I feel you are justified in feeling your fat intake is WAY to low. You are shorting yourself. As far as T levels only a test could show 4 sure.
Now there are really to darn many things to go into and I feel you would be better served to read the Fats Roundtable I & II then take that info. and come back to us all with some more directed questions.
Read up on your fats my man! Your intake is low. There are many sources of fats that you can benefit from. Mr. Berardi has some great info. on this site that will help you “dial” things in.
And yes, fats can certainly have a positive impact on your t-levels if they are in need of a boost.
fedorov, you need roughly equal amounts of polyunsaturated fat, monounsaturated fat and saturated fat. You don’t have to raise your fat intake by much. Shoot for 20% of your calories from fat.
Additionally, consider supplementing with Alpha Male to increase T levels.
If you’re working out hard, don’t forget to get plenty of sleep.
How many days a week are you working out and how long are you in the gym when you’re working out?
First did you read the Round Tables? They will help.
2 what exactly makes you think your test levels are low, symptoms?
3 I think you simply need to take in more k/cals. If you are consistantly walking around at 4-7% then it is going to be damn tough to put on any muscle. Your body is going to use anything you give it to simply survive. You need to eat a bit more and not be affraid of carrying a little fat.
Upping you fat intake could be a great way of getting those extra cals and have the effect of naturally raising your test if it is suppressed due to low fat intake.
TT gave you some great guidlines as far as intkae is involved. Now you just need to get your intake to be on the plus side vs energy spent to put some weight on. Either by cutting some of the cardio or other activity, by consuming more, or a combination.
Dont be affriad to put on a little fat. Increase you K/cals gradually by 200-300 bi weekly and asses your gains. If needed increase again. Shoopt for gaining a lb or 2 a week.
Fedorov, like Phil said, rather than guessing, get your T levels tested. It’s not that expensive, even if you’re not covered by insurance.
Since you want to put on some size, back off of your cardio a bit. Do two 20-minute HIIT sessions per week. And yes, definitely pick up calories a bit. Add 250 kCal per day to the 3200 you’re taking in currently. Weigh yourself weekly, and if any week goes by that you don’t gain scale weight, increase your calories again by 250 kCal per day.
Do you have any other reason to think your T is low besides not gaining? If not, start eating before making guesses. I dunno know why people go looking for medical problems when they don’t have everything else dialed in…
3200 wouldn’t be too bad if you were working out 3 times a week and sitting on your ass the rest of the time, but with 4-5 workouts and all the extra cardio, you are probably coming up way short. I’ll throw out that you probably want to shoot for closer to 4000, but there are tools and formulae out there for making the estimates.
It’s like crossing over into a magical world of possibilities when you finally start eating enough. It sounds like you are currently just starving yourself, and then doing some extra cardio for good measure.
I feel as though I have low T levels because I have zero sex drive, low energy levels, and have very slow facial hair growth.
As for increasing my fats, is a better idea to eat good fatty foods (salmon, nuts, peanut butter, olives) or supplement with oils (flax & fish)? If so how much?
If I up my calories what should my macro-nutrient ratios look like?
Are there any good workout plans that have worked for you skinny guys to put on mass?
All good sources of fat, yes, fedorov. Olive oil, avocado and certain types of RAW nuts are good for monounsaturated fat.
People who don’t eat enough saturated fat end up finding that their T levels drop, so have a “juicy” steak every once in a while. If you eat yogurt, have the full-fat variety (tastes better, too). Saturated fat, of course, is your animal fat, solid at room temp; butter, fat found in meat, etc.
The best source of polyunsaturated fat is probably from flaxseed, flaxseed oil, fish oil (all of which are high in Omega 3 fatty acids) and all of the vegetable oils which are liquid at room temp; corn oil, sunflower and safflower seed oil
Start doing some searches here on the forum and articles, both, re fat and educate yourself on their importance.
Up your fat to 25 to 30 percent total calories when you are trying to get bigger and stronger and you will be ammazed with the results. You will likely not even gain much bodyfat. peanut butter, almond butter, salmon, and olive oil are all easy ways to up your fat intake
Nobody’s mentioned yet that excessive cardio can lower T levels too.
It’s come up here several times. IIRC it was covered in the Cardio Rountable, and references to Your Doctor, Your Dealer. I could swear I remember guys talking about doing cardio like crazy to suppress T enough that their doctors would put them on supplemental Testosterone.
So, you’ve got Ethiopian BF, not enough fat in the diet, starving yourself, and doing cardio like crazy. DUDE! You have some funny idea of a bulking phase!
BTW, have you always had these symptoms of low Test or have they developed recently or been exacerbated by your traning regime? Maybe you do want to get tested, but since you are also doing things with your diet and training that supress test and inhibit your gains, a positive test for low T may just be confirming the obvious.
