I know this is an old post but I wanted to chime in here with some knowledge I have gained from personal experience.
I am 290 lbs, and I barely eat 1800 calories/day..In fact i struggle to eat that much.. So to say he is not eating enough is probably not the correct thing.. I know a few people who can eat whatever they want, as much as they want and they gain zero weight or fat.. I think they have very high metabolism, everyone is different.. All our hormones are functioning either at peak, or off peak which will cause various side effects whether good or bad.. In my experience if you wanna gain weight you need amino acids and pasta/breads/eggs.. Why anyone would want to do this to themselves is beyond me.. I would personally rather be 186 pounds than 290.. I should mention I don't take steroids but started on androgel for low T.. I actually came here to see how steroid users were controlling this estradiol issue associated with synthetic T but google brought me right to this post so I felt like replying.
The other thing I wanted to mention, in case someone is interested in starting steroids because they have low gains etc..
This absolutely works and is not psycho-semantics..
I should mention I am wildly out of shape now at 37 because of spondylolisthesis, which is a broken back basically but i can limp around good enough to get around.. I started on androgel and began lifting light weights last month..
Its been my personal experience that vitamin D taken in large doses 10,000 iu to 15,000 iu daily... along with a 1 zinc tablet/day and vitamin C around 2000/day.. is basically like the best natural steroid you can take.. These 2-3 supplements have drastic effects on increasing testosterone and keeping estradiol in check..
I honestly think there is an epidemic of low T males out there starting at 22.. 40 is no longer the age where a mans T levels start declining... We have basically been poisoned by something called BPA.. Or bisphenol A... Here is what wiki says about BPA...
"BPA exhibits estrogen mimicking, hormone-like properties that raise concern about its suitability in some consumer products and food containers. Since 2008, several governments have investigated its safety, which prompted some retailers to withdraw polycarbonate products. The FDA has ended its authorization of the use of BPA in baby bottles and infant formula packaging, based on market abandonment, not safety.[4] The European Union and Canada have banned BPA use in baby bottles."
They have been using BPA since the 60s.. Which means when we were suckling on our momma's teet, we were ingesting it, and have been since birth.. Its only been the last 20 years, but mainly the last 10 years that we have seen this "gender identity crisis" or transgender stuff pop into MSM..
I believe there is a direct correlation to excessive ingestion of BPA and this epidemic.. I believe its being covered up by big pharma because high estrogen in males causes a whole host of symptoms where they can prescribe anti-depresents, anxiety meds, sleeping aids, pain killers, blood pressure meds, metformin-diabetes meds.. It also effects women the same way because high estrogen in women have the same effect as low/high estrogen in males.. It needs to be balanced near perfectly.. You guys have no idea how nasty this female hormone is in men.. We only need a very small amount of it to maintain bone and skin.. If we go over a certain level I think its 30-40 ng/dl or under 15ng/dl , that is when obesity starts settling in, then our testosterone aromtases into more estradiol and its like the ninth circle of hell for men... Its just a vicious circle of symptoms and meds, symptoms and meds.. getting worse etc.. Till you track it down to this hormone imbalance.. Then once corrected, well, we've all seen the before and after pics of what happens to guys who get treated with low T by a competent doctor who manages their estradiol and other levels properly... The results can be nothing short of amazing..
Anyways, that was a bit off topic but pertinent to this discussion.