Sorry to call you out, but both gendermutt and flatlander_48 are examples of non-TS creating semantic confusion. (And both well-intentioned, as I pointed up in a previous post.)
The reference to people outside the community is useful. When I tell someone I'm transitioning, it is unambigously received by the general public as "sex change" ... in turn used as a proxy for changing gender role and presentation ... permanently. Why don't they include SRS in the understanding of "sex change"? Got me, but they will ask IF you're getting "the operation" in connection with it. Tell someone you're transitioning because you're taking hormones (and that's it), and you'll have to unwind their understanding.