Hello All:
Let me first say this site has been very helpful just looking around the threads. Very impressed with how engaged and informative everyone is. So much so that I decided to get an account so I could be more active in the forums.
So let me give some back ground. I am 51 year old male that was a college basketball player and I was experiencing all the symptoms of "low T". My motivation to work out (and my just general motivation had all fallen the last many years). I couldn't sustain working out for more then a couple of work outs because i just "didn't feel like it.
Rewind to a few months ago and I did a home assessment from one of the new online men's Telehealth companies and boy am I super happy I did. It really has been super life changing.
So about 3 months ago I did my original blood work it got the following results from the home test
Total Testosterone - 230 ng/dl
Free Testosterone - 6 ng/dl
Estradiol - 28.1 pg/ml
Had my original zoom appointment and the DR said I was a good candidate for testosterone therapy.
As many of you likely know you need to do lab work to confirm the home test and those results came out as:
Total Testosterone of 363 ng/dl
(Not sure why but those results don't have free testosterone or estradiol)
The doctor prescribed .375 ml shots of 200 mg/ml Test-C twice per week. Thanks to you fine people on the forums I now know that equates to taking 150mg/week of testosterone. I am also prescribed 1MG tablet of anastrozle which I have learned is to keep your body from turning testosterone into estrogen and doing things like growing breasts tissue.
So with that as my treatment back ground I can't tell you how absolutely fabulous I feel with SOOO much more energy and importantly FOCUS at work. Not only have I been able to be more active in life but my motivation to work out and work out hard has been thru the roof. Really the first time in 10 years that I feel truly motivated and have been able to sustain work outs.
At three months you need to do another blood panel which I did about 3 weeks ago. This time the panel came back as follows.
Total Testosterone of 1050 ng/dl
Free Testosterone of 27.4 ng/dl
Estradiol of 27 pg/ml
So bottom line I am feeling great and being able to sustain working out like I have not in at least 10 years.
Ok, a little more about me than a few questions.
I am 6'7" approximately 295 pound. As I mentioned, in college I weighed about 225 when I was in shape. Honestly I am probably stronger now then I was then but I would love to get down to about 240 pounds. (Quick aside: I haven't dunked in at least 10 years and I was at the gym with my son this week and my legs felt good and I *almost* got one down off of two feet! lol. So now I have a goal of being able to get one down clean as this journey progresses. (would be awesome to dunk in my 50's) Just more about how much I feel this is working. I wouldn't have even have tried to dunk for the last 10 years as the thought of it would have hurt too bad. (seriously, I have that much more energy!)
In addition to working out hard, I have made a point since I started TRT to eat very clean. Lots of salads, grilled chicken, etc. I ate pretty much like shit prior to this as was with much before TRT i didn't have the motivation to eat right. (sounds odd I know, but i am convinced the testosterone has motivated me to eat better too!)
I have taken "before" pictures and I take a take pictures about once per week. I am trying not to worry about the scale but more how I look in those picture. I have already noticed improvement and I promise to post the before/after once i get to 240! (I will also post video if i can get a dunk down cleanly at age 51!)
Ok, so now my questions.
1) I am familiar with the old adage that it is hard to build muscle while losing weight. Are my current Testosterone/free testosterone level sufficient that I might be able to have gains while i get down to the 240 pounds that I hope to obtain?
2) I don't know what my levels where when I considered myself in good shape in my 20's, but i am wondering with my current levels of 1000+/27+ are higher then they were even in my 20's and I can expect some anabolic effects of the level of TRT I am on. Like said differently, in addition to increasing to where my levels used to be, I am hoping to get some extra anabolic effect from teh amount I am taking.
3) I realize that the activity and better diet will lead to fat loss, but I am wondering if higher testosterone levels in of them selves will aid weight loss. I am wondering if testosterone ALL BY ITSELF will lead to fat loss.
4) I am several quarters away from this as goal 1 is to get to 240 while hopefully being able to maintain (gain?) the current strength . (My strength has gone up a lot since I started. Hopefully this continues as I lose weight) but. . I am already considering perhaps "augmenting" my doctor approved TRT in a years time or so if I continue to feel this good. I am more looking for the "long and lean" physique as opposed to building lots of muscle mass. Would there be different "stacks" I would use if my goal was "long and lean" as opposed to mass?
Ok, that was a lot. thanks to everyone that made it through this posting and might have some advice.
As this progresses I promise to post my before/after pictures and I will most definitely post a vid of me dunking when/if I finally get it down at age 51. (damn, I was SOO close this weekend. had several that were in and out. would have made it if the rims were break away! lol) and to those of you considering TRT, i can't emphasize how much I wouldn't have even considered trying 6 months ago. It really has made me feel that much more energetic and vibrant in the last 4 months
SO, in your best guestimates, the change in my testosterone levels. good enough for what I am trying to achieve over the next 6 months or so? Ideally I would love to get stronger while losing the fat. (But I also realize that is a super tough ask! (but maybe not on the testosterone I am on?)
Exciting stuff. thanks for everyones advice. And I really am not thinking of doing anything more for atleast 2 to 3 quarters as I am super happy with the results so far and I know more is not always better. But I am just trying to get the knowledge and understanding of what I might want to do if I go that direction sometime in 2023!
Comments and advice welcome!
