First try at using steroids

[thejumpingsheep]

Thanks guys - I read all the comments and greatly appreciate the advices!
I'll answer the questions asked:

When I say no gains I just mean I am not experiencing any progression in lifts at the moment, but I do attribute that to the 1-1.5k average calorie deficit daily. I do full body split every other day, these are my current numbers:

All movements are performed to or very close to failure (1 RIR), in sets of 3. The numbers below represent the average number of reps on the first set.

Incline bench: 70 kg (154.3 lbs) x 6
Strict dead hang pull ups x 2 (going to 7-ish total with partials)
Cable lat raise: 15 kg (33.1 lbs) x 10 (2:1 exchange on cables)
Straight legged DL: 130 kg (286.6 lbs) x 5
Chin up (bicep focused) x 4 (going further with partials)
Cable overhead tricep extension: 70 kg (154.3 lbs) x 8 (2:1 exchange on cables)
Leg curl: 50 kg (110.2 lbs) x 10
Cable face pull: 55 kg (121.3 lbs) (2:1 exchange)

I am losing a steady KG a week at average.
I am guessing my BF based on physical appearance.

I have struggled with depression for 15 years. I am not saying its because of low T. It's probably a combination of being overweight, insecure, lazy and maybe a genetic predisposition. I am just looking for the easiest possible way out.

Workouts are ok. The weights are probably akin to 1st year but given calorie deficit, those numbers make sense. Yes lack of gains are most certainly due to caloric deficit. You are likely catobolizing (destroying) muscle as fast as you gain it.

In general, during a huge cut, the goal for many isn't to gain but to maintain. So I think that if you are shedding 2lb a week and your strength is not dropping, you can call that a success.

If you want to make gains while cutting you will need to adjust that deficit to something more reasonable. Maybe 500cal a day with maybe one day a week replenishment (full calories). This will go a long way with fatigue and stress. Another major thing to watch out for is sleep. Good sleep, not just any sleep. Tossing and turning is not good sleep. Get a fitness tracker that tracks sleep and keep a close eye.

Obviously gear can help under the right conditions but not at that big of a calorie deficit. That deficit will blunt the gear impact. Also as other stated, the problem here is you will likely aromatize test at a high level making it less effective.

I will say this, if it was me, knowing what I know now, I would bring that calorie deficit down to 400-500 and then go on TRT. But I have a lot more experience and that matters. In general, when it comes to big cuts for us normal people, I recommend slow and steady but thats just me and its how I did it. I respect folks who want to do a fast cut and bulk after. Its an option that works for some. But if you are exhausted and bored maybe you should change things up? If for no other reason, mental health?

As for injections, I actually think you should start with small doses but I would go into muscle not SubQ. Why you ask? To train the muscles... it takes a while for muscles to adapt to gear. Virgin muscle will get sore and complain when you start. So it actually make sense to do smaller pins early on to start training them for bigger doses later. Increase dose of pins as muscles adapt until you can do just 1 per week in a muscle with no issues.

SubQ does work for some folks. It worked fine for me at low doses but really its not needed. The differences are minor and SubQ has its own problems. If you have bad blood flow and the oil sits there too long it can cause irritation, swelling, and other issues. This happened to me when I tried to inject too much SubQ. It went away eventually but it took more than a week. Nothing is risk free. I would reserve SubQ for other stuff. Eventually you will probably want to mess with HGH/HGHS, healing compounds, GLP agonists (even if you arent fat), and PCT and those will want SubQ.

Finally note its highly unlikely you need AI at TRT doses. Do get some AI meds just in case but 95% odds you wont need them. Dont panic if you see E2 at around 40-50 (doubtful at 140mg/wk). It might be over reference range but it really isnt dangerous. If you feel gyno sides then sure, take an AI but otherwise, E2 will likely make you feel better, not worse. Especially joints and tendons. It also helps with skin.

 

[Dingalanga]

Workouts are ok. The weights are probably akin to 1st year but given calorie deficit, those numbers make sense. Yes lack of gains are most certainly due to caloric deficit. You are likely catobolizing (destroying) muscle as fast as you gain it.

In general, during a huge cut, the goal for many isn't to gain but to maintain. So I think that if you are shedding 2lb a week and your strength is not dropping, you can call that a success.

If you want to make gains while cutting you will need to adjust that deficit to something more reasonable. Maybe 500cal a day with maybe one day a week replenishment (full calories). This will go a long way with fatigue and stress. Another major thing to watch out for is sleep. Good sleep, not just any sleep. Tossing and turning is not good sleep. Get a fitness tracker that tracks sleep and keep a close eye.

