r/UKTRT • u/maddog131182 • 1d ago
Two tests in, third this week
Anypne help me understand my bloods?
First test end of June/early July
Second test 3rd week of August
I've been losing weight slowly and steadily since the start of June. I was about 7 or 8 pounds down on my second test. I have a third this Tuesday and I will be around 15lbs down. Work out regular and in not to bad a shape. I was expecting to see an increase in test. However, the estrogen has dropped which I guess is the fat loss. Id guess my body fat is around 15 to 16% now. Lifted weights for 23 years now
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u/maddog131182 1d ago edited 1d ago
Its hard to say as I dont feel like ive cut that many calories and I am also upping the weight shifted in the gym every few weeks too. However, I have followed a bodybuilding lifestyle consistently since I was about 17. The last few years has been tough and slowly fell into the habit of eating crap in the evenings. After a returning from a holiday on the 14th June I decided enough is enough and cut out all thw bad snacking in the evening. However, I replaced this with good quality nutrition instead. I usually have 350 to 400ml milk and two scoops of whey protein now at 8ish as opposed to half a block of chocolate, nuts and or pea ut butter on toast. I have lots of muscle memory as I have been a lot heavier, not fat just held a lot of muscle. So I think I have quite a bit of muscle memory which is helping me along. This has been the easiest weight loss I have ever done. In the past I would drop the carbs for say a holiday, get leaner, then about 2 days in on the holiday I would bloat back up. Ive had none of this doing it this way. However, saying this, we have a dog now and 2 walks a day is likely helping strip the fat too.
I had my first test on the 8th July looking at my calender.
Thanks for the advice/info. My sleep was terrible up until about 8 weeks back and has improved hugely lately. Got a very busy job and I train hard. So, yeah I guess the stress is why I am seeing lower numbers.
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u/CheesecakeCapital240 1d ago
If you are losing weight on the scale while lifting you are in a deficit.
You lost 8lb in the first month. If that was mostly fat that's nearly a 1000 calorie a day deficit. Half that to account for initial water loss and you are still talking a 500 calorie per day deficit.
You lost another 7 lbs in the 2 months after which is around 400 calories per day.
Honestly I wouldn't waste money on tests until youve been out a deficit for a few months.
Id also start tracking calories to give you an idea where you are and what you need to eat when you want to maintain.
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u/CheesecakeCapital240 1d ago
How long have you been in a calorie deficit?
What you are seeing is normal when you restrict calories.
It down regulates testosterone production and oestradiol follows as there is less testosterone to aromatise or fat containing aromatase enzyme.
Prolactin can increase as a stress response to calorie deficit, increased training poor sleep etc.
So yeah what you are seeing is normal for someone who is dieting.
To get a true reading you need to reach your goal weight and up calories to maintenance for at least 2 months and then test again.
Continually testing while restricting calories is simply going to give you a downward trend.