hrt and muscle reduction

[kelsey12]

Okay so what have you girls expected regarding muscle reduction, unfortunately for me my current job requires me to lift some pretty heavy stuff, so I'm working on changing that I'm a massage therapist just need to find work as one soon. Okay so my question I would love to hear what your experience was like

[Kaitlyn Michele]

strength goes down.. there are lots of strong women out there though

[Wendy_Marie]

The idea of losing muscle mass is one reason why I have been avoiding certain job fields in my search for employment...Like many I have always worked physically demanding jobs and am sure than when the time comes that my strength begins to lessen I will miss it as well.
this is one reason why I am so happy to have been asked by my former supervisor to come back to work for her....the job is transporting people and the most physical part of it is more of an endurance thing as I will be spending long hours behind the wheel of a vehicle speeding down the Interstates at 70 mph.

[Katesback]

I is a given you loose strenght. What you learn is how to use your body more efficiently and to use the strength of your lower body more than you did before HRT. Just one of the facts of life. I myself excersize quite often and so I still am strong but not as before HRT.

[gretchen2]

Being in construction I have noticed a lot of muscle loss. Last fall I had to rebuild a roof system which meant I had to demo the old roof, rafters and all. I generally work by myself and have had few issues with that pre-hrt, but when it came time to do the real labor of the job (demolition) I needed to hire a laborer to do it for me. I now see that I can no longer wield a sledge hammer anymore, which is a good thing because who really wants a sledge hammer in there hands anyway. Now I just take on light duty jobs that require very little labor.

[Myojine]

Okay so what have you girls expected regarding muscle reduction, unfortunately for me my current job requires me to lift some pretty heavy stuff, so I'm working on changing that I'm a massage therapist just need to find work as one soon. Okay so my question I would love to hear what your experience was like

You know whats funny?
I posted a thread about this about a week ago i beleive...

Here
Take a look.
http://www.crossdressers.com/forums/showthread.php?156847-The-one-thing-about-hormones-that-WILL-bother-me

[Jay Cee]

I'm bracing myself for the day that my strength starts to diminish. I feel like I'm already losing muscle mass (perhaps due to age - I'm not on HRT yet). Truth be told, I don't really care that much. I'm looking to increase my education, and then move laterally in my career (construction), so that I will be prepared for the day when hauling material up 4 flights of stairs may not be possible.

[Eryn]

When you boil it down there are only two careers out there:

1. Moving heavy objects from one place to another.
2. Telling other people to move heavy objects from one place to another.

Choose carefully, ladies! :)

[Melody Moore]

I went hiking & exploring up the mountain behind my house on Saturday with my girlfriend for some physical
exercise. Because it is dense tropical rainforest (jungle), we followed an ancient lava flow, which is also a
rocky creek bed & not a proper walking track. So we did a lot of rock hopping & climbing & at one point we
even had to also climbed up a 20 foot rock face which is normally a large waterfall in the wetter months.

We climbed up the mountain for about a mile or so & while I managed it OK at the time, I am certainly
feeling the after effects of a very difficult walk now. My legs have been sore & I have been feeling very
fatigued. This is a far cry from my days in the Army & when I worked as a bush walking tour guide in the
mid 1980s when I would have went at least 10 times the distance through such difficult terrain.

While I feel I am paying the price now I am so glad I did it. It is obvious that the hormones have affected my
all strength, stamina & actual muscle condition. But I am keen to get fit & stay fit that my girlfriend & I have
promised each other now to make this a weekly activity & explore the mountain in my backyard a lot more.

Here are some photos that will give you some idea how difficult,
but beautiful this walk is. So the pain & suffering is all worth it ;)

[CharleneT]

Indeed, VERY beautiful !

[Aprilrain]

I thought I'd post this as it seems illustrative to me and there have been some questions about HRT and loss of strength.

Before I started transition and was living as a guy I did a fair amount of rock climbing. Anyway I got to where I could do about 7 pull ups. I know it doesn't sound like much but when i started climbing I could only do 3. I weighed somewhere between 165 and 170 and I'm 6 feet tall. After coming out and starting the process of transition but before hormones I lost some weight Now I'm like 150. I think simply having a better strength to weight ratio made it possible for me to do 9 almost 10 pull ups. Well I don't really work out anymore, I haven't been climbing for almost a year and I've been on hormones for over 6 months. For kicks I decided to see how many pull ups I could do. I struggled to do 3! lol My arms are really thinning out and I can definitely feel the difference in my ability to lift weight and move heavy objects. I am not the least bit concerned because my body is slowly but surly starting to look more female

[Andrea85]

I thought I'd post this as it seems illustrative to me and there have been some questions about HRT and loss of strength.

Before I started transition and was living as a guy I did a fair amount of rock climbing. Anyway I got to where I could do about 7 pull ups. I know it doesn't sound like much but when i started climbing I could only do 3. I weighed somewhere between 165 and 170 and I'm 6 feet tall. After coming out and starting the process of transition but before hormones I lost some weight Now I'm like 150. I think simply having a better strength to weight ratio made it possible for me to do 9 almost 10 pull ups. Well I don't really work out anymore, I haven't been climbing for almost a year and I've been on hormones for over 6 months. For kicks I decided to see how many pull ups I could do. I struggled to do 3! lol My arms are really thinning out and I can definitely feel the difference in my ability to lift weight and move heavy objects. I am not the least bit concerned because my body is slowly but surly starting to look more female

I was in the same boat. I was a Union Ironworker before the hormones. I could lug 100-150 pounds of tools and bolts up an I beam, no ladder or elevator involved. After 3 years of hormones, carrying my 9 pound laptop too long tires me out.

[danielleb]

Wow Melody, way to make us all jealous!!! Gorgeous place to hike. :)

[Julie-Su]

I've been on hormones for 1 month, and there is significant muscle loss already. I'm happy about it though since my job doesn't require too much lifting. Now I feel like I can wear tank tops without looking like a big bulky man! xD

-Nicole