Hello everyone,
I have been following Peat's work on and off for the last 5 years. I have tried many strategies. Some that have worked, and some that have not. I have fallen off in the past year, mostly just eating anything I wanted but avoiding PUFAs and fried foods, and have noticed that the positive benefits that I used to experience from following Ray's work to more of a tee have subsided. My health is much better than it used to be, but not as good as it could be.
I have decided to create a log of my labs to track my progress with diet strategies, see what supplements work and what don't and improve my overall health parameters. I also am creating this to help anybody else who is in the same boat as I am (or have been in).
Background: Hypogonadism/hypothyroidism/insomnia at 17 years old
When I started my health journey my testosterone was about 212ng/dl. I was only 17 years old. Several blood tests over the course of a whole year were in the 200-250ng/dl range. At the time I was over-exercising, under-eating, and had insomnia. During this time, I possibly had self-inflicted hypothyroidism, and subsequently hypogonadism. Many research studies have looked at the effects of starvation (minnesota starvation experiment, studies on athletes with low calorie intake, and bodybuilders who are stage-ready after dieting to sub 10% body fat). These studies all have a common theme- terrible blood panels. Typically low T4/T3, high TSH, low testosterone, low progesterone. Often times women stop menstruating and men lose their morning erections and overall erection function in general. In some cases the genetically elite can get away with very low body fat and low calorie intake with no ill-effects, but for the most part the heavy exercise and under-eating lifestyle will catch up with most of us eventually.
Recovery: Higher carbs (especially in relation to protein), more salt, less exercise, a little thyroid/aspirin supplementation
After years of trying to fix my health struggles through various diets that only made my issues worse (low carb, paleo, raw paleo, ketogenic, etc) I found Ray Peat's and Matt Stone's work and have since improved tremendously. Since I have been following their work for the past 5 years, along with learning about physiology, nutrition, and biochemistry, I increased my testosterone to about 500-700ng/dl on average (depending on the season). So I basically doubled, almost tripled my testosterone by consuming more carbohydrates, more salt, better protein ratios, and a little thyroid/aspirin supplementing. My morning erections have improved to the point that it's now rare that I don't have one. My overall stress tolerance is much better. I no longer have insomnia either.
New Goals: Improving androgens even more, better health parameters, more strength and muscle size
Recently I decided that I was not 100% satisfied with the way my health was going. Despite my improved hormone profile and overall health status, there are some things that have gotten worse. Since my weight has went from about 165-180#, my blood pressure and cholesterol/triglycerides have increased. This weight gain was intentional, since I have been trying to put on more muscle and gain strength. Most of the weight I have gained is muscle, but some fat too. After a ton of research, I have come to the conclusion that the weight gain itself is primarily responsible for my increased blood pressure, and cholesterol (but possibly supplements- explained below). But I am open to the idea that my fat intake has been too high overall, and by cutting back on that I hope to lower my cholesterol and further improve my androgen profile. On cronometer, it is not uncommon for me to be at >100g of fat per day at times, and I do realize that this could be a problem. since I do not really want to lose much weight, but rather re-partition (less fat, more muscle, smaller waist), I have decided to try eating lower fat and see if it makes a difference.
I also came to the conclusion that a lot of my issues are related to not getting enough sunlight. I work every day, so I barely get any at all. So this is almost like living in a cave, which I know produces stress, and low vitamin D could raise prolactin.
Starting metrics: March 5, 2018
Sex: M
Age: 27
Ht: 70"
Wt: 178#
Waist 33.5"
BMI: 25.5
BP 132/80
Pulse 71
Labs:
1 month prior to the test this March I decided to do the following:
(1) Increase my thyroid (thiroyd brand) dose from 1-2 grains per day to 4 grains per day.
(2) Add a supplement called "arimistane" - an aromatase inhibitor to lower estrogen (3 pills/day)
(3) Add vitamin E at 1000mg a few times per week
(4) Re-try haidut's androsterone product at 2-4 drops applied to the scrotum once or twice per day.
(See attached for labs)
Results:
Estradiol 22.9pg/mL (range 8-35)- middle range
T3 3.7 (range 2.0-4.4)- high
T4 .92 (range .82-1.77)- borderline low- as to be expected when supplementing with thyroid
TSH .456 L (range .45-4.5)- shows thiroyd supplement works/is legit
Prolactin 11.7 - somewhat on the high end. Goal is to lower this to <8.
