Hormonal Imbalance after Overtraining & Undereating

Pharma TRT
1

Hi!a
After the lockdown in 2020, i overtrained (weightlifting, no cardio), while eating around 2000 kcal/day, for several months.
I Lost weight (from 70kgs to 62kgs ), had terrible headaches daily, dizzines, no energy, no libido…

My btest were: (Sept 2021):

GPT (ALT): 160 U/L (10 - 49);
GOT (AST): 67 U/L (< 37);
AP: 54 U/L (46 - 116);
Determinaciones de hormonas
SHBG (globulina transportadora de hormonas sexuales): 90.0 nmol/L (10.0 - 57.0);
Total Testosterone 8.17 ng/ml (1.69 - 6.53);
Free T: 89.0 pg/ml (50-210)

I stop training for several weeks (medical advice from my endo).

I contacted with a trainer and dietitian, trying to recover my hormonal imbalance but i felt really heavy after each workout (we’ve been trying 3xweek).

My endo said to just try low intensity workouts for several months but It didnt work too

My weight rnow is 66kgs.
I feel really tired, good libido, dizzines almost each week
BTest from last week
SHBG: 85, 0 nmol/L (10.0 - 57.0); (my lowest value was 59 after 3 weeks on holidays and no workouts)
Total Testosterone 10,92 m ng/ml (1.69 - 6.53);
Free T: 133.0 pg/mal (50-210)
Estradiol 49 pg/ml (12-41)

Ive taking borom, fenogreek, vit D, magnesium, ashwganda…

What is your advice? Stop training until recovering It? Train with highcal?

What about TRT? (Im doctor and i would not like to start It but its been 2 years feeling like crap

2

You have high SHBG, but despite that your T looks adequate. Its pretty mid range for Free. Could TRT make you feel better? Maybe, but it would likely just be during the honeymoon period. Your ALT/AST is concerning. Any medications you are taking that may be the cause?

IMO, overtraining is borderline a myth. Unless you are a career competitive lifter such as training for cross fit games, olympics etc, most of us don’t over train.

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ALT and AST are in normal values since december 2021 (It was for being in hypocaloric so many times)

And estradiol? How can i lower It?

My endo here says its elevated due to a high aromatase activity or due to high SHBG

4

Umm no. Your hormones look fine except that your estradiol is high. If you have high estrogen symptoms (google them), then trying to correct that might be worthwhile.

I don’t understand your sporadic training stuff and jumping straight to assumping it’s your hormones, but you posted this in the TRT forum so I’ll leave your training methods alone.

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5

Andrew, ive been lifting weights since i was 17 (11 years ago). I fucked my liver for being in lowcal for too many time and I feel like shit after a light workout. I really want to train again more than anytone but i felt worse when i try some intensity workout (0 recovery, headaches, high sympathetic state…)

I am a doctor, i know that symptoms, i have that symptoms, but my hospital 's endos dont know how i van exactly fix them

Thanks for your help, both of you

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6

This is often the problem. Not insulting you or your profession, simply that doctors make the worst patients (a phrase coined by doctors).

Most endos are horribly out of date on hormone treatment, ironically. I would recommend Defy Medical (US based) or Balance My Hormones (UK) for endos that are actually up to date on this stuff. Particularly the case if seeking a little optimization, in addition to treatment.

Sidebar:
How many grams of fats are you taking in daily?

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Youre totally right! We are not the best patients at all…

Thank you, i Will take a look on it!. I live in Spain, i Hope i can work with them from here.

About fats: Im taking 1-1,2 g/kg each day

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8

Your fat intake should be sufficient for hormone production, no issues there.

Let us know how it goes!

Tagging @highpull if he has any additional input (he knows his stuff better than most).

9

I would feel like I got run over by a truck with these levels. My energy levels didn’t return to normal until I got my Free T levels to the top 25 percentile.

