I thought this was the most fitting place to post this- even though it doesn’t involve steroids. Long story short, I’m a jackass and have most likely suppressed my testosterone and thyroid hormone levels. For the past two or three months I have been living extremely poorly, and wanted to drop fat as fast as possible. So for the past 2 months my diet has been protein powder, natural pb, fish oil, a multivitamin, and about two gallons of water a day.
My daily intakes have been about 1800 kcals, between 180-200 grams of protein, between 80-100 grams of fat per day, and less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day. I was unable to lift weights for most of these two months and lost a significant amount of muscle. I took this test, http://adamtest.com/test5.asp and answered 6 out of 10 as “yes”.
I have recently started lifting again and have upped my calories and am eating eggs again(cholesterol)- I can afford to eat more now. I have also started to include carbohydrates post workout, about 60 grams. I have also been without zinc supplementation, a bottle is on the way. So my question is… is there anything I can do, other than a visit to the doc or pharmaceutical intervention, to stimulate my hormone levels back to normal? any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I should also include that I’m 6 feet 2 inches tall at about 250 pounds with about 20 percent body fat. I am continuing to lose weight and plan to until I reach my goal.
The best methods of stimulating thyroid output, and thus increase metabolism, are exercising and (over)eating. Sleep also plays a large role in thyroid (and all hormone) regulation. Provided you are getting proper sleep, I suggest eating more and working out more. In order to eat more and not gain weight you need to expend more energy.
Think of it this way: if you eat more and exercise more and have the same net energy loss you will improve your body composition much better than eating less and exercising less. There is something called G-Flux that was coined by one of the authors here regarding this idea, or something similar.
eat less, work less
eat 2000 calores + 1500 calories of work = 500 cal deficit
vs.
eat more, work more
eat 2500 calories + 2000 calories of work = 500 cal deficit
This second option will help restore your thyroid function while still resulting in weight loss, and subsequently is better for both performance and body composition. If you aren’t already doing so, I suggest eating more frequently, spreading your total food intake over five to seven meals per day instead of just two or three.
Even though you are eating the same amount of food, the meal timing is beneficial for both thyroid activity (metabolism) and body composition.
These are the basics of thyroid function and exercise/diet. Let us know if you have any additional questions.
thanks for the advice. I will increase overall kcals and make sure to eat every two hours or so. I lift three times per week, and am going to include a lot of jump roping-probably after each lifting session. I am also going to perform two sprint sessions per week, and will make sure to keep my nepa levels up. Once again, thanks for the help.