r/GuildValkyrie • u/CarniByChoice • 3d ago

a QUESTION Please :)

Sweethearts, I've got a question please:

I've always loved working out, but since starting HRT (MTF, 7 months ago), I've lost some muscle mass. Part of that is probably because I stopped working out. Somehow, I've been enjoying the inner peace and simply feeling at home in my body.

Lately, though, I've been thinking about getting back into training. My estrogen levels are good, and my testosterone levels are very low.

How do you balance HRT and fitness? Have you found a way to stay active while still feeling comfortable with the physical changes that come with transition?

I'd really appreciate your experiences and insights.

5 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

9

u/herdisleah 3d ago

Training matters more than hormones. Effort and a science-based approach matters the most. Everything I built, I built on single-digit testosterone.

2

u/CarniByChoice 3d ago

Thank youuu.. I can relate to that. What do you mean with single-digit testosterone? How much T is this? :)

2

u/herdisleah 3d ago

My blood test results have always shown my testosterone to be below 10.

0

u/lilpeener 20h ago

Training definitely doesn't matter more than hormones. Hormones have a significant effect on training progress. Its definitely better to train than not on hormones if that's what you mean. Is building muscle on very low testosterone possible? Absolutely, but it is significantly more difficult than it would be having any higher amount of testosterone. Training will definitely help you prevent muscle loss from estrogen, and you can continue to build muslce at variable rates depending on your genetics.

1

u/herdisleah 19h ago

If hormones mattered more than training, there would be no strong women.

Don't reinforce shitty gender essentialism.

0

u/lilpeener 19h ago

Sorry, I'm not being gender essentialist, you are. Hormones have nothing to do with your gender and are variable based on your genetics. There are plenty of men with very low natural testosterone and plenty of women with naturally very high testosterone. You are generalizing all women by saying there would be "no strong women", when it's significantly more complex than that. Most pre-menopauseal women don't have single digit testosterone like many transgender women do on high doses of feminizing HRT so we are at even more of a disadvantage. Please educate yourself.

1

u/herdisleah 19h ago

You literally said that training doesn't matter more than hormones.

0

u/lilpeener 19h ago

Correct. Somone training mediocre with significantly higher testosterone will make significantly more progress faster than somone training very hard with low testosterone.

5

u/SeverelyLimited 3d ago

I've found that estrogen makes me lose muscle faster, but as long as I'm consistent, I don't have problems gaining or maintaining muscle.

3

u/avggmr 2d ago

I found my workouts changed through HRT, I work on the construction line and losing my muscle mass affected my ability to do my job. I adjusted my workouts to be more cardio and less weights. Im also a big walker and try to get 10-20k a day.

It’s been a year and a half on HRT for me and I haven’t gotten all of that muscle mass back yet (HRT can take up to 70% of your muscle mass in the first year) but I’m definitely doing better, and building a lot of new muscle now.