I’ve been on trt 11 years and all in all I’m doing pretty well. The one thing I’ve always had issues with while on trt is the inability to lose weight and just being more flabby than when I was natural. I’m sure a good deal of it’s water weight because the higher my dose the worse it is. Before trt I was always very lean and easily able to lose weight. Im just wondering if long term suppression of upstream hormones play a part in this and if anyone else has noticed this.
Weight gain on trt
- Thread starter sh1973
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Smokin Joe
Active Member
I have the same problem.
The times that I have come off TRT I'd drop about 10 pounds right off the Rip!
I'm off right now and have dropped from 222 to 215 in several weeks.
Cant figure it out as not much has changed in habits.
The times that I have come off TRT I'd drop about 10 pounds right off the Rip!
I'm off right now and have dropped from 222 to 215 in several weeks.
Cant figure it out as not much has changed in habits.
I know exactly what you’re saying. I eat very healthy and exercise religiously but looking at me you’d never know I was on testosterone. I was much leaner off trt for sure. I think it shuts down something upstream that controls metabolism weight loss and libido because I seem to suffer in all those arenas
BrooklynJerry
Member
I thought TRT was supposed to make you leaner and raise libido?
That is how its marketed, but very few of us get increased libido or notice much in the way of getting leaner unless we are very strict with diet.
Another Great Day
Active Member
Madman is one of the many great clinical guru's here, any thoughts?
I too experience the same. My diet cannot be any cleaner, I lift 5 days a week and get in about 7,000-10,000 steps 5 days a week. Losing 5 pounds takes months. Water retention from test would be a thought concerning "weight gain"
I too experience the same. My diet cannot be any cleaner, I lift 5 days a week and get in about 7,000-10,000 steps 5 days a week. Losing 5 pounds takes months. Water retention from test would be a thought concerning "weight gain"
Vince
Super Moderator
I’ll and my 2 cents. I’ve never had weight gain or loss of libido on trt. Recently I added in nandrolone and so far I’m getting good results. My orgasms are actually improved!
Some men do have issues on trt but I don’t think that it’s many. It’s just that they do most of the posting, because they are having issues. Why post if everything’s going good?
Some men do have issues on trt but I don’t think that it’s many. It’s just that they do most of the posting, because they are having issues. Why post if everything’s going good?
madman
Super Moderator
Diet/training is key let alone genetics when it comes to muscle gains/fat loss.
The use of exogenous androgens will result in the retention of sodium, chloride, water, potassium, calcium, and inorganic phosphates.
Bloating/edema can be common in some.
Most of the initial increases in weight gain are water-related whether extra-cellular/intra-cellular.
Building up new muscle tissue (actin/myosin) takes time and proper diet/training protocol is needed.
Even then no one is packing on any significant amounts of muscle mass using average trt doses 100-150 mg/week.
Too many seem to think that when jumping on trt all of a sudden they are going to get big and muscular.
If anything changes in body composition..... gains in pure muscle tissue (actin/myosin) /fat loss will be minor when compared to using steroid doses of T 300-600 mg/week.
Once you come off of trt or steroids any water weight you have put on will be shed quickly as you will piss it out and the retention of any newly built muscle tissue (actin/myosin) will only be retained/maintained if diet/training is on point and of course endogenous T is brought back to a healthy level.
Bet most men on average can put on 5-7 lbs water weight on trt.
Abusing androgens/AAS in high doses could result in much more.
Libido/erectile function is far more complex than just simply having healthy testosterone levels let alone estradiol/DHT/prolactin!
I was thinking the same thing. I gained 15lbs on cypionate, but no HCG.
I’m sure part of its was water weight, but TRT also significantly increased my appetite.
I put on more water weight with hcg. I don’t use an ai. I have a high shbg usually in the 70s so estrogen has never been an issue. I only dose 60-80mg per week of cypionate because any higher just causes side effects. I feel good at a lower dose but I do seem to hold water excessively on trt even with lower doses. I exercise 7 days a week mostly cardio and some light strength training. I can’t do any heavy lifting due to a severe arm injury.
Another Great Day
Active Member
Just curious, What type of side effects do you get when your dose is higher than 60-80 mg per week?
Another Great Day
Active Member
Ok, If I am that dose I am depressed, tired, and unmotivated. At a higher dose those issues are gone. Everyone is different.
