A lot of health advice treats men and women the same way when it comes to metabolic health.
That is not quite right.
Men tend to store fat differently than women, and that difference changes their risk for problems like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
A YouTube channel called Health Levels recently posted a video titled “The First 3 Steps Every Man Should Take for Better Metabolic Health.”
We wanted to know what the actual science says about metabolic health in men, separate from what any single video claims.
What the Video Claims
The video comes from a channel called Health Levels, run by a creator who goes by Chett.
Chett describes himself as a husband, a father of two, and a health coach with more than ten years of experience.
His channel states that declining testosterone, low energy, and belly fat are often treated as normal parts of aging with no fix beyond medication, and that this framing is wrong.
We could not find a medical degree, a nutrition credential, or a clinical license tied to his name in a public search.
That does not automatically make his advice wrong, but it means his claims need to be checked against real research instead of taken on trust.
The video’s title promises three first steps for better metabolic health, but we do not have a verified transcript of the exact steps it names.
So instead of checking specific claims line by line, this article checks the premise behind the video, that metabolic health really does work differently in men, against the actual science.
What Real Research Shows About Fat Storage in Men
Men and women tend to carry extra fat in different places on the body.
Men are more likely to store fat around the belly and organs, a pattern doctors call visceral fat.
Women more often store fat under the skin around the hips and thighs, called subcutaneous fat.
A review published in Nature Reviews Endocrinology explains that these two fat types behave very differently once they are inside the body (Karpe & Pinnick, 2015).
Visceral fat sits close to the liver and releases fatty acids straight into the blood that feeds it.
That raises the risk of insulin resistance, high triglycerides, and fatty liver more than fat stored elsewhere does.
A separate review in Frontiers in Physiology looked specifically at why men build up more abdominal visceral fat than women do (Nauli & Matin, 2019).
That review points to sex hormones as a major driver, since testosterone and estrogen both influence where the body prefers to store extra fat.
This is one real, physical difference that supports the idea that men’s metabolic health deserves its own conversation, not just a copy of general advice.
Men are more likely to store fat around the belly and organs, and that pattern carries a different metabolic risk than fat stored under the skin.
What Real Research Shows About Testosterone and Metabolic Risk
Testosterone does more in the body than support muscle and sex drive.
A review in Obesity Reviews found that testosterone and body fat affect each other in both directions (Kelly & Jones, 2015).
Obesity, especially central obesity, is associated with lower testosterone in some men, and the relationship may run in both directions. The review does not prove every man with a larger waist has hormone deficiency.
The authors describe this as a cycle that can feed itself once it gets started.
A separate review in the Journal of Andrology looked at testosterone’s connection to type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance specifically (Traish et al., 2009).
The authors found that men with lower testosterone had higher rates of insulin resistance, even after accounting for body weight.
A review in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism focused on men who already had type 2 diabetes (Grossmann, 2011).
It found that a large share of men with type 2 diabetes, roughly one in four to one in three, also had low testosterone, a much higher rate than in men without diabetes.
This does not prove low testosterone causes diabetes. Shared factors such as adiposity and illness could contribute to both findings.
What Real Research Shows About Sex Differences in Diabetes Risk
A large review in Endocrine Reviews compared how type 2 diabetes develops and progresses differently in men and women (Kautzky-Willer et al., 2016).
The authors found that men tend to develop type 2 diabetes at a lower body weight than women do.
That fits with what we know about visceral fat, since men can reach a metabolically risky level of it without reaching a high body mass index.
The review also found differences in how insulin resistance builds over time and how early complications show up between the sexes.
This is part of why a general body weight number can miss real risk in men that a waist measurement would catch instead.
It also means metabolic health advice built only around body weight leaves out a piece of the picture that matters specifically for men.
What Real Research Shows About Resistance Training as a First Step
If visceral fat and low testosterone feed each other, the next question is what actually helps break that cycle.
A review in Sports Medicine looked closely at how resistance training affects testosterone in the body (Vingren et al., 2010).
The authors found that resistance training triggers short bursts of higher testosterone, especially with exercises that use large muscle groups like the legs and back.
Resistance training can improve strength and insulin sensitivity, even if resting testosterone does not rise. Short hormone surges after a workout are not proof that lifting treats clinically low testosterone.
This lines up with what our own readers told us when we compared weightlifting against running for general fitness and body composition goals.
Building and keeping muscle also matters because muscle tissue is one of the biggest users of blood sugar in the body, a point we cover in our piece on losing weight without losing muscle mass.
The Mechanism
Put the pieces together and a clear cycle starts to appear.
Visceral fat builds up around the belly and organs, more often in men than in women.
That visceral fat releases inflammatory chemicals and fatty acids that make muscle and liver cells less responsive to insulin.
Insulin resistance, visceral fat, and testosterone can be linked, but the direction and size of those effects vary between people.
Clinically low testosterone can affect body composition, but age-related changes, symptoms, and a single laboratory value should not be treated as the same diagnosis.
Muscle is one of the body’s biggest users of blood sugar, so less muscle mass makes blood sugar control harder too.
That possible feedback loop is a useful model, not a proven sequence that applies to every man.
Breaking it usually means working on more than one point in that loop at the same time, not just one.
Once visceral fat, low testosterone, and shrinking muscle start feeding each other, breaking the cycle usually takes more than one change at a time.
A Safer Order of Operations
First, address pain or a movement limitation that makes exercise difficult. Persistent aches can have many causes; no exercise program can promise to reverse them all. A clinician or physical therapist can help distinguish ordinary soreness from a condition that needs assessment.
