After my workout today, a guy approached me and asked the regular assortment of questions that I get when I train in a public gym. I am use to that and I have come to expect it. I look at it as another “teaching opportunity.”
Now, I’ll spare you all the details of the first 30 minutes of our conversation. What struck me about this guy, who is 37 years old, 5’10” and by his own admission 232 pounds and in terrible shape, was his off the cuff comment “I tried testosterone therapy but it didn’t work.”
I asked him about this and he told me “I did the shots and everything and it didn’t do me any good at all.” He then went on to say “For 9 months I did it and I didn’t feel one bit different and I didn’t lose any weight either.” He told me how he started with gel and moved to test shots and so on and so on. After quite a lot of detail about his various protocols and lack of progress, I got a moment to change subjects on the guy while he caught his breath.
So, I asked about his diet. After quite a long and painful Q&A session on my part, I eventually got to the heart of the matter – he never bothered to change his diet at all. In fact, it may have even gotten worse from what I gathered from his descriptions of his eating habits!
So, as I drove back to the house, I thought about this guy and what I learned from listening to him and his experiences with HRT. He did make a point very clear for me and it is one that I’ve often wondered about with some guys on this forum.
Excuse me while I editorialize for a moment. I’ve been an active participant in this forum now for almost a year and a half. In that time, I’ve noticed something that I feel is worth discussing in depth.
There are a number of guys who come and go here and most of the time the discussions revolve around “fine tuning” their respective protocols. How much test? How often? What AI? How much AI? When to take my AI? How much HCG? When t o take HCG? The list goes on and on.
To me, it seems that so many guys are focus on the secondary details as opposed to fixing the big picture issue first. To me, the first thing that should be remedied is DIET. Even some of the vets here will openly admit their diets woefully inadequate and in the same breath, they will get into a “hair splitting” discussion about injecting every 4 days or every 5 days.
It seems that there is a “cart in front of horse” mentality.
First and foremost, HRT will pay huge dividends for those of us in need BUT we must put our respective houses in order from the ground up if we expect to maximize the benefits of the process.
So, I’d humble suggest that when you adopting your HRT protocol, you adopt a comprehensive diet plan as well. Not something you got out of a magazine or saw while watching and infomercial but a lifestyle change that you can support for the long term and will help you recognize the goals you set for yourself via HRT in a much more expeditious fashion.
There are guys around here who do this sort of thing and seem to be very good at it – 3J. I understand the cost is very reasonable but I can tell you the progress you will make with your HRT will be dramatically amplified if you can address the weakness in your nutritional foundation.
So, I would suggest that if any of you haven’t done so already, commit yourself to a lifestyle change in your diet. There is no reason for anyone to be running around with a double digit body fat.
Now, I can write the next sentence from a totally objective and independent point-of-view because I don't have an invested interested in either one of these guys and their work.
With Chip and 3J the tools are at your disposal to make the most of your efforts.
It's like compounding interest when you put them together!
Now, I’ll spare you all the details of the first 30 minutes of our conversation. What struck me about this guy, who is 37 years old, 5’10” and by his own admission 232 pounds and in terrible shape, was his off the cuff comment “I tried testosterone therapy but it didn’t work.”
I asked him about this and he told me “I did the shots and everything and it didn’t do me any good at all.” He then went on to say “For 9 months I did it and I didn’t feel one bit different and I didn’t lose any weight either.” He told me how he started with gel and moved to test shots and so on and so on. After quite a lot of detail about his various protocols and lack of progress, I got a moment to change subjects on the guy while he caught his breath.
So, I asked about his diet. After quite a long and painful Q&A session on my part, I eventually got to the heart of the matter – he never bothered to change his diet at all. In fact, it may have even gotten worse from what I gathered from his descriptions of his eating habits!
So, as I drove back to the house, I thought about this guy and what I learned from listening to him and his experiences with HRT. He did make a point very clear for me and it is one that I’ve often wondered about with some guys on this forum.
Excuse me while I editorialize for a moment. I’ve been an active participant in this forum now for almost a year and a half. In that time, I’ve noticed something that I feel is worth discussing in depth.
There are a number of guys who come and go here and most of the time the discussions revolve around “fine tuning” their respective protocols. How much test? How often? What AI? How much AI? When to take my AI? How much HCG? When t o take HCG? The list goes on and on.
To me, it seems that so many guys are focus on the secondary details as opposed to fixing the big picture issue first. To me, the first thing that should be remedied is DIET. Even some of the vets here will openly admit their diets woefully inadequate and in the same breath, they will get into a “hair splitting” discussion about injecting every 4 days or every 5 days.
It seems that there is a “cart in front of horse” mentality.
First and foremost, HRT will pay huge dividends for those of us in need BUT we must put our respective houses in order from the ground up if we expect to maximize the benefits of the process.
So, I’d humble suggest that when you adopting your HRT protocol, you adopt a comprehensive diet plan as well. Not something you got out of a magazine or saw while watching and infomercial but a lifestyle change that you can support for the long term and will help you recognize the goals you set for yourself via HRT in a much more expeditious fashion.
There are guys around here who do this sort of thing and seem to be very good at it – 3J. I understand the cost is very reasonable but I can tell you the progress you will make with your HRT will be dramatically amplified if you can address the weakness in your nutritional foundation.
So, I would suggest that if any of you haven’t done so already, commit yourself to a lifestyle change in your diet. There is no reason for anyone to be running around with a double digit body fat.
Now, I can write the next sentence from a totally objective and independent point-of-view because I don't have an invested interested in either one of these guys and their work.
With Chip and 3J the tools are at your disposal to make the most of your efforts.
It's like compounding interest when you put them together!
. I do believe diet plays a critical part in HRT/TRT and is just as important as the protocol.
