Hello from the UK! My name's Seb. I'm 32 and living in Yorkshire at present. I'm also a transgender man (i.e. when I popped out they said "it's a girl" and my brain disagreed)... Usually, this isn't relevant, but in the context of working out, I should be starting testosterone soon. This will masculinise my voice and appearance,as well as making it easier to build muscle. I'm kind of nervous about it, but also very much looking forward to it. I joined this forum, as I want to make the most of my work outs and get advice on diet and getting strong. So fitness stuff... Back in March 2010, I got tired of getting hassle for being fat, so I went to the gym. Between then and March 2012, I lost around 40lb of fat, though it was mostly through cardio and I was running long distances (half marathons - I have dyspraxia and a clicky hip, so not great at speed, but determined enough to cross finish lines). In 2012, I had a break down and got very unwell. The medication made me constantly exhausted and I gained a lot of weight back. It's taken me until 2014 to be well enough to get off the medication. It was around that time too, that I came out as transgender and a lot of pieces regarding how I felt about my body fell in to place. There are loads of experiences transgender people have, but some of the areas I have been affected by were issues surrounding gyms and feeling incredibly insecure about my body. It's taken a while to learn to manage this and recently I have started back at the gym, am working on changing my diet and am taking the bull by the horns to try and achieve a body on the outside that I feel matches me on the inside. Starting testosterone (when I can) should help with this, though won't be the answer because whilst it should give me muscle growth like most other men, I know I'll have to still work hard to push my body to its potential. So yeah, that's me. I've been back in the gym seriously since the beginning of this month (lost 3lb fat, if that counts, but I wanna focus more on muscle now). Am having monthly sessions with a PT, mostly focusing on weights. I am working on my diet and improving it to try and maximise the effect of the work I put in... I don't expect changes overnight, but hoping for some muscle definition by the end of this year. Oh yeah... And vegan since 2007. I don't know much about vegan diets for body building, so hopefully this forum will help.