Which gender title to use
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I would pick male. I am not completely familiar with how going on testosterone works but maybe, possibly, it could work similar to puberty. Do you think maybe hormones alone could contribute to a higher percent muscle mass, increasing your metabolic needs slightly?0
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Kepplekakes wrote: »I threw the flag. At my first read, the response sounded very much like the offensive things being said here regarding a NC bathroom law. My apologies. I was being oversensitive and my first instinct was to protect. I will take more time to read and observe before responding next time.
Again my apologies.
@Kepplekakes - thanks! My reasoning was the same as @TimothyFish's but I didn't know how to articulate it so I didn't include it. But given the NC bathroom law, I can see how you were confused, and I should have been more clearly supportive or avoided using language similar to what is used in that issue.0 -
So this is going to be based on my lurking here on these boards and on other fora for both fitness and transitioning. It's been applied on a personal level, so take it with a grain of salt and understand that I'm no fitness expert, but I hope it will help you.
Generally speaking, the main elements important to determining caloric intake are height, weight, and biological sex. However, the impact and interaction between them aren't always obvious. One reason biological sex is a facet is because it encapsulates a lot of different assumptions about hormones and lean body mass (among other things) into the equations. Typically, due in part to T, biological males have higher lean body mass than biological females, and this has a direct effect on BMR because it changes how many calories are burned at rest. This isn't the only impact, but it is an important one.
Having said that, the body in transition is an oddity to the rules of determining caloric intake, and it makes the CO of CICO a bit more difficult to determine since it will change slowly over time. While that process of transitioning is individual to you, and how much and how quickly your body changes will also be individual to you, there are some things that seem to be universal for those going through HRT with T:
1) Your lean body mass will increase, similar to newb gains win weightlifting/strength training, but even moreso, especially in the first year on T. This will slowly but surely change your BMR over time. Just like with normal newb gains, the more you work out (sensibly!) the more muscle you will put on. Unlike normal newb gains, you'll gain muscle mass even if you don't work out, but the gains will be minimal, and the new muscle won't have as much of an impact on your overall metabolism.
2) Your body's fat will redistribute. This process begins once your T levels reach a certain level, but your body can and often does take years to fully reflect it and has a LOT to do with how much and where your current fat is distributed, and how much fat you lose and/or gain during the transition. The key to fat redistribution is that fat isn't 'moving' so much as fat loss and fat gain will no longer be happening in the same place. Most women gain in hips and thighs and chest first (as well as stomach). Most men gain in their stomach first. As the T levels rise in your system, you'll stop putting new fat onto hips/thighs/chest and start putting it on your stomach. If you're in a caloric deficit, hopefully that means you lose a lot in your old areas, and gain very little in your new ones. Note that this process is not immediate and can take anywhere from six months to five years after starting T, so keep your expectations on the matter realistic.
3) Meet or exceed your protein macro every day. Up the macro by at least 5% in MFP, and make sure you hit or exceed that number every single day. Your body is going through a sort of second puberty, and you will be gaining muscle mass, so eating sufficient protein is essential.
4) Meet or exceed your fat macro every day. Fats are essential to hormone regulation, and T is a hormone. Going too low fat not only disrupts hormones already inherent in your body, but could also negatively impact absorption of the additional T being introduced to your body. Don't go low fat while on HRT, or the transition process might be impacted.
5) Don't get too ambitious in your caloric deficit. As mentioned above, the first couple of years on T is the time where the T will have the most impact on your body in terms of muscle mass. Since the body can only burn a finite amount of stored fat every day, anything burned above and beyond that will start eating away lean body mass - i.e., muscle. So if you get too aggressive with your caloric deficit, there's a good chance you'll impact those changes in lean body mass from HRT.
Now, taking all those above factors into place, and also considering you started T only recently, what I'd recommend is to either start as 'female' at a 1lb/week deficit or as a 'male' at a 1.5lb/week deficit. Those are roughly equivalent in calore goal (with the latter being a bit more of a caloric deficit, but not too much). Either way, your loss result should be 1lb a week (unless you have a lot of weight to lose, then you might lose more initially). Since the start of your HRT is so recent, your body is more similar to a biological female than a biological male at first. As time goes on and your body adjusts to the rising T levels, this will change. Keep an eye on your progress and adjust your calorie goal and/or weight loss target as necessary, particularly if you start an exercise program of some sort.
