This is going to be a lot of information and hard to organize. And I will probably forget something. I have been talking with KSman through PM but wanted to get some more opinions on this topic.
I know natural bodybuilders have a tough time when they start getting to contest levels of body fat…
But in my case I was/am nowhere near contest shape(see avatar)
I have been getting my diet/cardio guidelines from Shelby Starnes since feb of 2010. Now some of these symptoms have been ongoing for a couple years. But since i started this journey 5 years ago I have always been bulking or cutting for the most part.
So anyway, the symptoms came to an all time high this summer. My diet was very low carb with 5 training sessions/week and 7, 60 minute cardio sessions/week.
The symptoms: which match up very well with my hormone levels.
Fatigue
non-existent sex drive, couldn’t care less for females.
low overall zest for life, prefer to just lay in bed.
Poor sleep
losing strength and energy to train, just overall weakness the explosiveness is just gone.
Also lost my overall daily pep. Sometimes just going for a walk mid-day drains me.
I couldn’t even play Frisbee golf one day. Literally had a hard time even taking another step.
Basically my question is with these low of numbers, should I just wait it out and see if they improve as my diet slowly but surely provides more and more calories? Is it possible for all these to come back online over time? Obviously I dont want to go on any kind of HRT if I dont have to.
Currently i feel better than 8 weeks ago, calories/carbs are up, i have put on 5-7lbs. cardio is down to 30 minutes, 4x week. I just now backed off to training 3 days per week and lowered volume and intensity. Kind of in a maintain/coast mode. If my adrenals were taxed, I am hoping they will recover. But even though i feel better. I went from death feeling to just ho-hum feeling. The big time fatigue has lifted, just mild now. The rest of the symptoms are still strong.
So to summerize:
Dieting since Feb. Slowly decreasing carbs and the last 10 weeks were 100 or less every day, then 30 or less every day for 4 weeks. 3 refeed/cheat meals in those 10 weeks.
I was using caffeine/ephedrine consistently for about 12 weeks. Towards the end it was twice daily. I did take a 3 week break in june.
Body weight at end of cut 189.
Starting august 2nd I went straight into a maintaining/slow gain phase. and stopped ephedrine. cut cardio by half.
First blood test sept 2nd AM Fasted - see below
sept. 8th started 50mg DHEA/day and an extra 150mcg iodine and added an additional 2000 IU/day vitamin D3. Was at 4000 IU/day.
Second Blood test sept 20th AM Fasted - See below
Sept 20th cut cardio to 4x/week along with training down to 3 days/week.
Sept 24th stopped all caffeine intake.
Current body weight 196
Average weekly morning temps since august 5th. As you can see they seem to be improving.
week 1 - 96.3
week 2 - 96.4
week 3 - 96.5
week 4 - 96.5
week 5 - 96.6
week 6 - 96.6
week 7 - 96.6
week 8 - 96.9 (not complete yet)
9-2-10
TSH - 2.630 uIU/mL [0.450-4.500]
Testosterone, Serum - 315 ng/dL [280-800]
Estradiol - 21.7 pg/mL [7.6-42.6]
DHEA-Sulfate - 201.9 ug/dL [160.0-449.0]
Free Testosterone(Direct) - 5.9 Low pg/mL [8.7-25.1]
C-Reactive Protein, Cardiac - 0.21 mg/L [0.00-3.00]
Prostate Specific Ag, Serum - 0.2 ng/mL [0.0-4.0]
HDL Cholesterol - 55 mg/dL [>39]
Triglycerides - 48 mg/dL [0-149]
Cholesterol, Total - 119 mg/dL [100-199]
T. Chol/HDL Ratio - 2.2 ratio units [0.0-5.0]
LDL Cholesterol Calc - 54 mg/dL [0-99]
Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy - 69.2 ng/mL [32.0-100.0]
Glucose, Serum - 67 mg/dL [65-99]
9-20-10
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 2.3 pg/mL [2.0-4.4]
Thyroxine (T4) 8.3 ug/dL [4.5-12.0]
TSH 2.380 uIU/mL [0.45-4.5]
FSH 1.4 mIU/mL [1.5-12.4]
LH 2.7 mIU/mL [1.7-8.6]
I went to my GP back in june, he just wanted to put me on an anti-depressant. And told me my protein intake was going to ruin my kidneys. Even after I told him I had testicular pain and all my other symptoms. He told me to buy a “box fan” to sleep better and take an SSRI… wtf doc. Shit.
So I chose to come out of pocket for those blood tests through LEF.org. Hopefully they are enough to at least give a doctor reason to order the next round of tests for me so I dont have to pay out of pocket.
So any input on diet/over training being the sole responsibility for my problems?
Thanks,
Beau