Unpopular opinion…..

TrenVeryHard

New Member
I’ll start by saying not every overweight person should but you don’t have to wait to take steroids. Back story: Steroids have changed my life for the better. For legal reason I can’t state employment but I have two relatively active jobs but they don’t require you to be in shape. I’ve always been larger framed but carried excess fat. I would lift weight 2 or 3 days a week because I enjoyed it but would eat like shit. Roughly 5-6k calories a day of what ever the hell I wanted. After learning the symptoms of low testosterone I got my testosterone levels checked and found out my test level was 180. I began to self medicate January of 2024. January 2024 I weighed 265 lbs. I decided to start on self prescribed “trt” dose of 250mg/wk. I also decided to “bulk” which yes is dumb. May 10th, 2024 I’m now 278lbs (a lot fatter not much more muscle) and I tear my pec bench pressing at the gym. I end up getting pec repair surgery in July 2024. I weighed 262lbs the day of my surgery in July and realized I needed to change. I decided to change my cycle and be smart with the drugs.

To summarize July to now:

July 5, 24 I was 262 lbs, 43” waist, 16” biceps.
Jan 20, 25 I weigh 227lbs, 38” waist, 17.25” biceps

I started in July on 250 Test E, 200 Mast E, 100 Tren E weekly. I’m now up to 250 Tren weekly but everything else is the same and I added 100 EQ weekly to help control estrogen. I convert easily.

But morale of my story is everything I read says I should have waited to take the steroids until I got to where I am now. But everyone I tried to get where I am now I failed. The steroids gave me the confidence and the extra boost I needed to push myself. I was able to see the results and that kept me going. Obviously steroids are not for everyone. But get your bloodwork done and if you’re overweight but still heathy enough, steroids can help you. BUT START YOUR DOSE LOW AND SLOW. I even went up too quickly.
 
Hey brother,

This post would have been a great "new member" post in the "Welcome" section of the forum. Maybe another post there with even more details, if possible, would be cool. Anyway, welcome!

Pec tear... Glad to hear you're healed up and progressing. That's one reason many will say start AAS later. The propensity for injury is higher when using AAS before establishing solid physical training strength/tolerance (mainly because muscles get stronger faster than ligaments and tendons), but you were already eatablished with some training. It's behind you now. How does the pec feel when training? Any limitations/hesitations?

Fat loss... great progress... congrats! I don't think utilizing AAS to achieve fat loss is necessarily an unpopular opinion. Low T/hormone levels can seriously impact lipolysis. And, in your case, you were seriously low on T. Some may say AAS may have even been necessary.

Please update, hope to hear more bro!
 
Yeah dude, drugs work. No one doubts that. But training and diet is what is the most important and drugs can mask a shity plan. When you stop progressing you will have to focus more on those to improve.

Idk what you look like but I can bet you would have seen great gains by just diet and good, solid training. No one goes from a slob to prefect over night it takes time.

If I read that right, you’ve been taking tren for 7 months?

Anyway, best of luck dude glad your making progress.
 
For some reason I couldn’t find the new member post haha. I can be a little slow sometimes haha. But absolutely I could have made the same progress with just diet and exercise just would have taken longer. The issue is every time I tried it I wasn’t seeing or feeling the results and gave up. I feel the drugs working. I see the drugs working and they give me that boost I need.

Yeah I have been on tren 7 months. I’m about out then I’m going to take time off of it. I’ve gotten blood work done every 6 weeks though to make sure I’m not just killing myself. Everything has always been within range. Hematocrit was high one time but I was very dehydrated due to having the flu and not drinking water. Other than that everything has always been within range.

But I do plan to go down to just 250 Test E only for at least 4 months once these vials run out.

I definitely am not “lean” yet. I would estimate myself around 22% bf. I’m 6” 227lbs. My end goal is to be 210 lbs but around 13-15% body fat.

I agree most guys in here agree there’s nothing wrong with using the drugs to help you. Most “influencers” our guys you see online say not to use steroids until you hit your generic potential. That that should only be those who are trying to compete at the highest level of body building. Not us average dads who are just trying to live a normal life and be bigger than our daughters boyfriend haha
 
Two things, low testosterone, and "I convert easily."

