Anyone lost significant weight? Any change in symptoms if so?

Therapeutic Efforts
#1

I tried searching for this topic and I only found one relevant thread. Quoting from Fat loss = less estrogen?:

I’ve always assumed, due to the reasons stated in the above post, that getting leaner would help alleviate my PFS symptoms. Of course there are many of us who already were lean when they got PFS and I’m not suggesting obesity as a root cause or proposing weight loss as a cure.

I simply realized that I’ve never challenged or confirmed the assumption I have that getting leaner would alleviate my symptoms. I’m definitely lucky in that PFS seems to have done nothing to alter my body composition. I’m no less strong/muscular than I ever were before taking Finasteride and I haven’t seen any obvious signs that my fat distribution has changed. But I could stand to lose around 50lbs or so.

So the question is pretty simple, has anybody intentionally lost a significant amount of body fat and if so, has it had any effect on your PFS symptoms?

Unfortunately the thread I quoted didn’t get much attention but it’s been a few years so maybe someone has something to report. If I ever do get in better shape I’m looking forward to seeing if things get any better for me or if they stay the same. Knowing our luck it actually wouldn’t surprise me if they got worse, but in any case I’d like to hear if someone has experienced it.

#2

If your moderately overweight, I think there’s a lot to gain from losing some pounds. There’s the benefits of improved cardiovascular health and insulin sensitivity, and reductions in systemic inflammation.

#3

Fat loss = less estrogen ??? Plz don’t blame estrogen for everything. I don’t think estrogen has anything to do with pfs. Pfs made me to lose weight rapidly. I don’t have any fat nor muscles anymore. I never got that feminine fat distribution some people here talk about.

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#4

Yes, certainly that’s true. I’m just curious to see if anyone has experience and if it changed their symptoms at all.

#5

I’m deeply sympathetic and sorry that has happened to you. This condition appears to affect everyone differently and if you lost both muscle and fat for no apparent reason then that is deeply troubling.

The question I’m posing is perhaps foolish, I don’t know. As far as I know the theory laid out in the post I quoted in the OP has a scientific basis. Fat, as far as I understand it, is estrogenic, and the more fat tissue you have in your body the more your hormonal balance will shift towards more estrogen and less testosterone, unless I am mistaken. Of course, and just speculating here, it may not be that more testosterone and less estrogen is always a good thing by default and unforeseen adverse reaction to a changed hormone environment seems to be the rule.

I am only curious if anyone has gone on a weight loss journey or drastically changed their body composition towards having more lean mass and less fat, and if through that process they’ve noticed any changes in their PFS symptoms.

Obviously losing excessive fat has other health benefits as well but I’m specifically curious about how it would interact with PFS.

Many accounts of partial recoveries and improvements seem to include resistance exercise, diet restriction, fasting and occasionally cardio as well as factors they have in common. It would be interesting to know how body composition plays into that, seeing as all those factors would contribute to shifting towards a leaner body composition. Perhaps fat loss is positively correlated with symptom relief as well, and perhaps it could be a causative relationship and not just correlation.

I’m only speculating here and to reiterate I’m not proposing any cause or cure.

Personally I am starting to make a new effort to get in better shape and if I make any progress, and if there’s interest, I’ll try to report back.

#6

Dude these changes are the worst. The fucking absolute worst. It’s like you lose control of how your body burns fuel and operates. Rubbery swelling fat just accumulates on your body. your skin and muscles soften and turn to mush, etc. It’s insane bro.

In the first year to year and a half of PFS, I lost an insane amount of weight and muscle. I went from 156 lbs to 127. Waist went from a 31 to a 28. All of my skin changed and got elastic, thin, and rubbery, my muscles softened. And then my fat deposits changed, I started holding it in my belly and around my thighs. Like numb, burning, rubbery fat. Since then, it’s just accumulated in those areas and i’m steadily gaining weight. I’m back up to 140 lbs now but none of it is muscle. It’s terrible man. I’m like skinny fat now but any sort of exercise just makes me worse. It’s like i’m trapped inside of this body.

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#7

That is so awful to hear. I truly feel for you. I’m also anxious that it will happen to me at some point as every year since this started I seem to either discover or develop some new horrific symptom.

