Hypogonadism at 23 after Huge Weight Loss

Pharma / TRT Testosterone Replacement
1

Hello guys,

I’d like to give you some background info regarding my past.

I had been severely obese my whole childhood and reached a maximum weight of 147,5KG ( 325LBS) at 186cm (6,1 ft)at just 18 years.

I rigorously started weightlifting and tracking my calories and managed to get to 80KG (175lbs) over the course of 3 years. I’ve been maintaining my weight for approx. 8 months now.

It was after losing the first 30KG that I realized my erections were not getting as hard as they used to be and my libido was getting lower by the day. In 2019 I decided to visit an Urologist which measured my Test → 267 ng/dl.

He told me not to worry and that it would resolve itself. Spoiler: IT DID NOT

Fast forward to now and I feel like a pile of trash. I literally can’t have an erection even with the use of Tadalafil. My libido is non existent, haven’t masturbated in months. Got no morning wood and literally feel dead tired most days. Tiredness is especially bad in the morning, but gets better during the day. Went to an endocrinologist that did all sorts of bloods (see attachment). Test and all sorts of values are again abysmal. The next step is an LRHR-Test on the 5th of June to check if HPA-Axis is working.

I always train really really hard literally going all out. I do an UL-Split 4 days a week with 1-2 days of Cardio. I get 10-12K steps a day. Besides the first noob gains, I have not made any progress since at least 2 years now in the Gym (85KG Bench, 120KG Squat, 160KG DL). The symptoms are worse the day after lifting heavy.

Regarding my diet: I’ve been doing OMAD or 22/2, 23/1 fasting for 1,5y now. During that timeframe I make sure to eat enough. The reason why I’m doing OMAD is that I can eat an ungodly amount of food without feeling full (probably why I got so fat to begin with). I eat right before bed since I can sleep perfectly fine with a full belly and enjoy my feast while watching yt/streams. I usually go to bed at 1am and sleep till 8:30am, eating my feast at 12am.

I asked my endocrinologist if OMAD had any impact on hormones and she couldn’t fully answer it, just said that as long as you are eating enough during your eating window, it woud not matter. I am gonna ask her again on my next appointment. An example “meal” would be: Huge bowl of mixed Salad (1KG), 1kg of green beans, 60g oatmeal, 500g Quark/Skyr, 300g cottage cheese, 3 eggs, a can of tuna and peas, 2 pieces of fruit and an entire blender of anabolic ice cream. If i still feel hungry, I munch on some more veggies/fruit. You do get a food baby which lasts until the next midday, but you are literally never hungry.

Macros for most days are: 2300-2500, 200+ protein, 40-50g fat, rest carbs.

The symptoms began prior doing OMAD, in 2019 I ate normally (3 meals a day and snacks), but they have literally gotten worse and worse over the years.

Has anybody of youhave an idea what might be the root of my problems? Geneticly unlucky or maybe beeing morbidly obese during puberty?

Bloods 1, Bloods 2, Bloods 3

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Two of your bloods are the same page. FWIW I do think your eating/nutrition style is making this worse. Your cholesterol values are very low and this will have an impact on your hormone levels.

Now aside from cholesterol issues, your LH/FSH are low in addition to your T and E2 levels. Which means you are experiencing symtoms of secondary hypogonadism. You body has low T and it isn’t signaling for more. Could this be driven by your diet and lifestyle? Maybe. At your age I would try a normal eating schedule for awhile to see if that helps. Starting HRT at 23 would be a last option if it were me.

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If you’re overtraining, that can lead to suppressed testosterone because you’re unable to recover, from your prior workout. Your loss of libido was your body trying to warn you, and you doctor said keep going and may have been partially responsible for your current condition.

Being overweight will raise cortisol, overtraining can lead to even higher cortisol, high cortisol is a testosterone killer, cortisol can damage the leydig cells in the testicles that make testosterone.

4

Thank you for insight, I always thought that eating “clean” and “healthy” would boost my T levels.
Back when i was obese which is a known T-Killer I did not experience such symptoms afaik. I can try increasing my fats to 1g/kg too see if that has any impact. Do you think that such eating patterns can literally wreck havoc that much on my hormones? We are not talking about lowered testosterone, but rather about severe hypogonadism. In comparison to the average western diet, I’m eating way cleaner.

5

Wanted to say… HDL of 55, LDL of 35… you sir have a lipid panel gifted directly from god

As to your testosterone… yes… that is low…

How rapid was your weight loss

Estradiol is also tanked

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It has been said that you do not get stronger from training. You get stronger recovering from training. It is a difficult concept to accept. Especially, when have a less talent than your competitors however, you have been able to get ahead by simply outworking them. Have you ever heard the SAID principle, Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands?

It may benefit you to consult with a trainer who has a good understanding of the concept of adaptation.

7

You would wonder how much of that “food baby” is actually being absorbed. That is a lot to force in a 2 hr window, right before bed.

As you’re not so overweight anymore, have you thought about moving to two meals over 4-5 hour span?

Your T4 seems ok, but it’s not converting enough to T3…it’s under the minimum baseline. So you’re forcing one meal into a sluggish metabolism…not ideal. (And of course…your metabolism slows down when you’re asleep, so this makes it even worse).

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Congrats on losing the weight.

Congrats on keeping it off.

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I’d try taking a week off of training. Eat a bit more, and then after a good nights rest do blood work. If it is bad after all of that, I’d agree you have an issue.

Training hard can cause issues for some. Many claim it boosts Testosterone. I don’t think it does if you train really hard consistently.

You may have to dial back training a bit if you see that your Testosterone numbers get better with the week off. I personally can’t train as hard as I’d like (I get insomnia if I do). I can still train hard enough to make progress though. Just something I’ve had to realize after close to 15 years of lifting.

Congrats on the major weight loss too. It is very tough, and very few accomplish a loss like you did!

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Hi,

I have definitly thought about that, I literally tried all forms of eating during my fitness career.
The reason for OMAD is that i like feeling stuffed to oblivion, kinda got addicted to it. It’s next to impossible for me to get satiated on smaller meals. I think that I developed some kind of eating disorder that should be looked on by some professional. It’s not like I’m severely underweight or malnourished. Just want to know if my eating style may be the culprit, but as I mentioned all the symptoms started before that.

11

Hello,

I lost the majority of the weight in the first 1-2 years (like around 45KG). The remaining KGs where lost slowly over the next 1,5 years.
This is just so frustraiting to deal with at 23 years… lets see what the next endo appointment is gonna find out.

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Hi,

I’m following your story now. Had similar experience, fat kid until i was 18, 5 days/week weightlifting with too less fats. With around 30 i was tested with low T levels.
Worked out less, added healthy fats, T went up a bit, still low but within the range.
Try everything natural before you jump on the T-wagon at your age.

With your low T3, you could throw in some Selen and see if it raises your conversation from T4 up. Same for me, mine was low too.

Grüße aus Deutschland
m_ock

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