tankasnowgod
Member
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2014
- Messages
- 8,131
So I feel this thread should start off "Dear Penthouse Forum...." ....you know, as a nod to another famous forum where a protocol like this could be published?
Anyways, I got the idea for this log as I was looking through ideas to boost both Testosterone and DHT. My Testosterone has been low for a while now (300 ng/dl area), and I've been going back and forth about whether to do something like TRT or getting a DHT gel for a few months now. However, both seem to carry their own issues (cost, legality, doctor's approval, accepted dosing, shutting down of HTPA axis , and creation of issues they are supposed to treat). I still think both options can be useful, but they need some complementary supplements or nutrition or activities or drugs, or better dosing and delivery options.
I was about ready to pull the trigger on TRT (and all its possible issues), when I remembered I had gotten Testosterone up to 589 ng/dl a couple years ago using a combo of Ray Peat's ideas, some of the ideas Haidut had posted about his own testosterone boosting experiment, and, of all things, Tim Ferriss's Nobnom challenge. And some point, I'll go into what I think helped with all of these things.
So, I came back here, drafted a plan around diet, activity, supplements, light exposure, and some other things. While I think it's a pretty good plan (mostly for me, but prolly helpful for others as well), it's certainly a work in progress. I have had amazing success in weight loss over the past year logging food on Fitibt (and having activity auto-logged for me), so this log is mostly for me, but I think it could be helpful for others interested in the same idea. Hey, I might actually get some useful feedback, too!
The plan is describe baseline, my diet, my supplements, my activity, ideas on light, and anything else that I think might be relevant to the protocol in one freaking loooooooooooooooooooooong post, and then update with feedback, adjustments, and labs when I get them. I plan to update most weekdays. (I'm writing this initial post over couple days, so the save draft function better work!)
BASELINE
I'm a 39 year old male, about to be 40 in July. On May 3, 2016, total testosterone measured 316 ng/dl in serum. Technically in range, but low enough to qualify for TRT.
Over the past year or so, I've lost about 55 pounds (down from 263 to 209), and went from size 42 pants to about 37. This has been a huge plus in my life, and overall, I'm feeling and looking much better. I'm still losing, so this may be keeping Testosterone, DHT and other hormones low. Ideally, I'd like to get under 15% BF, around 170 pounds and wear size 32 pants. Also, I have a job that requires me to wake up at 4:40 in the morning. I used to have high iron levels (Ferritin tested at 444 a couple years ago), but lowered them through blood donation. Last time I donated a couple months ago, hemoglobin was highest ever checked at 15.6, yet ferritin was 18, again on May 3. (Hemoglobin was likely very good due to taking Life Extention's Two Per Day)
I mention these things as I think they could be having an effect. Overall, I feel pretty good and happy, but am doing this for improved mood and assertiveness, better muscle tone and BF%, and to see if libido rises. Also, I want to see if there's anything to the "higher androgens gets you more female attention" idea.
PROTOCOL
DIET
I'm starting here, as I think it's the most important. Basically, I mostly follow the plan Anthony Colpo lays out in The Fat Loss Bible, with a few "Peaty" tweaks (mainly, drinking more milk and OJ, focusing more on gelatin and coconut oil, and skipping the recommendation for fish oil). Colpo's plan actually works great with Peat's ideas, and I would highly recommend it if you're looking to lose weight. Also, I'm sure members of this forum would enjoy Colpo's recent articles defending sugar, bashing Lustig, and detailing soda's use as a Sports Drink.
My goal ratios for the day are about 2500 cals, 150g protein, 250-300g carbs, and under 100g fat. Most days see me eating cottage cheese with gelatin and fruit or honey for breakfast, eggs and hashbrowns cooked in CO for lunch, and some sort of meat with potatoes/rice or some other carb for dinner, with milk, oj and coffee thrown in to hit my goals. I do liver and oysters 1X a week (not at the same time). I'm looser on weekends, and will usually eat out at a restaurant once or twice on the weekend, and have a few drinks as well. Incidentally, I noticed that my diet matched up pretty well to the one Steve Reeves claimed to use when he was bodybuilding in his prime.
One last note- I was eating about 3-4eggs a day, and I'm bumping it up to 6 for this protocol, for the added cholesterol. This should give me about 1000mg of dietary cholesterol from eggs alone, and probably about 1400-2000 mg per day, depending on other food choices.
