Nothing super drastic so far, but i'm someone who has struggled with weight loss for my entire life, I only become motivated for short bursts of time a few weeks to a month at most. Then, I get in my head about not seeing what I want to see and I give up.

Two things have recently happened:

1) I used to be an avid lover of mountain dew, but I switched to coke zero about 2 months ago.

2) I've been too broke to afford to eat out multiple times a week like I used to.

I guess it sounds kind of crazy, but that's been the hack for me.

I haven't really been active more, or changed anything but those two things.

This is probably like one of those 'duh' moments for most people, like obviously if you're not drinking sugar every day, and not eating super processed food and cooking at home, you're gonna lose weight, but i guess it surprises me that I haven't been trying lately and it just happened.

Maybe this is like my 'hack'.

Anyways, thanks for reading.

I workout five times a week and I’m only 5’3 and 125 lbs. I’m not a super big person but I’m pretty muscular. Sometimes my maintenance calories is 1,500 cal and sometimes it’s 2,000. Is it normal for there to be a change in maintenance calories depending on the day or other factors?

I’m also on some psychiatric and other health medications so I’m not sure if that plays a part.

Sooooo I know this is all over Instagram right now and I’m not asking this or bringing it up to cause a fight but genuinely what’s going on with masculinity made, the influencers (Grayson, Jack, Pete, etc) who is this toxic coach Kyle (trying to avoid), and also what happened the Aliye who helped found MM and BxB but just kinda disappeared? I know there was their own drama but idk, I’m just confused and wondering why this is happening? And why we can’t just all vibe?

So this will not actually be a concern for me for another year and a half or so but I am currently building my chest muscles as much as I can because i have a relatively small chest and I could maybe be a candidate for keyhole
But my question is how much muscle will I actually lose in the whole surgery process ?
Like pre op and during the post op recovery period

I know it’s probably quite subjective but I’m still curious

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Hi all! I am looking for some advice on what tape I should use when going to the gym. I live a pretty active lifestyle as well as work a somewhat physically demanding job and am constantly taping like every other day, I’m trying to find good tape that doesn’t peel up within the first 48 hours after applying. I’ve been weightlifting for a little while now and haven’t found good tape that lasts more than about three days. I’ve tried the trans tape brand, GC2B, and KT tape does anyone have any brand tape that they swear by when working out?

Hi all! I've been hitting the gym for a few months just doing very general beginner strength training, but I'm working on building a new workout plan to help my body look more masculine. Even being almost 2yrs on T, I feel like my hands are still very soft and my forearms don't have much definition. Beyond losing weight and building muscle all over, what are some specific exercises I can do to target my forearms and hands? Are grip trainers any good for this kind of thing?

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Hey guys, I have a notoriously weak core and I’m playing catch up trying to get it balanced to the rest of my body. My problem is that every time I do a core workout, I get crazy bad DOMS the next day, especially in my upper abs. I don’t feel like my exercises of choice are all that intense, so I’m not really sure why this keeps happening. I’m wondering if it’s a stretching issue or if my abs are far more deconditioned than I thought they were. Any advice would be primo 🙏

I've got my first consultation for top surgery booked for next month. Even though I have no idea how far the actual surgery will be from then, I was wondering if there's stuff I can start doing now to improve my results and recovery.

I'm currently on a cut and a PPL split, so should I add in extra chest exercises on my push days, or add in an extra chest focused day altogether? I've heard that building your lower chest specifically helps with sculpting results. Any advice or personal experience is appreciated!

hi! im planning to start working out again after i finish my exams. im 16, 4'11, 42kg, and pre t. im planning to eat 75g of protein everyday but im not sure how many calories i should be consuming. my goal is to build muscle but i feel like i still have fat on me that im kinda insecure of so idk what i should do.

i dont have access to a gym but i do have dumbbells at home

this is my split where im going to be working out 6 days a week, and doing 3 sets for each movement til failure:

Chest, Triceps, Shoulders

• Chest press (elbows flared)
• Chest press (elbows tucked)
• Overhead tricep extension
• Shoulder press
• Lateral raise
• Front raise

Arms, back

• Bicep curl
• Hammer curl
• Wrist curl
• Reverse wrist curl
• Bent over rows
• Single arm close grip rows
• Rear delt flies

Legs, Abs

• Calf raises
• Reverse lunge
• Goblet squat
• RDLs
• Weighted glute bridge
• Reverse crunch

any advice or input would be really appreciated :)

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

15yo FTM, 5'1 (155cm), 69.65 kgs.