Both of those things are caused by high body fat.

If you drop down to 8% body fat, you will find suddenly that you do not "convert easily."

I am not criticizing you for the steroids, but I am pointing out that steroids were not the only solution to your situation, which was caused not by low testosterone but by your eating habits ("5-6000 calories a day of whatever I wanted").

Speaking of which, how do you structure your diet now?

Are you doing cardio?
 
Not us average dads who are just trying to live a normal life and be bigger than our daughters boyfriend haha
Haha, love it. I am in a similar boat. I dieted down (6'1" 260 to 173) while lifting the whole time. Hopped on gear once I hit my all time low weight and further increased my training intensity. up to 195 now and feeling great. Like you, I have a job that is active but not conducive to healthy living, so it makes it hard. No aspirations to be a body builder of physique athlete, just want to be more jacked than any boys my daughter will eventually want to date. Sounds stupid, but I'm sure all girl dads get it.
 
Two things, low testosterone, and "I convert easily."

Both of those things are caused by high body fat.

If you drop down to 8% body fat, you will find suddenly that you do not "convert easily."

I am not criticizing you for the steroids, but I am pointing out that steroids were not the only solution to your situation, which was caused not by low testosterone but by your eating habits ("5-6000 calories a day of whatever I wanted").

Speaking of which, how do you structure your diet now?

Are you doing cardio?
You are absolutely correct. I believe my high body fat was definitely the main contributor to both estrogen conversion and low testosterone.

I do fasted cardio 5 days a week in the morning. I do at least 30 minutes of incline walking on the treadmill at 4mph with the incline on 15.

As far as my diet goes, I basically eat the same exact thing every day except for dinner. I eat what ever my wife makes for dinner haha. My breakfasts every morning is 7egg whites and 3 whole eggs. Morning snack is a protein bar. My lunch is a cup of rice and 8oz of chicken breast with a cup of 2% cottage cheese. Pre gym meal is half a cup of oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder and creatine. Post gym I have 2 scoops protein powder. Then pre dinner snack I have protein puffs from aldi’s (1 serving.) Dinner I have what ever my wife makes. Evening snack I have Non fat Greek Yogurt (2 servings) with 1 serving protein granola from aldi. That’s my daily eating basically every day.
 
Haha, love it. I am in a similar boat. I dieted down (6'1" 260 to 173) while lifting the whole time. Hopped on gear once I hit my all time low weight and further increased my training intensity. up to 195 now and feeling great. Like you, I have a job that is active but not conducive to healthy living, so it makes it hard. No aspirations to be a body builder of physique athlete, just want to be more jacked than any boys my daughter will eventually want to date. Sounds stupid, but I'm sure all girl dads get it.
Haha I’m glad someone else understands! I love it. I got two girls and one is a teenager. I’m not ready for it haha.
 
Word of advice, take PLENTY of pictures of your progress you'll appreciate it later. If you have any, feel free to share with us if you're up for it. Seeing some of the folks transition is amazing and encouraging.
I have photos from when I started and from about a month ago. Nothing from in between though. I’m a little insecure but I’m try to hide my face for obvious reasons and get the courage to post them.
 
It’s becoming more of a popular opinion I think as people are seeing results with it. I think it’s easy to say like just don’t overeat and you’ll do fine but some people struggle with this more than others. For some people the test starts to make them feel better, they feel more motivated, they start working out and they’re seeing quick results which motivates them more, they start wanting to get the right macros in to get the most mileage from their test, they get regular bloodwork they weren’t getting before. Now you have a person that has adopted healthy habits as a reaction to starting hormones. Something they were not on a trajectory to do previously. A lot of it is psychological but I think the effect is understated. Does it work this way for everyone? Definitely not just like not everyone taking tirz is changing their relationship with food but a lot of people are still and it was the motivation they needed to get the ball rolling. We’re still in the midst of this experiment so we’ll see how it plays out.
 
