49 is tad high.mine never goes above 50 even on a gram of EQ and test. We are all different.
It may be because you are avoiding animal sources of iron.
I supplemented with 30mgs of liquid elemental iron (similwr to floradix) and my hct got up to 0.51 without any exogenous test or hcg, nothing, i was off everything and had low test and felt like sh1t.
so it is obvious that dietary iron intake plays a big role in elevating hematocrit.
I used to read that people on trt should avoid iron fortified foods.
i may get soome hate because of this, but i have been thinking about going vegetarian for quite some time now. Even more so since i have been meddling with steroids.
I never really liked the taste of meat tbh. i dont like the taste of fish either but i dont consider it unhealthy.
Really i should stay away from pork and beef.
And i find it is possible to get enpugh protein through vegetarian and vegan sources.
definitely planning on going vegetarian later in life but i might just do it now.
After i get my ferritin to at least 100 since i crashed it so much by doing reckless phlebotomies.
Starting by cutting my meat intake to like 2-3x per week at first and eliminating it slowly. Maybe stick to 1-2x per week.
i dont know. We'll see.