hey guys,

new member here and wanted to see if i could get some insight to the blood work I had done.

Two years ago I decided to have my testosterone checked. At that time I weighed in around 170lbs, and these were the results:

testosterone, total: 758. (Reference range, 241-827 ng/dL)
SHBG: 40 (Reference range, 10-57 nmol/L)
testosterone, free, calc: 154 (Reference range, 35-180 pg/mL)
testosterone free, %: 2.0 (Reference range, 1.0-2.7%)

I'm on my way to 31 years old and just a month ago had some blood work done again as requested by my doctor. For years I have always believed to have low testosterone due to depression, anxiety, low / non-existent libido, irritable, always tired, no interest in anything, etc.

The last 6 months of me being new to bodybuilding (although not new to exercise or nutrition as I've studied it for years) has proven difficult to put on any muscle (I'm 5'9", 211lbs; 23% bf was eating 3500cals, 40/40/20 macro split), although I've noticed very small gains. (the extra body fat could cover be covering up most of my results :P )

Here's a rundown of the new results:

Click image for larger version.  Name: test.png  Views: 1342  Size: 68.6 KB  ID: 154050

Total testosterone seems great, but while not extremely low, free test is a bit on the lower end. If you look just below that result, testosterone itself is 283ng/dl out of 853. SHBG is also a bit higher than it should be, although I'm not sure if that number is ideal...

Both my doctor and I aren't sure what the second testosterone result (283) is for as it's throwing us both off.

I just want to confirm that my doctors decision to put me on HRT is the right move (I'm not objecting to it lol), and what everyone thinks of my results? HRT hasn't been started yet as my doctor wants to test me again and have me lose 40lbs.

I've actually stopped working out for the last month due to the fact that these results somewhat prove to me that putting on muscle will be difficult. Am I right or wrong?

I have a full lipid panel although I'm not sure that will help here. I'm guessing a full hormone panel would be best.

Thanks for any help.