What did @popethecoach actually say?
He described waking up "angry to eat something" after starting TRT, contrasting it with his pre-TRT pattern of eating once or twice a day due to low appetite. He acknowledged that others told him his appetite increase seemed higher than typical, but correctly noted that individual responses vary. He was transparent that he wanted to gain weight, framing the appetite spike as a positive outcome.
This is a personal experience video, not a medical claim video. He's not prescribing anything or telling viewers TRT will do the same for them. That matters when evaluating it. He's sharing a symptom, asking for community input, and being upfront about context. That's actually a reasonable way to use social media for health conversations, as long as viewers understand it's anecdote, not protocol.
Does the science back this up?
Yes, but with important nuance. Testosterone does influence appetite regulation, and the mechanism is reasonably well understood. It's not a direct hunger trigger, but it works indirectly through body composition changes and hormonal crosstalk.
Testosterone increases lean muscle mass, and muscle tissue is metabolically active. More muscle means higher resting energy expenditure, which drives caloric need upward. A study by Bhasin et al. (2001, New England Journal of Medicine) demonstrated dose-dependent increases in fat-free mass with testosterone administration, which would predictably increase caloric demand.
There's also an interaction with leptin and ghrelin, the hormones that govern satiety and hunger. Research by Mohamad et al. (2016, Aging Male) found that hypogonadal men had dysregulated leptin signaling, and that testosterone therapy partially normalized this. If someone was running on chronically suppressed appetite due to low testosterone, restoring levels could legitimately "unlock" hunger that was blunted before. That fits his experience.
What did they get wrong (or right)?
Mostly right, with one area worth flagging. His framing that appetite increase "more than it usually should" is vague and not grounded in any clinical threshold, because there isn't one. There's no established benchmark for how much appetite should increase on TRT. That phrasing could unnecessarily alarm someone, or conversely, make someone dismiss a clinically significant change.
What he got right: acknowledging individual variation. This is not a small point. Testosterone response genuinely varies based on baseline levels, dosing protocol, body composition, age, and coexisting conditions. A blanket claim that TRT causes X amount of appetite increase would be inaccurate. He avoided that trap.
He also implicitly identified something real: that pre-TRT symptoms like low appetite can themselves be symptoms of hypogonadism. Research by Grossmann (2011, European Journal of Endocrinology) links low testosterone with decreased energy intake and altered metabolic signaling in men. His pre-TRT eating pattern of once or twice a day may have been a symptom, not just a habit.
What should you actually know?
If you're starting TRT and your appetite increases, that's not automatically a red flag. It may reflect your metabolism shifting as lean mass increases and hormonal signaling normalizes. But it's also not automatically benign if it leads to significant, unintended weight gain, particularly fat mass rather than lean mass.
The distinction matters. Testosterone therapy in hypogonadal men tends to shift body composition toward more muscle and less fat, per Storer et al. (2003, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism). But that effect depends heavily on activity level, caloric quality, and whether estradiol is being managed appropriately. Testosterone aromatizes to estrogen, and elevated estradiol can independently promote fat storage and water retention, which looks like weight gain but has a different mechanism.
If you're on TRT and gaining weight faster than expected, the question isn't just calories in. It's worth asking your prescriber to check estradiol levels and hematocrit alongside testosterone levels. That's a conversation to have with a licensed provider, not something to self-manage based on TikTok comments.
- Appetite changes on TRT are real and have a physiological basis
- Significant or unexpected weight gain warrants clinical follow-up, not just more food tracking
- Estradiol levels should be monitored alongside testosterone during TRT