The point of the blood work is to learn about the changes associated with eating the same diet (beef, eggs, and milk), but in one instance eating a lot and having higher body fat levels, and in the other instance eating less with significantly lower body fat.
Before my blood work 6 months ago, I made predictions about what I expected, which was fun. So, while I wait for the results to come in, here are some predictions on what I'd expect
to see this time...
Blood Work Predictions:
Vitamin D:
This was the biggest "red flag" last time. My vitamin D was low. But it kind of made sense. The blood work was done after a long winter and
significant fat gain (less exposure, more sequestration into adipose). But with the summer sun and decreased body fat, I expect my vitamin D to be significantly higher. I have half the body fat and have gotten twice the sun, so I'm going to guess a doubling of my vitamin D. If this is correct, I think it will have a significant impact on the sex hormones (discussed below).
Previous: 22
Prediction: 45
Cholesterol:
My previous cholesterol prediction was in line with the Lipid Energy Model (LEM). Based on this model, I think my cholesterol will be slightly higher than last time, but not to "Lean Mass Hyper Responder" (LMHR) levels. My rationale is that 6 months ago I had more
body fat and was consuming more carbs from milk lactose. Now I'm leaner and consuming fewer carbs, so according to the LEM, I should have higher cholesterol. The caveat is that my overall fat intake (and likely metabolic rate) is lower, which means less "fat turnover" which could decrease LDL, and is why I don't think I'll measure as high as LMHRs.
Previous:
- LDL: 110
- HDL: 82
- Triglycerides: 72
Prediction:
- LDL: 140
- HDL: 90
- Triglycerides: 68
Ferritin:
I haven't donated blood since my previous blood work. I've also been eating liver (very high in iron) semi-regularly. Thus, I predict my ferritin will be slightly higher, but overall in the normal range.
Previous: 128
Prediction: 162
Insulin:
I cut my body fat in half, and thus I'm predicting my insulin sensitivity doubles.
Previous: 5.6
Prediction: 2.3
Testosterone:
I'm most keen to see what happened with my testosterone. It's notorious for tanking when cutting down to low levels of body fat because this creates physiologic stress that impairs testosterone production. However, there are factors at play that could drive my testosterone up too. Perhaps most significantly would be the rebound in
vitamin D that I'm anticipating. Additionally, while I may have more physiologic stress at this lower body fat, I've had less mental stress this summer. With these competing factors in mind, I'm guessing that my testosterone is slightly lower, but not by much. I think if I continued to cut another 4-8 weeks to get my body fat below 7% (even less food, more cardio = growing stress) or just tried to maintain sub-10% body fat for much longer (sustained stress), then my testosterone would take a
significant hit. But because I'm only in the 8-9% range, and haven't been this lean for that long, I don't think my testosterone has gotten hit too negatively, which is consistent with my subjective experience of good energy, libido, sleep, and mood.
Previous: 891 (10.9)
Prediction: 860 (10.5)
SHBG:
This was on the higher end of normal 6 months ago, and my guess is that it's even a bit higher now due to the low body fat and increase in insulin sensitivity. This combination can decrease free testosterone, which is what I'm expecting. But similar to why I don't think testosterone is going to drop that much, I don't think SHBG will rise that much.
Previous: 51.2
Prediction: 54.5
DHEA:
My DHEA has consistently been on the low end. While I think it'll stay in the low/normal range, I think it's going to actually go up thanks to the fat loss, decreased (mental) stress, and (anticipated) bump in vitamin D.
Previous: 100
Prediction: 150
I don't expect anything crazy with the metabolic panel beyond the standard expected higher values for BUN and creatinine. HbA1c and TSH I expect to trend slightly down with the fat loss, but nothing out of the ordinary.
I wanted to get so many more
tests, like all the vitamins and minerals, expanded lipids and thyroid panels, more hormones, but the price tag for these basics was already more than I wanted to pay for science's sake :)
Once I get the blood work results, I'll update this article, and evaluate how these predictions hold up.
