Crossdresser wanting to change eating habits

[Nicolelicd]

I have read on this wonderful forum about other crossdressers having success in changing their eating habits. Please guide me with advice on how you did it and what worked for you. I have finally realized that I can not out run my diet. I would really like to go down a dress size and look more toned when wearing yoga pants and a sports bra. I am 5 foot 9 inches and weigh 180 pounds which I have been stuck at for a while. I generally eat healthy food but I tend to overeat, seconds and sometimes thirds! I am fairly active but the more I exercise the more I tend to eat. I usually try to have fruit and sometimes oatmeal for breakfast. I then try to have a piece of fruit before and after lunch. The problem for me is usually dinner and eating afterwards. I believe crossdressing motivates me to take better care of myself. I just want to see my abs again. Thank you all in advance and I love this forum!

Hugs,
Nicole

[Kris Burton]

Hi Nicole - This is one many of us can relate to. I think it would be wise to consult with your doctor before beginning any serious weight loss program. 5'9"/180 does not sound far off the mark, and from what I have seen people talking about here,we CDs have a tendency to have a distorted self image. We desire to have a slim feminine figure, but being men we do not, no matter how hard we try.
Having said that, there is certainly nothing wrong with getting in shape. It amounts to changing your eating and other habits, never a small task, but can yield rewards. You have mentioned some of the areas yourself - moderating portions, getting appropriate exercise, perhaps focusing on an area of concern (I remember your core was what you mentioned in your original post) and avoid snacking in between meals (that's my weakness). Don't forget to drink plenty of water - I found I lost several pounds just by doing this simple thing.
But do consult with your doc, you may be surprised by the advice you receive.

[Nicolelicd]

Great point Kris about consulting my doctor, he is a good friend so I will call him today. I understand and agree about the self distorted image we sometimes fantasize about. I am not looking to be a supermodel, hopefully just more toned. Thank you!

[Suranne]

Me, on social transitioning, I also changed my eating habits. It wasn't planned, it happened, probably as a result of being a happier more content me. All I did was started to eat less, a lot less. I started to have a proper healthy breakfast, I stopped eating vast amounts of carbohydrates, I more or less stopped drinking. I stopped snacking, eating cakes and biscuits as often as I had. For me, it wasn't hard, I think that it was because I was able to be the authentic me and I was, for the first time truly happy and content in being me. I started to exercise more. I dropped 5 dress sizes. Ok, it might not be easy for everyone, I get that, but it worked for me and so might work for you. This was some years ago now and I've maintained my new weight with no problems since.

[Nicolelicd]

Suranne, thank you for your advice. It is much appreciated and I will definitely start cutting back on the carbs. Congratulations on your transition!


Thank you Marion, I like your idea of eating small quantities of really good food. I?m so jealous of your waist size and golf outfits!


Yes Kim I will try not to go to extreme, that has always been a problem. Thank you for your advice,


Thank you Julie, I look forward to reading your thread.


Thank you Kelli, yes nighttime snacking is the killer. I really like the idea of getting up and moving around.


Thank you Crobeson96, I am going to try to cut back on sugar, oil and salt.


Very cute Trish, thank you!

Hugs to all,
Nicole

[Stephanie47]

I don't have much to add other than one recommendation. You said you go back for seconds and sometimes thirds. Thanksgiving aside, if you cook your own meals I'd cook only the amount for one portion. Yesterday I cooked a pot of meatballs and sauce with the intent of preparing for four meals for my wife and me. We ate small portions and then froze the remainder into individual meals. I figure, if I am going to cook and consume time, then I may as well spent a little more time up front and save time later. The key is not to take seconds and thirds. If you don't have any will power then only cook a small portion for the meal. Americans tend to eat the larger meals at supper time. In the old days (farmers) ate the larger meals when the energy was needed to work all day.

Also, dieting or not, read the darn ingredient labels. Watch the added sugars and salts. Stay away from corn syrups. I have found there are many products made with cane sugar right alongside the corn and high fructose corn syrups.

[Dominique12]

In Sept, 2020 I went to the Doctor for my annual physical, I weighed 198. I came home and told my wife I needed to lose weight. She researched and decided we were going to do Keto. Long story short, I now weight 162-165 and I am 5'11". Keto is basically Carb counting. Keto suggests you stay under 50 grams of carbs a day. Read the labels and you will be amazed how many carbs are packed in food. We eat homemade yogurt with grain free granola in the morning. Very light at lunch and then salad and lean meat/chicken/ etc at dinner. Count your carbs and don't worry about the calories. There is a special on Amazon or Netflix, called "The Fattening of America." Find it and watch. You will find out why grains are part of the food pyramid.