DHT 44 (range 30-85)- normal but higher may feel better
Total Testosterone 521 ng/dL (range 264-916 ng/dL)- good, but could be higher
Free testosterone 15.8 (range 9.3-26.5pg/mL)- somewhat on the low range, would feel better if it was higher
Cholesterol 216 -high
Triglycerides 172 -high
HDL 41- borderline low
LDL 141 -high
Some interesting results indeed. High cholesterol and triglycerides is my concern. About 8-12 months ago I was 165#. Waist size was 32". BP was about 110/70. Cholesterol was about 170. TSH was about 1.8. Since then I have been actively gaining weight somewhat slowly to try to build muscle. I have not had testosterone or other hormones checked in years, so I'm not sure where I was 8-12 months back.
One way to interpret the lipids is that the high LDL levels leaves a lot of substrate for conversion into steroid hormones. I just have to make the conversion happen. I was very surprised by the high cholesterol, because supplementing thyroid is supposed to lower it. Part of me increasing the dose was to see how it would affect my cholesterol levels. Seems that something else is raising my LDL and thyroid supplements alone are not enough to lower it.
A couple of things I am able to conclude from these labs are the following:
(1) Thiroyd supplement is legit. Years ago I had it sent to a chemist to have a mass spectrometry assay performed, which determined there was about 25mcg of T4 and 7mcg T3 per grain. Since I have lost contact with the chemist I used, I wanted to know if the supplement is still legit. Based on my TSH <1, I can say with confidence that it is, since without thyroid supplements my TSH usually is between 1-2 on average.
(2) Arimistane probably did nothing to lower my estrogen. I was hesitant to try this supplement, but it had promising reviews and the concept sounded good, but overall I didn't notice anything from it. Based on the claims, it should have resulted in my E2 levels being much lower, which it didn't.
(3) Haidut's androsterone did not seem to do anything for me either. If it worked as described, my DHT would likely be much higher. I love Haidut's products, but for me, this one did not produce results.
(4) Taking both arimistane and androsterone could have potentially increased my LDL cholesterol, due to the action of some aromatase inhibitors. But I am not sure if this is always true, and I don't know what my levels were before, so I can't blame it on the supplements.
(5) Vitamin E- in attempt to lower prolactin, I upped my usual dose of vitamin E. Unfortunately my goal to have prolactin under 8 did not happen.
Moving forward:
My first experiment is going to be for the next two months, from March to May. Then I will re-draw labs. I am going to:
(1) lower my fat intake to no more than 10% of calories. This is in attempt to improve my T/E ratio. I'm not too concerned with lowering total testosterone much, but if I do find that to be the case, I will taper my fat back up. But I will base it primarily in how I feel. My main food sources will be fruit, kale, spinach, and non-fat yogurt smoothies, orange juice, liver, oysters, very lean beef, 1% milk, some eggs, and some white rice and potatoes. I am going to try to make these foods 90% of my diet, and leave 10% for family/friends, but will still try to eat low fat when eating out.
(2) Increase my fructose consumption and lower my starch consumption. I'm not going to take this to the extreme, because I notice that I crave some starch in my diet, and cutting it out completely produces negative effects. But I also notice that fructose for me produces feelings of androgenicity, and I regret eating less of it in favor of more starch in the past year.
(3) Keep carb to protein ratio high, at least 2:1, but shooting for 4:1. I feel best when carbs are dramatically higher than protein and notice that my libido is lower when eating a high protein/low carb diet.
(4) Lower thiroyd dose to 1-2 grains per day. I felt better taking less thyroid, or none at all.
(5) Drop androsterone, and arimistane supplements.
(6) Continuing to supplement with vitamin E, but at a smaller dose, 1000-2000 iu per week.
(7) Experiment with red light therapy more as a way to boost metabolism and androgens.
(8) Begin taking niacinamide along with aspirin and coffee.
I do realize that these are a lot of things to track and that it's difficult to determine which of these factors affect blood results the most, but I also realize that I don't have unlimited funds to have more blood work done and don't have unlimited time to test one thing at a time, so I am going to try to draw conclusions based off of the experiments others have tried to find parallels with my experience. I hope that some of you can benefit from this and I will try my best to stick to the diet 90% of the time, but I am human and can't be perfect.
