Subject: How do you get rid of a pot belly that won't go away?!
Winston wrote:Wtf is going on? The last 2 weeks ive been eating nothing but soup and salad, very healthy, yet my pot belly is still big and refuses to shrink! Wtf? Impossible! In theory i should have lost significant weight by now. This is illogical. Its as if my body refuses to lose weight and has a mind of its own, as if my fat wants to live! Where is my pot belly getting the energy from to maintain itself? Why belly fat so stubborn, like it has a mind of its own? Are some people just meant to be fat, like its destiny? Pot belly is so unattractive! Its ruining my love life! Does anyone have a logical explanation?!?!
You should see about getting your hormones tested. You've probably got low testosterone by now, maybe hypothyroid as well (though low testosterone kind of mimics hypothyroid at times symptomatically...) Note, the "normal range" for testosterone is 300-1200, with some docs going as low as 250 or 200 (absolutely dumb.) That's a big range. In the 1950s when they first started testing it, the lowest minimum was 400ng/dl. Generally a healthy 20-30 year old will be in the 500-700 range, with a free testosterone over 100pg/ml, and estradiol (estrogen) between 20-30 pg/ml. Right now lots of environmental stuff is wreaking havoc with test levels, thus the lowering of the "normal range." Get some labs done and see what your levels look like, maybe test thyroid, vitamins, etc, if you can as well.
This stuff is no joke, and not everyone really wants to get tested as if you find out you're low you can feel afront to your masculinity, etc, but it's crucial to get this stuff tested out, especially at your age. Docs in USA tend to be basically retarded about this, I told my doctor I was having problems with my energy levels, motivation, and blood sugar, and gaining weight easily even with a lot of physical activity (10 hours a week.) She suggested anti-depressants, which is pretty stupid. Anyway, I'm not personally on testosterone, just on 25mg DHEA and 100mg pregnenolone per week, which are prohormones to testosterone, and I feel a lot better. Obviously I don't feel great and cheery all the time, but I have a lot more energy and motivation to get things done. Dieting is a lot easier.
Overseas generally testosterone and anabolic steroids are relatively easy to find and are OTC, but in USA they're Schedule III like amphetamines/etc, which is dumb. So if you don't have money for tests, I mean, you could self medicate with them and see how you feel. One thing testosterone does it is acts like male birth control, it shuts down your testes, so that's part of the reason I myself am not taking it, as I don't want to be sterile, but if you're old and want no more children, this isn't much of an issue, though it may be advised to take a low dose of pregnenolone and DHEA if you can to replace what your testes are not making anymore.
Another thing that may be your case is high estrogen, the more bodyfat you have, and to some extent the higher fat in your diet, the more your body converts testosterone to estrogen via aromatase. So it kind of creates a vicious cycle. So if you get a lab result back of say, 300ng/dl testosterone, and a high estrogen number like 60, then taking an anti-aromatase drug like letrozole or aromasin might be the best course of action, as this will stop the conversion of estrogen, and you'll likely lose at least water weight, and your 300 might go up to 600 or 700 with just that. There's a few other options like SERMs (clomiphine and nolvadex) and HCG, but these are more for preserving fertility, and I don't think you're concerned with having more children. I would say if you have high estrogen, to not take testosterone without an aromatase inhibitor, as it will make your estrogen even higher, and you'll get gyno (man breasts) and other side effects.
In Asia you can buy a few more anabolic steroids as well, like nandrolone, which helps immune function and helps joints, stanozolol (DHT derivative), and Proviron, another DHT derivative. Personally I want to try Proviron, as studies say it actually increases sperm count and testosterone, which seems ideal, but it being a DHT derivative might lead to baldness.
You might be a bit freaked out at suggesting anabolic steroids, but used in their medical dosages, they're fairly safe, and have a much better safety profile compared to... Prozac, haha. Just the difference between a medical dose of these drugs and what's used for bodybuilding is a lot. A normal medical dose of testosterone for example is about 100mg per week. Bodybuilders use generally over 1 gram per week, sometimes 2-3 with other drugs, then people hear of the side effects. Well yeah, they took 10x the medically recommended dose. But getting yourself up to the ideal range for these hormones isn't going to hurt you.
I tell you this as I had problems myself personally, I just turned 25 and my testosterone level was only 400, which is the average level of a 70 year old man and was the bottom 5% of my age group.
http://elitemensguide.com/testosterone-levels-by-age/ I work out a lot, do a sport, lift weights, etc, but nothing could ever get me "ripped" looking, I felt lethargic and unmotivated a lot of the time, couldn't sleep well, etc. So now a lot of those problems are a lot better. This is not to say you shouldn't exercise or make other lifestyle changes, and you likely do need to, but if your hormones are messed up, you're gonna be basically driving with the e-brake on.
I've not gone on this forum much, how are things, and how are you? I have a girlfriend in Vietnam now I'm working on seeing soon, and I found out about what I told regarding this (testosterone) as well. So yeah. Hope everything is going well,
Best wishes,
Joe