More fat = better erections?

[75 Dogs]

I've been on TRT almost 5 years, and one of the biggest things I noticed is I used to wake up in the middle of the night with erections so hard I couldn't hardly push my "main vein" down into the toilet. I had to squat over the bowl using my hand to hold it steady, try to relax, and essentially shoot it at the front of the bowl. (It was painful but I'd give my left pinky to have that back permanently)

Here's the point. I do IIFYM and I have a split of:
30% protein / 50% carbs / 20% fat

I've noticed if I let my fat go over for the day (possibly because I have avocado or steak), I may wake up with one of my now-rare erections in the middle of the night. That split is more like:
30% protein / 40% carbs / 30% fat

Essentially I've noticed if I get around 90g of fat instead of 60g, it sometimes coincides with a pop up erection later on.

Does anyone know if it's possible that increasing my fat intake from 20% to 30% could have any effect on my erection quality?

I'm going to try to increase it for a while and see what happens, but thought maybe someone might have some insight into this.

[gymffiti]

I can report the same symptoms lol

I have a long medical history of chronic fatigue, memory loss, anxiety & panic attacks ...

After many wasted years of anti depressants (memory loss) and experimenting with diet, I can confidently say, my cognitive function is noticeably lower on less than 60g fat.

Also, fish oil & (real) salt are better stimulants for me, than caffeine which made me tired

TLDR Version - My brain needs fat for my mind & body


I'm not sure how many studies there are on this. But I trust my own real life experience, over the sponsored peer reviewed ideologically driven BS, that some Internet MDs are zealots for

[Fiskevatten]

Can very well be the fat! I will copy my answers (part) on the fat-part I got from the good'ol guys "Windex" and "GearHeaded" from this forum.
I actually asked a similar question regarding libido but had bloody red beef in my thoughts instead.
These are the answers:

"Most lean cuts of meat (not just chicken) are missing a lot of micro nutrition because it's mostly found in the fat. The way to offset that is with vegetables, which people do not eat enough. It's very rare for someone to eat 3 cups of mixed vegetables 6 times a day. "

"a lot of the benefits to be had from eating a diet high in red meat actually comes from the fact that its also high in saturated fat (despite what popular belief is about saturated fats, it has tons of health and performance benefits) . Choosing white fish or lean chicken over red meat can result in much less saturated fats in the diet and thus a decrease in health factors, athletic performance, nerve signaling, immune system function, and a host of other things. Its no surprise that adding red meat and saturated fasts to your diet would make you feel and perform better"

[gymffiti]

Can very well be the fat! I will copy my answers (part) on the fat-part I got from the good'ol guys "Windex" and "GearHeaded" from this forum.
I actually asked a similar question regarding libido but had bloody red beef in my thoughts instead.
These are the answers:

"Most lean cuts of meat (not just chicken) are missing a lot of micro nutrition because it's mostly found in the fat. The way to offset that is with vegetables, which people do not eat enough. It's very rare for someone to eat 3 cups of mixed vegetables 6 times a day. "

"a lot of the benefits to be had from eating a diet high in red meat actually comes from the fact that its also high in saturated fat (despite what popular belief is about saturated fats, it has tons of health and performance benefits) . Choosing white fish or lean chicken over red meat can result in much less saturated fats in the diet and thus a decrease in health factors, athletic performance, nerve signaling, immune system function, and a host of other things. Its no surprise that adding red meat and saturated fasts to your diet would make you feel and perform better"

Yeah this all ties in with my experiences

A fatty cut of beef is what I build my day of eating around. I struggle without it

[fiddlesticks]

There are nerves in your stomach that activate when stomach is full that activate the PNS and lower stress in general and tune down the SNS.

[75 Dogs]

Thanks guys. This is not something I had even considered before.

I mostly eat chicken, usually twice a day. And I have stayed away from red meat mainly because I figured I could get my fat macros elsewhere.

