03-03-2013, 05:11 PM
Hello, Moniker, and welcome. 
I have a lot of experience in controlled weight loss. I personally think your plan will be very difficult to follow because your body will vigorously fight you. You'll probably be very hungry, won't feel well, and find yourself having to combat the "munchies" constantly (especially after drinking beer).
Ten pounds a month is very aggressive (but possible, even in a non-dangerous way). To lose a pound every three days, and to make sure that it is fat and not muscle that you are losing, you must force your body into continual ketosis. By far the most effective way to do this is to eliminate the consumption of carbohydrates from your diet, ESPECIALLY refined sugars of any kind.
Go buy the Atkins book. It works. Once you find yourself in ketosis the fat will melt off at a high and sustained rate. To prevent yourself from losing too much muscle you should work out daily (weight training... upper body one day and lower the next). You will burn more fat doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) then long, slow cardio. And, believe it or not, you won't feel "crappy" all the time.
If you try to lose that much weight using just a calorie restricted diet but are still eating carbs, you will find your body will slow its metabolism down significantly and the weight will be much harder to lose. Plus, you will be hungry all the time. Add in the long slow cardio and you body will start storing more fat and burning more muscle (not what you want here), and you WILL feel crappy.
The hardest part about doing an extremely low-carb diet for an extended period is that you will find yourself really craving the missing carbohydrates. You won't really be hungry, however, since protein and fat do not induce an insulin response. You'll just get bored with the diet (been there, many times). Still, I have lost 40+ pounds in three months following this method, and got down to around 6% body fat.
If you are also taking PM while dieting, you should see the added benefit of what fat your body does store being in more feminine locations. When you reach you weight loss goal and increase calories (and carbs) to put it back on, the fat redistribution should be quite obvious. I suspect the PM will also prevent your muscles from being overly well-defined from the weight-training (more like a fit and healthy woman) than a ripped man. Keep in mind that losing that much weight will definitely show your muscles -- once you start putting on a feminine fat layer at the end the appearance should soften considerably. By the way, you will lose muscle over time on PM, it will just be a natural decrease due to change in your hormone balance and not because of an unhealthy catabolic state.
Plus, don't discount the distinct possibly that your goals will change once you start taking PM. Mine did, in a big way. I was originally planning to do something very similar to your stated plan (that is, lose considerable fat and then attempt to regain it while taking PM to optimize feminization). After a few weeks on PM the overwhelming desire to feminize disappeared to a large extent.
Good luck, and keep posting!
Misty
I have a lot of experience in controlled weight loss. I personally think your plan will be very difficult to follow because your body will vigorously fight you. You'll probably be very hungry, won't feel well, and find yourself having to combat the "munchies" constantly (especially after drinking beer).
Ten pounds a month is very aggressive (but possible, even in a non-dangerous way). To lose a pound every three days, and to make sure that it is fat and not muscle that you are losing, you must force your body into continual ketosis. By far the most effective way to do this is to eliminate the consumption of carbohydrates from your diet, ESPECIALLY refined sugars of any kind.
Go buy the Atkins book. It works. Once you find yourself in ketosis the fat will melt off at a high and sustained rate. To prevent yourself from losing too much muscle you should work out daily (weight training... upper body one day and lower the next). You will burn more fat doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) then long, slow cardio. And, believe it or not, you won't feel "crappy" all the time.
If you try to lose that much weight using just a calorie restricted diet but are still eating carbs, you will find your body will slow its metabolism down significantly and the weight will be much harder to lose. Plus, you will be hungry all the time. Add in the long slow cardio and you body will start storing more fat and burning more muscle (not what you want here), and you WILL feel crappy.
The hardest part about doing an extremely low-carb diet for an extended period is that you will find yourself really craving the missing carbohydrates. You won't really be hungry, however, since protein and fat do not induce an insulin response. You'll just get bored with the diet (been there, many times). Still, I have lost 40+ pounds in three months following this method, and got down to around 6% body fat.
If you are also taking PM while dieting, you should see the added benefit of what fat your body does store being in more feminine locations. When you reach you weight loss goal and increase calories (and carbs) to put it back on, the fat redistribution should be quite obvious. I suspect the PM will also prevent your muscles from being overly well-defined from the weight-training (more like a fit and healthy woman) than a ripped man. Keep in mind that losing that much weight will definitely show your muscles -- once you start putting on a feminine fat layer at the end the appearance should soften considerably. By the way, you will lose muscle over time on PM, it will just be a natural decrease due to change in your hormone balance and not because of an unhealthy catabolic state.
Plus, don't discount the distinct possibly that your goals will change once you start taking PM. Mine did, in a big way. I was originally planning to do something very similar to your stated plan (that is, lose considerable fat and then attempt to regain it while taking PM to optimize feminization). After a few weeks on PM the overwhelming desire to feminize disappeared to a large extent.
Good luck, and keep posting!
Misty