Effect of dieting on Testosterone

rlpomeroy

For the last month, I have been closely watching my calorie intake, staying between 1200-1500 a day. It has been working and I have been losing about 2 pounds a week. I was planning to increase my exercise as well, but I have been so tired. I had my testosterone tested last week and it came back low. I am a 54 year old male. 5'8" and currently about 235 pounds. Could the low testosterone partially be a result of dramatically cutting back on calories?

L1zardQueen

Why are you eating so low of calories? Low calories creates havoc on the body, hormones included.

rheddmobile

The suggested minimum daily calories for a man is 1500, and that’s not for a 235 lb man. No wonder you feel exhausted. The low T could be because of this, but regardless you need to eat appropriately.

yirara

Eat more. You're severely undereating, mate.

Theoldguy1

Actually excess bodyfat tends to lower testosterone.

Poobah1972

Hey man! I know it's nice to see the 2lbs per week loss. But your paying the price for it, as your body is just plum out of energy and isn't able to mobilize enough fat to keep you going. You may well be low on testosterone, but judging by your avatar I wouldn't want to meet you in an alley way. HAH. But seriously, I would consider adjusting to a slower loss of 1lb and see how you feel energy wise. If you do add in exercise, it's important to at least eat back part of those calories as well, or you may end up in the same situation again.

Once you find your happy spot... Maybe go see your doctor again see what's up.

Good for you to sticking to things so far, seriously. Just remember to listen to your body, cause I think it's trying to tell yah something.

Cheers!

hipari

Have you had your testosterone tested before, so you have a number to compare it to? If not, it could be that your testosterone has been low before (like Theoldguy1 said, excess fat tends to lower it) but you’re now exhausted due to the ridiculously low calorie intake.

Seriously. Eat more. I’m the same height, slightly lighter (220), female and lose weight at 1800-2000.

sijomial

" staying between 1200-1500 a day "
Why are you eating so little?

" I was planning to increase my exercise as well, but I have been so tired "
Don't crash diet then! You need to reassess the criteria you use for your diet "working" because it sounds like it's not.

" I had my testosterone tested last week and it came back low . I am a 54 year old male. 5'8" and currently about 235 pounds. Could the low testosterone partially be a result of dramatically cutting back on calories? "
What was your T level before you started eating so low?

Cant_think_of_a_username

Yes, cutting hard can affect your test levels - but there's a lot of other factors at play too from things like how much sleep you get, vit d3, zinc and so on.

Also, if you have cut fats too far back in your diet, your body will not have the raw materials to make test from.