Is there any actual evidence of finasteride increasing body fat? I haven't found any published study supporting such claim. Is that an only anecdotally reported thing?
Very Impressive Dermarolling And Minxodil Results - From Tressless
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Your estrogen levels rise on finasteride. Higher estrogen = less lean.
I've mirco-needled 4 times now and I'm only on 0.75mm, planning to go deeper gradually. my hair definitely looks better already. call it what you like, thickness I don't know. it just sits better less wispy perhaps. it's obviously not new hair. must be existing miniaturised hair given new life.
What speed setting do you use?
Once a week?
once every 3/4 days. when I'm up to 1.5mm I''ll move frequency to weekly.
Thanks. That's interesting.
I've tried to search for controlled studies evaluating this, but apparently none has been done. Curiously enough, this higher fat thing seems to be more oftenly reported in hairloss forums. Instead, in bodybuilding forums, plenty of long term finasteride users claim it hasn't increased their body fat. This has been eventually the case for me. I'm a natural lifter with almost 3 years of taking finasteride, with no apparent trend to increase my body fat percentage. Actually, this year I was in my best physical shape and my OR went up.
Perhaps lifters and people with an already high muscle mass are somewhat less vulnerable to such side effect of finasteride. Hope this issue will be thoroughly tested in the near future.
bodybuilders have less adipose tissue (fat). I understand a good amount of the aromatase enzyme that converts testosterone (remember less T being converted to DHT so more potential for conversion to E) to oestrogen exists in fat cells.
I know finasteride increases BF% because I’m a lifter myself. I work out heavy 4-5 days a week and have stayed in great shape since college. At 1mg dose, finasteride drastically increased my BF%, specifically in areas such as the “handles,” thigh areas, and obviously lower belly. Bottom line, it made it very difficult for me to stay as lean as I was pre-finasteride. I also know finasteride increases body fat because when I stopped for a year I went from 15% BF back to 9% and changed nothing workout regimen wise or diet wise. Again, I found taking half a dose of finasteride EOD has helped combat this to certain degree, but I have no doubt I would be much leaner all over if I stopped taking this drug.
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It may prove beneficial to use an aromatase inhibitor like exemestane. Bloat around the stomach is direcly caused by the elevated estrogen.
What gets me is I believe it's proven that finasteride lowers androgen receptors, which means over time your male hormones will become more useless in the body, to where testoterone won't be utilized properly. That's why people have pfs even after quitting the drug
I suppose the increase in test, while blocking DHT could lead to muscle gains that makeusing steroids and finasteride worth it, but your gains will always be limited.
Yes, sure they usually have less adipose tissue compared to non bodybuilders. Nevertheless, one should expect them to be less lean than their pre-finasteride status, which seemingly doesn't happen. Actually, people who have claimed no change in those forums are not even pro bodybuilders, just regular guys like me who just like to lift weights.
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Spoon is right, that body fat creates more aromatase - the enzyme making estrogen. Estrogen likes to have a self perputating cycle of added fat mass which then increases your body's production of estrogen.
Get blood tests and try to get your estrogen in a range of 15-30. Make a schedule and use an AI like exemestane, perhaps 12.5 every 3 days. Whatever dosing consistency that allows your estrogen to be in the optimal health range
Get blood tests and try to get your estrogen in a range of 15-30. Make a schedule and use an AI like exemestane, perhaps 12.5 every 3 days. Whatever dosing consistency that allows your estrogen to be in the optimal health range
It's great to hear the experience of a fellow lifter. Fortunately, finas has made no significant change in my bf%, and I also lift hard 5 times a week. I remember three years ago I was asking in bodybuildingforums whether finas users had a hard time cutting, and the consensus back then was that most didn't note a difference. That gave me the the green light to jump into it and fortunately nothing has changed as well. Of course, I may be one of the lucky ones and perhaps most people do gain fat, but again, it's something worth testing by controlled studies.
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It would be awesome if you could get a blood test and show what your hormones in the blood are.
Perhaps your body isn't making as much estrogen as others? It would be very insightful to compare those with finasteride fat issues and those who operate normal
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Its just how minoxidil works. You shed first and regrow more and thicker after 2-3 months.
I'll let you guys know as soon as I get my blood test.
Although finasteride has not caused me much of a trouble in 3 years, if I manage to get some results with derma needling I'll consider dropping that pill. It would be interesting to see if quiting finas will somehow improve my gym gains, even though in the 10 years I've been working out, this particular year has been the best in terms of powerlifting personal records. If finas is eventually limiting my gains, it would be interesting to see what I could achieve without it.
I really hope I can respond to wounding. I hope we all can find out in 10-11 months, when most of us have accomplished a full year of consistent needling.