Why Me? Raising My Testosterone

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Gentlemen, I need your advice. I am 28 yrs old, 5-10, 153 lbs BF 7.8 % and I have low T. I would like to think I have a great diet and work out program, but that doesn�??t mean a damm thing without T. If you guys had low T, what would your diet and workouts look like? I would like to raise my T, because I am on the verge of just giving up working out due to no results. I�??ve work too hard and eaten so well over the years for nothing.

My low T resulted from my past anorexia where I went from 228 lbs to 94 lbs to my current weight. The docs, calipers, underwater testing says I am 7.8% body fat, but I don�??t look like it. The docs said my T levels would return to normal when my weight raises, yea BS.

Medical stats:
Total T -304
Bio ava.- 151
Free T- 53
SHBG- 34
FSH- 0.9
LH- 2.1

Intake stats: 3000 kcals Monday-Friday, 2200 Sat-sun, 50% carbs, 30% pro, 20% fat
Work out stats: weights 4 x a week, 60 minutes sessions, and minimum cardio, I over train easily, little or no results in years

I have taken testim that did raise my T levels to over 1,000, but did nothing else, it lowered my LH, FSH, shrunk my nuts, did not help my muscle growth at all. I�??m also weaning off of Zoloft. Please respond someone.

2

What do you mean “why me?” You’re not the only 28 year old with low T levels. Its not such a bad thing if you deal with it properly.

You can either try Alpha Male, which will raise your T-levels, or get a new doctor and have him prescribe you HRT.

Do a search on here, HRT/TRT has been discussed here plenty.

3

I just wanted to wish you well, but have no idea how to advise you. I can feel the frustration in your post. All is not lost friend, you’re still young and have some time to sort this out. I will say, in my opinion, once the meds are in the mix all bets are off as far as what effect they will have on your physical pursuits.

4

[quote]rrjc5488 wrote:
What do you mean “why me?”
[/quote]

He’s emoing out because he has low T levels, duh.

5

thank you for your replies, I will take them to heart and see what happens.

6

Do you squat? Squatting is the #1 exercise for increasing testosterone.

Give us a break down of your workouts. You should be focusing on compound exercises since they release the most testosterone.

Try upping the fat in your diet…more like 40% carbs, 30% protein and %30 fat. Eat lots of peanut butter, I heard the mono unsaturated fat is good for T.

7

Yeah, isn’t there like a couple articles on here that say that sat fat and just fat in general increases your T levels…

8

There is a free pdf by Jeff Anderson on “Raising T-levels naturally”. PM me your email and I;ll send it to you.

9

experiment with a higher fat/ more saturated fat diet

10

I can tell you right now that if you’re overtrained and your body is at a weight that is much lower than it wants to be at, your testosterone levels will be low.

I overdieted for my first show this past April. I lost a LOT of weight and my test levels were around 40 - no lie. I have since blown back up to a decent size and even surpassed my previous highest weight and my testosterone levels are fine now. I’m at 200lbs with 9 percent bodyfat.

In short, your doctors are probably right about the weight thing.

It seems like you have a fast metabolism. I would try scaling back to 3x per week training and NO cardio. If that doesn’t work raise the cals a bit.

11

Stop being so obsessed with having low body fat. I don’t have proof that you are obsessed with it, but… 7.9% is so fucking low that you must be working very hard to maintain such a low level. Consider doing squats and DL’s and eating.

12

[quote]DanErickson wrote:
Stop being so obsessed with having low body fat. I don’t have proof that you are obsessed with it, but… 7.9% is so fucking low that you must be working very hard to maintain such a low level. Consider doing squats and DL’s and eating.[/quote]

If he’s an ecto it wouldn’t really be that low. If he’s a meso or endo however…

13

[quote]jzap624 wrote:
Gentlemen, I need your advice. I am 28 yrs old, 5-10, 153 lbs BF 7.8 % and I have low T. I would like to think I have a great diet and work out program, but that doesn�??t mean a damm thing without T. If you guys had low T, what would your diet and workouts look like? I would like to raise my T, because I am on the verge of just giving up working out due to no results. I�??ve work too hard and eaten so well over the years for nothing.

My low T resulted from my past anorexia where I went from 228 lbs to 94 lbs to my current weight. The docs, calipers, underwater testing says I am 7.8% body fat, but I don�??t look like it. The docs said my T levels would return to normal when my weight raises, yea BS.

Medical stats:
Total T -304
Bio ava.- 151
Free T- 53
SHBG- 34
FSH- 0.9
LH- 2.1

Intake stats: 3000 kcals Monday-Friday, 2200 Sat-sun, 50% carbs, 30% pro, 20% fat
Work out stats: weights 4 x a week, 60 minutes sessions, and minimum cardio, I over train easily, little or no results in years

I have taken testim that did raise my T levels to over 1,000, but did nothing else, it lowered my LH, FSH, shrunk my nuts, did not help my muscle growth at all. I�??m also weaning off of Zoloft. Please respond someone.
[/quote]

I am not a doctor but Alpha Male should help out i believe.
good sleep diet and exercise should stabilize your t levels.
come on man, read the articles!!

14

To Digity-
yes I do squats, that is one of my favorite exercise. A break down of my work out is:

Mondays
3 minutes of jump roping
3 minutes of stretching
Squats 5 sets, increasing 10 lbs every set, 1 minute rest
Front squats 1 set 15 reps
Superset
Lunges 3 sets, 12 reps
Calf-raise 3 sets, 25 reps, 1 minute rest
Superset
Step ups 3 sets, 12 reps
Stiff leg dead lifts 3 set, 12 reps, 1 minute rest
Cable abs 3 sets 20 reps
2 minutes of jump roping

This takes 50-60 minutes, at 300pm in my garage
Mondays and Thursdays are my lower body days, they are both some what similar
Tuesdays and Friday are my upper body days which are in the same format.

