1 Year Clean Diet

This site has helped me dial in my TRT and blood work to a t. But I’m 48 years old 6’6" tall and float in at 390#, 31% body fat (by hydro test) My diet has been clean, for 10 months, I log on paper everything that I eat, 5 meals on off days 7 on training days, 1 cheat meal (Pizza) a week.

I can spell out my macros if interested but in short until the past 12 weeks my calories were at 2700/3000 off days, 3200/3400 training days with 4 cups brown rice on training days (2cups pre 2 cups post) 2 cups on off days. 12 weeks of 0 carbs lost 19# in first 5 weeks gained most back in last 7 weeks. I’m very muscular, bench 450 raw, squat 500 (bad knees) dead 450 for 6 reps not a wuss.

Cardio 0n off days 20-30 min on bike 15 min on training days, train 4 days a week. back bi’s, chest tri’s, shoulders. legs, then calves abs 3 days a week. 200mg T split into 2 doses, 1mg anastrozole split into 2 doses taken with each sub q injection TT around 700/800 mid injections tested, E2 at 22-28. Feel great just too much body fat. I’m thinking liver (fatty liver) is what Dr. says I have? I don’t know what else to do. The no carb is not working. some things screwed up.

These things are important to fat loss:
higher TT and FT levels
E2 near 22 pg/ml
optimal thyroid function, adequate iodine/selenium, see the sticky
decent cortisol levels
proper insulin sensitivity

TT 889 300-890
FT 68.5 3.8-34.2
E2 28.8 1-47

FT4 0.79 0.58-1.64
FT3 2.46 0.34-3.30
TSH 2.85 2.00-3.30
DHEa sulfate 91 35-430
RT3 15 9.0-27.0
cortisol 8.3 8.7- 22.4
DHT 400 106-719
first am body temps never 97
usually 95.9-96.4 for 12 weeks
98.0 mid day during heavy work only or treadmill only…

I don’t love my thyroid panal but Dr. wont touch it.
Did 5 weeks iodine replenishment @ 50mg a day then cut to maint. dose to get the above results. started with a
low T4 7/14 DR said 'synthroid" but after 6 months iodine/selenium I recieved the above Thyroid panel, so Dr said my Thyroid was fine.
Fatty Liver
7/14
ALT 68 7-52
AST 32 13-39
again on 9/14
ALT 26 7-52
AST 20 13-39
I think “fatty Liver” is a big problem. What Dr. says is fine fatty liver,I believe is one fat loss problem

how do we check insulin sensitivity accurately?
fasting glucose 94 65-105 on 9/14
1/15 fasting glucose 87 65-105

Need waking and mid-afternoon body temps.
please review fT3 units and number

Thyroid labs before or after IR?
TSH says that you are not fine.
fT4 is below mid range
ft3 ??

If body temps are low, thyroid function is not right.
Do not take temps when you have been eating, drinking, talking or exercising.

Cortisol was low if you did around 8AM [should]

E2=22pg/ml would be optimal.

Have you read the thyroid basics sticky and advice for new guys?

I think Cortisol is because of HPTA shut down, low Dhea- sulphate so low cortisol? possible over training? Since those labs I take 100mg DHES but haven’t re tested.

…Labs start breaking the bank…but worth it
fT3 2.46 2.00-3.30
thyroid labs are after IR
they were low fT3 and TSH was higher before I did IR
I have read the sticky’s and that is why I did the IR and what has informed me that even though the Dr’s are fine with lab results I know they suck.

The Dr.'s discredits the temp. approach to Thyroid test. (I think temps are gold standard)
My walking and mid day temp has hit 98 deg several times (not often) but I’m working pretty hard when it does.
The 95.2’s to 96 temps are before I even step out of bed no food no drink etc.
My body temp never is over 96.2 unless walking, working outside ect.

Also even in intense workouts I rarely sweat, tired most of the time, dry skin and have had ED issues for years, etc. It took me 3 Dr’s to find one that understands TRT. They all steer away from optimizing the thyroid.

If I can loose 60# of fat the labs would be different I know. But 1 year of no bullshit hard core training and a diet to be proud of and (according to hydro test) I’ve lost 11# fat. For a 400# guy That’s not a good result. on 1ml T (200mg) a week (.5ml x 2) and training hard I’ve hit numbers on bench, squat, deads that I haven’t seen since my competition powerlifting days 20 years ago, THAT’s Great, but my knees, stamina etc. can’t do 26-30% body fat.

I train with some hard core competitor’s who say T4 supplementation is prob next step. I really want a Dr on board with that though I’m 48 and not as care free as I once was. supply is pretty trustworthy but still pharm. grade is true blue and predictable.

While there are better thyroid panels, it’s not possible to attribute your results to your blood values. There are millions of guys with values worse than this who lose fat more easily, and who stabilize at much lower bodyfat.

There’s often an over-emphasis on tweaking hormonal values as a solution to major difficulties. I don’t see small differences to free T4 or free T3 making a major difference. To some extent the high TRH aggravates the high bodyfat condition, but it also will not be the major cause of that by any means nor a major remedy.

As you’ve already spotted, more of the same in the different aspects involved is not going to work. I would say that more of the same plus some adjustment within normal range of the above values will not make a major change either.

I do make a point of which forum on the site is which: people are looking for answers in specific areas and they have their choice of areas to ask. I am convinced that there’s an absolute wealth of information on this website that would help far more than tweaking thyroid values, given your present panel and experiences. But I think it best to limit replies to the area of each forum and the above is what I can contribute on the likely effect of improving the listed blood values.

Your fT3 is way short of mid range. fT3 is used to modulate mitochondrial metabolic rates to control body temperature. I think that B.R. statement is wrong. I think that your low fT3 is the problem. fT4 is also low, which makes sense re fT3.

DHEA–>cortisol does not exist
progesterone–>cortisol is the mechanism
Please have a look at: Steroid hormone - Wikipedia
Only HPTA link would be reduced testicular pregnenolone production [hCG or SERM can help support testes]

Prior to IR, what was your intake of iodized salt and/or multi-vits that listed iodine [typ 150 mcg]?

Pre IR iodine intake was basically no existent, long term low fat, low sodium diet etc. With my 405# first visit to DR my cholesterol was 158 and was high HDL so Dr. was thrilled…I have worked very hard to take in more fat (mostly good) and have increased total cholesterol to 180. That is just to say that spells LOW fat diet previously. I failed to add previously from 19 years old to 40 I lost over 100# + more times than I can count with foolish “Dr supervised” fast type diets. That may be where I screwed my thyroid?. Either way I’m convinced the T3/T4 issues are contributing as well as the fatty liver issue. Liver has also taken a beating from long term over use of NSAI’s and 15mg Mobic a day for knees. again trusted the Dr’s.

But now that I have been educating myself I have learned I really caused a lot more serious deficiencies. I’m not in search of a quick fix or looking to be 10% body fat, but 18-20% should be reasonable within 3 years if I can find the bottle neck in the fat loss resistance. I don’t thin M.D. is going to be much help at this point but I have a lab that will do lab work pretty reasonable so I will monitor closely if I try a T3 supliment.