>>34528958
I thought being a millennial was bad, but being a zoomer just sounds exhausting.

OP, does any of this actually matter? Aside from someone making a buck off your insecurities, What is the end goal to all this - what are you actually wanting to achieve?

If you have a self image problem and want to be stronger, then you just need to continue to train consistently and in an impactful way. If you do this over a period of time, any living human will see gains. If your chasing an image others are projecting or are setting some arbitrary goal you must reach to be sastified, the goal post will always be shifting. Gym culture is filled with many very insecure people - thats often the only way they are able to push themselves to achieve such gains.

>>34528958
Go on TRT. Find a doctor who will prescribe you. You may have to hunt around a little. Check bodybuilding forums. This is legal and will help.

They say ensure you get 8+ hours sleep per night, eat high protein, lift heavy (at least heavy enough) regularly like multiple times a week, or alternatively start an explosive/combat sport, get exposure to sunlight daily, reduce screen time, think positive thoughts, reduce cortisol (positive thoughts help with that), stop drugs etc if ur doing that. possibly also take shilajit.

>>34529002
yeah being a zoomer is pretty bad at least for worry-wort neurotics like me. i am indeed really insecure about my appearance but i am not trying to be an instagram model, i just want to be comfortable in my own skin. i was obese as a child and teen, and now im at best just overweight. i do agree with what you say though, even at my most insecure I recognize that there is a lot of preying on chumps like me who are ashamed of how they look. that said i do believe my case is particularly bad.
besides the body image issues, i've read that low test can exacerbate issues like the low energy, terrible sleep, and depression (all three of which have greatly affected my ability to function on a daily basis for more than a decade at this point). I guess my end goal is to be able to not be exhausted and wishing i was a miscarriage literally everyday. I really struggled this last semester with getting my TAing and homework done and i can barely do anything besides stare at a screen anymore, so i feel that doing nothing is not feasible at this point.
regardless i do recognize also that life style changes are crucial and even if some wunderwaffe treatment is applied to me, i need to put in work to not descend to the lowest energy state.
>>34529022
im going to ask the current primary care doctor for referral to an endocrinologist, and now that i know im abnormally low, trt is definitely something i'm going to ask about. reading about possibilities of hair loss and worse acne (i am already really bad on the skin front but hair is okay for now) put me off in the past (and not knowing i was this fucked). but now that i know i have the levels of someone in their 40s im not going to wait any longer.

>>34529104
yeah these are definitely issues. for what you listed some are bigger problems than others.
regarding specifically the lifting, i've always tried to scale things so i can do about 3x8-12 with slow deliberate movements (no momentum cheating) and proper form. does this seem like a good range?
I don't do anything heavier or one rep maxs due to not having a spotter and not wanting to fatigue both the current lift itself and everything i have to do afterwards in the session.
the "program" i follow is beginning with 3x8 and upping the reps gradually, usually trying to have an even spread (so will start with 3x8, then next week do 9+8+8, then 9+9+8, and so on). Once i get to being able to get 3 sets of 10 to 12, i up the weight and go back to 3x8 and begin anew.

>>34529106
No wonder you have all those symptoms. It's an exhausting mindset and sounds like a huge burden to carry anon. Irrespective of anyones test level, this will make you stressed which will create the symptoms you speak about. If you were obese, and have made progress on losing weight, this is good. You just need to keep doing this and be proud of your progress (if you want to lose more). Losing weight (if overweight) and exercising are both great for your health and will help with managing stress/sleep and energy.

The screen thing is a big issue for all demographics. Its making everyone neurotic and stressed. I say this as someone who uses far to much screentime myself. What I can say for a fact though is often what is depicted as normal online and what is actually normal is very different. If you live in a western country (my frame of reference, everywhere could be like this), most people are going to be overweight, stressed and self concious. This is overwhelmingly the norm, which is why all this content about lifestyle gains traction. The people watching it are the norm chasing idols in most cases in the hope of improving their own lives. It seems in most cases this is counterproductive, though, as the idols they look too live lifestyles that are simply not sustainable anyone who can not make money doing it or has responsibilities.

Be easy on yourself anon. 10 years of good physical activity habits, income/ employment and a healthy diet without any external assistance/suppliments will set you up to be in a healthier and happier position as time goes on. It's really just the simple stuff done consistently over a very long period that works.