I have been following Peat's work on and off for the last 5 years. I have tried many strategies. Some that have worked, and some that have not. I have fallen off in the past year, mostly just eating anything I wanted but avoiding PUFAs and fried foods, and have noticed that the positive benefits that I used to experience from following Ray's work to more of a tee have subsided. My health is much better than it used to be, but not as good as it could be.
I have decided to create a log of my labs to track my progress with diet strategies, see what supplements work and what don't and improve my overall health parameters. I also am creating this to help anybody else who is in the same boat as I am (or have been in).
Background: Hypogonadism/hypothyroidism/insomnia at 17 years old
When I started my health journey my testosterone was about 212ng/dl. I was only 17 years old. Several blood tests over the course of a whole year were in the 200-250ng/dl range. At the time I was over-exercising, under-eating, and had insomnia. During this time, I possibly had self-inflicted hypothyroidism, and subsequently hypogonadism. Many research studies have looked at the effects of starvation (minnesota starvation experiment, studies on athletes with low calorie intake, and bodybuilders who are stage-ready after dieting to sub 10% body fat). These studies all have a common theme- terrible blood panels. Typically low T4/T3, high TSH, low testosterone, low progesterone. Often times women stop menstruating and men lose their morning erections and overall erection function in general. In some cases the genetically elite can get away with very low body fat and low calorie intake with no ill-effects, but for the most part the heavy exercise and under-eating lifestyle will catch up with most of us eventually.
Recovery: Higher carbs (especially in relation to protein), more salt, less exercise, a little thyroid/aspirin supplementation
After years of trying to fix my health struggles through various diets that only made my issues worse (low carb, paleo, raw paleo, ketogenic, etc) I found Ray Peat's and Matt Stone's work and have since improved tremendously. Since I have been following their work for the past 5 years, along with learning about physiology, nutrition, and biochemistry, I increased my testosterone to about 500-700ng/dl on average (depending on the season). So I basically doubled, almost tripled my testosterone by consuming more carbohydrates, more salt, better protein ratios, and a little thyroid/aspirin supplementing. My morning erections have improved to the point that it's now rare that I don't have one. My overall stress tolerance is much better. I no longer have insomnia either.
New Goals: Improving androgens even more, better health parameters, more strength and muscle size
Recently I decided that I was not 100% satisfied with the way my health was going. Despite my improved hormone profile and overall health status, there are some things that have gotten worse. Since my weight has went from about 165-180#, my blood pressure and cholesterol/triglycerides have increased. This weight gain was intentional, since I have been trying to put on more muscle and gain strength. Most of the weight I have gained is muscle, but some fat too. After a ton of research, I have come to the conclusion that the weight gain itself is primarily responsible for my increased blood pressure, and cholesterol (but possibly supplements- explained below). But I am open to the idea that my fat intake has been too high overall, and by cutting back on that I hope to lower my cholesterol and further improve my androgen profile. On cronometer, it is not uncommon for me to be at >100g of fat per day at times, and I do realize that this could be a problem. since I do not really want to lose much weight, but rather re-partition (less fat, more muscle, smaller waist), I have decided to try eating lower fat and see if it makes a difference.
I also came to the conclusion that a lot of my issues are related to not getting enough sunlight. I work every day, so I barely get any at all. So this is almost like living in a cave, which I know produces stress, and low vitamin D could raise prolactin.
Starting metrics: March 5, 2018
Sex: M
Age: 27
Ht: 70"
Wt: 178#
Waist 33.5"
BMI: 25.5
BP 132/80
Pulse 71
Labs:
1 month prior to the test this March I decided to do the following:
(1) Increase my thyroid (thiroyd brand) dose from 1-2 grains per day to 4 grains per day.
(2) Add a supplement called "arimistane" - an aromatase inhibitor to lower estrogen (3 pills/day)
(3) Add vitamin E at 1000mg a few times per week
(4) Re-try haidut's androsterone product at 2-4 drops applied to the scrotum once or twice per day.
(See attached for labs)
Results:
Estradiol 22.9pg/mL (range 8-35)- middle range
T3 3.7 (range 2.0-4.4)- high
T4 .92 (range .82-1.77)- borderline low- as to be expected when supplementing with thyroid
TSH .456 L (range .45-4.5)- shows thiroyd supplement works/is legit
Prolactin 11.7 - somewhat on the high end. Goal is to lower this to <8.