It’s becoming more of a popular opinion I think as people are seeing results with it. I think it’s easy to say like just don’t overeat and you’ll do fine but some people struggle with this more than others. For some people the test starts to make them feel better, they feel more motivated, they start working out and they’re seeing quick results which motivates them more, they start wanting to get the right macros in to get the most mileage from their test, they get regular bloodwork they weren’t getting before. Now you have a person that has adopted healthy habits as a reaction to starting hormones. Something they were not on a trajectory to do previously. A lot of it is psychological but I think the effect is understated. Does it work this way for everyone? Definitely not just like not everyone taking tirz is changing their relationship with food but a lot of people are still and it was the motivation they needed to get the ball rolling. We’re still in the midst of this experiment so we’ll see how it plays out.
This is 100% true for me. I didn't care at all about fitness, I just wanted to not die early. But once that needle started moving and I felt better, I got super motivated and now I'm that fitness guy that everyone hates. I'm like Chris Traeger from Parks and Rec.
 
I have photos from when I started and from about a month ago. Nothing from in between though. I’m a little insecure but I’m try to hide my face for obvious reasons and get the courage to post them.
I was insecure too and wish I did take more pictures, especially without a shirt. I went from 205 lbs (30+ BF) to 152 currently (12% BF). Take those pictures for yourself at the very least, you'll appreciate them down the road.
 
I was insecure too and wish I did take more pictures, especially without a shirt. I went from 205 lbs (30+ BF) to 152 currently (12% BF). Take those pictures for yourself at the very least, you'll appreciate them down the road.
That’s awesome progress bro. Glad to hear that
 
As far as my diet goes, I basically eat the same exact thing every day except for dinner. I eat what ever my wife makes for dinner haha. My breakfasts every morning is 7egg whites and 3 whole eggs. Morning snack is a protein bar. My lunch is a cup of rice and 8oz of chicken breast with a cup of 2% cottage cheese. Pre gym meal is half a cup of oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder and creatine. Post gym I have 2 scoops protein powder. Then pre dinner snack I have protein puffs from aldi’s (1 serving.) Dinner I have what ever my wife makes. Evening snack I have Non fat Greek Yogurt (2 servings) with 1 serving protein granola from aldi. That’s my daily eating basically every day.

Does this have you losing body fat? Seems like a lot of food (meals and snacks) for someone prioritizing fat loss but I have no idea if this puts you in a deficit. If so, rock on.
 
Does this have you losing body fat? Seems like a lot of food (meals and snacks) for someone prioritizing fat loss but I have no idea if this puts you in a deficit. If so, rock on.
You can't really tell calories or macros or anything at all from what you quoted.

If the scale drops, then it drops. If it stops, he can always start tracking so he can make adjustments.

Since he is eating the same thing every day, he can simply pull some items with a lot of fat or reduce the size of carb portions to progress again if he stalls, without needing to track.

Dinner with the wife might need to be more planned at some point to continue.
 
5’nDoes this have you losing body fat? Seems like a lot of food (meals and snacks) for someone prioritizing fat loss but I have no idea if this puts you in a deficit. If so, rock on.
Is actually less than it sounds. I had stir fry for dinner. Tracked everything I ate today. Which is the same as everything typed above and then 1 serving of stir fry.

Calories: 2318
Fats: 69
Carbs: 134
Protein: 286
 
Since he is eating the same thing every day, he can simply pull some items with a lot of fat or reduce the size of carb portions to progress again if he stalls, without needing to track.

Dinner with the wife might need to be more planned at some point to continue.
This is precisely my thought process. The first month I tracked everything. I was eating the same foods every day with the exception of dinner. Always was under 2700 calories. UNLESS I was having a stay on track day (what I call my “cheat days”)

So I quit tracking it every day and the scale is still dropping, my pants are still getting bigger on me, my sleeves are still getting tighter on my biceps. So for now it’s working. I will tighten things up when I notice progress stalls. But for now it’s suiting my life very well. And it’s easy for me to stay on track with it.
 
I agree but don’t tell everyone your secrets because you won’t stand out as much as you feel now if everyone else starts doing it too.

Lol how’s that for an unpopular opinion!?
 
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