Think back on your training regime and when the symptoms started, or if they have been better or worse at different phases in your training. You may be able to find a correlation between your activities and your symptoms, and from that figure out what you need to change to get yourself progressing.
Oh and lets not forget that overtraining can make you feel like CRAP CRAP CRAP! Now that I think about it you are training a LOT. Maybe you are conditioned to handle it, but considering training volume in light of some of the other potential issues, especially the low caloric intake, and you may be exhausted simply because you are exhausted.
Maybe try something drastic like just take a week off, eat well and rest, and see if you don’t feel better. It will at least give you a sort of baseline.
You get really spoiled with your body when you are ripped year round. It is tough to give it up.
I would like to get bigger but obviously I don’t want to turn into a fat blob like many other lifters I see.
That is whey I have been doing 3-5 days of cardio in an effort to minimize fat accumulation and increase insulin sensitivity. Should I just ditch the cardio or stick to HIIT?
Could someone with successful lean bulking experience give a SAMPLE DIET similar to what worked for them.
The thing you will have to get over is that it isnt bad to walk around at about 10 or even low teens when putting on mass. You will need this to make GREAT gains.
Start slow. You may simply start by dropping some of the cardio. Accept that and then move on to a slow and progressive k/cal increase as well as making it priority to up the k/cals.
I still suggest getting test levels checked. That said many of the ppl I have delt with in your situation had excellent/surprising results just by taking in proper amounts of dietary fat.
Your diet. Well it really seems that what you are doing now is working to keep you lean and such. You are used to this. I would suggest keeping it simple and just tweeking your current diet a bit with what we all have allready suggested. No need in a total overhaul just to overwhelm you. Simply add a bit more fat and total intake. Drop some of the cardio and slowly get used to your SLIGHT increase in body fat. You dont need to get FAT.
If you really want to totally over haul your diet. Just ask. Post your current diet and we will all help out.
I am currently in the middle of the most best bulk I have ever done in regaurds of gains and limiting BF. What works GREAT for me may blow you up like a whale though.
Sounds like you’re going to have to make some changes in your game plan. Additional calories for lean mass gain are a good thing. A little extra bf along with the weight can can be expected for most of us. You can take that off over time and keep the gains. Don’t be too concerned with this. Just do it properly. Follow the advice given by veterans here (Tampa Terry,etc.). Read previous articles to get a better understanding of the “why” behind fats.
Don’t be afraid of change. Welcome it!
Seek information, learn, and apply it for success!
Best,
BodyIQ
Definitely up your fat intake to 20-30% (one third polyunsaturated, one third monounsaturated and one third saturated)
Also, perhaps cut back on the workouts. I would definitely include more rest days (perhaps try not working out two days in a row) whilst making sure that your workouts give you a lot of “bang for your buck” i.e. squats deadlifts, chins, rows, presses etc.
Finally, as the peeps above said do not be afraid to go up to 12-13% bodyfat in order to gain. Remember, that typically in order to gain you need a surplus. It need not be a huge surplus, just enough. Therefore, keep a detailed food log, track all calories, fats, protein, and carbs. If you’re not gaining add, for example, 250 cals a day to your total and see how that goes for two weeks. If still no progress, add 250 cal a day more for another two weeks. You prob just need to find the calorie threshold where you begin to gain. Once you find it you can gain with very little fat gain.
"It?s partly cause and effect, first to get optimal levels of EFA?s along with the small amount of fat that can?t be avoided in food this is already 15-20% of your total calories. There is the issue of hormones; the leaner an athlete is the closer his fats should come to 30% to ensure optimal hormone levels. Fats are used to build anabolic hormones like Testosterone. However, the body can readily mobilize stored fats to ensure optimal hormone production. As an athlete becomes leaner, his body becomes less willing to use the small amount of remaining fat and hormone production becomes compromised. "
Also, How many grams of Omega3’s a day are optimal?
Combine the following, all of which have been recommended in the thread:
20 to 30% of total calories coming from fat, though I generally recommend .4g to .5g of fat x LBM and let the percentages fall where they will.
1/3 of your fat intake should be polyunsaturated with at least a 2:1 ratio of Omega 3s to Omega 6s. 1/3 of your fat intake should be from monounsaturated sources and another 1/3 from saturated sources.
Honestly, just keep it simple. Either take in 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil per 50 pounds of BW and/or get 6-10g of EPA and DHA, which is found in fish oil.
Don’t beat it to death, fedorov, and don’t allow yourself to get overloaded by all the information Your diet (and fat intake) doesn’t have to be perfect or precise. Just add in some good fats (i.e., omega 3s, which is also found in walnuts). You’ll more than likely get enough Omega 6s in your regular/normal diet.