For those that don’t know, I am a transgender woman. I bring that up for a couple of reasons. First off, if you think that means it was easier for me to build muscle mass/definition please read this. Secondly, it was the original motivation for my desire to get in better shape.
I first came out to the world as my authentic self in November of 2019, right before the pandemic hit us all. There is a lot involved in transitioning and everyone’s journey is different. But I think for all of us the pandemic was a slam on the breaks for a lot of goals and activities. This was true for various parts of my transitioning. In ways, I felt like I had just gotten started and all of a sudden everything was on hold.
I felt so very helpless, which led to some dark depression. I had to find some thing I could to progress, something I controll. I found that in my workouts. I had been working out a bit before, but I wasn’t super consistent and I had no real goal in mind. But things were changing for me.
One of the hardest parts of being trans is that you don’t have the right body. No matter how you dress, or act your body doesn’t match the person inside. But at this point in my life, I knew there were two things I could do about that. First off I was told since I was on HRT any workouts I did would develop muscle in typical feminine ways/places. So working out would help adjust my body in the right direction. The other thing it did was prepare me for bottom surgery. I knew the better my over all health the better my outcome would be some day when I was able to have that surgery.
I had originally hopped to have my surgery one year, the minimum required, after coming out. But my insurance messed up on the paperwork and my application was rejected. That hurt so much, like a million knives piercing my heart and soul. I cried so hard. But I was determined to make this work.
So I picked myself up and starting working on all of the paperwork all over again. Finally in the spring of 2021 my surgery was scheduled. But there were lots of “if’s” before I could have the surgery.
One big one was an appointment with my surgens for them to determine if I was ready for this. I saw my doctor a few weeks after the initial OK. He did a very through exam with some extra tests. He drilled me on my medical history, my family medical history, and a wide variety of activities that could have an impact on my over all health. After all of the questions and exam he looked at me and said, “I think your an exclent candidate for this procedure”.
I wanted to hug him, I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream for joy. All of my hard work had paid off.
PS that surgery was a few years ago now. Everything went very well, no complications. The healing process was so amazing, and U of U Trans Health was so very amazing.