I agree 100%.
That said, I wish TRT gave me some libido, some energy and some ability to if not gain any muscle, at least recover from exercise better. We are different and genetics play a huge role as you stated so I have to deal with the hand I was dealt. If I was younger and not shut down so hard I would try a restart. I had low T before so I know I would go back to that low level if I could restart, but TRT feels exactly like Low T to me. I do have a consult soon so perhaps I could feel something - anything at all would be nice - from adding low dose Deca or Stanozolol to my protocol as others here have done. Fingers crossed.
The higher I go the worse I feel in most every aspect. Even 60mg puts my 7 day trough at nearly 700ng. I respond very well to lower doses
I'll offer my opinion about the possible cause of your complaints, and others in this thread. I believe your fundamental assumptions about a testosterone link to libido and weight gain are absolutely incorrect. I would chalk up your weight gain, inability to lose weight, flat moods, lack of energy, disappointment about libido over time, lack of motivation, being tired, etc to time and typical age-related insulin resistance. The typical western diet has grown to include wild amounts of sugar or fined milled gains that digest instantly to sugar. Plates of pasta, masa products like tortilla chips, mashed potatoes, pizza, taco Tuesdays and margarita Fridays, not to mention sweet smoothie drinks with sugar, agave, turbinado sugar, raw sugar, honey (my point here is that it doesn't matter the form of sugar or what you call it, it's sugar), office cookies and donuts, etc, lead to decades of dousing your bloodstream with so much sugar people bloat out with insulin- over time the amount of insulin your pancreas has to release increases because your cells grow resistant, and more insulin leads to more fat storage- it's the fat-storage hormone. You can look at photos of WOMEN and men, that's right, it's not just men, decade by decade, and 90% of them start to get fuller faces, love handles, fat asses, etc. Decades later you get pre-diabetes, ED, high blood pressure, zero libidos, cranky, and stents. The typical American's bloodstream is awash with glucose. No wonder a high percentage suffer from limp dick syndrome. But I am able to lose weight on a very low carb diet, about two pounds per week if I don't cheat, and I'm taking 140mg a week of replacement T (divided M-W-F subQ). We can talk about low carb, how low carb an individual needs to be on depends on the degree of insulin resistance. Full disclosure, I am a previous fat, limp-dicked bastard guilty of all the assumptions in this thread, I'm not better than anyone else, and I am losing weight on a KETO diet. There are other diets that do the same thing (low insulin provoking diets), and those would be low-carb, Wheat Belly, South Beach, the original Atkins, and Banting. The KETO diet is just the new name for a low glycemic, low insulin hormone provoking diet. There is no new diet. All of these do the exact same thing. They cut out sugar, and things that digest as sugar (all grains). And you will lose, slowly, (as resensitizing your body once again to reasonable about of natural insulin levels takes time), and slowly lose weight. And yes, this is despite being on replacement T. The replacement T makes zero difference. Zero.
You could be right but I’ve never ate many carbs and been 15-16% body fat but just look puffy especially in the face. My problems with libido started about 1.5 years on trt. I’ve ate a healthy diet for the last 20 years or so and exercise daily. I’ve never ate many sweets and honestly the only bad habit I have is drinking bourbon a few nights a week. I just think the upstream hormones get shut down and cause a plethora of side effects after long term suppression. I really think I just need to get off trt honestly.
Have you pulled an A1C in the last year or two? The A1C shows how much sugar the red blood cells have been exposed to over their entire lifespan. It's the gold test. And I will say this about carbs, the American Dietician Assoc says diabetics should eat around 120grams of carbs daily, but I have to eat around 30grams to lose weight. The average American eats around 300 or more, sometimes lots more. OK, lets put insulin it's effect on bloating and weight aside. I will say your T levels are way beyond mine. My trough is always almost exactly 500, my peak around 650. Mine are normal levels of a younger person. What about going lower on your T before giving up? Before starting T my level was 200 and my PSA rising, mood foggy, and grumpy. No way I'm going back to that! Now I feel great, my PSA keeps going down (1.9 at age 63, my brother in law who's 56 and not listening to me is PSA 9 and going in for surgery). My doctor says none of his functional medicine patients get prostate cancer, only his regular patients.
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