I have changed my diet to include more good fats, with peanut butter being a main staple. 50 carbs , 20 pro, 30 fats @ 3000 kcals.

To U_mombooto-
Yes please email me that pdf, I will read it. My email address in Jzap624@sbcglobal.net. Thank you for that.

To Brendan Ryan-
I will follow your advice. Three work outs a week and no cardio sounds like on of my rest weeks. I have probably working too hard. I haven�??t gained weight in months, I will increase accordingly.

To ZeusNathan- I haven�??t heard of alphamale, but I will check it out. I will be getting a new endocrinologist, since my old one is leaving, so I will be forced to see a new one, hopefully with a different perspective. I have been reading the articles, but there are so many and some can get complex. But what I have come away with is :

Don�??t go below caloric maintenance
Don�??t do the low carb thing
30% fat in diet
Use heavy weights in the 5 rep range
Don�??t train 2 days in a row (crap)
Rest harder that you work out ( double crap)
Sleep is more important that working out

15

OK. First, don’t get on Testim or anything else again just yet (including OTC test boosters). You need to get back into the more middle range T levles naturally for long term health, clearly it’s not going to have an immediate impact of muscle building for you.

You are possibly overtrained or very close. Keep eating well and make sure you are getting enough fats. Get tested again in 4-6 months. Hitting the gym hard is OK if you are recovering properly. Plus you may still be recovering from your anorexia - it can take many months to years for hormone levels to re-balance after a major trauma.

I’ve seen many stories like this and most people managed to get their T levels back up to something reasonable. Do yourself a favor and try to get your T levels back up in the normal range (400-600) before your HPTA does shut down.

Have you had HGH tested (well IGF-1 is the actual first step blood test)? I’m wondering why a 3x increase in T levels did nothing for you. What about symptoms, did those change? If not I would strongly suspect you still have a diet problem and are probably close to (or at) overtraining - in that ;state’ building muscle is going to be very difficult. Maybe not because of your gym time/effort, but lack of good rest and nutrition.

I assume your freeT is 5.3 not 53ng/dl. And although your doc did reasonable lab work, he should have explained that taking Testim would have those effects. If in future IF you really do need TRT, you should also take HCG, that will prevent shrinkage. I’d also consider a test for E2 (male version) and as stated above, IGF-1. If your E2 is high (compared with your T-levels) I would consider suppressing it for a short period of time to see if that helps. I would expect it is fine though (low bodyfat + reasonable SHBG).

What symptoms of low T are you experiencing? If any they are probably similar to symptoms of overtraining.

16

Definitely a good start. Really try to stick with doing this for 4-6 months - no OTC test boosters and see where you are.

Hope your new endo is good - they are very hard to find IMO. I actually ended up with a Urologist with an keen interest in male hormones after searching and interviewing several doctors (form endos to PCP docs).

My cynical view, from experience:

Unfortunately in the area of male hormones, especially with athletes, formal education means less than intelligence + a keen interest. a lot of Endo’s are happy making good money out of Thyroid and diabetic patient and don’t really give a toss about male hormone problems. They’d rather just prescribe anti-depressants and get the kickbacks or whatever other benefits they get for pushing those drugs.

17

my free T is at 50pg/ml, which equates to 1.7% which 1.6-2.9 is average. I have not felt fully rested in many months and my eyes feel heavy all day. It takes me a long time to get to sleep and I usally wake up b4 my alarm. Once I start working out, all my sleepness goes away. I will check on HCG, I have never heard of that before.

what do you guys think of fish oil for low T?

18

After searching through my extensive lab results, I can not fin any testing done for HGH IGF-1. I will request this test to be done. As a matter of fact, I was the one to push the doctor to test my T levels after he insisted that low T was not the problem.

19

[quote]jzap624 wrote:
my free T is at 50pg/ml, which equates to 1.7% which 1.6-2.9 is average. I have not felt fully rested in many months and my eyes feel heavy all day. It takes me a long time to get to sleep and I usally wake up b4 my alarm. Once I start working out, all my sleepness goes away. I will check on HCG, I have never heard of that before.

what do you guys think of fish oil for low T?[/quote]

Try taking some tyrosine. I can say, from personal experience, that whenever I feel run down, I pop a gram of tyrosine and feel loads better hours later. The effects might be slightly different for you, but this may help you.

As for fish oil, I’ve never heard of it directly affecting T, but I’m sure any healthy fats will go a long way to increasing your T levels. Just make sure you bring your cals up to a decent level; 2200 isn’t going to cut it imo. I’d try increasing cals per day by 200 every 1-2 weeks, depending on what takes priority: leanness or higher T.

20

[quote]jzap624 wrote:
my free T is at 50pg/ml, which equates to 1.7% which 1.6-2.9 is average. I have not felt fully rested in many months and my eyes feel heavy all day. It takes me a long time to get to sleep and I usally wake up b4 my alarm. Once I start working out, all my sleepness goes away. I will check on HCG, I have never heard of that before.

what do you guys think of fish oil for low T?[/quote]

Well, you don’t need it for now (the HCG), but I think you pretty much answered my questions there - rest, recover for at least several months before getting re-tested. I would absolutely not be trying to raise T-levels by heavy lifting at this stage. Recover first, then get back to working out hard.

Either go 3-4x week, easy, low volume or 2x/week hard, but rest well between workouts. None should go to or very close to failure.

There may be no problem at all. Depressed T levels are to be expected if you are overtrained, stressed etc… and at 300, they are low, but not ‘very’ low. 400+ is ‘healthy’. maybe not optimal, but at least healthy.