How do I not eat a shit ton of food every day because of my increased appetite? I feel bloated all of the time nowadays as well. Any advice on this is welcome.

  • Borger
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    10 months ago

    How long have you been on T?

    In my first year or so I was generally pretty hangry, but especially for steak and beef lol. Way more common thank you think

    I don’t think my appetite has necessarily changed since, but over time my lifestyle has adapted and I definitely don’t get bouts of hanger like that anymore

  • Janet
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    10 months ago

    not a doc here, so im just pulling this out of my ass, but considering that t increases muscle mass or output i dont really know, but anyway you probably need some extra protein?

    again, not an expert but i was using keto to lose weight (i think the most effect came from me not drinking sweet drinks anymore, so… just water, but that wasnt all that i changed about my nutrition :)

    carbs are of course a good source of quick energy, but keeping to a low glycemic index (foods making blood sugar rise more slowly) is generally advisable and artificial sweeteners may not have any direct impact on blood sugar but the reward center is still involved… nutritional fibers can (when introduced to quickly) lead to bloating… and many other things can bloat too probably…

    so… i generally would recommend talking to a physician about the feeling of bloat, but cutting out carbs with a high glycemic index and avoiding sweets is in my opinion always recommendable and bam your in mediterranean/low-carb/keto/paleo terrain and most people dont like to listen anymore xD the problem with nutrition as a science is that most nutritional pyramids were developed with the assumption that if you eat fat you will become fat, which isnt the whole story… if your body is bathing in glucose it doesnt need to take on the effort NOW to burn fats, but can much more quickly burn glucose and store everything else (including left over glucose that wasnt used up right now) in fat cells… more or less… so a high-carbs high-fat diet might lead to weight gain in most cases, but it also depends on circumstances and how the body has been run in, so to speak; gut bacteria can change over time, so someone eating little to no carbs, eventually will have a different gut biome than before the switch from the standard high-carb diet.

    it’s a complicated topic and im not too knowledgable about it but maybe these couple pointers can help you along to research further on your own. maybe get a book with the nutritional values (including the glycemic index) of all sorts of foods, it can be fun comparing their stats too ^^ perhaps a nutritional value compare-your-stats card game would be neat

    oh, one more thing: industrially processed foods are bad mkay

    • cowboycrustation [he/him]OPM
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      10 months ago

      I have been trying to get some more meat into my diet. I know protein powder is industrially processed, but I’ll have some of that too if I’m going to the gym.

      I CRAVE sweets all of the time. I don’t eat treats every single day (usually chocolate or honey), but when I don’t have fruit I do. I eat a lot of apples, oranges, and bananas.

      What carbs do you recommend eating?

      • Janet
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        10 months ago

        yeah protein powders are kinda a godsend for those who dont want to binge on meat, cheese and fish… which all can lead to constipation if overeaten (at least meat and cheese, but fish can contain mercury and other shit…)

        still not a doctor: yes that craving is probably your blood sugar doing its rounds on your insulin rollercoaster. chocolate is good for the mood so im not suggesting dropping it entirely, but perhaps shift to darker chocolate types, the higher the cocoa contents the better. (please buy them from some good fairtrade thingie if you have the money :) the important bit is to not snack on anything that contains sugars in the sense of fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose or some sirup of them (which is just to say someone added water i think…)

        instead try nuts if you must snack, but try to stick to 3 regular healthy meals per day and the cravings inbetween will diminish. again, i still am not studying medicine nor am i practicing it or anything just regular janet doing her own bullshit research and reasoning…

        i would consider honey as better than processed sugar, but only by a margin. i did read about some honey with a low glycemic index, but in the end it mostly consists of simple sugars, so… even if i did have some low GI honey, i wouldnt snack on it directly but maybe use it as an ingredient and in moderation. if you like nuts, {i hope you like nuts, (pls like nuts)}, you could use it as the “glue” in a nutbar if you want to give it a go with arts and crafts ^^

        fruit is good, as it’s healthy, but most fruit has a high GI (though being a natural produce they all vary in sugar content but on average;), but my google searches for “glycemic index fruits” comes up with cherries and apples having a lower GI than other fruit

        bananas are particularly starchy so no wonder their GI is higher than oranges, but i didnt expect apples to win that one… grapefruit are the fruit with the lowest GI btw. but e.g. yoghurt has a bit more than half the GI of grapefruit, but in both cases, just the plain yoghurt, just the plain grapefruit …

        anyhow. i would recommend getting stuff like bread and noodles made from wholemeal flour and also rice can be bought with husks or somethign and i can assure you its delicious…

        potatoes? yeah i think they are kinda neat actually… and rich in fiber too. boiled in salt water, add some cubed bacon and you already have a delicious meal, perhaps some sauerkraut on the side too? fuck im hungry

        • cowboycrustation [he/him]OPM
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          10 months ago

          I’m curious if certain types of potatoes have a higher GI value than others.

          Unfortunately dark chocolate’s probably not a good option for me. I take stimulant ADHD medication and caffeine gives me breathing problems when I combine it with the medication. Not sure if the caffeine content in dark chocolate is low enough to not have that effect.

          I do quite like some nuts, but they tend to be expensive where I live. Roasted pecans are the BEST. I love boiled peanuts but they tend to be loaded with ungodly amounts of sodium. I would eat cashews, dried peanuts, or almonds if there wasn’t anything else. My problem is I eat stuff in bulk if I like it, lol. I’ll try that with the nuts, not a bad idea.

          I’m beginning to think all the bloating’s coming from salt. Maybe simple carbs like bread and rice too.

          Thanks for your input 👍

          • Janet
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            10 months ago

            i was just now about to go to bed when i saw your notification… so uh cool, but please eat them nuts in moderation xD your butt will not thank you if you dont, the nuts you dont fully chew well …ew they come out the other end just as big as they were and not any softer, so if you eat to much nuts… gritty.

            anyways, im tired bro, take it easy

  • fracture [he/him] @beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    yea we need some insight into your diet to give any good advice here. also it can happen that you gain a food allergy from transitioning, so try to notice if it happens in response to a particular kind of food

    i gained a soy allergy from transitioning :')

    • cowboycrustation [he/him]OPM
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      10 months ago

      Damn, I’ve never heard of that happening before but I believe you. There’s so much that hasn’t been studied. I’ll definitely keep that in mind.

      • interrobang
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        10 months ago

        Sugar has a much bigger effect on my wife after starting E.

        She ended up quitting sugar all together for a few days, then she could finally ‘hear what she was hungry for’ (which was ALLLLL the cheese lol).

        Bodies are wild

      • fracture [he/him] @beehaw.org
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        10 months ago

        yeah it’s unfortunately only anecdotal among some trans friends i know. anyways hopefully you can figure out what triggers it, could be a fiber thing too