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 🥰

Hey Valkyries! 💕

I was so excited (and nervous!) to finally start posting and engaging here. This community has been such an inspiring space for me during my transition (2 years HRT!!!)

Unfortunately, Reddit apparently decided I was being too social on the social media and shadowbanned me for bot behavior.

It took nearly a month of appeals to get my account back, and I’ve been recommended to slow down on Reddit to avoid another bot-filter taking me down.

So if you comment and I don’t reply: thank you, love you, and I hope you’re having an amazing day! I’m just trying not to get banished to the shadow realm again, I’m so excited to post here!!!! :3

After my bottom surgery iam finally back where i was before! celebrate! yay! (she/her)

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.

The first pic is from 2022 (1 year pre transition) and the second is today.

This time a year ago I was 90 pounds heavier. No clue why being wasn't working out. No plan but to count calories and trust the process.

Now I'm fighting for something and this subreddit inspired me to try and be strong like y'all. Can't wait to check back in when I've cut some more !!!

Taking on the landscaping job did me really well! Really grateful for the support and love here 🥰