Does being on T increase your metabolism? I've noticed the usual appetite change, I'm a lot more hungry more often, and already some muscle increase as well as fat loss but I also have recently noticed that my body temperate seems to be higher. I generate a lot more body heat and always feel hot. I used to keep my place around 76 consistently but now at that temperature I'm dying. My girlfriend has also commented that sometimes I feel like I'm burning up while she's actually cold.

I was wondering if this could be due to an increase in metabolism, especially considering the relatively quick weight loss. I'm also curious about how this will affect my diet since I was debating on whether I should restart dieting and exercising to lose weight or go right to strength training to build muscle.

So, has anybody else noticed a higher metabolism once starting T? If you have what have you done as far as diet and exercise is concerned?

I will say that I actually /gained/ weight when I started T. Some was muscle, some was fat. But I gained because I was eating a lot of takeout and drinking soda and other things with hella sugar and fat. So, my metabolism /may/ have increased some, but I was eating too much crap, which kinda negated any metabolic boost T may have given me.

Not to say you should NEVER eat that sort of stuff. I was just eating it all day, everyday, and since I gave up the takeout and the soda, I dropped a good 25 pounds, so I'm back to my pre-T weight, although I still have more muscle than I did before that, so I feel okay about it. I still drink fruit juice on the regular. I also have diet soda and ramen a few days a week (at least), so my diet isn't perfect. And I have sugar and fat in my diet, of course; just not as much as before.

As far as your metabolic rate goes, there are some blood tests your doctor can and should do periodically anyway while you're on T. I'm horrible and haven't had any blood work done since I started T, because I don't have the money. I barely have the money to get my T vials, but that is part of why I cut out the more expensive and unnecessary foods I mentioned. Empty calories and v. expensive. But I digress, again.

I don't have the spoons to research it at the moment to back myself up, but you may ask your doctor to do a thyroid panel, if they don't suggest it first. Thyroxin and other thyroid hormone levels can give some info about how your metabolism is doing. Your doctor may also advise you to have other blood work done to check on it.

As for body temperature, I definitely notice I feel hotter. I haven't taken temperature readings, so I obviously can't say for sure that my internal temp has significantly increased, but I will say that it certainly does feel that way. Summer is barely even beginning, and I'm dreading it. (I live in Florida, so like... it's gonna be interesting.)

EDIT: As far as exercise, nothing significant. I take walks when I have the spoons for it, but I've got bipolar disorder and it can be tough for me to get out and do stuff like that. I actually really miss running, so I hope I'll feel better in the future and be able to do that again, because I'm super interested in seeing whether my performance there will change, if I get back into it steadily.

T didn't change my appetite. I've changed my diet since I've been on T, and the amount of calories I'm consuming is much lower, so I have lost a lot of weight. But I can't attribute that exclusively to T because I've made huge lifestyle changes.

Temperature hasn't changed, but I've always been a very warm person.

I think it really depends on what your goals would be with diet and exercise. Would you want to maintain your weight, lose weight, gain weight? Gain muscle?

Most of the info I find on men having higher metabolisms is due to greater overall muscle mass to fat ratio on average in men - so it depends on muscles and how much of them they've got. A fat dude can have a lower metabolic rate than a thin woman with more muscle to fat, technically. T helps build muscle tissue so that way it is contributing to a raised metabolism, yeah.