I do get worse from exercise though, same as you. Any time I lift weights my libido drops instantly to zero, my body odor disappears and it also tends to make me lightheaded and nauseous. Most recently I’ve discovered that exercise also seems to make my visual acuity worse. However if I take a break from exercise my symptoms seem to improve.

I did make a thread recently about exercise and the effects it has on me: Weightlifting causing improved and worsened symptoms

I don’t want to make any assumptions about you or the state your body is in and I’m sure you’ve tried just about everything under the moon already. But if you have the willpower and physical strength to experiment then I can at least tell you a few things that have worked to some degree for me. Intermittent fasting, a low carb/ketogenic diet, intense but short workouts where I do compound lifts in low rep ranges and supplementation with L-Arginine and L-Carnitine. Not suggesting you try any of this outright if there’s a risk it could make you worse, just something you may want to read up about and experiment with if you haven’t already.

I’m very curious about what effects body recomposition could have on us, if any. I’m also curious about to what extent body recomposition is possible with our condition. But I also realize that for someone who has even more extreme adverse reactions to physical exertion the changes they can make may be limited.

In any case I wish you feel better.

#8

Mine is over 100lbs gained after being 10k runner and bean pole for 15 years…I can’t tell what it is feels like alien rubber or water filled marshmellow all over your body…Absolutely horrible and disgusting…

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#9

@Somchai I am the same as knighten I already tried the things you suggest as well as many others but to no avail. It seems Pfs flicks a switch in some of us and nothing that’s around currently can pull it back. Most of those in this group continue to deteriorate. It’s very worrying.

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#10

I know what you’re talking about. I, too, lost an insane amount of weight and muscle in my first few months of PFS.

The fat seemed to come back quickly, but not the muscle.

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#11

me too.
First six month after crash, i lost a ton of fat even without trying.
Now i am a fat producing machine. I can’t loss weight.
Even have stretch marks on my body.
Is disgusting.

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#12

I had muscle for years but excess fat in face and upper abdomen which I couldn’t shift despite having zero fat in my diet. I was still taking fin on and off. I stopped when I discovered PfS three years ago. Then within 1 year I lost all of my bulk, then I lost 75 percent of muscle within another 6 months. Since then I’ve continued to lose tissue and muscle at a slower rate which hasn’t yet stopped. I have skin on top of bone in many areas now. My feet and hands consist of bone and skin only, my face is like an empty paper bag. All of my bones hurt and feel very brittle same goes for my teeth, they feel hollow and my gum tissue loss is extensive. Doctors and people still deny me! WTF

#13

Have you guys ever had progesterone tested?

#14

No mate, have u had the operation?

#15

Yes. All in range.
Nothing to see

#16

How long have you been off fin?
I think it’s getting better for me, as I’m clearly losing weight again now that I started working out again. I hope it’s not muscle. I’m doing more reps and feel stronger, so I think it’s fat that’s being burned.

#17

Well, unfortunately it seems as if people have misunderstood the question I was posing. That is probably my fault since I didn’t take into account the experience of people who have lost massive amounts of lean mass or gained fat as a direct effect of PFS.

What I was trying to find out about was what effect losing fat would have on someone whose body composition has remained stable throughout the progression of their PFS. The theory proposed in the post I quoted lays it out pretty well.

In any case, due to this misunderstanding, I’m not expecting any productive discussion to occur in this thread and I’m fine with it with a moderator wants to close it. Or if people want to discuss the body composition changes that occurred to them as a direct result of PFS, that is fine too I suppose, but they may gain more insight doing so in a thread dealing specifically with that topic.

Obviously I’m very sympathetic with those of you who have shared your experiences and I apologize that I ought to have posed the question more clearly.

#18

That is an interesting question.
Most recoveries include weight lifting or exercise.
Fat, is related to inflammation.

#19

Most recoveries include weight lifting or exercise.

Exercise and lifting do seem to be common variables in recovery stories, but I wonder if people are mixing up cause and effect.
I have noticed improvement after I started exercising and lifting, but the only reason I am able to lift recently is because my shoulder joints miraculously recovered a couple of months ago to where I no longer get extreme pain and cracking/popping after lifting. My hunger/appetite also returned around the same time my shoulder joints recovered.
I think time is a more crucial factor for me.