Pics: Does this look like hormone-fueled fat distribution / cortisol / insulin, or do I just need to lose a stone?

[Explorer]

Do a mainly coffee, sugar, milk and fruit based diet with some beef for more satiation as pure milk and fruit carb type eating can get too stimulating with a radical avoidance of PUFAs/seed oils

By focusing on fast easily digestible highly thermogenic pro-Thyroid foods, throwing in some aspirin and CO2 maxing and maybe red light you could kick out of whatever torpor state ur in that induced this fat gain

 

[Blossom]

@thisoldtown1978, it wouldn’t hurt to add fasting glucose, insulin and morning cortisol when you do the prolactin lab if your gut instinct is telling you it’s hormonal. Always follow your inner guidance first.

I bought an inexpensive biometric scale last year and that’s given me some great insights. Even though it’s not perfectly precise it’s nice for getting a rough idea of muscle, bone and fat mass trends over time. It’s also motivating if you have a particular goal in mind to help see if what you’re doing is moving the needle in the right direction.

I would highly discourage DNP. It seems like your situation is mostly dissatisfaction with your body shape and can be handled by dialing in your macros and workouts honestly. I’ve been doing that myself for a few months at close to 20 years older than you so I’m sure if I can do it a young man like you can do it too. Best wishes.

 

[cremes]

Thanks. And just to confirm, you're saying that you're seeing good fat loss results with this high carb diet? I guess I'm a little hesitant to try, in case I just pile it on, you know? But it certainly sounds doable for me. Thanks for the detail.

Yes, about 1 to 1.2 pounds lost per week. I want to go slow and keep the PUFA release under control.

 

[tasfarelel]

No fat / high carb diet leads (super slowly) to fat loss also in my case. I am eating maintenance kcal (ca. 3000) with max 20g fat from the bit of meat/organs I eat every day. 2 Day per week I manage to keep fat to zero. Combined with 4x training/week I was able to keep my weight and loose some bodyfat (per mirror) in the last ~4 months. However, I'm also on TRT, and block estrogen, cortisol, and serotonin as best as I can - so it may not be the diet alone.

To your question @thisoldtown1978 - like some other said already - your body shape looks good/normal to me. I dont see any issues, so keep doing what you are doing.

 

[Herbie]

In the OP's case, how would you start?

It's a big question. I'll do a write up soon and will tag you.

 

[David PS]

@thisoldtown1978 -Great pictures they are helpful. To my nonmedically trained eye, you do not appear to have any serious cortisol issues. Hadiut spoke about cortisol cause a stick figure body type. Your limbs do not appear to me to be wasting (into sticks). None the less, you might want to consider some leg exercises (squats) to maintain your muscle mass. I would search YouTube for legs exercises for seniors and increase intensity from those over time.

I searched for Hadiut's comments on this site and here are some timestamps that yo may find helpful.
23:49 Can we lose excess fat without lowering the metabolic rate?
26:36 High PUFA, Chronic Stress
29:34 What is your way of solving this problem?
33:38 Cortisol to DHEA Ratio
35:30 Obesity, Stress and Fasting | Cushing Disease
40:59 What do you recommend to rev up Metabolism?
43:27 Eccentric and Concentric Exercises

 

[Jennifer]

Thank you again for taking the time to consider this properly! Haha yes, I guess those basics are drilled into me! I can't say I've had cold extremities for many years, which is a good sign. My 8 year old labs did show sky high prolactin also, similar to cortisol, and my recent labs also showed sliiiightly high prolactin. Right at the top of the reference range. I really don't know what causes this, though. Any ideas? Not sure if it's relevant to liver, but on the odd occasion that I have an alcoholic drink, it makes me feel kind of nauseous. If it's any help, I'm 35 and about 6ft.

Oh, my pleasure. :) Given you experience nausea when you have an alcoholic drink and have a history of elevated cortisol and prolactin, it seems like maybe your liver is struggling to store glycogen and clear estrogen from your system? The causes can be many but in my experience, diet and thyroid are usually the main things involved. In terms of clearing out estrogen, how is your digestion? Do you experience any burping, gas, cramping, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, brain fog, headaches etc.?

 

[Regina]

@thisoldtown1978 -Great pictures they are helpful. To my nonmedically trained eye, you do not appear to have any serious cortisol issues. Hadiut spoke about cortisol cause a stick figure body type. Your limbs do not appear to me to be wasting (into sticks). None the less, you might want to consider some leg exercises (squats) to maintain your muscle mass. I would search YouTube for legs exercises for seniors and increase intensity from those over time.

I searched for Hadiut's comments on this site and here are some timestamps that yo may find helpful.
23:49 Can we lose excess fat without lowering the metabolic rate?
26:36 High PUFA, Chronic Stress
29:34 What is your way of solving this problem?
33:38 Cortisol to DHEA Ratio
35:30 Obesity, Stress and Fasting | Cushing Disease
40:59 What do you recommend to rev up Metabolism?
43:27 Eccentric and Concentric Exercises

Great links David! Thank you so much.

 

[David PS]

Regarding the cortisol -dhea ratio, it is not wise to increase DHEA beyond 10 to 15 mg daily. Here is a deep link to Dr Peat's statements about DHEA

Ray Peat Email Exchanges - Ray Peat Forum Wiki

raypeatforum.com

Bringing down cortisol is important. Here is a deep link to Dr Peat's statements about cortisol

Ray Peat Email Exchanges - Ray Peat Forum Wiki

raypeatforum.com

 

[Peater]

No real advice to offer but if it makes you feel better you are basically me even down to age and height.