Low Testosterone and Weight Gain?

I waited to see if anyone else answered this before I did and if they had any other conclusions. Your story sounds almost exactly like mine (point for point). My doctor has not started any hormone therapy yet but he's talking to me about it. The only thing we've determined so far is that I have heredity hemochromatosis (an iron overload in my system). If it hadn't been a problem in my family we would never had know to look for it. I am going to a university medical center and after everything else showed nothing my doctor said, "What's the point of having a research center if we don't do some research?". So, he ran some DNA tests and there it was. Although they still aren't sure of all the gene pairings to look for I had one of the more common ones. That combined with my ferritin level which increased by small amounts every time it was checked over the past few years. My ferritin runs at about 320 right now but for someone with hemochromatosis it should only be around 20 and never over 50. The iron begins to collect in the heart, pancreas, liver, joints (causing swelling) and brain (causing headaches). These are secondary symptoms and can be in any combination. They also come on progressively. I ran track in high school and did field events and have for as long as I can remember eaten a healthy diet with lots of organic meats and vegetables. Our immediate family has been involved in the health food industry for over 30 years so we just grew up eating this way.

I am in no way an expert or anything but what you've described is the same for me. The first hint that I had anything wrong at all was some weight gain and some light blood pressure problems. Then I started getting headaches about 15 years ago and in the last 5 years I have had joint problems and even more recently depression and lethargy. All unexplained until I finally got a doctor that kept looking for the answers.

Everyone of these symptoms and problems could be explained with this one diagnosis and the endocrinologist agreed with the diagnosis and now I have an appointment with a hemotologist. What the iron has to do with the testosterone I have no idea but apparently it does.

You sound like you're proactive with your health so be aware that I had quite a few doctors over the years pass off the idea that I could have hemochromatosis until this one and he only checked after he ruled out many other things but he finally looked and there it was. They aren't that familiar with it and it's rarely diagnosed, they believe that your ferritin has to be over 1000 to be a problem. I have 2 of my aunts that have it and they weren't diagnosed till their's was over 1000 and my grandfather died because he wasn't diagnosed soon enough. It may be nothing but check the site I added and then check it against your bloodwork.

Hope there's something useful here.

Try yoga to lose weight

Well it seems like your doing everything you should. Exercising, eating right, and visiting your doctor was the smart thing to do. The only thing to suggest would be to observe your self for the next month and keep your doc. updated. good luck. what a mystery.

savory umami ingredients such as mushrooms low sodium soy asparagus and olives can help you feel full and add an earthy home y quality to your healthy dishes

remember these five essential smoothie ingredients frozen berries a banana skim milk a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of psyllium seed husks

Walk in the morning and eat breakfast within an hour of waking

Not eating or skipping meals is not dieting If you do you may get more weight

set your computer alarm to ring hourly stand up for 1 to 5 minutes each time it goes off

replace a wrap with two low carb whole wheat slices of bread

identify the emotional triggers that lead you to seek unhealthy comfort food picture your goal weight the next time a trigger strikes to help you resist temptation