2 Months In

It's been two full calendar months since I started taking testogel. The changes have been gradual, yet have still managed to sneak up on me.

Physically, I feel great. My weight is staying at around 70 kilograms (154 lbs) despite working out for about an hour a day, five days a week. I think this is due to the testosterone helping my muscles to recover faster and thus bulk up more. Most of the exercise I do consists of hand weights and resistance bands, with walking and aerobic exercise thrown in. Even though I may not be losing much weight, my body is still changing; my waist has gone down from 36 inches to 34 inches. The only things giving me problems are my knees which tend to be really sore after doing my workouts. I've found that using Voltarol Active spray on them helps.

Physical changes for this past month seem to revolve around hair. Facial hair and body hair have become slightly thicker and more noticeable, especially on my shoulders and back, stomach, and upper lip and chin. I'm shaving about once a week as the facial hair that grows in is blond and thin, which isn't the look I want. I'm guessing that in another two or three months my facial hair will look more "proper" and will grow in darker.

Mentally, I'm doing well. I've always been fairly laid back in attitude, and the testosterone hasn't changed that, although I think it may have amplified it a bit as I don't stress out nearly as much as I used to before starting T.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to put them in below!

 

Activia Pouring Yogurt Review: It's Not For Tea!

It all started when I signed up to the BzzAgent campaign for Activia Pouring Yogurt on the BzzAgent website. A few weeks later I received the campaign pack through the post. The above video shows exactly what was in the pack.

The first thing about the product that interested me was the claim that it was a healthy addition to your daily diet. Secondly was the claim that the pouring yogurt could be used in a number of ways. Immediately I looked for some recipes to try it with; but first I had to go shopping to get the product.

There are three different flavours of Activia Pouring Yogurt: Strawberry, Vanilla, and Natural. Wanting to make this review as accurate as possible, I bought one of each flavour.

Before trying out the recipes I had found, I wanted to try some more 'traditional' ways (and one not so traditional way) of using the yogurt: drinking, in tea, and over cereal. The first two of these I documented in a video on Youtube.

The cereal test was done off camera using three small bowls of cereal containing three tablespoons of malted wheaties. Each flavour of yogurt tasted quite nice with the cereal with the vanilla being my favourite flavour.

Next I tried baking. My first experiment was homemade scones, substituting half of the milk with strawberry pouring yogurt. They turned out really nice, tasting fantastic warm with butter.

Next on my list was smoothies. I made a banana and strawberry smoothie with strawberry yogurt and a three berry smoothie with vanilla yogurt. Both were extremely tasty, very filling and cooling.

My final experiment was meant to be sourdough bread using the natural yogurt as part of the starter. Alas, the starter didn't ferment properly. I'm not sure about the reason why. It could have been that the yogurt kept the starter from fermenting or it could have been stored at too cool a temperature. Not wanting to totally give up, I made a loaf of bread using the natural yogurt in place of water. The results were wonderful; unfortunately I wasn't able to take a photo of the finished loaf as it was eaten before I could find my camera!

Overall, the product is a very nice addition to your daily diet. The strawberry and vanilla flavours go really well over cereal, in baking, and as a drink on their own. The natural flavour is great for lots of different recipes - curries, dips, smoothies, bread and on it's own if you like the taste. The natural flavour is also best if you're watching your sugar intake as it contains the least amount of sugar of the three flavours. I think this product will be used quite often in my kitchen, if not every day. Just not in tea!

One Month In

It's been one month (four weeks) since starting testosterone.

Things I've noticed in the past two weeks since my last T blog are muscle twitches and soreness in my arms and legs - especially my calves. The dizziness first thing in the morning is gone now, thankfully. My sensitivity to sunlight has increased, giving me a really nice tan mostly on my arms and legs where I apply the testogel. UV sensitivity is a side effect of testogel so I'm not surprised by this development.

As far as I can tell, there haven't been any other changes. My voice sounds the same to me and there haven't been any changes with my body hair, although I know these things will take several months before they become noticeable.

I've started a fund raiser to help raise money for top surgery as well. My goal is to raise £6000. As of today, I'm up to £2506. All money that is donated will be spent on my top surgery. Anything left over will be donated to another transgender person to help them with their surgery costs. If you would like to help me out, the donation button can be found at the top of every page on this blog. 

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to record a video yet. When I get the chance to do so, I will embed it here.