Second, begin with tolerable movement and progress gradually. Walking and manageable strength exercises can be scaled to current capacity, then adjusted as function improves. Training harder is not the goal if it worsens pain or makes adherence impossible.
Third, pair activity with a realistic nutrition plan that supports adequate protein and a calorie intake suited to the individual. Waist size and metabolic markers may improve with sustained fat loss, but no single sequence guarantees that belly fat or symptoms will disappear.
Fourth, review the right laboratory measures with a clinician. Cholesterol and glucose or A1c can help assess metabolic risk. Testosterone testing is not a routine scoreboard for every older man. The Endocrine Society recommends diagnosing hypogonadism only with compatible symptoms plus consistently low levels, confirmed by a repeat early-morning fasting measurement (clinical guideline).
That order supports assessment and sustainable change; it does not promise to reverse low testosterone, belly fat, and pain at once. Exercise is worthwhile even when a medically confirmed hormone disorder needs separate care.
What This Evidence Does Not Prove
None of this research proves that any single video’s exact three steps will fix a man’s metabolic health.
Most of the studies covered here are reviews of existing research or comparisons between groups, not tests of one specific program.
They show that visceral fat, testosterone, and diabetes risk are connected in men, but they do not prove which single change matters most for any one person.
The Grossmann review found low testosterone was common in men with type 2 diabetes, but that is not the same as proving low testosterone caused the diabetes.
It could also run the other way, or both conditions could be driven by a third factor like visceral fat.
None of the studies here followed one group of average men through a specific three-step plan and measured the outcome.
So while the underlying biology described in this article is well supported, no single study proves that following any particular video’s steps will produce a specific result for you.
Common Mistakes
One common mistake is judging metabolic health only by the number on a bathroom scale.
Two men can weigh the same amount and still carry very different amounts of visceral fat.
Another mistake is assuming testosterone replacement alone will fix metabolic health with no change to diet or activity.
The research shows testosterone and fat mass affect each other, so treating testosterone alone skips half of the loop.
A third mistake is skipping resistance training in favor of cardio alone.
Aerobic and resistance training have complementary benefits. Resistance work helps build strength and muscle, while aerobic activity supports heart and metabolic health.
A fourth mistake is never checking a waist measurement or getting basic blood work, since visceral fat and insulin resistance can build up quietly for years before body weight changes very much.
Who Should Be Extra Careful
Men who already take prescribed testosterone therapy should not adjust their dose based on a YouTube video.
Testosterone therapy carries real risks, including effects on red blood cell counts and prostate health, that need a doctor’s monitoring.
Men with an existing diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or heart disease should talk to a doctor before starting a new resistance training program, especially after a long period of inactivity.
Men with symptoms of low testosterone, like ongoing fatigue, low sex drive, or unexplained mood changes, should ask a doctor for blood work rather than assuming a supplement will fix it.
Anyone with high blood pressure that is not well controlled should get medical clearance before starting a new lifting program.
A Practical Takeaway
Start with information instead of guessing.
Ask a clinician which cardiometabolic checks fit your age and risk, often including blood pressure, lipids, A1c or fasting glucose, and waist measurement. A waist measure suggests central fat risk but does not directly measure visceral fat.
Add resistance training two to three times a week, focusing on large muscle groups like the legs, back, and chest.
Our breakdown of the research on whether lifting weights keeps your brain young covers another reason resistance training earns a place in a metabolic health plan beyond just muscle.
Walking still counts and adds up over a week, and our guide on how many miles you should walk a day is a good place to start if lifting feels like too big a first step.
A simple self test can help too, like the one we cover in our piece on the four flights stair test, which gives a rough read on cardiovascular fitness without any equipment.
Support training with enough food, protein, and sleep. These habits matter for recovery and muscle, but they are not guaranteed treatments for medically confirmed hypogonadism.
If symptoms such as persistent low sexual desire occur, ask a clinician whether testosterone testing is appropriate rather than assuming age is the cause.
None of these steps require extreme changes, but doing them consistently addresses more of the actual cycle than any single trick can.
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References
Grossmann, M. (2011). Low testosterone in men with type 2 diabetes: Significance and treatment. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 96(8), 2341 to 2353. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2011-0118
Karpe, F., & Pinnick, K. E. (2015). Biology of upper-body and lower-body adipose tissue: Link to whole-body phenotypes. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 11(2), 90 to 100. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2014.185
Kautzky-Willer, A., Harreiter, J., & Pacini, G. (2016). Sex and gender differences in risk, pathophysiology and complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Endocrine Reviews, 37(3), 278 to 316. https://doi.org/10.1210/er.2015-1137
Kelly, D. M., & Jones, T. H. (2015). Testosterone and obesity. Obesity Reviews, 16(7), 581 to 606. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12282
Nauli, A. M., & Matin, S. (2019). Why do men accumulate abdominal visceral fat? Frontiers in Physiology, 10, Article 1486. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2019.01486
Traish, A. M., Saad, F., & Guay, A. (2009). The dark side of testosterone deficiency: II. Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Journal of Andrology, 30(1), 23 to 32. https://doi.org/10.2164/jandrol.108.005751
Vingren, J. L., Kraemer, W. J., Ratamess, N. A., Anderson, J. M., Volek, J. S., & Maresh, C. M. (2010). Testosterone physiology in resistance exercise and training: The up-stream regulatory elements. Sports Medicine, 40(12), 1037 to 1053. https://doi.org/10.2165/11536910-000000000-00000
This article is for general information only and is not medical advice. If you have an injury, ongoing pain, or a medical condition, talk to a doctor or physical therapist before you change how you train or eat.