[kellyanne]

One can eat like a Queen and never be on a diet - your MD should make sure you get 5 y or annual blood work done so one knows there is no other metabolic reason for a slow, rapid consistent weight gain or loss. Know your lipid levels so nothing sneaks up on you.

If you eat processed foods - read the labels carefully - the sodium, fat, and other contents are unbelievable . My fave schtick if the subdivided % of daily requirement - because they don't want the consumer to read:

" ultra high in sodium - that bad stuff for blood pressure" they take 5 chips say 20 grams and use that for a unit and say " contains 40 % of daily requirement per 20 gr rather than an average of how many chips a real person eats.


Try this stuff - check all recipes dot com for Grandma Maggios spaghetti sauce - I don't add the 1/4 cup of sugar and use multigrain pasta with some lean burger - its so easy, so good and so quick it's been the mainstay meal around here for years.

It is very cost effective 1 pot + 1 3/4 lb pack of pasta can last me 3 days , low fat - keeps well - making more today.

Been slim and trim all my life - weigh a bit less now than high school .

Studies show many people will eat off visual cues whereas most svelte persons eat off internal cues, so if one puts donuts , sandwiches etc out at an 11 am break - an added coffee break - silent observations show lower BMI people consume less per person likewise if they are deceived by a clock to say it is lunch time or dinner. In this scenario, many over BMI people will assume one eats when they are told it is lunch but the svelte will follow the internal bodily cues and says no thanks... I am not hungry. Self discipline is your best friend - have to walk by the pastry counter 99/100 times - love to stop and drool but I know I am not in my 20s so monstrous amounts of fat etc so buying is a few times a year.

You can do it by self discipline and consistent behavior - known many who have - asked this Q of a few docs before and most sided with the lowering caloric consumption by healthy eating and regular excercise - with healthy eating the best predictor as most adults are not active like they were in their hey dey.

[sometimes_miss]

Try the no carb diet. No cholesterol or saturated fat worries, that was debunked with the 1999 Framingham study results. And you'll never feel hungry on an all protein / fat diet, either. Want a snack? Have a few strips of bacon, very satisfying.

Cholesterol / saturated fat scare busted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inwfSkSGvQw&

and

https://coconutoil.com/diet_disease/

The reason why doctors still recommend a low cholesterol, low fat diet, is because beyond stopping smoking, they have no other ideas of how to lower the incidence of heart and vascular disease, plus, they've been telling people this now for 70 years, and they don't want to look like they made a mistake. But even the FDA stopped recommending against saturated fats and cholesterol since 2014. Only now, are some starting to see the incidence of heart and vascular disease correlating with chronically elevated blood sugar levels, which, of course, are due to eating large amounts of carbohydrates: Vegetables, grains and fruits, all the things that they have been recommending for those same 70 years, and those just might be what's killing us. Ever wonder why there is no 'minimum daily recommended amount of carbohydrates? Because there is none. We don't need any at all. Our body can manufacture all the glucose it needs, with zero carbohydrate intake at all. OTOH, we CAN'T manufacture certain amino acids and proteins that are necessary for survival needs, so we have to eat foods that contain those. Do we need carbohydrates for energy? Nope; fats are better sources of energy, providing almost twice as much as carbohydrates do. So; proteins and fats; you'll never feel physically hungry, and you'll lose weight.
Now go and get skinnier; when you reach your weight goal, you can slowly add a bit of carbohydrates until you see yourself gaining weight/fat (carbohydrates are stored as fat, and that's how most of us got fat). Then cut back on carbs again until you find equilibrium in your weight.
Now go have a nice big juicy steak. And lose weight at the same time. You'll be trim in no time. If you add exercise, you'll see even faster weight loss. Just be careful if you're older, as if you lose weight too fast, your skin may not adjust as well, and you might wind up with loose skin or stretch marks. So if you're older, do it for a few weeks, taper off for a couple to allow your skin to 'shrink', then start again.

Edit; the 1999 Framinham study in entirety including the conclusions, are almost completely gone from the net. All that I could find, were the 'expert interpretation', which oddly contradicts the original conclusions. If you want to read the whole study, you're going to have to go to a medical library somewhere, and hope they haven't discarded them. Apparently, the 'experts' don't like their opinions having any evidence available to contradict them.

