Minimum testosterone to get a growth advantage

[Nelson Vergel]

Hence my continuing doubt about how little is too little or how much is too much.

Your blood work is telling you what is too much. I think we have given you enough advice here.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

Well I have not noticed that side effect but its only been a few weeks. If sex drive is related to E2 levels and the primo lowers E2 to a normal or desirable level, would it still be a negative for sex drive? I have seen many comments that an AI crushes E2 and that very low E2 can have bad side effects, including joint pain.

I know that oxandrolone is Anavar, an oral steroid. I don't know what nandrolone or NPP are, I'll read up on those. I had picked primo because I thought it would both lower my E2 and retain some anabolism I was giving up by reducing testosterone but I'm not at all wedded to this combination. I saw that mastradon would not decrease E2 but would nullify the impact of it on breast tissue, which sounded fine, but I could not find any.

But mostly I wanted to get my E2 down and yeah, I need to thin my blood.


I'll see if I can find some.

Every time I research GH I get confused. Apparently there are two different forms that vary in length by one amino acid, and one is good while the other is bad. Looking at what is available none of them list that. And then there are the colored tops, and I have not been able to find any explanation of what that means.


I don't need to sustain a fitness model look of 10% BF, I would be happy with 11% to 13% s long as I have muscle strength. Its mostly about performance and overall body weight. My GF and I are nearly the perfect weight for the boat we sail. I could add up to 10 pounds and still be at an ideal weight for that purpose, but I don't think I need that much more muscle.

That said, what's the best way to actually figure out my maintenance calories? All these online calculators seem like rough guesses. My body weight has ben stable at my current calories / protein count / macros.

Thanks very much everyone this is amazing feedback and I do appreciate it!

- I am not sure of all of Primo's impacts, but it seems to me that oxandrolone is the lowest risk anabolic option for what you are after since lowering your T dose should lower your E2.
-I was referring to GH secretagogues, not GH, although GH is fine to try to. IME it is lower risk than anabolics like T since it is unlikely to affect your sex drive/function. Secretagogues stimulate your body's production of GH so you know it is the real thing. They are covered in Nelson's recent peptide post and a once weekly CJC1295 w/DAC patch could be a good place to start for what you are after. Simple, cheap and fairly safe.
- IME, the concept of maintenance calories does not really work in practice since your body's metabolic rate can change to reflect higher or lower caloric intake. Even if you could determine a point-in-time value, changing your calories could change that value. Experimentation is the solution IME. For example, I am usually leanest when I do a lot of walking, and while fasting will also help me get lean, just reducing calories cuts my strength but doesn't reduce fat.
- Something that seems to be essential for building strength (unless you are on a lot of anabolics) is that the body needs to sense that it is in a "state of abundance" so undereating in general is not going to be conducive to adding strength. If you gradually up your carbs and protein I suspect you'll see strength progress with little to no fat gain.