Evening all,
Been on TRT for about 3 months and the increased test is making me hungry.
As a guy who focuses solely on cardiovascular sports I’m forever trying to keep weight off/get lighter.
Is there anything that can be taken alongside my protocal that won’t affect the hormone side too much but help me drop some flab?
I’m struggling with the will power to keep calories in low with the increased appetite that has come with TRT.
Protein is highly satiating and, despite what many people believe, potatoes actually have very high satiety as well (I think they have the highest satiety index of all “carbs”). Specifically, they have to be baked or boiled, not cut up and fried.
That is the ticket. I could probably eat 5 large McDonalds fries in one sitting if I wanted to.
I’ve found that it is hard to change appetite much. What has worked is eating foods in which I can eat a lot of them without eating a ton of calories. Additionally, not having a lot of sitting around time can really help. My gym days I actually eat less than my non gym days. I live in a state with cold winters, so my daily walks have stopped. Once my gym opens again, I’ll probably go in just to walk at an incline. It is a two edged sword with that one (I am not at home eating, and I am actually burning some calories).
Look to your diet. How calorie dense are your common foods? Are you drinking any calories? Think about replacing some high calorie dense items with low calorie dense items.
I once read a study where they measured the digestible carbs in rice (and I believe potatoes) before and after cooking then in water with a teaspoon (I think 5g) of coconut oil added. The calorie content was reduced around 25%, because of the structural change of the starch, if I remember correctly. Maybe I can find it later, but that’s a good option to get full fast. Because you got less calories in the portion as well as more fiber.
Was the structure change due to cooking or the oil, or the combo of cooking with the oil?
This
I am going to put this study in the bucket of need more proof for now. It is counterintuitive (adding calories though oil reduces calories), so I would need to read the why behind it. I’ll keep it as possible, but I would think this would be well known if true.
I just read, you gotta let it cool for 12 hours after boiling it with coconut oil. But now I’m not so sure that this isn’t nonsense.
A google search spouts out tons of articles for this, so I guess it is well known. But all of this stems from an article of the Washington post (which I heard from a lot of you Americans, that it’s usually fake news) which is cited by TC luoma in the following article.
T-nation wrote about it in 2017:
Another website (acs.org) cites the researchers too.
From the researchers themselves:
“Cooling for 12 hours will lead to formation of hydrogen bonds between the amylose molecules outside the rice grains which also turns it into a resistant starch.”
But: the research was never published or at least not on pubmed, maybe someone has time to check other sites. So I don’t know what to make of that. Maybe because it was “an undergraduate project” as was said in the article.
Here’s research on it, showing an only small decrease in calories but a decrease in GI which should keep you full longer.
@mnben87 thanks for staying critical, we need that on here.
The effect of oil and different processes of heating and cooling to starch is well known. It’s not about adding calories, it’s about adding a chemical environment for the starch to form new bonds. Our body’s enzymes only have the capacity to cut specific bonds between sugars. If there are bonds at different positions in the sugar molecules than our body knows, it can’t break the carbohydrates down into sugar molecules, and so the calorie content doesn’t get used by the body.
That’s the formulation without chemical nomenclature slapped around.
What does this mean?
Broadly speaking I say just up your calories(clean) to a level you are not always hungry and do more conditioning work/train harder/use your bigger work capacity now that you are on TRT
This guy Mark Sisson has lots of info on resistant starches and their benefits
https://www.marksdailyapple.com/?s=Resistant+starch
I’ve tried them and didn’t notice much difference. Maybe just didn’t do it long enough
Someone who doesn’t lift and all their sporting life revolves around cardio.
I cycle mostly- and run a bit. But bikes are my thing.
In cycling being light is EVERYTHING… well that and WATTS. But when you’re at a certain level you ain’t getting many more watts and keeping light or getting lighter is important.
Its time- trying to up my workload is all very well on paper- I fit as much into my life as I can physically get in there at the minute and it is well structured.
Im now taking medication thats making me hungry A LOT and is why I am asking this question. I cant be putting weight on in my sport.
I was hoping someone was going to be able to suggest some supplements or pharma stuff that can help drop weight and helps with apetite
Phentermine for the win. I struggled with binge eating so I took Lomaira, 8mg instant release Phen, and kills appetite for 4-5 hours. I’d take it before meals to eat less.
It’s recommended to be cycled 12 weeks on, but I’ve read that’s advice from the 70’s and it actually works best if taken chronically.
Never heard of it. I’ll look into that. Thanks @swoops39
Did you try caffeine or 5-HTP ?
I’d advise you to do that before going down the adrenergic route, for safety and health purposes.
I drink a fair bit of black coffee. I’ll have a rad about the other thing you just mentioned
My solution to my hunger when I started TRT was to put on 45lbs so I will be of no help. 
But…stimulants will be the best answer, although not the safest. Your second answer is albuterol. It won’t suppress appetite but it will make you expend more energy when exercising, so you could potentially balance out the added calories with better calorie burning. But that’s not a permanent solution.
Stimulants, particuarly Amphetamines and substituted amphetamines are prone to inducing dependence/addiction
Be careful if using these to blunt appetite. Testosterone + stims + intense cardio isn’t the best combination either
Basically its coffee and be hungry then. 
Mr grumpy will be my nickname soon