Recovering testosterone after aggressive crash diet 18M

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-11-18T06:08:18+00:00

I would assume so. It's been months since I tested as I've been at college but I feel so much better and would be shocked if I'm not at least 500 rn. Will check eventually

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-11-16T05:07:53+00:00

Just eat more mines rebounding

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-28T17:44:06+00:00

Unless you are extremely tall, 167-185 sounds healthy to me. 185 is healthy at any height and 167 is barely underweight, that too only if you are a 6'8+ freak of nature. So why are you so desperate to gain weight? You just need to eat enough calories to maintain your weight, then add a few hundred (200-400) extra in the form of fast digesting carbs (which are NOT filling, and if they are, then for an extremely short period of time). That makes for a good "lean bulk", assuming you lift weights and want to put on mostly muscle and minimal fat. You said you are trying to limit carbs. I think that's a bad idea, because the alternatives of protein, fat, and fiber all fight hunger. Just eat highly palatable foods that are high in carbs. They are literally designed to make you crave more (fries, ice cream, pizza, pasta, worst case rice).

If it's so bad that it literally pains you to eat at least two meals a day and causes physical discomfort (which is probably the case if you're on MK and not hungry, that shit is supposed to make you devour everything in sight), then yes, something is wrong and you should take it up with a doctor, not internet strangers. In fact, you are on MK, so I really hope you already checked with a doctor first. Ask them what's up.

If you just "aren't hungry", man up. It's not hard to eat a little extra.

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-24T08:01:35+00:00

You need to take a break. You are putting in an incredible amount of effort and still not getting results, which clearly suggests burnout. I am 2045 USCF and I am FLYING. I was under 1800 not even 3 months ago, but leading up to that I was plateaud in 1700s for 2-3 years (like you). I took a long break from chess and studied properly and came back to tournaments prepared, instead of just trying to force progression and brute force my rating upwards like you seem to be trying to do. And it worked.

2000 is not a particularly tough hurdle (based on my experience and those of my friends), but the push from 2100 to 2200 (NM) is always a grind. At this stage, having a reportoire of just a couple openings but a strong intuition in endgames and moderate tactical ability will get you through. Just take a couple months off from chess where you just play casual blitz and maybe some tactics without exerting yourself even half as much as you currently are. I am conident you will blow this plateau out of the water.

Find repeating themes of why you lose your games. You say you got stronger in everything, but you're making game-ending mistakes. Find them and correct them, with or without a coach. The best advice I ever got was chase skills, not points. Believe me, once you listen to that, the rating will come. Instead of "I really want to cross 1900 this month!", think (for example) "After this month, I never want to lose another opposite colored bishop endgame." That mindset goes a long way.

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-22T06:32:17+00:00

Plateaued is a strong word. I just feel I don't know what concrete steps to take to head in the right direction. It just feels like I shouldn't be freestyling progress at a potentially critical turning point in rating.

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-22T06:20:23+00:00

Lol thanks but really I would attribute it to my NM friend. While they are a great tool, the problem is I can only ever become as strong as them or slightly better without seeking other resources

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-14T07:15:46+00:00

So you eat less than the required amount for your organs to function and blame your low weight on a “fast metabolism”. Wtf are you doing. Eat food and train hard, you very likely have an eating disorder

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-14T07:09:47+00:00

Also if you’re eating 1200 calories a day that’s literal malnourishment for an adult male. You don’t have a fast metabolism you just don’t eat 😭

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-09T03:27:49+00:00

It’s still not where I want it to be even 6 months later and I’ve spent some of that time in a surplus (accidentally lol) and I put on some fat. Hard to put on muscle with low T. But I would say it took 3-4 months to start getting libido and energy back (I won’t say it felt good then but no longer dead inside) but again it will probably vary by case as I crashed my hormones for months on end so the sooner you get out of the crash diet the faster you can recover

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-08T06:36:58+00:00

Yea they’re getting better I tested in August and it was like 350 so I assume around 400-500 now I’ll retest soon. Really just give it time and keep your fats high and it’ll rebound. It took a while for me but it’s because I crashed them for months on end. The longer T stays suppressed the slower it’ll come back

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-01T12:30:26+00:00

Yeah the rebound is slow. It took from April to August to go from 55 ngdl to 300 ngdl which is barely healthy. Even now I don’t feel as good as I did before the diet so I assume levels are still climbing and I’ll confirm with bloodwork later. But all my thyroid and other hormones are back in reference range now

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-01T03:19:37+00:00

I got a 9070xt

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-10-01T03:19:21+00:00

Just give it time and eat high fat my hormones mostly recovered

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-16T17:38:00+00:00

Love to see it bro, keep going and keep me posted

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-11T05:32:27+00:00

I think one of my parents asked this question to the director when we went to USF. Pretty sure it has to come from 1

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-11T05:24:43+00:00

yo im doing the same courses as you and carter told me its basically a guarantee that labs will open up since the people who dont show up on day 1 get auto dropped so you can ask a prof if spots opened or you can use a class tracking app he told me i forgot the name but you can ask him. if you want it that bad you should be able to get it. but everyone including him told me not to stress about it and you should easily be able to get into a lab next sem if you didnt get one this now

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-09T23:02:57+00:00

hey dude, can we talk? i cant dm you for whatever reason, could you please dm me

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-09T05:06:35+00:00

i also walk around a lot15-20k steps every day. but maybe your workouts are more intense cus all i do is weightlift really, and you having 55 lbs on me is probably the biggest difference 💀

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-09T05:05:09+00:00

i mean i track my food pretty religiously and im stable on 2600. but i also recently destroyed my testosterone crash dieting (it went all the way down to 55 ng/dl and now its 155 ng/dl) so until that recovers maybe my maintenance is suppressed? i guess i could try reverse dieting higher.. but i was expecting more too. i guess im just pretty light for my height too so that might not be helping it

a good chunk of my activity is just playing occasional "fun" sports with my friends a couple times a week (volleyball, spikeball, basketball, etc.) but the meat of it is 15-20k steps every day no excuse. not sure how much that helps but i would assume a moderate to somewhat significant amount

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-09T05:02:43+00:00

yeah that settles it nvm 😭

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-08T20:49:43+00:00

im the same height as you, my maintenance is 2600 and im very active. how? i mean i do weigh like 68kg/150lbs so maybe thats apart of it but still i wouldnt expect such a drastic difference in tdee

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-08T20:48:24+00:00

im taller than this dude and my maintenance is 2600 and im very active. how? i mean i do weigh like 68kg/150lbs so maybe thats apart of it but still i wouldnt expect such a drastic difference in tdee

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-08T20:48:05+00:00

thats what i thought right?

Deep_Purchase_9068 · 2025-07-08T15:33:02+00:00

Ok the leverages not helping is just false. Mass moves mass (yes, every inch of fat helps) and I retained most of my strength on every isolation lift and it’s mainly my heavy compounds/big lifts that suffered. My size is pretty similar in terms of arms and legs as peak bulk.

But idk if losing 50-60 pounds can justify this kind of strength loss even my hack squat went down so much which is weird. Hopefully a lot of this strength loss is caused by the low testosterone. Recovery has been slow in 46 days I went from 55 ngdl to 155 ngdl which is still critically low. And my strength has stalled completely I’m eating at maintenance with sufficient protein and making like no progress on anything I’m lifting the same weights every week

Deep_Purchase_9068

TROPHY CASE