I’ve tried searching and found many posts that discuss initial weight gain on TRT but not many mention longer term experiences. I am looking for some advice on what to expect and if\when to start being concerned.
I have put on around 12lbs since starting TRT. When I started I was around 238lb (@ 6’0") and now I am just shy of 250lbs. I started on 180mg Test Cyp and put on 7lbs in my first 4 weeks (I was traveling so not sure exactly when) and last week switched to 200mg pw and have since gained an additional 5lbs.
I know a lot of this can be attributed to water weight and I think that it’s mostly that with some muscle. I look better then I did before TRT but my waist has increased a bit so I know it’s not just lean muscle 
. My eating and working out have been better so I don’t think it is fat either.
For reference here are my pre TRT numbers and 30day numbers.
From the reading I have done this amount of weight gain seems normal my questions are
- Does this water weight stick around or is it temporary?
- Anything I should do to counter it?
- At what point should I be concerned?
- Got any experiences to share?
I gained 12 lbs in the first 6-8 weeks and then another 6 by week 12. My diet wasn’t great but by the 6 month mark I lost 15 lbs (weighed 5 lbs more than when I started trt) and was much leaner and way more muscle mass. By the one year mark I weighed 10 lbs more than when I started with a lot more muscle.
The water weight goes away. If your diet is in check you will be much better off.
I see your problem, SHBG is very low and therefore large infrequent dosing will only cause problems. You will not need very high Total T levels, your Free T is optimal and you just need more frequent dosing.
Your estrogen may not look high, but with low SHBG hiding in the background is probably a high Free E2 percentage, you’ll probably need estrogen closer to 20 pg/mL and more frequent smaller dosing will achieve it.
I have low SHBG (pre-TRT 14) as well and have problems with water weight on anything other than daily dosing.
yeah, I understand that I am at risk with the Estrogen due to my higher dose and low SHBG. I’ll be monitoring that and symptoms. Right now the weight gain seems normal and I didn’t feel blotted until yesterday, hence the post. I’ll give it a bit of time to see if it sticks around or is just temporary
Currently I am pinning twice a week and will increase frequency if symptoms require it.
Total T only went up 200 on 180-200 mgs a week ? That’s not good , are you pinning subq or Im ?
Try IM if your not , was a dramatic difference for me !!!
Yup, I was also surprised.
What exactly changed for you when you switched.
Total t went from 670 to 1190 , erection quality , libido and of course strength elevated
Interesting, any idea why it made such a difference?
Do you have much belly fat, I’m pretty fat in my mid section. 44" around the belly.
I’ve read some ppl don’t respond well to subq , I’m a 36-38 6’2 245 -250 fairly muscular with some fat .
Plus the bruising , lumps and pip age non existent wth IM
I switched to EOD IM about 7 weeks ago from daily sub-q and so far don’t feel as good as I did on sub-q. Everyone is different and the main thing you’ll learn from reading here is that you have to try it to know. If something isn’t working (after giving it enough time to work) then you have to try something else.
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When I switched to subq when I increased from 100mg /week to 125. I started sleeping better with in a week. Just at random I decided to do I’m for a week and the sleep issues came back.
Right now I am in week 7 but only just on week 2 since I upped my does from 180mg to 200mg, pinning twice a week SubQ.
My plan is to stick with this protocol for 2 months to see how things settle and will look at making changes. I want to give myself time to settle into a protocol before moving on but if numbers stay this low on SubQ after a few month I’ll try IM.
As an aside my weight dropped back down by 4 pounds since I started this post.
I’ve gained about 18lbs in maybe 6 weeks, probably closer to 4, it was crazy… went from 150 to almost 170, so I could probably stand to have gained a bit of that. It feels like a lot of water weight to me but hopefully not 100%
I have dropped about 5lbs of that though in the last week… I think it will drop / level off after you’ve been consistent for a while. That seems to be what most people have told me anyways
I am back down to 244 which puts my 5 pounds below my peak last week. Look like the jump last week was temporary possible due to my increase in dose from 180mg to 200mg.
So right now I am up 7 pounds since I started TRT.
Since my last post 3 weeks ago I am up another 11lbs. Puts my total weight gain at 18lbs. My diet has been a little off the last 3 weeks but not crazy. I generally have a good sense how my diet is gonna effect my weight and I wouldn’t be expecting much gain, maybe 2 or 3 pounds.
Going to try get my diet a little more dialed in and start tracking calories to track this better.
Hoping this settles soon I am running out of clothes to wear.
So after a couple weeks in the mid to high 250s I got tired of being so big and have starter to try really watch what I eat. This involves calorie counting, I am not perfect at it but trying to at least get a better handle on my macros, avoiding junk whenever possible and skipping breakfast most days to try limit myself to two meals a day, this is mostly to make the meal planning an calorie counting easier, plus I find it easy to skip breakfast most days.
I am down to 249.
Since my last post 2 weeks ago, I have put on 6 lbs and I am back into the Mid 250s. Which by itself sucks but I also had a follow up with my Doc today. They have an InBody scanner which is used to estimate Body composition. I did a scan as part of my initial appointment before starting TRT with a follow up today
According to the scan since starting TRT
I have put on 22lbs total.
I have lost 2lbs of fat
I have gained 13lbs of skeletal muscle mass
the rest, 11LBS is water weight
I know there machines are not perfectly accurate but honestly it’s all I got. 13lbs of muscle in 3 months would be amazing.
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Each person is different. I’ve done nothing but drop weight since i started June 1st. But my diet is in check and i workout 5-8 times a week really hard.
I’ve gained 25 pounds now since starting about 4 months ago. But, my composition has gone more in the direction of muscle.
Still a lot of water weight though. I’ve learned to stop fighting it, and just wait it out. I feel really good overall, and the extra weight is harmless.
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I’ve gained about 20lbs. It seems to be mostly muscle and water weight IMO. I’m sure it’d be more muscle if I spent some time at the gym.
