TweetDay 25

March 11

Weight: 251.4 lbs.

11:15PM dose ~290mg DNP

TweetDay 26

March 12

Weight: 248.0 lbs.

TweetOkay, so I finally got my lab work back from the beginning of February (2 weeks before I started my DNP run). I had pretty much all sex hormones checked, full thyroid panels, amino acid panel (2nd or 3rd time I've done that), and then the basics. Out of all of those, these are the ones that were out of range:

The only things out of range are:

WBC (low OOR)
BUN (high OOR)
Prolactin (low OOR)
Progesterone (high OOR)
Total and free testosterone (high OOR)
TPO Ab (high OOR)
Aspartic Acid (high OOR)
Phenylalanine (high OOR)
Valine (high OOR)

Not sure why my white blood cell count was low (it was just marginally outside of range, but still something I'll keep an eye on). BUN was slightly high, but all other related tests were fine (ALT/AST/bilrubin/etc.).

Prolactin was low because of the dose of caber they have me on. I'm actually going to cut back to dosing my .5mg only once a week instead of the twice a week for a while and see what impact that has. I obviously don't want it elevated because of the sides that come from that, but having it too low can have a negative impact on libido.

Progesterone being high is one I'm not too sure what to think. It was pretty high (not terrible, but not just bordering the limits of upper end). I'll dig through my notes, but a while back I did a run of D-Test as well as EndoSurge Turbo and the DAA may have been the cause of this (or added to it) and may also explain the aspartic acid being high out of range, also.

We'll go ahead and assume the elevated free and total testosterone levels (total around 900) were due to the natty test booster combo and they're probably back down a bit, now. Though MyoSynergy may even be playing a role. If/when I have this re-tested, I'll see what I can deduce. This was one that shocked me, though, because aside from when I outright did clomid therapy on my own and had a test done after 4 weeks, my test levels have always been in range, but on the low end (lower than they should be for someone my age and activity level). So this was interesting.

TPO-antibodies being up was not a shock. I have Hashimoto's, so what I'd gathered is this is pretty much going to be the case for life. It may be an up and down depending on what's going on in the body at any given time, but I should expect to see it up and not be surprised by this. Surprisingly, Tg antibodies were in range (as was reverse T3 and all other thyroid levels). My total and free T3 levels are all in range, but on the lower side. So I may go back to using my low dose of 25mcg T3 that I was prescribed at some point in time.

And not sure what to make of, if anything, the phenylalanine and valine being high out of range. Some of the others were listed as "not detected" on the test (including GABA and I think even beta alanine). Leucine and Isoleucine were in the upper levels but normal. This blood draw was done fasting and probably about 10 AM or so (doc appt. was at 9 or earlier and I went straight to the lab after). Hadn't eaten since about 8 PM the night before so over 12 hours fasting and not even any aminos in the morning -- just my T4 (and maybe my agmatine; can't recall). I lifted the night before, too.

So yeah, that's what I'm looking at and everything makes sense for the most part. The progesterone and prolactin are the things I'll be focusing on in the short term and I'll follow up whenever I have more to report.

TweetIn other news:

Today is day 1 for me using EvoMuse's new product, Epitome. Not sure of the timeline, but it'll be ending up in our store as far as I know. And that's something to be excited about. In addition to everything else I had checked, leptin was on the list, too. My levels were normal, but at 2.2ng/mL (ref range 0.5-12.5ng/mL), so on the lower end. This is an exciting product anyway, but obviously the combo with my DNP has me very excited for what's to come.

Last night I got in 2 full hours of full-court basketball. We actually played two 50-point halves and it was officiated, too. I played the full duration aside from a ~5 minute stretch where I came out to plug my nose with toilet paper after getting hit in the face with an elbow. Felt fantastic afterwards and ready to keep going. The continued playing, losing weight, and CardioTryx is working out just as planned (pre basketball I always do CardioTryx 1 hour out and then 25mg ephedrine + Pump Juice about 15 minutes before).

Just finished my Max-OT (heavy/strength) week effective Tuesday night. The snow storm screwed me and kept me out of the gym Thursday. No basketball on Wednesday night before it, and then had to score a ride to the gym on Friday because our neighborhood still wasn't plowed and my Altima wasn't going to make it in the 2 feet of snow. Wasn't sure what I was going to do, so decided to combine my biceps/triceps workout with my delts/traps workout -- took over 3 hours. Managed to go up in weight on a few lifts and maintain on everything else -- no losses. That was awesome.

Slept 12 hours that night because it was so grueling (plus the 4 hours of shoveling I did Weds. night and Thurs afternoon). Hit legs on Saturday. Went up on my leg presses and all was well until I felt a subtle pop in the back of my right knee doing prone leg curls. Sadly I had to stop, but finished my calf work. So aside from that slowing me down everything else was good.

2 hours of basketball on Sunday.

Heavy chest on Monday and sadly am seeing some loss here. This is the only place so far, so that's good, but still hard to stomach. Only went with 315 on the bench for all 3 sets and hit 6, 4, and 5 I think (was previously working up to 345 for 3-4). Oh well. So that went down and all my other chest lifts held their ground.