[Majella St Gerard]

I lost over 40 lbs and kept it off doing a Keto diet.

[Maid_Marion]

I eat small quantities of really good food. Nice cuts of steak cooked to perfection. Fresh seafood.
Not expensive if you know how to cook.
Cakes, candy, but all in moderation. I weigh stuff when I buy it and separate it into single portions for cooking and eating.

I won't eat diet food. I drink Pu-erh, a fermented black tea, that I can drink without adding anything.
Soda and other sugar laden drinks can be loaded with carbs.

I found I had to exercise to get rid of the last three inches. My waist went from 28 to 25 inches.
I took up golf and bought a cute "Sunday Bag" to carry around the course with my feminine golf outfits. Usually with a stretchy body hugging pink top. My outfits flaunt my thin waist.

[kimdl93]

My advice is to be patient with yourself as you alter your behaviors. Moderate, but try not to go too extreme or you may not find the changes sustainable.

[crobeson96]

My doctor told me I wasn't pre-diabetic but the trend over several years didn't look good. He told me to cut back on sugar. I did and lost forty pounds over about a year and a half.
My wife found all kinds of low-sugar or no-sugar foods to substitute but I found as I cut back the craving for sweets lessened which really helped - sugar is quite addictive and the food manufacturers exploit the fact and hook us when we're young.
At my doctor's suggestion, I borrowed "The Sugar Buster Diet" book from the library and read enough in a day or two to get me going. I never adopted any fixed regimen, I just cut back severely on anything containing sugar (there are fruits to avoid as well). I always look at the nutrition summary on the box and focus on "Added Sugars" - I try to keep any one food at 3g or less. You have to respect portion sizes as well to make this work - I used to eat half a sleeve of girl scout cookies at a time - now I limit cookies to two or three. It's amazingly easy once you get over the addiction.
Yes, there is "No Sugar Added" ice cream! All kinds of "No Sugar Added" cookies! Yes, these are more expensive but they do go on sale.
The doctor didn't even mention sugar at my last physical - he did tell me to lose another ten pounds LOL.
I don't miss anything I gave up and have no problem finding healthy alternatives when eating out. I don't have to avoid all sugar so the occasional slip up is fine.

[Trish]

I can't afford to gain or loose weight. I would have a closet full of dresses that I couldn't wear.

[JustJennifer]

Every person is different, but one thing that helped me was starting lunch and dinner with a big green salad. (Be mindful of the dressing too -- many are loaded with fats and sugars.) That tamps down my hunger in a low-calorie way so I can do smaller portions of everything else and still feel satisfied.

[Maid_Marion]

Shopping is clothes is wonderful if you fit in XS or Size 0/2. Clothes are cut for models and don't always look right when scaled to larger sizes.
XS/S clothes are the last to sell on the discount rack. I've gotten spoiled cherry picking sales.
Sometimes I think the dress looks better on me than the model on the web site.

Marion

[Julie MA]

Nicole,

I started a thread called Which Diet?, that may help.

To summarize my initial response to your thread:
- Determine your calorie needs. Plenty of on line calculators for that
- Track what you eat. I use the MyFitnessPal app. Life changing
- 80% of wellness is diet. Exercise, sleep, hydration, flexibility, and mindfulness, make up the balance
- Avoid under eating, just as you avoid over eating

Julie

[Kelli_cd]

Changing one's diet takes effort.
Portion control is key.
Avoid the temptation to snack, especially between dinner and bedtime!
When that snacking urge happens, get up and walk around - but don't go to the pantry or the fridge! Just 5 minutes of walking can break the urge.
Now, I have to practice what I'm preaching. I need to lose a minimum of 18 pounds. After yest, I'm targeting another 20. It's all belly fat and it has to go!

[Linda K.]

There are 3 things I know for sure.

