Hi, my name is Dave and I'm 40 years old with a testosterone level of 199 based on a test last week. My doctor won't prescribe me testosterone treatment because I currently have obvious lifestyle issues that are working against my testosterone -- overweight, smoker, and drinker. He says I need to fix those things, which I obviously can't argue, but I'm wondering if testosterone treatment is something that can still help me.

My big problem with his idea that if I lose weight, stop smoking and stop drinking that everything will be 100% okay is that 10 years ago, I had lost 150 lbs when I was 30 years old and I had all the same symptoms I have now -- always tired, feeling depressed for no apparent reason, no sex drive, occasional erectile dysfunction. And this was before I started drinking alcohol (started heavily @ 32) and before I ever had my first cig (started @ 34). At the time, I never had my testosterone checked and never heard of low-T as being anything.

What makes it worse is that everything seems so much tougher now. When I go the gym and eat healthy in the same way I did when I lost 150 lbs back when I was 30, everything happens at such a slower rate. Instead of losing 3-5 lbs in a week where I did everything "perfect", I now will lose 1/2 lb. I'm more than willing to put in the work, but I feel unequipped to win this battle...