SUPPLEMENTS- This is the fun part, right? Here's what I'm taking-
100,000IU Vitamin A as Retinyl Palmitate (split AM and PM)
8000IU Vitamin D (AM only)
Swanson High Gamma Vitamin E (1 pill AM, 1 PM) I believe this is 2400mg
16mg Vitamin K2 (15mg AM, one Super K PM)
500mg of Magnesium as Glycinate, (in PM)
100mg oral Pregneneolone (AM)
100mg Ubiquinol
1000mg Tyrosine (AM doses)
Aspirin, still experimenting with doses, but currently 975mg a day
Taurine (starting with 300mg, will slowly titrate up)
BCAAs (experimenting with dose and timing)
Pansterone (Experimenting with dose and timing, prolly 2-3 total daily. And yes, I have done direct application to the testicles)
3 grains dessicated thyroid in AM
Creatine (experimenting with dose, may or may not improve DHT, but does help muscle tone and workouts)
I'm also getting 30mg of zinc from my Two Per Day multi (which is awesome for building hemoglobin, as mentioned above), although I may switch the multi out.
I should also note I am experimenting with Oxidal, Mitolipin, Solban, and high dose B1. I don't think these would affect androgens, but they may. I also still have a lot of lotioncrafter Vitamin E that I mix with coconut oil and use on my skin.
LIGHT EXPOSURE
I'm trying to get more sun exposure on my chest and back. This is not only to stimulate testosterone, but to even out my tan (Serious farmer tan going on right now). I also have a red (not infrared) LED flashlight that I shine directly on my testicles for 5 minutes or so every other day.
ACTIVITY
Basically, I walk. A LOT. I pretty much hit 17,500 steps every day, usually getting a couple thousand more. I also do some weight training at the gym twice a week. Mostly, it's casual and enjoyable. I live by the ocean, so I this also allows me to get a lot of benefits to being outside. Between activity and diet, I'm in a 1000 calorie a day deficit (supposedly).
OTHER STUFF
As noted above, I am still losing weight. I also would like to improve my skin. I've had keratosis pilaris pretty much my whole life, and some of these things (Like Vitamin A, E, and Pansterone) can have a good effect on the skin as well as Testosterone. It's also why I'm using such a high dose of Vitamin A.
So that's basically it! I think the most important items might be the dietary cholesterol, Vitamin E and Aspirin (to inhibit aromatase), Vitamin A, Pansterone, and light exposure. Also, ED was never an issue for me. I started supplementing Magnesium and K2 back in my paleo days, and at that point, nighttime and early morning erections started happening daily. I don't remember that from anytime before, even when I was a teen. If ED happens to be an issue for anyone reading this, K2 and Magnesium would be the things I supplement first, along with A and D.
If ya gots questions about this protocol, or the weight loss, or iron reduction, ask, and I'll see if I can't get to it during a weekday update.
Anyways, I got the idea for this log as I was looking through ideas to boost both Testosterone and DHT. My Testosterone has been low for a while now (300 ng/dl area), and I've been going back and forth about whether to do something like TRT or getting a DHT gel for a few months now. However, both seem to carry their own issues (cost, legality, doctor's approval, accepted dosing, shutting down of HTPA axis , and creation of issues they are supposed to treat). I still think both options can be useful, but they need some complementary supplements or nutrition or activities or drugs, or better dosing and delivery options.
I was about ready to pull the trigger on TRT (and all its possible issues), when I remembered I had gotten Testosterone up to 589 ng/dl a couple years ago using a combo of Ray Peat's ideas, some of the ideas Haidut had posted about his own testosterone boosting experiment, and, of all things, Tim Ferriss's Nobnom challenge. And some point, I'll go into what I think helped with all of these things.
So, I came back here, drafted a plan around diet, activity, supplements, light exposure, and some other things. While I think it's a pretty good plan (mostly for me, but prolly helpful for others as well), it's certainly a work in progress. I have had amazing success in weight loss over the past year logging food on Fitibt (and having activity auto-logged for me), so this log is mostly for me, but I think it could be helpful for others interested in the same idea. Hey, I might actually get some useful feedback, too!
The plan is describe baseline, my diet, my supplements, my activity, ideas on light, and anything else that I think might be relevant to the protocol in one freaking loooooooooooooooooooooong post, and then update with feedback, adjustments, and labs when I get them. I plan to update most weekdays. (I'm writing this initial post over couple days, so the save draft function better work!)
BASELINE
I'm a 39 year old male, about to be 40 in July. On May 3, 2016, total testosterone measured 316 ng/dl in serum. Technically in range, but low enough to qualify for TRT.
Over the past year or so, I've lost about 55 pounds (down from 263 to 209), and went from size 42 pants to about 37. This has been a huge plus in my life, and overall, I'm feeling and looking much better. I'm still losing, so this may be keeping Testosterone, DHT and other hormones low. Ideally, I'd like to get under 15% BF, around 170 pounds and wear size 32 pants. Also, I have a job that requires me to wake up at 4:40 in the morning. I used to have high iron levels (Ferritin tested at 444 a couple years ago), but lowered them through blood donation. Last time I donated a couple months ago, hemoglobin was highest ever checked at 15.6, yet ferritin was 18, again on May 3. (Hemoglobin was likely very good due to taking Life Extention's Two Per Day)
I mention these things as I think they could be having an effect. Overall, I feel pretty good and happy, but am doing this for improved mood and assertiveness, better muscle tone and BF%, and to see if libido rises. Also, I want to see if there's anything to the "higher androgens gets you more female attention" idea.