1.) Eat in moderation. Eating to a point where you need to unbutton your pants, well then you ate too much. I try to eat just enough where the hunger pains subside. Sometimes I eat some trail mix when I get to work and the hunger goes away enough for me until I can sit down for my lunch.
2.) Get your metabolism going. I had a doctor that lived next door to me tell me to eat a little something in between meals to get my metabolism fired up. It could be something as simple as 4-5 grapes, an orange, or a handful of peanuts. This tells the body you have food on the way and starts the digestion process. It takes more calories to burn those few grapes and keeps the metabolism in gear when it's time for your meal. The longer you keep the metabolism up, the more calories you should burn. If you cut back on eating, like skipping a meal or two everyday, the metabolism shuts down and the body starts to store it in the body. The body goes into a preservation mode and reserves the calories you consume.
3.) Steer away from the carbs! I had a friend that lost 200lbs. I asked him how he did it and he said he just stopped eating bread. There are carbs in pretty much everything but remember, the body turns starchy foods into sugars which will get stored in the body somewhere. Bread, french fries, beans, all have a lot of carbs. Beer too!!

It is always suggested by every doctor I have met to eat green leafy vegetables and foods high in fiber. I remember learning in grade school about the 4 basic food groups. We have gotten away from those learnings. I think our diets should be balanced between these 4 groups, eaten in moderation (not super-sized), homemade, and no processed food that can be heated in a microwave. Fresh is the key!

Now I am in no means a doctor, these are just some learnings from over the years. Have they worked for me? To a point, but I am not ready to give up that beer yet!!!! My suggestion to you would be not only talk to your doctor about the diet, as Kris suggested, but a nutritionist or dietician as well. Your doctor may just refer you to one of these specialist. I hope you are successful in achieving your desired weight and let us know how it turns out.

[NancySue]

I hear you. Having tried every diet plan under the sun, the only one that works for me is a combination of discipline, food selection, portions and exercise designed to burn calories. Yes, it?s tough, especially in the beginning. Make a weekly plan of foods and exercise. Plan your work. Work your plan. When or if you fall off the wagon, don?t give up. Start over. Once you get to the first plateau, it gets easier. You?ll smile. As you reach a goal, reward yourself.

[docrobbysherry]

Eating and drinking r habits. Habits r hard to change. But, once u change to GOOD habits? Those r hard to change, too!

I'm 5' 9" and about 150 lbs. When I got serious about Sherry's figure here's what I did:

Switching from beer to red wine and immediately dropped 8 pounds in a few weeks!

Drink tea morning noon and nite. With lemon or straight. NO sugar!

Dinner is lean meat, salads, veggies, and fruit. Maybe a few spoon fulls of ice cream for desert. No bread, rice, potatoes or carbs. Never eat after 9 PM. A half gallon of ice cream lasts me a month. I don't buy cakes, cookies, sweets, etc.

I eat pretty much whatever I want for breakfast and lunch. A "diet" for me is salads for lunch and no deserts for a week. I can lose 5+ lbs. in that time!

I lost 25 pounds in 6 months to a year with those changes. That was 20 years ago and those pounds r still gone and I still eat that way. When I binge like I did the last week in Vegas and will over the holidays? I go on my "diet" above!

[RachelB.]

Weight loss is a matter of using more calories than you take in. You need to burn 3500 more calories than you take in. What helps me is keeping a food diary. This let's you know how many calories you are consuming. It really opened my eyes. There are several apps available to help you track your calories. Many help you track how many calories you are burning. Portion control is a huge part of losing weight and keeping it off.

[Linda K.]

One thing that has worked for me, as far as portion control goes, is occasionally I will fast for a whole day and sometimes two days. I won't eat anything but I will drink plenty of fluids, coffee, tea, even beer! The first day of fasting is tough because you are constantly thinking about your stomach. The second day for some reason isn't so bad. On the third day I will resume eating again and I find that it takes much less food to fill me up. Sometimes two meals satisfy me for the day, sometimes one meal.

One other effect it has on me is my body feels "cleaned out", if that makes sense. I may not have lost much weight during that time but I just feel like I was renewed, like I got rid of all the garbage. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone without them first speaking to their doctor about it. But it really does help me get back to realistic portion sizes. Yesterday, I had only one meal after 24 hours of not eating and I was stuffed for the day. Here I am now, 17 hours later and I am thinking of having a bowl of cereal before I head to the doctor's appointment.

[Nicolelicd]

Thank you Jennifer, I love salads. I need to eat them more, great point!

Hugs,
Nicole

[Kitty Sue]

Good topic. I agree dressing can encourage me to lose weight. However, that is usually only when I am in a pink fog. When the fog lifts I no longer care as much about losing weight. When I want to lose weight I have found drinking lots of water helps as does working out in women's workout wear. I used to bike a lot and would wear women's riding clothing.