Yeah this is good advice right here, definitely exhaust all your options first. There's a dude at my gym who is only 22 and is already taking self prescribed trt and his reasoning is because he had no other options. He said he believes he has low test and that's why he's out of shape so he's been "on" for almost 2 years straight and not just test he throws in a bunch of other shit as well like tren, eq, deca, dbol, var, etc. Hearing that shit kind of pisses me the hell off because it shows he's just a lazy bastard, but he's the know it all type so you can't ever get anywhere when you try to reason with him. He also thinks you only have to work out upper body because he says his cardio is enough for legs which is a fucking joke. And btw he's like 5'7" and 170 lbs with that skinny fat look if you know what I mean, skinny arms and legs and fat midsection. This was on my mind because I was recently trying to help him out with a good routine and a solid nutrition plan, because he was quite the talker/bullshitter saying how motivated he was and he would really appreciate it if I could help him out, then I find out he's doing all this stupid shit and after I literally spent hours talking on the phone with him and texting him plans and advice he doesn't show up to the gym to lift and says he decided he wants to do a Jay Cutler routine or some shit. Moral of the story, there's a shit load of bullshitters out there that want the results, but don't want to put in the work. Obviously your not one of those people since you are looking for the best way to reach your goals and like you said you aren't trying to rush it so you know you have to put the time in, I definitely respect you for that.
But yeah man I would just get your nutrition on point, high intensity cardio, and incorporate a lot of full body movements into your lifting routine (squats, deadlifts, power cleans, etc.), but focus mainly on form which means you'll probably have to use very light weight at first (you may already be really strong I'm not sure where you're at), form is key. Sounds weird, but ever since I incorporated a lot of healthy fats into my diet such as fish oil, fermented cod liver oil, avocados, coconut oil, hemp seeds, hemp oil, almond butter, high quality olive oil, whole high quality eggs (that's one thing I don't skimp on, I'm actually building a chicken coop next wknd to house 6 hens), etc I leaned out a lot. I'd say it'd be best to really only get your carbs from vegetables (I eat broccoli at least every other day), potatoes (I mainly use sweet, but I switch it up and get white, red skin, etc every now and then), yogurt/kefir, and oatmeal (I use Bob's Red Mill Scottish oats and add in a little grass fed butter and a very little but of raw honey or high quality maple syrup, but you might not want to add in the extra sugar). Like I said the full body movements will really help burn that fat off just focus on form. And the high intensity cardio such as sprints, suicides, box jumps, jump rope, bear crawls, etc. will really lean you out. The full body movements will really strengthen your core, but I'd also add in things like russian twists, alternating elbows to knees, leg raises, 6 inches, etc. And the last thing is you want to have a solid stretching or yoga type routine everyday, I normally do it first thing in the morning, sometimes I really have to force myself to do it since it's early as hell and I'm half asleep, but trust me it really helps and you will notice a difference. As you know, you get out what you put in, good luck man.
