Dr.PainCLE said:The single most useful discipline is bringing the whole panel to a clinician rather than one flagged value.
Sex hormone labs after weight loss on the hormone panel — for the men in this thread:
Testosterone: 337 → 537 ng/dL (dramatic improvement!)
Free T: 7.2 → 13.7 ng/dL
Estradiol: 44 → 23 pg/mL
SHBG: 19 → 43 nmol/L
Visceral fat contains aromatase which converts testosterone to estrogen. As you lose visceral fat, this conversion decreases and testosterone naturally rises. I feel 10 years younger.
VanRx_Mike said:One addition: if the lab changes analytical platform between your draws, the comparison breaks and nobody tells you.
Genuinely useful, thank you. I had the facts and not the framework.
Dr.PainCLE said:The single most useful discipline is bringing the whole panel to a clinician rather than one flagged value.
HPA axis assessment on the hormone panel: rarely ordered but informative for understanding the stress-metabolism connection:
4-point salivary cortisol:
- Morning: 16 ng/mL → 13 ng/mL (improved)
- Noon: 7 ng/mL → 6 ng/mL
- Evening: 5 ng/mL → 2 ng/mL
- Night: 3 ng/mL → 1 ng/mL
The cortisol curve is normalizing — less flat, better diurnal variation. Reduced visceral fat = reduced cortisol overproduction. The metabolic benefits cascade into stress hormone regulation.
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Shop Reference StandardsAdding the numbers, since they settle part of this. The boring version of this is the one that works, and the boring version is: measure a baseline, change one variable, wait, measure again under the same conditions. Nobody wants that answer and it is still the answer.