As men age, testosterone levels declines. Low testosterone levels have been linked to obesity and many other health problems, including fatigue, memory problems and reduced muscle and bone mass. So what is the impact of testosterone on body fat? Here’s the science.
As men age, their testosterone levels decline. This is exacerbated by an increase in SHBG (sex-hormone binding globulin), which binds to testosterone and thus reduces the amount of free testosterone in the body.
By: Tim Ernst – Founder of Body Blitz Max, 180 Muscle and Barbell/Dumbbell Ripped Muscle Complexes
Low testosterone levels have been linked to obesity and many other health problems, including fatigue, memory problems and reduced muscle and bone mass.
So what is the impact of testosterone on body fat?
Let’s dive in to the science.
Testosterone and Energy
Low levels of testosterone are linked with low energy levels.
When your energy levels are low you’re not as active which means you’re probably not going to burn as much fat, but there’s more to it than just what’s on the surface.
You see it comes down to that mitochondrial function (the mitochondria is that energy powerhouse) it’s so critical for us to take care of it. I think a lot of us neglect the mitochondria in general.
You see what happens is that low testosterone function ends up making it so that we’re not able to metabolize our proteins, fats and carbs as efficiently.
It slows down that entire process which can essentially end up leading to some fat accumulation.
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Some of the studies that I’ve looked at found that lower levels of testosterone dramatically affected the amount of lipid oxidation.
What that means is it’s dramatically decreasing the mitochondrial function to be able to use fat as a source of fuel.
It means that the mitochondria has to focus more so on utilizing glucose for fuel which may not be the healthiest route especially as we get older and for what it’s worth, this isn’t bro science. There is a lot of science out there that backs this up.
In fact it’s shown that 40% of obese men have low levels of testosterone and over 50% of obese diabetic men have extremely low levels of testosterone.
Now that diabetic link is extremely interesting as we start looking at insulin resistance and I’m going to get to that in just a second.
Before I talk about the insulin resistance in general, let’s talk about how the body normally utilizes glucose.
Body and Glucose
You see when we are functioning normally our bodies are going to utilize glucose for energy.
When we start depriving ourselves of glucose or when we start exercising intensely those glucose levels drop and our bodies start utilizing fat for fuel a little bit more.
If lipid oxidation is not functioning properly within the body due to low testosterone your body is going to always be looking for glucose to use and it’s just going to let those lipids circulate and ultimately store.
One of the major reasons why we have heavy fat accumulation is when we have low levels of testosterone.
Since we have so much levels of glucose flowing around as well, we have to look at insulin resistance.
Insulin Resistance
When your body is not able to utilize sugars from carbs right it’s generally because you have what’s called insulin resistance.
When you consume a carbohydrate your body secretes insulin. That insulin allows the carbohydrate to go into the proper storage, it goes into the muscle in the form of glycogen.
However, if you’re having an issue with insulin resistance for example: a type 2 diabetic would be insulin resistant, it’s going to make it so those carbohydrates are just floating around through the bloodstream.
This can ultimately cause them to get stored as fat which leads us into an entirely different section.
Now we have to talk about hormones. How does the link between fat and hormones work? Well it’s simple.
Hormones
When our testosterone levels are lower and our bodies are running predominantly on glucose they’re not utilizing the fat.
So of course we’re storing the fat but that fat actually causes an enzyme attic response that causes that testosterone to convert into estrogen.
What happens is fat contains something called aromatase. If you have relatively low levels of testosterone your fat stores are going to convert that testosterone via aromatase into something called estradiol which is also known as estrogen.
Estrogen gives you the non male characteristics. They can cause that gynecomastia, fatigue and moodiness.
That’s where a lot of these effects take place with low testosterone and you can see how this can steamroll.
Low testosterone levels means more body fat, more body fat means more conversion of testosterone into estrogen, that means lower levels of testosterone, which means more fat accumulation.
As you can see, it just continues on down the line.
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Now to add insult to injury, we look at insulin resistance and we look at the overall link between fat accumulation, fat gain and insulin resistance.
The more fat that you have the more insulin resistant you are so therefore it’s even easier to store that fat.
One more thing we have to look at is the c-reactive protein levels.
When we have high levels of fat our c-reactive protein and inflammatory markers are elevated which links to even lower testosterone levels.
Again we look at this and we say which came first the chicken or the egg.
Did obese people develop low testosterone or did low testosterone linked to fat accumulation?
Well it could go either way but one thing is for certain, if we can take care of our bodies and make sure that we are utilizing fats for fuel properly and making sure that we’re taking control of our insulin response, we can mitigate some of these issues that can occur.
The Solution?
What I propose to you ( I’m not a doctor so I can’t write you a specific diet plan that says this is what you need to do), but I can definitely hypothesize it.
If we start controlling our carbohydrates and we can condition our body to run on fats for fuel a little bit more (possibly even a ketogenic style diet), then we can potentially force the body to start utilizing fats and not have that excess glucose that’s causing that insulin resistance.
At the end of the day if you’re on a ketogenic diet, that insulin resistance isn’t going to be as big of a deal.
The reason that I suggest this is because I talk to a lot of middled aged stressed-out guys who are working hard and they’re really frustrated because their sex drives are down, their libidos not good and their motivations down.
Most of these guys don’t want to necessarily go on testosterone replacement therapy and I don’t blame them, that’s a big commitment.
And if you thought that a prescription for Testosterone replacement therapy was the answer, think again!
Introducing an external source of a hormone like Testosterone tells your body to produce LESS natural testosterone, thereby harming your production of the all important male hormone, and increasing estrogen levels through the breakdown of the external Testosterone prescription.
This excess estrogen from the "fake" Testosterone prescription can eventually lead to "man boobs" in the same way that steroids can lead to man boobs in bodybuilders that abused them years ago.
So what is the REAL solution to the problem of low-T that millions of men over 40 are suffering from?
Well, one of my favorite Nutritionists recently teamed up with one of the top men's health researchers in the country, Dr. Richard Cohen, M.D., to uncover the TRUTH about boosting your Testosterone levels - naturally, simply, and safely.
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Yes, and that means you could have the libido, muscle mass, body fat %, and energy of a 25 year old, if you follow these T-boosting strategies to the "T".
You'll be surprised to find that certain foods, exercises, spices, herbs, and even saturated fats can boost your T levels dramatically, making you feel 20-30 years younger again.
But it's VERY important to get all the details that you need to know about Testosterone, because there are a ton of misconceptions out there that can steer you in the wrong direction.
So the first step is to take control nutritionally understanding how to testosterone links with fat accumulation and understanding that vicious circle that occurs so you can break the cycle and at least stop your testosterone levels from declining anymore.
What’s Next?
As you probably know or at some point you’ve been told that the best way to build muscle is by training each muscle group a different day of the week…
- Chest on Monday…
- Legs on Tuesday…
- Back on Wednesday…
- And so on. Or…
Maybe you’ve tried the double-up split where you train upper body one day, then lower body the next.
However, there’s something you need to know….
These workouts are silently chipping away at your testosterone levels and causing you to leave massive muscle building results on the table…
Yes you read that right…
But don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be this way. Because…
Believe it or not, there’s one type of muscle building routine that’s BEST for your male hormones and packing on some serious size at the exact same time.
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