(On that note, make sure that if you use MFP's suggested calorie intake that you eat back some or all of your exercise calories, because again, you do not want to get too ambitious with your caloric deficit (see #5).)
As time goes on, you will be able to change to 'male' on MFP and it will be more accurate, but for now you're in the limbo world.
Also, I'd recommend scheduling and using diet breaks. Your hormones, both T and others, will be a bit more in flux than that of the average dieter, so using planned diet breaks to re-balance as you go along is probably a good idea.
Ultimately, though, there isn't a lot of hard science about the impact of HRT on CICO. As I said, the above is just personal observation and how I've been muddling through without very much clear guidance on the matter from science. I hope it helps! (And sorry for any errors!)15 -
beckmageau wrote: »Hi all, I'm a transgender man newly on 80mg of testosterone every 2 weeks. Should I enter male or female in order to allow the app to properly calculate my metabolism? Thanks!
I would think the born gender (forgive me if I don't use the correct terminology) as the main difference is that men vs women have naturally different muscle mass. That impact the rate of energy use. I'm not sure it will change drastically as you transition. Its a good question though!0 -
I've talked to my doctor. I'm also ftm. She told me since I'm on hormones to go as male if that helps4
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I'm also 8.5 months on t btw3
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StaciMarie1974 wrote: »I would think the born gender (forgive me if I don't use the correct terminology) as the main difference is that men vs women have naturally different muscle mass. That impact the rate of energy use. I'm not sure it will change drastically as you transition. Its a good question though!
I can't agree. HRT changes your metabolism. Female hormones slow down your metabolism, while male hormones increase it. And not only that - a few weeks on hormones and your blood work will be reflecting your new hormonal balance with haemoglobin, uric acid, got, for showing I'm the right ranges for your gender once you have your endogenous hormones well suppressed.5 -
I just wanted to post to chime in support. Good luck!0
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Since you are gendering as a male and taking testosterone, then I would choose male as gender. If I picked female, that would go against who or what I felt about me, as a person.0
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StaciMarie1974 wrote: »I would think the born gender (forgive me if I don't use the correct terminology) as the main difference is that men vs women have naturally different muscle mass. That impact the rate of energy use. I'm not sure it will change drastically as you transition. Its a good question though!
I can't agree. HRT changes your metabolism. Female hormones slow down your metabolism, while male hormones increase it. And not only that - a few weeks on hormones and your blood work will be reflecting your new hormonal balance with haemoglobin, uric acid, got, for showing I'm the right ranges for your gender once you have your endogenous hormones well suppressed.
It's entirely more complicated than that. It will take months to years for muscle/fat to redistribute and for the metabolism to adapt.0 -
80mg is a super low dose from my understanding. I would use female.0
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I just wanted to add my support, and also to thank @tklivory for an amazing and informative post.
There can be a lot of mud slinging on these forums at times, but this has really helped remind me that there are amazing people out there who have relevant experiences and great information to share!
(I have a schoolfriend who's ftm and is being amazingly open about the whole process. He's further along with T (just over a year I think) and trying to get to a healthy weight for surgery. It's opening my eyes so much, and I feel privileged that he's chosen to share his journey with me.)0 -
I'd use your gender if you're undergoing hrt, and your sex if you're not.2
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Gosh, I was thinking the very thing just today. Just a random thought that popped up in my mind, really. Thanks for asking this. I can imagine that this might be very confusing for you.
Would it feel wrong to chose female for you? I wonder if there's a cutoff for men where you cannot 'finish' a day if you go below 1500kcal. I only ever read about women going too low and not being able to finish their day. This might be something to consider. Otherwise I'd just try and see what works best for you. You might start with male for a month, and if you prefer to keep this option you might as well increase the loss rate from for example 1lbs per week to 1.5lbs per week. You end up with less food to eat, not reach the 1.5lbs if your body decides you have a female BMR, lose faster and look more comfortable for you. This of course depends on how much weight you have to lose. Just a thought.0 -
Interesting question, interesting answers. Seems like the small difference in the calculation between male and female is probably less than individual variation anyway, so as in any other situation, use your best judgement, track accurately, observe if you lose weight as expected and adjust your goals accordingly.2
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You're a man.1
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You're a man! Click male. be YOU0
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Go with the gender you were born with until your transition is full0
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Just chiming in with support.
Congratulations on starting this stage of your transition! I remember how transformative HRT has been for my close friend. Really exciting that you're working towards the body you want in more ways than one.
Shooting you afriend request just in case you want more positivity on your dash. Good luck!0
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