I’m a little late to my 3-week check in, but here I am on day 23 of HRT to let you know how it’s going.

Changes are happening and I’m pretty stoked! My voice feels slightly lower, almost like I perpetually have a cold (if that makes any sense). My voice still easily passes as female when I want it to, but when I relax my vocal chords and just speak normally, the voice pitch analyzer (which was recommended to me by a reader here) categorizes my voice on the low end of androgynous.

My feet are fitting way better into my men’s size 7/8 shoes than in any of my Women’s size 8.5 sneakers. Shoes that used to be just slightly loose now fit perfect, while those that used to fit perfect are a bit snug. I’ve also noticed that rings feel a little tighter on my fingers.

Fat redistribution is happening surprisingly quickly, I wasn’t expecting to see so much change so quickly. I often read that this is one of the last things to happen on T, but there’s no denying that my clothes are fitting different. My breast tissue has become a lot softer and frankly sort of… Deflated? Not like a popped balloon or anything, but they’ve become less heavy and feel less “full”. This has made binding both more comfortable and effective.

Also, fat seems to be migrating from my hips to my abdomen. I was worried about this part of the process a bit, not because I don’t want less fat on my hips, but more I was scared to have more fat around my waist. But it isn’t forming in the way that stomach fat used to for me- before, I got that little pooch at the very bottom of my belly, like a little fanny pack of fat. Now it’s more evenly distributed throughout my torso, which honestly makes my stomach look flatter than it used to.

My face is also a little less round, making my jaw look a little sharper. It’s not drastic in any way, but it’s been pointed out to me by others so I know that at least it’s not just in my head.

I’ve also become a lot more muscular. I’ve put on a few pounds, but I’m fairly certain it’s from the extra upper body muscle that I never had before. It’s not only visible, I can definitely feel the extra strength when I work out or even just do basic daily tasks.

As for the effects that I didn’t want- extra hair growth and clitoral enlargement- there’s still no sign of them! No facial hair in sight, and all my body hair seems to be growing as usual. To be fair, I shave my legs and armpits, so if there was a change there it might not be immediately obvious. But as far as I can tell, nothing about any of the hair anywhere on my body has become any different. And as for the bottom growth, there’s been absolutely no signs of change.

I’m still a bit sweatier than usual, and my scent has changed just a bit. Moreso “down there” than my actual body odor, but the difference is pretty slight and it’s not unpleasant. I get hot easier than my partners now, which is really unusual for me, but I’m not spontaneously sweating through my clothes throughout the day like I was at the very beginning so that’s a nice change.

Per my usual cycle, I should be beginning my period within the next day or two, but none of the usual signs that it is coming have occurred. I may have noticed a little bit of my usual pre-menstrual mood swing, but not nearly as dramatic as it has been in the past. I used to become absolutely distraught in the week before my period, but this time around I just noticed myself feeling a little more bummed then usual for about two days. No other signs of my usual hormonal cycle have occurred.

As for my mood as a whole, I feel a lot more confident and comfortable in my body. There’s a sense of “rightness”, as if the body I’m living in is actually mine now. I dissociate less, and I feel more connected to my physical experiences. I’ve also noticed I’m riding the bi-cycle the past week or two- not at all unusual for me, but at least worth noting. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, the “bi-cycle” just refers to when someone who identifies as bisexual (or otherwise multisexual) feels their attraction towards different genders shift, perhaps resulting in a temporary preference for one or more over others. I’ve been feeling extra into women and other non-male people lately, but again, I’ve gone through periods like this (and periods where I was far more interested in male-aligned people) plenty of times before.

To cap things off, things seem to be going really well. I’m getting everything I hoped to get out of HRT so far, and nothing that I was dreading. I hope this post finds you all well and that this update proves helpful in your own journeys. Best of luck out there, my friends.