Thanks in advance
Let me first say this site has been very helpful just looking around the threads. Very impressed with how engaged and informative everyone is. So much so that I decided to get an account so I could be more active in the forums.
So let me give some back ground. I am 51 year old male that was a college basketball player and I was experiencing all the symptoms of "low T". My motivation to work out (and my just general motivation had all fallen the last many years). I couldn't sustain working out for more then a couple of work outs because i just "didn't feel like it.
Rewind to a few months ago and I did a home assessment from one of the new online men's Telehealth companies and boy am I super happy I did. It really has been super life changing.
So about 3 months ago I did my original blood work it got the following results from the home test
Total Testosterone - 230 ng/dl
Free Testosterone - 6 ng/dl
Estradiol - 28.1 pg/ml
Had my original zoom appointment and the DR said I was a good candidate for testosterone therapy.
As many of you likely know you need to do lab work to confirm the home test and those results came out as:
Total Testosterone of 363 ng/dl
(Not sure why but those results don't have free testosterone or estradiol)
The doctor prescribed .375 ml shots of 200 mg/ml Test-C twice per week. Thanks to you fine people on the forums I now know that equates to taking 150mg/week of testosterone. I am also prescribed 1MG tablet of anastrozle which I have learned is to keep your body from turning testosterone into estrogen and doing things like growing breasts tissue.
So with that as my treatment back ground I can't tell you how absolutely fabulous I feel with SOOO much more energy and importantly FOCUS at work. Not only have I been able to be more active in life but my motivation to work out and work out hard has been thru the roof. Really the first time in 10 years that I feel truly motivated and have been able to sustain work outs.
At three months you need to do another blood panel which I did about 3 weeks ago. This time the panel came back as follows.
Total Testosterone of 1050 ng/dl
Free Testosterone of 27.4 ng/dl
Estradiol of 27 pg/ml
So bottom line I am feeling great and being able to sustain working out like I have not in at least 10 years.
Ok, a little more about me than a few questions.
I am 6'7" approximately 295 pound. As I mentioned, in college I weighed about 225 when I was in shape. Honestly I am probably stronger now then I was then but I would love to get down to about 240 pounds. (Quick aside: I haven't dunked in at least 10 years and I was at the gym with my son this week and my legs felt good and I *almost* got one down off of two feet! lol. So now I have a goal of being able to get one down clean as this journey progresses. (would be awesome to dunk in my 50's) Just more about how much I feel this is working. I wouldn't have even have tried to dunk for the last 10 years as the thought of it would have hurt too bad. (seriously, I have that much more energy!)
In addition to working out hard, I have made a point since I started TRT to eat very clean. Lots of salads, grilled chicken, etc. I ate pretty much like shit prior to this as was with much before TRT i didn't have the motivation to eat right. (sounds odd I know, but i am convinced the testosterone has motivated me to eat better too!)
I have taken "before" pictures and I take a take pictures about once per week. I am trying not to worry about the scale but more how I look in those picture. I have already noticed improvement and I promise to post the before/after once i get to 240! (I will also post video if i can get a dunk down cleanly at age 51!)
Ok, so now my questions.
1) I am familiar with the old adage that it is hard to build muscle while losing weight. Are my current Testosterone/free testosterone level sufficient that I might be able to have gains while i get down to the 240 pounds that I hope to obtain?
2) I don't know what my levels where when I considered myself in good shape in my 20's, but i am wondering with my current levels of 1000+/27+ are higher then they were even in my 20's and I can expect some anabolic effects of the level of TRT I am on. Like said differently, in addition to increasing to where my levels used to be, I am hoping to get some extra anabolic effect from teh amount I am taking.
3) I realize that the activity and better diet will lead to fat loss, but I am wondering if higher testosterone levels in of them selves will aid weight loss. I am wondering if testosterone ALL BY ITSELF will lead to fat loss.
4) I am several quarters away from this as goal 1 is to get to 240 while hopefully being able to maintain (gain?) the current strength . (My strength has gone up a lot since I started. Hopefully this continues as I lose weight) but. . I am already considering perhaps "augmenting" my doctor approved TRT in a years time or so if I continue to feel this good. I am more looking for the "long and lean" physique as opposed to building lots of muscle mass. Would there be different "stacks" I would use if my goal was "long and lean" as opposed to mass?
Ok, that was a lot. thanks to everyone that made it through this posting and might have some advice.
As this progresses I promise to post my before/after pictures and I will most definitely post a vid of me dunking when/if I finally get it down at age 51. (damn, I was SOO close this weekend. had several that were in and out. would have made it if the rims were break away! lol) and to those of you considering TRT, i can't emphasize how much I wouldn't have even considered trying 6 months ago. It really has made me feel that much more energetic and vibrant in the last 4 months
SO, in your best guestimates, the change in my testosterone levels. good enough for what I am trying to achieve over the next 6 months or so? Ideally I would love to get stronger while losing the fat. (But I also realize that is a super tough ask! (but maybe not on the testosterone I am on?)
Exciting stuff. thanks for everyones advice. And I really am not thinking of doing anything more for atleast 2 to 3 quarters as I am super happy with the results so far and I know more is not always better. But I am just trying to get the knowledge and understanding of what I might want to do if I go that direction sometime in 2023!
Comments and advice welcome!
Thanks in advance
