New guy, B.F., estimate?

[oatmeal69]

Never was too concerned about a number, just how my pants and shirts fit / the mirror, and if I'm maintaining strength, etc.

But if I'm going to do this right, I'd better quantify...

[gym_junki]

Not the best with bf but I would say 19-22

[oatmeal69]

Cool, thanks!
My roundabout guesstimate give or take is 20%-ish.. more or less...

[Bigd89]

20%-22%

[oatmeal69]

Oh, and where would you guys choose to be before starting a cycle?

[Bigd89]

15% or below, what's your weight and height? And age..

[J. Cole]

The general rule of thumb is 15% or lower... the lower your body fat the less likelihood of negative sides related to estrogen

[oatmeal69]

I'm 42, 178#, and 5'9"
I started a post in the over 40 section...
I'm going to post what I'm eating over in the diet section too.

[Lfs2shrt2bsml]

how long have you been training?
get that diet in check and drop that body fat before even thinking about, contimplationg getting on some gear.
good luck mate....

[lovbyts]

I'm 42, 178#, and 5'9"
I started a post in the over 40 section...
I'm going to post what I'm eating over in the diet section too.

You can do a lot completely natural and with only diet modification and exercise. At least you are no up above 200lbs like I was at your age.

[oatmeal69]

Training off and on most of my adult life. Traditional "body-part a day" along with swimming and running.
Crossfit all the way though over the last 8-10 months = best fitness level I've been at for years.

Here's the other post, it details more about my history.
http://forums.steroid.com/showthread....#.TiWcJoKKhpw This is a link on this site *admin* Approved


The thing is, this IS me at close to optimum, LOL. As a kid I was a super hard gainer, but managed to go from about 135 to 165 over a few years in my late 20's and 30's which (for me) was phenomenal. Still wasn't able to keep it and get much leaner than about 14-16% though.
As I've hit my 40's, I'm finding I can't keep muscle and lose fat with even a tiny fraction of the efficiency I could when I was younger. Diet down = skinny. Gain muscle= more fat.
I can easily shed weight, but strength and lean mass will go down hugely with it. I've been messing with this problem consistently for about 18 months now. Trust me, it just hasn't been the same after age 36-38 or so.

I'm working on my diet post now for that forum, I will post a link for that too... I'm sure it can always use some tweaking, but I think I have it pretty well dialed as far as what works for me.
Thanks for all the help!



. This is a link on this site *admin* Approved

[zaggahamma]

welcome

at age 42...look into hrt/get bloodwork done if not already done so

[oatmeal69]

Before I lost health insurance (about 5 months ago) I had a blood workup done, I will see if I can find it! I do remember that both LGL and HGL were high, and so I cut the 3 eggs I was having for breakfast, and upped my cardio (running) a bit.

[zaggahamma]

Before I lost health insurance (about 5 months ago) I had a blood workup done, I will see if I can find it! I do remember that both LGL and HGL were high, and so I cut the 3 eggs I was having for breakfast, and upped my cardio (running) a bit.

i'm sure you meant ldl and hdl (cholesterol)

i wouldnt quit eating eggs(misnomer)... i would just continue to up that cardio...lift heavy with good/strict form..if eggs are the worst thing in your diet you are doing very well...

next bloodwork have your hormones checked if you are low T you will have a harder time losing fat and gaining muscle

since no insurance here are a couple of sites you can set up blood tests for reasonable prices WITHOUT DOCTOR RX

http://www.anylabtestnow.com/

http://www.directlabs.com/

http://www.privatemdlabs.com/

[SlimmerMe]

and....on private md if you answer a quick quiz you will get 15% off.....takes about 3 secs to answer....

GOOD LUCK!

[oatmeal69]

Good info JPK, Yes that's what I meant re: cholesterol.
Never had a T & / or Hormone test before... Hmmm...

what, do I just send my blood off in the mail or something? LOL

SlimmerMe, I will p.m. ...

[oatmeal69]

Slimmer - Not able to view your profile or P.M... (?) I'm not approved or something...

[Necrosaro]

^ She is just that special lol you need 50 posts before you can private message people.

[oatmeal69]

Oh... Well, here's number 12.
Can she P.M. me instead?

[zaggahamma]

just keepin it real she wasnt asking to be private message she was saying on "private md" you can get a discount...dont know where the pm came from...just sayin

[oatmeal69]

Oh, LOL, It's a website... I feel like a dumbass... LOL

[oatmeal69]

Ok, so, on privatemdlabs.com/
I'm looking for a hormone test, and a Heart Health and Cholesterol Test, right? But damn, there are a lot of sub-categories under each of those headings. Can you recommend which to get?

[zaggahamma]

Ok, so, on privatemdlabs.com/
I'm looking for a hormone test, and a Heart Health and Cholesterol Test, right? But damn, there are a lot of sub-categories under each of those headings. Can you recommend which to get?

testosterone is the first one you need

[SlimmerMe]

Full male hormone panel is what you want with test total and free test too.. make sure has both...

ps: I am laughing over the pm/ md mix up....funny! just down right funny!

[lovbyts]

I used privatelabs a few weeks ago, they are fast and easy. Good prices also compared to anyone out there.
Agreed, you want the full male hormone panel as SlimmerMe said. Forget all the cholesterol BS. That is mostly about $$$ for the doctors and big drug companies. Look up the side effect of cholesterol medications, it's scary and not uncommon.

