@autumn@merping.synth.download
Post #462833
2026-02-04 22:52 UTC
Replies (7)
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@karebu@social.karebu.gay 2026-02-04 22:57
@autumn already existing fat isn't redistributed i don't think thats even possible, the new fat will go to the places that they typically go to for people with female hormones
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@izzy@social.shadowkat.net 2026-02-04 23:01
@autumn okay so my understanding is, fat redistribution happens fairly slowly normally. takes a long time for the cells to die and get replaced. exercise can make it happen faster, as fat is burned from everywhere at once, and your hormones, among other things, will decide where new fat goes so weight cycling is of dubious use, but exercise is healthy anyway. I started pretty skinny and I've put on 10kg (putting me at like, a healthy weight for the first time in my life) and it's all gone to my butt and thighs just about. basically, my advice would be do whatever you were planning to do anyway and it will sort out in the end, especially if what you were planning to do involves exercise
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@zora@spookygirl.boo 2026-02-05 00:25
@autumn you’re not going to get any definitive answer because none of this has been systematically studied and “weight cycling” is just a theory by some people in the community. But I do have thoughts shaped by personal experience that I hope might be helpful here :) Aspects of physical feminisation like breast growth do require some amount of body fat. Over the course of the first years on estrogen, your body will gradually store more of that fat in “feminine” places, even if your overall weight doesn’t change. What’s unclear is if losing and re-gaining weight during that time can speed up some of those changes. That said, I’m always concerned that online talk around weight cycling could lead to harmful behaviour, especially in people predisposed to eating disorders. For an informed decision, I think it is important to consider the psychological risks, as well as the ways in which weight loss puts stress on the body (no less at a time when it is also undergoing second puberty). Fwiw, my anxieties around weight and body image have improved a lot since giving up on the idea of speeding up my transition through fitness or eating behaviour 💜
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@diz@thegayagenda.fans 2026-02-05 01:52
@autumn@merping.synth.download I had similar questions when I started (6+ months in now) and I found Doc Impossible's article on this topic very informative, and backed by science! https://stainedglasswoman.substack.com/p/heavy-stuff TLDR; - most likely your understanding of how body fat works is flawed (as it is with many!) - you probably want to avoid weight-cycling as it can actually cause harm to the changes in body fat you'll experience - the important thing is to maintain a nutritionally balanced diet with some amount of exercise (where some amount is more than 0)
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@natty@astolfo.social 2026-02-05 02:06
@autumn@merping.synth.download it's a bit of armchair science Fat cells get replaced all the time, it's a constant process and most weight cycling does damage to other parts of the body, not just the fat cells. Imagine fat cells are like tiny storage units that are empty when the demand is high or intake is low, and refilled when intake increases
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@h5e@tech.lgbt 2026-02-05 02:59
@autumn @hazelnoot in addition to the other replies, it is a slow process, don’t expect miracles. From my understanding weight cycling only works on the cells that already exist and their distribution is not yet what you want it to be. The change in distribution of fat cells relies on the normal replacement rate of the cells, so you’re looking at years not months. Anything that happens faster is a nice bonus. This can to some extent be helped along by liposuction and -filling (a medical procedure that literally moves your fat around by taking it from one place and injecting it in another).
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@mai_lapyst@soc.saiyajin.space 2026-02-05 05:06
@autumn As far as I understand it, it only new fat cells are build in the regions dedicated by your *current* hormones. I.e. if you gain weight with you AGAB hormon levels, it is placed where those fatcells go in an AGAB / CIS person. In your case, this would be "male fat" (belly and so on). However, if you're on hormones, this changes accordingly (since the fundamental principle stays the same): again, in your case (MtF) this would mean on sufficent enough hormone levels, new fatcells would be "female fat". However: old fatcells dont magically get rearaged. They still are there and can get filled with new fat. Loosing weight is actually not loosing fatcells: it is the *content* of those cells that is empties and thus they "shrink", but dont go away. They only go away if the fatcell itself "dies" because the body has determined it is not needed anymore, like any other cell. This however can take *years*. I myself am also on estrogen (monotherapy) and I sadly can attest to that: I had some weight before starting in 2024, and while I certainly have some good amount of "female fat" now gained, my "male" belly fat is still there and also grows / shrinks with my calories intake / weigthgain; while I feel it's not as bad as when I would be on T still, it didn't vanished neither or "moved" or "redistributed". You generaly dont have to think of "redistributed" to mean the body moves existing fat; it's rather new fat that is created (after some of the olf cells are filled).