muscle tone, without promoting muscle bulking.

Give it six weeks or so, and you should notice sufficient results to motivate you for the next six weeks!

You can do the same exercises alone in the gym, but the group dynamic, plus the lack of boredom due to everything being choreographed to music, means you are likely to stick at it longer, and work out harder each session.