Hi,
I (33, male, 1.80m/5’11") had a DEXA scan in May (81kg, 39% BF) and was told go on a low-calorie diet with 2x fasted LISS, 2x HIIT and 1-2x light strength training per week to lose fat. I did that for about 12 weeks and had another scan a month ago (76kg, 35% BF, kept all muscle, lost 4.5kg fat). According to the consultant, I still need to lose 15kg fat and gain 15kg muscle.
After reading Austin’s excellent testosterone article on the Starting Strength blog and finding that I had quite a few of the symptoms, I went to a drop-in lab to get my T tested: 9.4nmol/l (270ng/dl).
My question: is my body composition and T levels still in the range where I can and should manage this situation by myself (with resources like yours and Starting Strength), or should I seek medical advice?
Based on the limited information we have here, I would continue what you’re doing (and get the other basic evaluation done that I mentioned in the article: thyroid function, sleep study, etc.).
Your testosterone level is likely to normalize as you lose the excess body fat.
Austin, thank you for your reply and for taking the time to respond. I will schedule an appointment with my doctor for the mentioned tests. I’m also thinking about showing him your article and disussing the symptoms with him, although I suspect he’ll be less than thrilled about that (“patients self-diagnosing on the internet” etc.).
You mentioned information being limited, what else would help? For the sake of brevity I kept my initial post as short as possible, but perhaps I can elaborate. I can tell you that 1.5 years ago I was 90kg and lost nearly 10kg through diet and some sporadic exercise.
PS: I forgot to mention my height (1.80m/5’11"), I added it above as well.
The additional labs mentioned and complete medical history.
Overall, it sounds less and less like low testosterone is the cause of your issues, but rather the result. That said, you deserve an appropriate work up too
Thank you for responding as well, Jordan.
Medical history is pretty short. Had a head injury as a small boy (it was a skull fracture I believe, marble table 1 - me 0), had some minor gynecomastia during puberty (some tissue can still be felt on the right side, luckily it doesn’t show, perhaps it’s not from puberty but from more recent fattiness), lots of moles (had to have some removed, nothing beyond a few dysplastic naevi), no allergies, no medication, no disabilities.
That’s good to hear, it’s not like I look forward to TRT. Will schedule an appointment with my GP for next week or so to discuss those tests.