As many as 98% of people using Lipitor or similar statin drugs experience muscle weakness. This is because the statins break down muscle tissue. A similar drug, Baycor, was removed from the market earlier this year after it caused muscle breakdown so severe that patients’ muscles broke down and flooded their kidneys with toxins. Twenty-six Baycor users died from muscle failure.

Hey if it comes from the big drug companies and kills you that's ok, right? You hardly hear about anything like this on the news though. It's all about $$$

[oatmeal69]

Great point - I wouldn't opt to take anything for Cholesterol anyway at this point. Last I had it checked I was High on both, but since one mitigates the other, I was given a "High-Good" rating.
Besides, I'm doing everything I ought to be doing to lower it naturally anyway, even if it is too high.

Okay so full hormone workup it is.

[oatmeal69]

Ouch! The full workup is $170, as compared to the Test. profile which is $49.
Where was that discount again?

[oatmeal69]

I mentioned over in 'Diet' that this pic was taken about 10 days after a creatine loading. I'm guessing 3-4 pounds is new water weight...

[oatmeal69]

I think I found the discount - 3 question survey, but it only gives a code valuable for 10%.
Been reading over at HRT forum too. Seems like blood work is an expensive but totally necessary requirement. Gotta know where you're at first, before you can design anything that can help!

[SlimmerMe]

Worth it to get a baseline. And then check-up every 6 months or so. And the PSA level is crucial too to keep an eye on too. So ordering the BW is very smart.

I was thinking the discount was 15% so maybe they lowered it. You can pick any place. They will all basically send you to Labcorp or similar place and so fast. They email the results in a couple days. And then when you get your lab work back, post up in the HRT forum for review~

[oatmeal69]

I absolutely will do this. Very important!

[gbrice75]

Oh, and where would you guys choose to be before starting a cycle?

Tough to say from the single pic and weird angle, but i'm going a bit lower than the other guys - i'd say around 18%-ish.

I don't think you're in any place to run a cycle currently, with regards to bodyfat or muscle mass. Work on bringing down your bodyfat while slowly adding lean mass - essentially a recomp.

Personally, I wouldn't consider cycling above 12%.

[oatmeal69]

Recomp (?)

[oatmeal69]

I will take a couple other pix this weekend. I'll also post one of me about 6 or 7 years ago, when I really started getting into eating right and training 4-6 days a week.
I also have one about 5 years ago at my most lean and massive so you can get some comparisons there as well.
When I say this is as good as it gets, I think you'll see why, LOL. If it wasn't for working out, being active and eating decently, I'd be that skinny guy with a beer-belly and a pocket protector...
I feel that at age 42, without some help, I can no longer put on muscle or lose fat as I could 20 years ago. After doing some reading in the other forums and elsewhere, I'm starting to suspect my blood work will have some VERY telling tales as to why.

[BG]

You guys are crazy....thats 20% +. He does need hrt either, he nneds to learn how to eat and exercise. Hrt is going to increase his appeatite and he will eat worst because he has bad eating habits. Just because he is over 40 doesnt mean hrt is the answer.......btw Im about 10-12% in my avy.......

[zaggahamma]

You guys are crazy....thats 20% +. He does need hrt either, he nneds to learn how to eat and exercise. Hrt is going to increase his appeatite and he will eat worst because he has bad eating habits. Just because he is over 40 doesnt mean hrt is the answer.......btw Im about 10-12% in my avy.......

agree with the 20% but hrt can help ....no it isnt always the answer and not a magic pill and should be part of an overall health plan...speaking for myself hrt didnt increase my appetite or make me eat worse....whether the answer or not at 42 i think he should be doing bloodwork

[oatmeal69]

next bloodwork have your hormones checked if you are low T you will have a harder time losing fat and gaining muscle

This is what I'm getting at as well, but until I get blood work, it sounds like it's all a big guess.

He does need hrt either, he nneds to learn how to eat and exercise. Hrt is going to increase his appeatite and he will eat worst because he has bad eating habits. Just because he is over 40 doesnt mean hrt is the answer...

Let's just see where I am after blood work first. Then we will KNOW. - At least as far as hormones, etc. are concerned.
Unless you know of my eating habits, you are speculating, as you are with my exercise habits.

[BG]

This is what I'm getting at as well, but until I get blood work, it sounds like it's all a big guess.

Let's just see where I am after blood work first. Then we will KNOW. - At least as far as hormones, etc. are concerned.
Unless you know of my eating habits, you are speculating, as you are with my exercise habits.

As far as hormones, I didn't read anywhere you were have low t issues? Second lmfao, a picture is worth a thousand words, I don't have to speculate about anything.

[oatmeal69]

Since you have nothing constructive, why don't you butt out. You obviously think you know more than you do.

[BG]

OK, first off i wasnt even speaking to you in my first post. Problem is some people around here every time someone says they are over 40 years old they say HRT right off the bat. Its a shame because hrt is taken to lightly around here and is abused by younger guys.

As far as you and hormones. They are not your problem nor your answer.....diet and exercise is. You need to get yourself on a good clean diet, a good steady exercise regimen and get in shape to see how you really feel. HRT is a life long commitment and needs to be considered if really needed, because if you start it there's no turning back. You will surpress your natural HTPA and will feel like shit if you stop. Trust me, it seems cool and a good idea now but 3-4 years from now you might feel different (kinda like those tribal band tattoo's around guys biceps).

My advise to you, hit the diet and training section hard. Get in shape and if down the road you still want to try something then run a low dosage test cycle..........no need for to make hasty life long decision.