Might be something to that Clara. I used to get lower back spasms occasionally. Not now. Of course it might be weight loss or reduced tension or it might just be all that dancing...tee hee.

The loss of upper body/upper extremity strength is not a given. I have been mostly on estradiol since April 2012, and have been able to make moderate increases in strength over that time. Maintaining upper body strength is helpful in my job as a manual physical therapist. I realize that I also have a built-in opportunity in my job to workout when I can that other people don't.

However, over that time my schedule has gotten incredibly busy, especially for the past 15 months or so and I've switched from the more traditional hour long (or more) workout to a high intensity interval training (HIIT) style. I've adapted P90X workouts as well various Pilates exercises and other workouts to the HIIT style and they now take anywhere from 7 or 8 minutes to 20 to 30 minutes. In a 13 hour day in which I literally get a single hour break to eat, workout, return calls or whatever, the shorter workouts mean I can fit one in and over time get in 5 or 6 days of intense exercise.

Research demonstrates that just from a cardiovascular health perspective, HIIT is just as beneficial as 45 minutes to an hour of lower intensity cardio-based exercise. Strength training shows similar benefits from shorter bouts of high intensity training. And from my own experience as well as that of many patients with more average, sit-down type jobs, just about anyone can fit a 10 minute workout into even a busy day.

The long and short of it is, that you can maintain your strength, and even increase it if you're smart about it. Sorry Flame, but that does mean reading and doing some research!

Am I happy about this? Well, yes, in general. Feminization has been my objective, after all. But, there is a certain sense of loss, too, that's sometimes hard to brush off. I still have a male gender identity which has had to make room for my inner woman. Sometimes begrudgingly.

Hi Clara -- sorry to dig up an old thread, but I have the same concerns now as you did when you wrote this. I just started (literally a few days ago) on estradiol and it took me a long time to get here because there are some things hard to give up -- physical strength is one of those.

I'm curious. How are you feeling about it now?

I am going to be like chrishoney and keep my activity level high, especially in the gym. I know that I will, and I expect I will loose muscle mass while gaining weight on estradiol. So I am trying to nip this in the bud before it becomes a problem. Frankly I have known many biological women that are stronger than a horse and they were not taking anything to boost their performance. They just tended to stay extremely active and visit the gym on a regular basis.

In my mind I think I will have to stay ahead of this because I now have both hormones and age working against me. But, I need to stay active for my good health in the first place. Something that I have neglected for quite some time...............

KellyT