¿Feminine-looking arms and hands?

[espaniola]

Hi, everybody.

I think the bodypart I dislike most about my body is my arms, because when I dress up as a girl, they always look too big in proportion to my lower body.

I used to be a bodybuilder. My arms were huge (my flexed biceps measured 18 inches years ago). Now I have much smaller biceps, and they are in proportion to the rest of my body (Neck 14.5, calves close to 15, biceps flexed 14.5 inches), but my arms still look too big for a person dressed as a girl. When not flexed, they only measure some 12 inches, but still look too big.

I already saw the exercises suggested by Renee Reyes at http://www.reneereyes.com/Webdocs/make-4body3-slimming%20arms.htm and I do those, but they haven't helped much. I also do aerobic dance almost daily, for 10 minutes, high impact non-stop.

Can anyone please suggest any other exercises to make my arms look as feminine as possible?

As for the hands, is there any surgery or something to help make them more delicate-looking and less rough? My hands are probably the easiest maleness giveaway when I dress up as a girl, and they aren't even too masculine, only enough to be easily identified as male's.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Carla O.

[Joy Carter]

Ain't much you can do as far as I know. It's all in your genes Hun.:2c:

[uknowhoo]

I can't imagine there is any kind of surgery which would address your concern. It's more often a matter of working with what you've got. I often wear 3/4 length sleeves which cover up my more masculine looking upper arms, fortunately my lower arms are rather slim. The other obvious quick improvement would be to keep your arms shaved, if you don't do so already. Good luck, and welcome to the forum. xoxo Tammi

p.s. there is a new members intro section if you'd like to post a new thread there to say hi. ;)

[Alice Torn]

I can understand. My hands are huge, veins popping out, and because I like sleeveless dresses, my upper arms, are big, and manly, from side views. I guess I should stop wearing sleeveless dresses, and tops. We are stuck, with what nature gave us, but shaving helps some, running, eating little.

[Mitch23]

same problem here - hairy arms, more muscular than a GG - my biggest giveaway. I only wear half, threequarter or long sleeves and keep them shaved - not completely but just an occasional thinning out

mitch

[Sheri 4242]

Having once been involved in "strength and conditioning," I might have a suggestion. Start swimming daily! This might turn your muscles into a more feminine look b/c, afer much repition, you would develop more sting-like muscles v. the bulky muscles you once worked hard on. I have no idea what to do about your hands.

[Kerry Owens]

if you can, grow longer nails and use subtle shades of the nail polish to emphasize the fingerlength. Paint a straight stripe in the middle of the nail and then paint on the side of the finger nail just a shade darker (be very close in shade) to make the finger a tad more slender.

[EricaCD]

The others have said it: 3/4 length sleeves are a girl's best friend if she's got something to hide above the elbow!

Genetic women have to do this too: figure out clothing styles that flatter their form and obscure (or distract from) problem areas. Perversely enough, one of the times I feel quite feminine indeed is when I am looking at clothes and trying to figure out whether they will help me with my own problem areas. Give it a try!

Erica

[Stephenie S]

Many, many, women are also selfconcious about their arms. GGs develope the flabby skin under their upper arms as they age. It shouldn't be too hard to find fashions that conceal your arms. That's your only choice, I'm afraid. There are no "proceedures" available to reduce large male arms. They come with the territory.

Lovies,
Stephenie

[Jocelyn Quivers]

Being a current weightlifter I have the same problem. Whenever I wear short sleeved dresses or shirts my arms look way out of proportion to my body. I also have problems with certain tops, or dresses, in that for the top part as a result of my arms I should be around a 12-16, but then in the waist I am much smaller. Basically I stick with long sleeve shirts or dresses with lycra/spandex material. Jocelyn

[Tamera]

I have found that since my dieting(about 1000-1500) calories a day. That my body will "EAT" muscle tissue to survive(such as calf and bicep muscle). People might not recommend this sort of diet but it works. I have went from 215 to 155. My goal is about 140-145.

I am on a fish and chicken diet, more fish than chicken.
LOL
Tamera

[cindychan]

Yup with mass loss I lost alot of bulk in my upper torso. My secret is a diet of light eating 1-2 small meals with a variety of snacks during the day. It sounds crazy but I eat dark chocolate with meals and snacks. Diet soda, yogurt, and veggies work good to. I've lost about 60lbs so far and would like to lose about 30 more.

[marie354]

Diets can help you thin down a bit.
Only eat 2-3 times a day and NO junk food.
If you drink coffee, NO sugar and only light cream if any at all.
Stick to small portions of each item that you eat.
I've been doing this since Christmas and I've lost about 30 lbs already and gone from a 12-14 dress size to 8-10's. But I've stuck to it. No cheating.
It's better to lose it slowly so your body mass can reduce along with the weight. Too fast and you'll have hanging flab somewhere.
:hugs:
Oh... And don't do too much upper body exercise.
There are a lot of exercise routines, but dieting has to work with them too.

[Alex!]

One thing that helps me a bit is dressing such that I do not overheat - in other words, making sure you are almost cold in most situations, since cold makes the muscles less prominant and the veins disappear. When I take my photos, I purposefully turn up the AC in my house to achieve this effect, because when it is warm I tend to bulk up a bit more and my veins pop out.

This is a bit of a challenge when going out, but luckily businesses tend to crank the AC up during the summer anyway. I also like winter because coldness is rarely a problem. Don't try to get too cold you get hypothermia, though :)

As far as exercise, as you probably already know, aim for high repetitions with very low weight. In many ways, you will work out for endurance, which is better than for strength anyway. I am a cyclist, which certainly helps keep me in shape but also helps when it comes to wearing size 8-10 girl clothes. Swimming and running are good too, but with swimming you have to watch the upper back muscles, which can get quite large.

[JamieTG]

I used to have a very bulky upper body but through a lot of stretching the last few years I've lengthened and smoothed out my muscles. Its given me a much more feminine profile and I found I haven't lost any strength by having long muscles instead of bulky ones. A great stretch for the entire upper body is to just do a dead hang from a pullup bar several times a day. Good luck.

Jamie

[Sedona]

Espaniola,

Yours is a tough situation. I haven't been a bodybuilder, but build muscle very easily and quickly. If I spend a week or two building a fence or something, boom, an extra 1/2 to 1 inch on my biceps, which takes forever to go away. I agree with covering up the arms when possible, and not too much wrist/hand jewelry, it attracts attention to that part.

Like others, I cycle to stay fit. It builds a really nice girly backside and hips, but with some thigh bulk. Unlike others, in my opinion, you don't want to do any upper body exercise, not even low rep, low weight, if you want to reduce your muscle mass. And, keeping your bodyfat low will help things out, as you know.