I do take fish oil daily, but my main vegetables are greens from salads. Romaine once a day. Kale or field greens at night. If I had to guess I'd say I'm probably not getting the micronutrients I would from incorporating more veggies.

This is very promising. Veggies and increasing my fats. I will try this and see what happens. Damn, I'm super excited about this game plan!

[75 Dogs]

There are nerves in your stomach that activate when stomach is full that activate the PNS and lower stress in general and tune down the SNS.

So in layman's terms, you're basically saying when you're fed properly the body relaxes to a "normal" state...the opposite of where it gets when not fed properly, where a lot of functions not required for immediate survival are shut down.

Hence, an erection (not normally needed in a fight or flight scenario) could become easier to achieve?

Do I have that right?

[GearHeaded]

Also, fish oil & (real) salt are better stimulants for me, than caffeine which made me tired

TLDR Version - My brain needs fat for my mind & body

well technically (biologically) this is not true . as the brain is one of the few organs in the body that CANNOT utilize fat for energy (it can only use primarily glucose , or ketones) where as something like muscle can use glucose for fuel to generate ATP and if that glucose runs out will directly burn fat for fuel (no metabolic changes needed.. it simply burns glucose or fat and goes back and fourth between the two).

again the brain needs glucose. if your diet becomes glucose restricted then the liver will begin breaking down protein/amino acids and converting those into glucose to fuel the brain. When that runs low (like during a time of starvation or strict dieting) then your liver mainly begins producing ketones (a back up fuel source) to fuel the brain. now ketones are produced from fat. but the brain is not using fat at all, its using the ketones that the liver produced from fat.
this process requires a fairly advanced metabolic change in the body. where as again something like muscle tissue can go back and fourth from directly using glucose or fat for fuel (no metabolic change needed).

so your brain is not using the fat that you eat for energy at all.. however there are probably lots of other secondary and indirect things going on from consuming fat that make you feel better

[Obs]

Personally I have seen some hot 30% bf girls.

I would erect the hell out of them.

[fiddlesticks]

So in layman's terms, you're basically saying when you're fed properly the body relaxes to a "normal" state...the opposite of where it gets when not fed properly, where a lot of functions not required for immediate survival are shut down.

Hence, an erection (not normally needed in a fight or flight scenario) could become easier to achieve?

Do I have that right?

Precisely yes. Certain foods do this alot harder than others. Peanut butter does it really hard (lol)

[GearHeaded]

Precisely yes. Certain foods do this alot harder than others. Peanut butter does it really hard (lol)

you have an obsession with peanut butter don't you

[fiddlesticks]

you have an obsession with peanut butter don't you

yea i do some pretty disgusting stuff w it to get calories in sometimes. sugar water+ peanut butter..

[fiddlesticks]

you have an obsession with peanut butter don't you

The funny thing is tho is that I can have almost an unlimited amount of those things and feel great. Anytime I have alot of stuff with 8999 artificial ingredients is when shit gets haywire. Sugar definitely gets blamed when it doesn't deserve the hate, it's the easiest processed calorie there is. Idk about fructose corn syrup but normal sucrose makes me feel good.

[75 Dogs]

I've got to give a quick update. Since I posted this about a week ago, I've been upping my fat macros from 20% to just above 30%. And many nights I've been able to wake up with a decent erection.

I'm not having a lot of sex, so I can't speak to the sensitivity of things, but it's really nice to see things going in a positive direction.

Peanut butter and red meat have been the main source of the increase.

I would hesitate to say conclusively that it's the fat that is having this effect on me, but something I'm doing along the way is causing an improvement and I can't say it's not the fat.

Thanks to everyone on here for guiding me in this direction. I'll keep my fingers crossed and see if I can continue to see improvements.

[Ephemeral]

Why is it important to wake up with an erection anyway? It's just a hassle lol.

[fiddlesticks]

Why is it important to wake up with an erection anyway? It's just a hassle lol.

That's quite a silly way to look at this.

If you're constantly in survival mode and dont get those boners often it's a bad sign in general. Can lead to other things like immune system slowing down.