Back was Tuesday and went up a bit, but because of that right tendon, I did rack pulls instead of full deads. Was going great and felt awesome until my strap broke mid-lift on me lol. Luckily I didn't pull anything, but I had to do the rest bare hands and my grip gave out after about 4 reps, which sucked.

I'll go back to high volume for the upcoming week starting tonight with arms.

TweetDay 27

March 13

Weight: 247.2 lbs.

TweetDay 27

March 13

Weight: 247.2 lbs.

7:30PM dose ~495mg DNP
12:45AM dose ~200mg DNP

TweetDay 28

March 14

Weight: 248.6 lbs.

10:30 PM ~530mg DNP

TweetWell, I was good with that initial dose and thought I'd toss in some more. About 3 hours later is when it peaked and sucked lol. Super lethargic. That + Epitome has me sweating a ton, now. Made it through my workout but took forever. The slowly increasing temps of Spring have me with the fan out and on me again.

TweetDay 29

March 15

Weight: 247.4 lbs.

8:30 PM dose 275mg DNP

TweetI'll be interested to see what my weight is tomorrow. Got down to 246.0 after ball. 2 hard hours followed by a walk in the neighborhood just because it was so beautiful.

Kept calls low today and mostly just had protein powder, 2 quest bars, an apple and some grapes (close to 200g protein).

Back down to a normal dose of DNP tonight.

TweetLast time I got down to 233 along with cycling var. Then over a year back up to 270. So basically this is a life situation. However once I get down to a low enough bf% I'll transition to a lower dose. Don't know if it'll be daily, 3x/week, or what. May be as low as 50mg/day.

But point is this is for life now unless something changes. I'm not giving up all this progress again.

The nice thing this time around is protein is way higher and I'm holding onto nearly all my muscle. That didn't happen first time. There were days I might only eat 1k calls and like 40g protein.

TweetDay 30

March 16

Weight: 243.2 lbs.




This was the big drop I was looking for after hanging around the same spot the last handful of days (and the result of both the higher dosed DNP nights on the weekend and all that basketball to burn up some fat with CardioTryx along with the obvious depletion of glycogen stores this morning).

TweetI feel so good right now! Spring and sunshine just makes me super happy. I actually don't mind the cold and do well with the winter (since my body is a furnace lol), but I feel like a different person. Losing the fat definitely helps. You know how the argument you usually hear from people who are transgender is "I always felt like _____." ? Not drawing direct comparisons by a long shot, but it's kind of like that. I'm super active, love this lifestyle, but have always looked like a guy who lifts, but just doesn't dial it in on diet. I almost never truly feel like myself as far as what I get to wear, just walking around with a shirt off with 100% confidence, etc. I'm finally getting back to that.

There's that saying "nothing tastes as good as skinny" and the one making fun of that one where it says "apparently she never tried pizza" or something like that. Food and things taste good, sure, but there is nothing quite like the feeling of being strong and just feeling absolutely shredded and unstoppable in the gym or on the court/field. It's so superior. That doesn't mean you can't still enjoy those foods and live life, but if I'm given the choice, my body always wins out. I told myself that I'd give myself not necessarily a cheat day, but allow myself at least a meal built around my cals for every 10 pounds I clear (so at 240, 230, etc.). I can still do that, but to be honest, the progress far outweighs the short lived pleasure of taste of food for me. I love the momentum and just don't want to stop.

This run is so different from my last DNP run because it doesn't limit me. I'm not forced to sit in front of a fan and sweat and be unable to move or do anything. I chose to dose that way on snow days because I didn't have to work, so why not just get there faster, and I've chosen to follow a dosing protocol where I dose higher on Friday and Saturday nights to maximize fat loss on the 2 days I can get away without having to be dressed for hardly any time. But right now, I'm comfortably sitting at work. I'm living my life; not saying "just wait until ____." There is no blank. There is no next timeline for me; this is life and it's fluid. It's such a great feeling.

And yeah, unless anything changes, this will be a "for the rest of my life" situation as far as the DNP goes, but the mix with ALCAR makes it incredibly tolerable and it'll only seem less intrusive when I lower the dose or dosing pattern once I've reached optimal bf%. It won't hinder my life like when you hear someone talking of a 2 week DNP cycle and how miserable it will be. That's done. And my strength for the most part continues to go up or at the very least maintain (save for my bench). That's incredible with this much of a weight drop. And last time I cycled when I ran DNP to counter the strength/muscle loss. Only thing doing that for me now is MyoSynergy. No hormonals. That's sustainable. My total calories are down around 2,500, but that's still not super crazy low. That's still 200-250g protein every day. Not at all like my first run where all I could force myself to eat was toast with pb&j on it. I had to force myself to eat I felt so miserable (on lower doses, no less). The mass and definition in my legs has maintained so far and they're starting to look better than ever. This is a new high for me.

I am so excited for what these next 2-3 months will bring for me. I don't know what weight I'll get down to. I don't have a set number; it'll depend on my bodyfat percentage; that's the key. But I'm anticipating getting down to 215 at least and maybe even down to 205.

Whenever I get the bf% down, I'm going to start doing some plyo work and actually training for my vertical. I want to be able to dunk and I think I can make it happen.

I am seriously just so happy right now.

30 days, 25 pounds, only lift I've lost strength on is my flat bench.

That's a heck of a month 1.