I'm looking for advice which will help me achieve my goals of ofc gaining muscle and looking more masculine.

If i have to describe myself, tbh I've a foundation which is not too bad, broad-ish shoulder, okay-ish muscle mass and i believe either my bone density or muscle density is pretty good too...but I've got a ton lot of fat in my abdomen and my thighs, except for that, my glutes are pretty big, and so is my chest, I never tried to measure my chest but i believe it might be B cup? I've never worn anything but a binder and sports bras so i really don't know how to describe it. Anyways, the glutes and the chest definitely make me feel dysphoric, also I've got a little bit of face fat which decreases the sharpness of my face ofc. Except for that i want to look more masculine and want to have good muscle definition overall.

Tbh I consume sugar a lot and i skip meals quite often, it's hard to have self control on myself in regards of food.

Last time i checked my weight was approx. 15 days ago and it was 72.5kgs and i weighed myself today, it is now 69.65kgs.

I drink water a lot and i would say I'm very hydrated, also something to note...I'm a smoker which is ofc not a fact to be proud of especially because I'm 15 but i got into it and i just can't resist a cigarette at all so i kind of need a way to resist that as well.

I'm pretty short for a dude, I'm 5'1.024 to be exact or 155cms, i DEFINITELY need tips to maybe make myself taller.

Please give me a solution and help me out with these things, especially the height, addiction and sugar intake thing because I'm absolutely helpless regarding those...

-Thank you

5’3, 130lbs and about 21% BF. Currently I lift/ do body workouts at the gym every other day and go climbing (bouldering) a lot. I’ve also started to run a mile everyday again.

Not sure diet wise if I should lean bulk , stick at maintenance or cut? Biggest thing that bothers me right now is my lower stomach has a lot of fat and sticks out hella compared to the rest of my torso.

Welcome to the Weekly Fitness Wins Thread!
Share your victories — big or small — and celebrate your progress with the community.

You can post about:
• Personal records (PRs)
• Visible progress or recomposition
• Mental health wins
• Training consistency and milestones

Keep comments supportive and positive.
We're proud of every win, no matter how small.

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Okay i know this post will sound a little weird, but i don’t know where else to ask but here.

I am 15, 5’3 and 40kgs, pre T for now. I have a decent amount of upper body muscle, as i have been in the gym for about 18 months now. Also, i have only very recently started training legs, in the last 2 months or so.

Well anyway, according to bmi data, i am very underweight (i do not have an ed, so idk why) but… my butt is also really big somehow?

For reference, here are my measurements:

low hip circumference: 84cm (33 inches)
high hip circumference: 66cm (26 inches)
waist circumference : 60cm (24 inches)

So yeah… how is this even possible? i dont have particularly wide hips, and i appear to be very lean elsewhere- i have no love handles or other fat stores, all of it went to my ass. It makes me look very disproportionate, and it is my biggest source of dysphoria (along with my hips generally).

Is there anything i can do to get rid of it? I don’t think a calorie deficit would work best for me, because i have heard that i could lose a lot of muscle by doing that.
And should i avoid training legs? i want more muscular legs, but i am worried that large legs will accentuate the issue, and make me look even more feminine. It would also be bad if my glute muscles grew due to hitting legs :(.

i know there likely isn’t much i can do, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Long story short before I used to pay for a personal trainer in my country that works with a lot of transmasc people, (pretty decent credited one cough cough I'm not American cough cough) but I wasn't feeling like I was progressing the way I wanted i felt like there was a lot of repeating exercises that were just tiring me and not allowing me to actually go to failure cause I had to save energy to do it all.

And ya know money needed to be saved etc so I decided to try my hand at making my own.

