Clara, thanks for starting this thread! Honestly, I would guess that you and Lisa are the two members here that are closest to me in age, situation etc. Love you both.

You're welcome, Samantha. I feel the same way about you and Lisa Lou.

CK, you're SURE you're not my brother from another mother???

I might be, Lisa, but I prefer to think of you as my half sister rather than half brother.

CK

Clara, thanks for starting this thread! Honestly, I would guess that you and Lisa are the two members here that are closest to me in age, situation etc. Love you both.

You're welcome, Samantha. I feel the same way about you and Lisa Lou.

CK, you're SURE you're not my brother from another mother???

I might be, Lisa, but I prefer to think of you as my half sister rather than half brother.

CK

Why am I suddenly thinking of Anton Chekhov?

I'm 6' 3" (age seems to have robbed me of an inch), and two years ago I was pushing 270lbs. By August 2012 I touched 220 and now I'm 215. I am big boned and long in the body, so BMI is more than usually misleading - I managed to find an insurance company weight assessment scale that says I'm into my ideal weight range, which is nice but ideally I'd like to get own to around 200. I was 190 and thin as a rake when I got married. My very low testosterone has led to considerable muscle loss and strength loss. As for weight training, burning wood as our primary source of winter heat provides good exercise - bringing the logs in through a long an tortuous route in winter, and shifting and stacking them in summer. Even so, I've been losing strength for the last 15 years.

I was never very hairy, but visible hair on my body, arms and legs has almost disappeared to the point at which I pluck individual hairs when they become visible, except for under arms and pubic area, where there is much less than there used to be. My beard is much less vigorous and less visible than it used to be and even my eyebrows are much less visible than they used to be. This may be partly a loss of pigment (aka greying) although my grey eyes seem to be bluer than they used to be.

CK, you're SURE you're not my brother from another mother???

I might be, Lisa, but I prefer to think of you as my half sister rather than half brother.

CK

Touche' CK!

Just a quick word on strength, weight, et al...
If you are trying to lose weight, working out with weights that allow you to do 12-15 reps and 2-3 sets will give you a good baseline of strength and start to firm you up. If you want to lose weight, other than surgery, starving yourself, or drugs, you need to do something Aerobic! I love to run, as I have mentioned elsewhere, I had plenty of practice when I was growing up running from bullies! I'm built for flight, not fight! The stuff you read, really is right, 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week (your body needs to rest and grow boobs!) of walking, jogging, running, treadmill, road, playing dodge-a-car (not recommended for the slow or faint of heart! )will work. Like growing our breasts, it takes time and perseverance, be patient, but get out and do something! Someone once asked me why I run for an hour, my answer was 30 minutes for my body and 30 minutes for my soul! I've been doing it for a long, long time, and that along with great genes has kept healthy, and it can you, too!

Love y'all, mean it!
LL

The stuff you read, really is right, 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week (your body needs to rest and grow boobs!) of walking, jogging, running, treadmill, road, playing dodge-a-car (not recommended for the slow or faint of heart! )will work. Like growing our breasts, it takes time and perseverance, be patient, but get out and do something!
Love y'all, mean it!
LL

That's good to know! I'm currently trying my best to walk daily at lunch for a minimum of 20 minutes, combined with some light exercise in the evenings. Add to that my healthier eating and I hope to have no trouble dropping the weight I want to!

Ok, what? No one got my lame Russian playwright joke? I would have thought at least Annabel would have gotten it. Or was it just too lame for comment? Wait! Don't answer that! LOL

The stuff you read, really is right, 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week (your body needs to rest and grow boobs!) of walking, jogging, running, treadmill, road, playing dodge-a-car (not recommended for the slow or faint of heart! )will work. Like growing our breasts, it takes time and perseverance, be patient, but get out and do something! Someone once asked me why I run for an hour, my answer was 30 minutes for my body and 30 minutes for my soul! I've been doing it for a long, long time, and that along with great genes has kept healthy, and it can you, too!

Love y'all, mean it!
LL

I've worked my way up to 45 minutes a day on the elliptical. My heart rate climbs to about 140, and I burn off about 180 calories. It really does help with the conditioning. Weight loss? I'm stuck at 175 lbs. Body mass index 25. Slowly moving belly fat to where it's really needed.

Oh, BTW, I wear a pink girls Everlast workout tank and black shorts with pink trim during my workout. Wife picked them up for me after I made a covetous remark about a similar outfit she owns. Very cute. It's an hour a day that's a part of my "life as a woman", such as it is.

CK

Oh, BTW, I wear a pink girls Everlast workout tank and black shorts with pink trim during my workout. Wife picked them up for me after I made a covetous remark about a similar outfit she owns. Very cute. It's an hour a day that's a part of my "life as a woman", such as it is.

CK

Trouble is, I never did really like pink. My usual difficulty in conforming with convention.

Now that is too cool CK, not only exercising en femme, but with an outfit your wife picked out! I am soooooooo jealous! Congratulations on the elliptical workout, that is fantastic. You go sistah!!!

I don't do treadmill/elliptical, addicted to the roads. Getting ready for my long run this morning before work. No femme workout attire for me, but lots of clothes, it's 28 outside now as I write this, and that is F-ING cold for a Southerner! I am in a bit of a quandary, when (not "if" I'm thinking positively!) my growth begins to take off, what will I do when I run??? I'm thinking a compression shirt from UA, but I'm used to wearing a singlet (looks like a wife-beater undershirt) in the heat. Guess I'll burn that bridge when I come to it as Jimmy Buffett says.

Sorry Sam, I wouldn't know a Russian playwright if he drank vodka out of my navel... but sounds like fun!

BTW, I ordered an outfit yesterday (my last purge was 2 yrs ago), at least something to wear when I travel, and I'm growing my hair out. Going for an androgynous layered bob that I can style either masculine or feminine. I'm at the decision point and figuring out a way to discuss with my partner, she's pretty conservative when it comes to gender matters.

Well, just wanted to say hi to my peeps this morning! I'm hitting the road for a while.

Happy Friday!
LL

Lisa girl, I could never get into the running habit. It's zero F out there this morning, so I'm glad I can don my femme exercise outfit, hop on the elliptical, and simulate a nice jog amongst make believe palms while I drool over Mary-Louise in the last season of 'Weeds', and pretend that someday I'm going to look like that.

The nice thing about an elliptical is that it's low impact exercise, and you don't have to wear a sports bra to use it.

Seriously, I've never been one to do much regular exercise, but this set up seems to be working for me. Either that or I'm just motivated to slim down to fit into a pair of skinny jeans like Samantha does.

Gotta pack PM capsules today. What fun!

CK