A few more first-cycle questions answered
I've been fielding a lot of questions on first cycles. Here's an edited copy of my resoponse to a recent PM which contained several basic questions on first cycles:
You have many of the concerns I had when I started. Here are the answers to your questions:
1. You did...a low dose [cycle] over the 16 weeks, but did you get the bloating and acne? If so, to what amount? a little? heaps?
Each person's body reacts differently to steroids. I will tell you my experiences, but you may have a different experience based on differences in our body chemistry, diet, rest and workout intensity. I gained a bit of water weight, but not the excessive amounts that others have complained about. I've never been one to get a lot of acne. Even during puberty, I hardly got one pimple--infact I don't recall having gotten any pimples on my face until I was just about out of high school.
2. When you finished, did you need to take something like clomid or was the dose low enough to not have your natural test levels to dive?
Anytime you use steroids you are repressing your natural tesosterone. If you use steroids over several weeks (for example 16 weeks), your body will have nearly, if not completely, shut down its own production of test. If you do not find a way to jumpstart your own testosterone levels after a cycle, then your body will not be able to maintain the new muscle since there will be an absence of testosterone (I'm simplifying here to make a point). Furthermore, if you do not find a way to get your own testosterone levels going again, you might risk suffering gyno (again, a simplification).
I have not bothered much with PCT nor have a few of my friends who are much bigger than I. They loose a bit of muscle after the cycle, but they adjust their nutrition, lifting and rest to minimize the loss. You have to decide what works best for you by experimenting. I suggest that you start by using PCT correctly.
3. How much of the gains should I expect to lose?
That's not something that anyone can answer for you. What you gain/loose depends on your body chemistry, rest, diet, lifting intensity, determination, and persistence.
4. Why fork out all that money if the gains 'evaporate' some time later?
EXACTLY. That's why--if one personally decides to use steroids--one should start with a simple cycle of testosterone to understand what can and cannot be reasonably done with a cycle and to learn how his/her body reacts to steroids.
Let me tell you clearly: If you cannot tell me EXACTLY how many calories you have eaten per day over the last 2 weeks, how many grams of protein/carbohydrates/fats, how many meals you've eaten on each of the last 14 days, how much your weight has increased over the last 2 weeks, how many hours you've slept, etc...then you're not yet at the point where you should be using steroids.
You need to get your diet, rest and workout in place before you start using steroids, else you will not be happy with the results. Too many people ignore this advice, jump into steroids, complain that they don't grow, increase their doses too high, get some basic gains, and decide that the only way to grow is to use large amounts of steroids. Just imagine what excellent gains these impatient people would have gotten if they took time to take care of the basics first. Remember, if you build your castle on unfirm foundations, it will crumble.
TAKE CARE OF THE BASICS BEFORE YOU USE STEROIDS.
This post was put up as a simple reminder of some of the basics--a few things that new users may have not taken the time to digest.