Monday- Push - Push ups warm up to 1x12-20 Bench 3x8-12 Cable fly crossover 3x8-10 single arm lateral raise cable 3x8-10 reverse single arm fly cable 3x10-12 skullcrusher 3x10-12 triceps pushdown 3x12-15

Tuesday - Legs A leg extension 2x8-10 smith squat (quad focus) 3x10-12 Rdl 4x8-10 hip thrusts 3x10-12 weighed sit up 3x12-15 back extension machine 2x12-15

Wednesday - rest or light cardio

Thursday - Pull - Chest supported dumbbell incline row 3x8-10 Close grip lat pulldown 4x8-10 dumbell row 3x10-12 single arm bayesian curl 3x8-10 concentration curl 3x8-10

Friday- Legs B standing single leg curl 3x10-12 leg press 45 4x8-10 hip adduction 3x10-12 Bulgarian split squat 3x10-12 calf extension machine 3x15-20 crunch machine 4x12-15

Saturday - Full upper Incline chest press machine 3x8-10 iso-lateral row machine overhand grip 3x10-12 incline chest fly machine 3x10-13 iso-lateral high row machine underhand grip 3x8-10 dumbbell lateral raise 3x8-12 bent over triceps extension 3x12-15 face pull 2x10-15 dumbell preacher curl 3x10-12 crossbody hammer curl 3x10-12

I try to always do cardio on upper body days when I can, I've been running this split for around 3ish months took a break to recover from too surgery went back to it I've adjusted the machines and switched sometimes from machine to dumbbells depending on what's available as I moved, and for example triceps extension on Sat before I was doing a single hand overhead extension but I was stuck on it for two weeks and my movement wasn't feeling right and lowering the weight was making me take too long to hit failure so I kept the movement pattern similar but to something I knew I'd be able to keep progressive overloading (in weight and of reps)

Any tips advice is more than welcome, I've had it as my goal for now to work on my upper back as before it was a lot of lat work and I feel like my upper back is underdeveloped, but I'm planning to make it a bit more balanced it out in a few months.

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!

Kind of a weird question, I know. A bit of context: I grew up poor and with a lot of food insecurity. Even though I make decent money now and have enough to feed myself and then some, I feel like always worrying about having enough food when I was younger has stuck with me and made it so I’ve gotten really good at ignoring my hunger cues. Whenever I get hungry, I kind of just put off eating because if I wait long enough, I’ll just make it to the next meal and the food I might’ve had for breakfast can be my breakfast for tomorrow, for example. This is obviously not conducive to my fitness goals, because I wanna get big, but I just really struggle with eating regularly, but also with just even knowing what to eat. I feel like if I could snack on a more regular basis throughout the day I could break the habit of procrastinating my meals.

So I guess my most relevant question for this sub is: what are meals/snacks/go-to foods that are high in protein and easy to throw together or bring to work when eating can be a struggle? Any advice on getting better at eating regularly too would be very helpful.

I was doing really well in the gym recently... until a bout of chronic illness made me not eat properly for a week. Finally felt recovered from that and was back in the gym then got a sinus infection. Got recovered from that and now I'm just vaguely sick. Been having a period the whole damn time too, since my BC isn't doing any good. Feels impossible to make gains, especially since I don't want to push too hard after being sick. Any tips y'all?

(Tried to post on daily qs thread but got no response)

Hey gng I’m a noob only been going for 3 months, I wanted to check if my plan is okay cus I don’t think you’re supposed to do the same set of exercises every session lmao. what should I change/replace and how could I alternate it? Ik this is a lot so answering even just 1 question would be cool

Qs:

My plan is to get double incision in 8 months which is why I’m training my chest, is this enough?

I also start uni then, I pass now (barely) but I wanna go stealth when term starts. My plan was just to focus on upper and lose fat in my lower body, then I could focus on training all my muscle groups later since I’m on a time crunch. Is my plan ideal for gains and changing my physique? Or should I still do the split

I go 3-4 times a week with 1 rest day in between. sessions always take me 2 hrs to complete, 3 sets for each

I start with bicep curls as a warmup.
(Not in order)
Chest press
Shoulder press
Rear delt
Triceps pushdown
Lat pulldown
Preacher curls
I finish with 1 set of pec fly for fun lol

I haven’t done legs or open stuff like side planks that also train glutes because I’m overweight and have a really female body rn compared to the average woman. I’m very dysphoric about it

160-180g protein and 1500-1700 cals daily

Thank you so much

Welcome to this week's Daily Simple Questions Thread!
Use this thread to ask simple or beginner-level questions about training, nutrition, recovery, and transition-related fitness topics.

Before posting, check our Wiki and Tips & Tricks section.

Example topics:
• “Should I cut or bulk?”
• “How to start lifting?”
• “How to work out safely after top surgery?”

Be respectful and helpful — we're all here to learn and grow!