PROTOCOL
DIET
I'm starting here, as I think it's the most important. Basically, I mostly follow the plan Anthony Colpo lays out in The Fat Loss Bible, with a few "Peaty" tweaks (mainly, drinking more milk and OJ, focusing more on gelatin and coconut oil, and skipping the recommendation for fish oil). Colpo's plan actually works great with Peat's ideas, and I would highly recommend it if you're looking to lose weight. Also, I'm sure members of this forum would enjoy Colpo's recent articles defending sugar, bashing Lustig, and detailing soda's use as a Sports Drink.
My goal ratios for the day are about 2500 cals, 150g protein, 250-300g carbs, and under 100g fat. Most days see me eating cottage cheese with gelatin and fruit or honey for breakfast, eggs and hashbrowns cooked in CO for lunch, and some sort of meat with potatoes/rice or some other carb for dinner, with milk, oj and coffee thrown in to hit my goals. I do liver and oysters 1X a week (not at the same time). I'm looser on weekends, and will usually eat out at a restaurant once or twice on the weekend, and have a few drinks as well. Incidentally, I noticed that my diet matched up pretty well to the one Steve Reeves claimed to use when he was bodybuilding in his prime.
One last note- I was eating about 3-4eggs a day, and I'm bumping it up to 6 for this protocol, for the added cholesterol. This should give me about 1000mg of dietary cholesterol from eggs alone, and probably about 1400-2000 mg per day, depending on other food choices.
SUPPLEMENTS- This is the fun part, right? Here's what I'm taking-
100,000IU Vitamin A as Retinyl Palmitate (split AM and PM)
8000IU Vitamin D (AM only)
Swanson High Gamma Vitamin E (1 pill AM, 1 PM) I believe this is 2400mg
16mg Vitamin K2 (15mg AM, one Super K PM)
500mg of Magnesium as Glycinate, (in PM)
100mg oral Pregneneolone (AM)
100mg Ubiquinol
1000mg Tyrosine (AM doses)
Aspirin, still experimenting with doses, but currently 975mg a day
Taurine (starting with 300mg, will slowly titrate up)
BCAAs (experimenting with dose and timing)
Pansterone (Experimenting with dose and timing, prolly 2-3 total daily. And yes, I have done direct application to the testicles)
3 grains dessicated thyroid in AM
Creatine (experimenting with dose, may or may not improve DHT, but does help muscle tone and workouts)
I'm also getting 30mg of zinc from my Two Per Day multi (which is awesome for building hemoglobin, as mentioned above), although I may switch the multi out.
I should also note I am experimenting with Oxidal, Mitolipin, Solban, and high dose B1. I don't think these would affect androgens, but they may. I also still have a lot of lotioncrafter Vitamin E that I mix with coconut oil and use on my skin.
LIGHT EXPOSURE
I'm trying to get more sun exposure on my chest and back. This is not only to stimulate testosterone, but to even out my tan (Serious farmer tan going on right now). I also have a red (not infrared) LED flashlight that I shine directly on my testicles for 5 minutes or so every other day.
ACTIVITY
Basically, I walk. A LOT. I pretty much hit 17,500 steps every day, usually getting a couple thousand more. I also do some weight training at the gym twice a week. Mostly, it's casual and enjoyable. I live by the ocean, so I this also allows me to get a lot of benefits to being outside. Between activity and diet, I'm in a 1000 calorie a day deficit (supposedly).
OTHER STUFF
As noted above, I am still losing weight. I also would like to improve my skin. I've had keratosis pilaris pretty much my whole life, and some of these things (Like Vitamin A, E, and Pansterone) can have a good effect on the skin as well as Testosterone. It's also why I'm using such a high dose of Vitamin A.
So that's basically it! I think the most important items might be the dietary cholesterol, Vitamin E and Aspirin (to inhibit aromatase), Vitamin A, Pansterone, and light exposure. Also, ED was never an issue for me. I started supplementing Magnesium and K2 back in my paleo days, and at that point, nighttime and early morning erections started happening daily. I don't remember that from anytime before, even when I was a teen. If ED happens to be an issue for anyone reading this, K2 and Magnesium would be the things I supplement first, along with A and D.
If ya gots questions about this protocol, or the weight loss, or iron reduction, ask, and I'll see if I can't get to it during a weekday update.