The sweet spot between good looking and healthy BF% page 4

[JoeyA]

It doesn't sound like a good idea to being doing HRT if you're hoping to reactivate your natural testosterone production...

If it's from diet then why aren't you trying that first?

[Daydreamer]

Actually the low fat diet mistakes and overtraining just made it very worse but it was an imbalance I had before.
Had around 300 ng/dl, now it's 20 ng/dl naturally.
So the docs put me into treatment because the state of degradation I was in was too dangerous to be maintained that way and I needed to finish all of my growth spurts.

What will happen if I overeat on purpose only with very primal foods (no fruits, no nuts, mostly fatty meats, fatty fishes, saturated fats, eggs, coconut in all its forms except water, and cruciferous veggies) while being incidentally in ketosis ?

[Gadsie]

For aging men with a natural form of hypogonadism, not an extreme case of hypogonadism provoked by drastic diet and training mistakes with almost not functioning testicles and levels as low as 20 ng/dl.

I sincerely don't see how the hell I could benefit from weight lifting since my body is more inclined to waste away than to create new cells. I must be very very careful. It's too soon, I just feel it.

To be honest, I'm well aware of the fact that I feel (and tend to look) better eating 3000-3500 calories, but I'm just afraid in doing so as it sounds much more than recommended everywhere... I don't want to regret it.

I have been there as well, I thought 3500 calories was way too much. Calorie calculators told me I needed 2800 calories even at extremely active. I'm now eating between 4000 and 6000 calories a day. That's right, 6000. It was very scary at first but I noticed I'm hardly gaining fat. Yes I am 15, but you're 18 right? So still young. I'm not saying what applies to me applies to you but it's worth trying. The worst that can happen is you gain fat and you have to cut back a little. You won't become overweight at all. Just try eating as much as you can (want) and see what happens

[Daydreamer]

It's really great to find a young man in the same kind of situation as me.
But sometimes it doesn't "feel" good to eat that much, I mean, my digestive system seems to be upset and I get a very bloated stomach for days while the rest of my body is still very skeletal and too ripped (veins showing everywhere).

I'm 18, but I'm experiencing a kind of delayed puberty since it's the first time in my life when my sexual hormones are that high, so I guess I could easily use those calories.

So you say you didn't gain that much fat, like more than normal fat, eating 6000 calories a day ?

[Gadsie]

It's really great to find a young man in the same kind of situation as me.
But sometimes it doesn't "feel" good to eat that much, I mean, my digestive system seems to be upset and I get a very bloated stomach for days while the rest of my body is still very skeletal and too ripped (veins showing everywhere).

I'm 18, but I'm experiencing a kind of delayed puberty since it's the first time in my life when my sexual hormones are that high, so I guess I could easily use those calories.

So you say you didn't gain that much fat, like more than normal fat, eating 6000 calories a day ?

When beginning primal, I ate 2500 calories a day. I was 123 lbs. I looked like this:
http://s1063.photobucket.com/albums/...er_media_share
(I hope the link works) as you can see, my abs are visible and I don't even look sick or anything. But this picture was taken flexed and with the perfect lightning/angle etc. I was definitley underweight in that picture.

After 2 months or so, I started eating 3000-3500 calories a day. And did this for 2 months. Then I started eating 4000-6000 calories a day (rarely 4000, mostly 5000+ and sometimes 6000). I have been eating this much for I think 2 months as well now. So maybe it's not enough time to make conclusions, I don't know, but this is what I look like today:
http://s1063.photobucket.com/albums/...er_media_share

You can see I gained fat, my abs are less visible. But if you didn't pay attention to it you wouldn't notice would you?

[paleo-bunny]

You look look way healthier in your latest pic.

Still underweight but you have good muscle definition for a guy of your age,

[Gadsie]

You look look way healthier in your latest pic.

Still underweight but you have good muscle definition for a guy of your age,

Thanks, I guess, or at least cool
Still underweight? So more cheese?

[Wanderlust]

Dude you need to eat a small cow and a drink a dairy farm, and yeah some cheese on top.

[Daydreamer]

Dude you need to eat a small cow and a drink a dairy farm, and yeah some cheese on top.

Okay, tried to eat nearly 5000/6000 calories two days in a row, I feel like I'm about to vomit everything.
I seem to have gained fat in a very unpleasant manner, only on my abdominal area, my arms, face and legs are still very skinny and too defined.
So it's not a good idea after all...

Went from this :
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...-IMG_01553.jpg

to this
http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/...0-IMG_0036.jpg

In two days.

[chrismcd]

Just had a quick read through this thread, I'm a 20 year old male who's been in a similar situation to you.

I can only say what is working for me, and it probably won't be the same for you (everyone is different after all), but it might help you.

For me, low-carb was quite possibly the worst thing I ever did for myself in terms of my metabolism, I went from fit and active (weightlifting, other sports, walking everywhere) to have zero energy and gaining fat all around my abdominal area as you describe.

The only thing that has started the healing process for me is carbohydrate, unlimited amounts daily from fruit, honey, rice tubers etc (I don't count myself as paleo and do eat grains, as I have no issues, but again for a lot of people this would cause trouble). Eating large quantities of fat as you describe only serves to make me gain fat at a ridiculous pace!

Would you be open to trying a higher-carb approach? You're a young male with his whole life ahead of you, eating low-carb makes no sense to me personally, although I do admit it obviously has therapeutic effects for certain people.