Obviously gear can help under the right conditions but not at that big of a calorie deficit. That deficit will blunt the gear impact. Also as other stated, the problem here is you will likely aromatize test at a high level making it less effective.

I will say this, if it was me, knowing what I know now, I would bring that calorie deficit down to 400-500 and then go on TRT. But I have a lot more experience and that matters. In general, when it comes to big cuts for us normal people, I recommend slow and steady but thats just me and its how I did it. I respect folks who want to do a fast cut and bulk after. Its an option that works for some. But if you are exhausted and bored maybe you should change things up? If for no other reason, mental health?

As for injections, I actually think you should start with small doses but I would go into muscle not SubQ. Why you ask? To train the muscles... it takes a while for muscles to adapt to gear. Virgin muscle will get sore and complain when you start. So it actually make sense to do smaller pins early on to start training them for bigger doses later. Increase dose of pins as muscles adapt until you can do just 1 per week in a muscle with no issues.

SubQ does work for some folks. It worked fine for me at low doses but really its not needed. The differences are minor and SubQ has its own problems. If you have bad blood flow and the oil sits there too long it can cause irritation, swelling, and other issues. This happened to me when I tried to inject too much SubQ. It went away eventually but it took more than a week. Nothing is risk free. I would reserve SubQ for other stuff. Eventually you will probably want to mess with HGH/HGHS, healing compounds, GLP agonists (even if you arent fat), and PCT and those will want SubQ.

Finally note its highly unlikely you need AI at TRT doses. Do get some AI meds just in case but 95% odds you wont need them. Dont panic if you see E2 at around 40-50 (doubtful at 140mg/wk). It might be over reference range but it really isnt dangerous. If you feel gyno sides then sure, take an AI but otherwise, E2 will likely make you feel better, not worse. Especially joints and tendons. It also helps with skin.

Thank you very much for taking the time to type out such a detailed and informative response, I appreciate it!

To clarify; you recommend doing a smaller cut and adding a TRT equivalent dose of test right away, or is that your recommendation IF I am starting right away? Would you still advise me to stay off until I reach a more suitable BF%?

 

[Duraclear]

Hey, you're not looking bad, dude. Congrats on all the progress you've made. You have some decent muscle up top. Obviously you've got a bit of a gut to clear away still, but you will get there. Good work.

Some people are not fans of daily subq administration or think it's a fad. I can understand that, but I keep meticulous records and have empirically confirmed that it produces better results for me. Everyone is different, and you will always hear various opinions, so ultimately, it's up to you to do your own research, take opinions into consideration, then go with what you determine to be best and test what you're doing via labs and results.

As far as depression, it's really tough to say whether TRT will help or not. I've seen it touted as a cure for depression, and I definitely think it can be in some cases, but I've seen plenty of cases where it did not help. In my case, I have had bouts of depression in my life, and when I first started TRT, I was very deeply depressed. I am much less depressed than when I started. It is tempting to attribute the change entirely to TRT, and it's possible that it was. On the other hand, I started at the tail end of covid, we had all been locked inside for two years, the world looked like it was ending, and I was a fat bastard who had badly let myself go.

So... I don't know. My baseline probably tends less towards depression now than it did before I started TRT, but it's tough to say.

I initially told you that it would probably best to wait, but now... I don't know. The risk/reward ratio in your case may favor starting TRT. It's a tough call, and only you can make it. 140mg will likely take you over the reference range. In my case, it put me at 1500 total, put hair all over my back, thinned my hair up top a bit (fortunately I am blessed with good hair genes), and affected my sleep somewhat. 100mg puts me at around 1100 total and the side effects are effectively nil while producing similar results. I do not believe that I am a hyper responder, and I think most (not all) people who report far lower total T levels at similar doses do not administer daily and are probably testing in their trough, then either quoting that number directly or extrapolating their average from it incorrectly. But I'm not them so I don't know.

It's all up to you. Good luck!

 

[Country Club Hero]

I think this sounds like a decent plan, but I'd wait until you are a healthy body weight and fit before starting TRT. You aren't hypogonadal, your low T levels are probably because you're obese (25%+ bf).

I think going from obese to fit can make a world of difference in just about every metric in your life. This could be all you need to improve your mental health. Often times using gear makes mental health worse and not better.

Are you doing anything to address your ALT? A GLP-1 could help improve those values along with weight loss. Also cleaning up your diet and cardio is a good idea too if you aren't doing that already.

I think if you do those things, you'll fix the problems you have. TRT probably isn't the magic pill you are looking for.

Edit: Just saw you are on Reta — nice. Probably a good idea to add some liver supplements.

OR he could use all the positive effects of optimum testosterone to fuel his drive to get lean. So much easier that way. Why make things more difficult than they need to be?