Men, Lose Weight and Boost Your Testosterone Level

Middle age spread, a spare tire, a beer belly—whatever we call that flabby region around the abdomen that seems to expand with age—is not sexy. We’ve known for a long time that excess weight carried around our middles is dangerous to our health. A new study has found that men who are overweight may also have lower testosterone levels.

Researchers have found that middle-aged men with prediabetes are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, but they can delay or avoid the disease altogether by losing weight. Researchers put two and two together. If overweight men have lower testosterone levels, would losing weight lead to an increase in testosterone?

Lifestyle modification

A large one-year study of 891 middle-aged men with an average age of 54, divided the men into three groups:

• 293 men modified their lifestyles
• 305 men took the diabetes drug metformin
• 293 men took placebo pills

At the beginning of the study, one in four men had low testosterone levels. Lower testosterone was common in overweight men who had prediabetes.

Results

The most dramatic testosterone increase was found in the group of men who modified their lifestyles. The percentage of men with low testosterone levels dropped from 20 to 11 percent in one year.

Increased testosterone

These men lost an average of 17 pounds (7.8 kilograms) during the one-year study period. Increased testosterone levels correlated with a drop in weight and waist size.

If being healthy or looking good at the beach is too abstract a concept to motivate men to lose weight, perhaps increasing their testosterone levels is the motivating factor men need to shed pounds and be healthy.