On the subject of breast budding:
About one year after I started (slowly) with NBE my chest changed shape. My areolas pushed out and my "boobs" became conical. I thought that this was budding and I enjoyed it. More or less every t-shirt was at that point hanging more from my nipples, even if they would only stick out a small fraction of an inch and they were still invisible to anyone but me, but I knew that breast development starts from there, and I was thrilled.
It turns out, that was not what budding actually is.
About 4 years ago (3 1/2 years into on/off NBE) two nodules developed under my areolas, one each. I had read enough about that to know that it was a sign of budding, but I thought I had already gone through it. I kind of got scared, thinking of breast cancer (I have some family members who had it). On top of that, it was the time when my son was a very active 4 years old climber, right in the middle of Lockdown, and he would grab on me, jump on me, climb on me, etc... every moment of the day. I love to play with him that way, but even the slightest touch on my chest would send me screaming. It was hyper painful. At that moment I realised why some of my female friends were so protective of their growing chest at the start of puberty: budding hurts. A lot. I went to the doctor to check if it was cancer and he concluded that I was developing gynecomastia and gave me a tour of the option to remove the tissue if in the future I developed more pronounced breasts (I tried not to laugh). I did stop taking PM during that time because I actually had a doubt about it being budding or not. Had I known, I would have pushed through to see how far with a growth spurt I could go.
Do your boobs change shape, balloon out, round out etc... during budding? No. The pain comes from the new tissue being born under the areolas. It will then spread under the skin and create mammary glands and breast tissue. That's when actual breast growth begins. From then on, some part of any growth spurt will be actual tissue and won't go away after stopping NBE or HRT. But remember that some part of that is also fat, and you can see from genetic women that when they lose weight they also lose breast size. My nipples never became larger and my areolas never really widened much. As far as I can see from the Internet (/r/transbreasttimelines on Reddit is a great source of information) different hormones cause different types of development. Genetics also plays a big part there.
About one year after I started (slowly) with NBE my chest changed shape. My areolas pushed out and my "boobs" became conical. I thought that this was budding and I enjoyed it. More or less every t-shirt was at that point hanging more from my nipples, even if they would only stick out a small fraction of an inch and they were still invisible to anyone but me, but I knew that breast development starts from there, and I was thrilled.
It turns out, that was not what budding actually is.
About 4 years ago (3 1/2 years into on/off NBE) two nodules developed under my areolas, one each. I had read enough about that to know that it was a sign of budding, but I thought I had already gone through it. I kind of got scared, thinking of breast cancer (I have some family members who had it). On top of that, it was the time when my son was a very active 4 years old climber, right in the middle of Lockdown, and he would grab on me, jump on me, climb on me, etc... every moment of the day. I love to play with him that way, but even the slightest touch on my chest would send me screaming. It was hyper painful. At that moment I realised why some of my female friends were so protective of their growing chest at the start of puberty: budding hurts. A lot. I went to the doctor to check if it was cancer and he concluded that I was developing gynecomastia and gave me a tour of the option to remove the tissue if in the future I developed more pronounced breasts (I tried not to laugh). I did stop taking PM during that time because I actually had a doubt about it being budding or not. Had I known, I would have pushed through to see how far with a growth spurt I could go.
Do your boobs change shape, balloon out, round out etc... during budding? No. The pain comes from the new tissue being born under the areolas. It will then spread under the skin and create mammary glands and breast tissue. That's when actual breast growth begins. From then on, some part of any growth spurt will be actual tissue and won't go away after stopping NBE or HRT. But remember that some part of that is also fat, and you can see from genetic women that when they lose weight they also lose breast size. My nipples never became larger and my areolas never really widened much. As far as I can see from the Internet (/r/transbreasttimelines on Reddit is a great source of information) different hormones cause different types of development. Genetics also plays a big part there.
the diet is a lifestyle change in eating for both of us, so it's actually sustainable. 
