Can TRT produce or influence to gain weight?

[Joe56s]

Dear Excelmale friends,

I have been using a 50mgs TRT gel for about two months. My life has improved in a certain way but I have put on weight in a way that it makes me worry. From 83.7 kgs I am now about 88 kgs. It is true that sometimes summer is responsible for this but last year and the preceding ones nothing of this happened. Perhaps TRT can improve muscle mass and muscles formation are heavier than fat. I am trying to reduce weight these days but my weight remains always the same (1.70 tall, 88 kgs)

Do you think that TRT is in some way responsible for my gain of weight?

Thank you!

Joe

 

[Belekas]

You will never know for sure if you don't track and and stay consistent in the amount of food you eat on the daily/weekly basis. Also need to account the calorie expenditure from all the activities like walking, training or whatever. Something to think about. Also could have been some water retention maybe but without baseline of things pre TRT its not worth even thinking about as its unmeasurable if you know what i mean.

Regards,
Bel

 

[Joe56s]

Thanks for your reply Belekas. I will try to measure in a correct way all the elements concerning the weight gain as you advise me. I will see if in a few days I can return to normality.

Joe

 

[Systemlord]

I have been using a 50mgs TRT gel for about two months.

It will be more difficult to lose weight if hormones are suboptimal.

Where does this protocol put your Total T, Free T and estrogen levels?

 

[Vince]

You will never know for sure if you don't track and and stay consistent in the amount of food you eat on the daily/weekly basis. Also need to account the calorie expenditure from all the activities like walking, training or whatever. Something to think about. Also could have been some water retention maybe but without baseline of things pre TRT its not worth even thinking about as its unmeasurable if you know what i mean.

Regards,
Bel

Hopefully it's not water weight. When I first started TRT, My appetite did increase. Thankfully over time I improved by eating habits.

 

[Joe56s]

Dear Systemlord,

Free testosterone 14.8 pg/ml
Total testosterone 2.54 ng/ml
Estrogen unknown

Joe

 

[Joe56s]

Dear Vince,

Yes, you are right. I also have at this time more appetite but I am trying to control that. I have been for about four days on diet and today I weigh 400 grams more than half a week ago.

Joe

 

[Joe56s]

Dear Systemlord,

These figures before beginning treatment

 

[Systemlord]

These figures before beginning treatment

I know, but you've put on weight and you want help determining the cause, but don't provide any hormone panel to verify if your hormones are high enough to fully benefit from T therapy.

 

[Systemlord]

I have been using a 50mgs TRT gel for about two months.

Free testosterone 14.8 pg/ml
Total testosterone 2.54 ng/ml

I want to know where your levels are right now, before treatment is irrelevant. If your doctor hasn't bothered to check your hormones two months into TRT, then please find another doctor asap!

A lot of guys don't absorb topicals well, so your doctor should have tested your levels after 4-6 weeks, to see if you're absorbing enough test, and if not increase the dosage or switch over to injections.

You should be running labs 2-4 hours after applying the T gel.

 

[Joe56s]

Dear Systemlord,

The doctor prescribed me the TRT gel for three months. Then he told me I should come back at the end of September, after three months of treatment.

Joe

 

[Systemlord]

Then he told me I should come back at the end of September, after three months of treatment.

This is too long to wait for labs. It doesn't take 3 months to reach a steady state on topicals.

There's no logical reason to wait this long. So trying to troubleshoot the weight gain without these labs is going to be a challenge.

You need to be your own advocate, be persistent and demand better care.

 

[GLJX]

Testosterone increases glycogen stores and for every gram of glycogen you store, 3–4 grams of water may be stored with it.

 

[Systemlord]

The Effect of Testosterone Topical Solution in Hypogonadal Men With Suboptimal Response to a Topical Testosterone Gel​

During the study, 95% of HGN men (72/78) attained a T-level in the normal range. The median T-level at endpoint was 495.7 ng/dL, a threefold increase over baseline, p < .001, 70% achieving normal T-levels within the first 2 weeks of treatment.

If you should be in the other 30% of men who didn't reach therapeutic T levels within 2 weeks, then you're stuck with low levels for a further 10 weeks.