DHT 44 (range 30-85)- normal but higher may feel better
Total Testosterone 521 ng/dL (range 264-916 ng/dL)- good, but could be higher
Free testosterone 15.8 (range 9.3-26.5pg/mL)- somewhat on the low range, would feel better if it was higher
Cholesterol 216 -high
Triglycerides 172 -high
HDL 41- borderline low
LDL 141 -high
Some interesting results indeed. High cholesterol and triglycerides is my concern. About 8-12 months ago I was 165#. Waist size was 32". BP was about 110/70. Cholesterol was about 170. TSH was about 1.8. Since then I have been actively gaining weight somewhat slowly to try to build muscle. I have not had testosterone or other hormones checked in years, so I'm not sure where I was 8-12 months back.
One way to interpret the lipids is that the high LDL levels leaves a lot of substrate for conversion into steroid hormones. I just have to make the conversion happen. I was very surprised by the high cholesterol, because supplementing thyroid is supposed to lower it. Part of me increasing the dose was to see how it would affect my cholesterol levels. Seems that something else is raising my LDL and thyroid supplements alone are not enough to lower it.
A couple of things I am able to conclude from these labs are the following:
(1) Thiroyd supplement is legit. Years ago I had it sent to a chemist to have a mass spectrometry assay performed, which determined there was about 25mcg of T4 and 7mcg T3 per grain. Since I have lost contact with the chemist I used, I wanted to know if the supplement is still legit. Based on my TSH <1, I can say with confidence that it is, since without thyroid supplements my TSH usually is between 1-2 on average.
(2) Arimistane probably did nothing to lower my estrogen. I was hesitant to try this supplement, but it had promising reviews and the concept sounded good, but overall I didn't notice anything from it. Based on the claims, it should have resulted in my E2 levels being much lower, which it didn't.
(3) Haidut's androsterone did not seem to do anything for me either. If it worked as described, my DHT would likely be much higher. I love Haidut's products, but for me, this one did not produce results.
(4) Taking both arimistane and androsterone could have potentially increased my LDL cholesterol, due to the action of some aromatase inhibitors. But I am not sure if this is always true, and I don't know what my levels were before, so I can't blame it on the supplements.
(5) Vitamin E- in attempt to lower prolactin, I upped my usual dose of vitamin E. Unfortunately my goal to have prolactin under 8 did not happen.
Moving forward:
My first experiment is going to be for the next two months, from March to May. Then I will re-draw labs. I am going to:
(1) lower my fat intake to no more than 10% of calories. This is in attempt to improve my T/E ratio. I'm not too concerned with lowering total testosterone much, but if I do find that to be the case, I will taper my fat back up. But I will base it primarily in how I feel. My main food sources will be fruit, kale, spinach, and non-fat yogurt smoothies, orange juice, liver, oysters, very lean beef, 1% milk, some eggs, and some white rice and potatoes. I am going to try to make these foods 90% of my diet, and leave 10% for family/friends, but will still try to eat low fat when eating out.
(2) Increase my fructose consumption and lower my starch consumption. I'm not going to take this to the extreme, because I notice that I crave some starch in my diet, and cutting it out completely produces negative effects. But I also notice that fructose for me produces feelings of androgenicity, and I regret eating less of it in favor of more starch in the past year.
(3) Keep carb to protein ratio high, at least 2:1, but shooting for 4:1. I feel best when carbs are dramatically higher than protein and notice that my libido is lower when eating a high protein/low carb diet.
(4) Lower thiroyd dose to 1-2 grains per day. I felt better taking less thyroid, or none at all.
(5) Drop androsterone, and arimistane supplements.
(6) Continuing to supplement with vitamin E, but at a smaller dose, 1000-2000 iu per week.
(7) Experiment with red light therapy more as a way to boost metabolism and androgens.
(8) Begin taking niacinamide along with aspirin and coffee.
I do realize that these are a lot of things to track and that it's difficult to determine which of these factors affect blood results the most, but I also realize that I don't have unlimited funds to have more blood work done and don't have unlimited time to test one thing at a time, so I am going to try to draw conclusions based off of the experiments others have tried to find parallels with my experience. I hope that some of you can benefit from this and I will try my best to stick to the diet 90% of the time, but I am human and can't be perfect.
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