Low-fat/Low-calorie diets and test

[DieTrying]

Hey fellas!! Nice board!!
I am a 22 yo male. To give a brief background, I've NEVER felt like a testosterone machine (even during puberty), but recently things have been very bad. I have a beautiful GF and I'm struggling in the bedroom. I went to the Dr. for blood work and test values were low. He immediately prescribed me Androgel without talking to me about exactly whats going on. Is this going to be something I face for the rest of my life?

Also- In the last8 months or so I've lost close to 70 pounds dieting using a primarily low-fat (10% of intake), healthy carbohydrate diet. Could my recent low-fat diet and my recent problems be correlated? Thanx in advance.

 

[Bob Smith]

Low fat diets can cause low(er) test levels in men. A fat intake of 30% of total calories has been shown to maximize your natural test production; going above that doesnt further increase T levels. You may want to try keeping your calorie intake the same as it is now, but replace some carb calories with fat calories. Try that for 2-4 weeks and see if that helps at all.

 

[SWALE]

Thanks, BS, that sure can happen. When CHOL levels drop below 140, it induces hypogonadism because the body is not getting the building blocks it needs to make the sex hormones.

I do wish your doctor had talked to you about all this more. But at least he is willing to prescribe TRT for you!

 

[davejohnson]

Were you diagnosed with hypogonadism while dieting?

If you'd been dieting for 7 months (!) using low-fat methods, I suspect you're not truly hypogonadal but instead severely in need of a break.

Most experts reccomend no more than 8 weeks of straight dieting before taking a week or two off at maintenance caloric intake. Prolonged dieting causes NPY, CRH, and other neurochemicals to increase, inducing the hypothalamus/pituitary to reduce testosterone production via decreased LH. Moreover, T4 to T3 conversion will be greatly impaired in the liver, decreasing active thyroid hormone in the body.

Both of these could contribute to your symptoms and the reduced leptin could definitely be responsible for temporary hypogonadism.

This is in addition to what SWALE mentioned; low fat intake (10%? Are you getting essential fatty acids?) can definitely contribute to low testosterone even on a eucaloric diet.

If the thought of lifelong TRT is somewhat frightening to you, I suggest you try to recover your natural production by stopping the AndroGel (discuss this with your doctor, of course) and returning to maintenance calories or above (getting 25-35% of your calories from fat). Do not underestimate the powerful influence of leptin on hormones, fatigue, sex drive, etc.

Also, realize that low fat is not generally the best way to diet, despite what the FDA might say. One of the most respected authorities on nutrition and fat loss in Lyle McDonald (www.bodyrecomposition.com). I highly reccomend reading some of his work, as he covers much of what I've mentioned above with regard to dieting.

Good luck.

 

[DieTrying]

Thanx for the reply. The blood test was taken when dieting. Yes I took breaks from dieting...it was not 7 months straight. I actually just came off of it all together, so we'll see how things go. The fats in my diet were basically all EFAs. I'm finishing up my Bachelors degree in Exercise Physiology, so I have a pretty good idea what I'm doing with the diet and training...and I am familiar with Lyle's work.

 

[DieTrying]

If the thought of lifelong TRT is somewhat frightening to you

I am really freaking out (so is my GF of 4 years) b/c this is NOT something that I want to deal with for the rest of my life. What are the chances of my levels going back up to normal levels on their own? I picked up my Androgel today, but I don't want to start it if I don't have to.

 

[SWALE-Follower]

I am really freaking out (so is my GF of 4 years) b/c this is NOT something that I want to deal with for the rest of my life. What are the chances of my levels going back up to normal levels on their own? I picked up my Androgel today, but I don't want to start it if I don't have to.

As long as you're applying AndroGel daily, you'll never be able to recover your own system. That's because you'd be providing testosterone from an external source and you'll alter your feedback mechanism that tells your testes to produce testosterone on their own. If you're really interested in recovering your own; I would be at your young age, I would stay far away from AndroGel and increase your fat intake and give your body some time to kick back its own juice. If that doesn't happen within a few months, you may have to accept the fact to be on HRT indefinitely. That would be okay; you'll be surprised at the number of guys your age who are undergoing TRT.

 

[Weatherlite]

Do a few searches on kickstarting your HPTA. Several have tried and failed. Several have tried and succeeded. Can't hurt to give it a shot!

 

[earthdog]

DieTrying,

First let me congradulate you on your weight loss. That is no easy task, what you accomplished. Is that you in the picture? Looking good, man!

Now make sure you tell your girlfriend that this is curable. That's the main thing she needs to know - that there are good doctors out there who can cure your condition. And you need to know it, too. You are not going to feel like this forever. You can be cured.

Now having said that....... If you can kickstart your htpa as Weatherlite suggests, after getting your nutrition straightened out, then you will be cured. If you can't, well, testosterone replacement therapy is your other option. It sounds frightening to some. But to those of us who are on it it has been a God-send. Before you do anything else, you must find a competent and caring physician who knows how to properly administer TRT. For many of us, that is the biggest challenge of the whole process. Because, many mainstream doctors do not see low testosterone as a health issue, or else they want to treat you but are not specialized in the science behind it. So you have to look. There are resources you can use to help find a doctor, and if you need to know about them, post here and we'll help point you in the right direction.

But once you find your doctor, the rest is not nearly as scary or inconvenient as you may think. A good TRT doctor will optimize your hormonal environment in a way that maximizes both your happiness and your health. There are plenty of guys your age who are on TRT and are doing great, possibly even better than their non-hormonally-optimized peers. LOL, I probably sound like a commercial at this point so I'll shut up now. Anyway, might I suggest that you read Dr. Crisler's TRT: A Recipe for Success in the stickies above. And tell your gf help is on the way. Sheesh, now I sound like a political ad.

EDIT: and also give proper nutrition a chance to work. I believe you will need to have a more rounded fat intake besides just EFAs. Have a cow man!

 

[DieTrying]

Thank you very much for your replies! I have an interesting conflict when it comes to the doctor issue. The Dr. that I am going to now (don't really care for him in the first place) is good b/c he recognizes that my test levels are a problem. As soon as I got my results back he wrote me a prescription for Androgel without really even talking to me about the situation. I'm happy that he is willing to give me the prescription, but on the other hand, I'd REALLY rather not use it if I can get my levels up without it (I'm really weird when it comes to medications- don't like taking them). But I don't want to piss him off by not using the Androgel b/c I'm afraid that if I do need to use it, I won't be able to find another Dr. to write me a script...

I made an appointment for Tuesday with a Dr. that I found through this site to get a second opinion....I'll see what he says.

Thanx for the fat-loss compliments. More pics and details at http://anabolicminds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25668. I def did go to long with the fats low (my own fault)...