10

In naturals, lately, anytime I see high TT it’s always because of high SHBG, very curious. Well, not really, cos it make sense the two would go together, I just mean I don’t see guys with high TT and low or mid SHBG naturally.

Anyway, you don’t need TRT. Your hormones are just fine, even while training hard, but the lack of calories and lack of recovery raised your SHBG (liver stress?) and lowers your FT. That’s an easy fix, you just take a little break and eat some more. If you don’t want to do those two things, you could jump on AAS, but you don’t “need” to

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So what do u recommend me?
3 months ago i had 165 FreeT and 59 SHBG but actually i have these values without changin anything in diet/workout :man_shrugging:

Ive been feeling like that since two years ago!

Thank you!

12

I don’t. Not familiar with those labs, but they sure look like a guy on testosterone.

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13

A natural daily fluctuation, that all it is.

I’m going to get real with you, stop holding onto the past, your natural production is probably toasted, TRT may be your only way out of your current situation.

Forget about the Total T and SHBG, the Free T should be the primary focus. I have seen guys post similar Free T levels while their Total T are borderline low and have low SHBG.

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Im natural, no TRT before!
I supose it may be from recovering from being with low FreeT for a long time.

And thanks, both of systemlord and u.

15

I don’t think someone has asked you the most important question.

How much do you eat now?

Your hormones will be out of whack until your body has basic needs met.

I actually did what you did only harsher. Trained 6 times per week for 2 hours, ate 1900 kcals keto for 9 months.

16

No man, it’s definitely not. I’ll give you a task to find out. Go 7 days a week for 2 weeks and deadlift or squat heavy each time. Put yourself in a caloric deficit while doing it. Let’s see how fast your sympathetic nervous system burns you to the ground. You could also do way less and overtrain but this will definitely put you in the zone.

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17

I did something really similar to that, not keto but lowcarb, maybe 10 months before increasing cals.
And i trained in stupid situatons after sleepless nights for work where my body prayed for rest.

Last 3 months ive been around 3000 kcals without almost training (2 days, low intensity workout)
1,8 g/kg proteín, 1-1,2g/kg fats, 6-7 g/kg carbs.

18

Agree to disagree.

2000cal is hardly low.

But why would someone do such a thing? Its counter productive. Elite athletes putting in two a days with strenuous exercise can do it, that was my point. I RARELY, probably never, have seen a non competitive athlete overtrain.

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If your hormones are all to hell, and your training has been really shitty and inconsistent, you may just be Out of Shape.

Like what you think of as any “easy” workout is still too much for you to recover from.

You may need to Focus on rebuilding your Cardio base. Do some light aerobic stuff where your heart rate stays in the 120-140 zone for 20+ minutes. Lay off the weights and focus on your heart and lungs.

Maybe when your cardio is better, a lifting workout won’t take so much out of you. And then you’ll be able to recover faster between sessions. Maybe.

20

Very easy to answer. The think more is more. 80-90% of guys in my class thought “if you bench press every day, you’ll get better at benching way faster”. Needless to say that all of them quit the gym after a year without any gains. I was the only one of them who stuck with it and learned that more is not more. I gained my first muscle when I went to the gym 3 times instead of 6 times per week and when I cut excercises from 15 per workout at 4 sets to 5 per workout at 3 sets.

Why would someone NOT think that training more often, harder and more frequent is better? The only answer could possibly be that you can’t recover it and that is called overtraining. Your own argument does lead to this conclusion. Why else would it be

?

I’ve seen a lot of guys overtrain and every single serious coach has seen people overtrain. Ask Christian Thibaudeau, ask Mark Rippetoe, ask Wendler, and so on and so forth. Some call it under recovering but at some point you just can’t recover more work. It happens to everyday people as well as to professional athletes. It is always a mix of life stress and training stress. Read the general adaptation syndrome (ca. 1920), it’s still a cornerstone of science today and it perfectly describes overtraining.

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