>>34529196
thank you for the kind words. I am indeed one of the statistics in america regarding being fat, and it's always made me feel terrible, though it was only until my late teens that I finally told myself I need to actually do something rather than wallow and hope i somehow magically cease affecting earth's own gravitational field. The goal is to decrease to ideally (and still being realistic) 140-145lbs. For my manlet frame this will get me into a BMI of ~24.
I totally agree with the screentime rendering me and everyone else nuts and warping all reasonable expectations. I'm kinda an outlier for zoomers in the spaces I follow (always been more into millennial stuff). I definitely rot in front of a screen but I guess I'd say its like giving myself 2nd degree burns rather than 3rd degree (so still bad but could be worse?). I'm just as tainted as all the others, though perhaps more self aware of how bad it is. Regarding the "self improvement" content I also agree with you in terms of how the stuff presented is not feasible if you can't make a living out of doing it. I've at least kept a level head regarding what are reasonable expectations for a pleb like me. I didn't think about this when choosing the picture, but, while I recognize they were body builders so not in anyway normal or usual, the gachi look is something I've always tried to emulate in the sense of they look good but do not have the 0% body fat appearance that is often touted as a peak physique
I also recognize that regardless of whatever treatments I may get, I have to put in effort to make things work. I made the analogy earlier, but I often think about gibbs energy, ie things will tend to decrease to its lowest energy state and "work" has to be done to raise something to higher state of being. in the case of us humans, the work it the active effort we put in to not becoming complete slobs.

>>34528958
this is literally the most fucking stupid thing to be worried about in the entire world

>>34528958
>>albumin: 4.6 g/dL (3.8-5.0)
>>sex hormone binding globulin: 22 nmol/L (12-91)
>>testosterone, total: 470.9 ng/dL (249.0-836)
>>free test (calculated): 115.6 pg/mL (35.0-130.0, note the units are different to the above and below)
>>bio available test (calculated): 289 ng/dL (79.0-335.0)
People tell me I have autism

>>34529317
Your anaolgy is correct, but I would frame it a little differently. The idea of "work" or "grinding" for a higher state of being is exhausting. I guess it depends what you want - do you want to have a "higher state of being" or to be happy?

Do you enjoy working out anon? As is, the actual act of doing it and the feeling you get afterwards. Not the idea/perception of doing it or the results it brings physically. If you do, then this is why you should work out. If you view it like this, it's not work. It's doing something you enjoy. If you genuinely don't enjoy working out, you don't need to do the "work". You can still lose weight managing your diet, or doing an alternate form of exercise.

I know for younger people it's a hard concept to grapple, it is for me too, but the key to a good life is really simple - it's just happiness and low stress. How to get this is the million dollar question, but I don't believe it is endless "working".

>>34529437
i realize i wasn't totally clear when i was making that analogy. by "work" I just meant putting in active effort in relation to fixing a problem (per the analogy, i meant "work" in the thermodynamics manner. i've needed to do a lot of thermo recently). As i reread it, i see how it appears like sigma male speak, and i should say that i hate the rat race bullshit that is often celebrated. Likewise for the "higher energy state", i see how that too looks like sigma male speak, which I likewise hate for being pretentious/antisocial/conspicuous consumption. For this case, I meant being healthy, so at a good weight, physically fit (both strength and endurance), etc. A "lower energy state" would be just sitting in front of screen all day because that doesn't require active effort on my part. Another example would be, for grooming habits, not washing. It takes no effort to not wash/brush teeth/floss/etc, but that really "reduces you to a lower state" which makes you feel like shit in the long run.
For what you say in the 2nd paragraph, I do feel good after working out because I can say to myself that I had enough self-control to do something strenuous but has benefits in the long term, and also the soreness can feel "pleasant" because it reverses soreness that accumulates from modern habits (example being chest flies and rear delt stuff undoes a lot of residual stress from sitting hunched over all day). But for resistance training, no I don't particularly enjoy it. In the case of cardio I really don't like it but try to do it for the same reason, unless its walking in a nice environment in which case it is something enjoyable for its own sake. Things that I would say apply to what you describe would, for me, be writing, drawing, and cooking, as well as reading and any other actual art viewing