Bodybuilder on steroids who consumes 24 beers a day reveals side effects he's experienced
A man preparing for a bodybuilding competition by doing no exercise, taking steroids and getting through 24 drinks a day has revealed what sort of side effects he's been feeling from it.
Peter Mossfield is a 31-year-old content creator who took up a bet with his friends that he could achieve something big, and with $60,000 on the line he's got plenty of motivation to succeed.
Last year he made a bet he could get addicted to alcohol and then quit cold turkey which he won, and now he's on for a challenge to quaff an average of 24 drinks a day for a year and get into good shape, which he's been chronicling on his channel BoozeBagFitness.
He'd initially decided he'd exercise for that and would save steroids as 'a ripcord in case of emergency', but he told LADbible that after a 'pretty miserable experience' at the gym he didn't go for a few weeks and realised he'd need to resort to his emergency measure.
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Weeks later and he's in pretty good shape, but his change in lifestyle hasn't been without some side effects.
"That's been the biggest thing, the lack of sleep"
Taking the steroid Tren, Peter says he started noticing muscle growth within a few days, and in the first couple of weeks of steroid use he was looking at his calves as he thought 'that was never like that before’.
Within the first month he was getting more defined abs as well, all without doing any exercise, but while his waking hours are spent sipping the drinks he's challenged he's having trouble staying in the land of nod at night.
"The biggest thing is sleep has been terrible," he explained to LADbible about the main side effect he was feeling.
"Not that it was great beforehand. I’m taking a lot of things for side effects and I’ve been really supported by people who are more familiar, though social media they’ve been saying ‘try this, try that’."
People who've been following his attempt to win his bet have been sending in things to help him deal with the side effects of steroid use, as Peter said there was also 'a lot of sweating at night', with him waking up often and feeling alert.
"I'm taking a lot for blood pressure"
Some of the common side effects of steroid use include a greater vulnerability to infections, a lower mood and high blood pressure, with Peter saying he was getting the latter issue,
He's taking a few things to try and nullify the side effects, reckoning some of the things he's on have 'really helped me with skin and hair', but the blood pressure is an issue.
He said: "I’m taking a lot for blood pressure. That’s the biggest, in terms of health concerns, the biggest thing is blood pressure is very high.
"That goes hand-in-hand with the sleep, I think. Trying to get that to a more reasonable place has been a challenge."
"I can't really go to a doctor"
He had blood work done around 50 days into his challenge and has at-home blood pressure tests, with the 31-year-old saying he does 'understand there’s risks with this' and he'd seek help if things got really bad.
However, he explained he couldn't really get guidance from a doctor on how to improve his health without them telling him to stop the challenge.
He eats between 600 and 800 calories a day and drinks 24 drinks, it used to be 24 beers a day but that got changed to 24 units of alcohol after he thought about 'the sheer liquid' he'd be consuming on average each day, for now he's drinking spirits, and says he can 'function the majority of the day' on 24 drinks.
"I can’t really go to a doctor and say 'this is what I’m doing'," he explained.
"A doctor would say ‘stop taking steroids and drinking’. I know that’s not a healthy long-term practice and it would feel silly to be told that advice."
"It's gotten kind of absurd, I'll admit that"
Another side effect of this kind of lifestyle is the number of trips Peter takes to the toilet.
When your humble writer broached the subject with him he admitted it was 'definitely something I have to keep aware of' and he spends a lot of his day making sure he knows where the nearest loo is.
He said: "That's a majority of my day. I'm not going to lie. I was a frequent urinator before I even started this, so it's gotten kind of absurd. I’ll admit that."
Despite feeling some of the side effects and acknowledging what he's doing is very unhealthy in the long run, Peter said taking steroids 'felt amazing' as he described what he was doing as 'playing chemist with the way my body feels'.
Speaking about the way it had boosted him mentally, he added: "I walk around with an image of myself in my head, I felt like that image didn’t match the mirror and now it does.
"That felt great. There’s a mental aspect as well, but physically I am feeling stronger, I have more energy, I am more capable physically than I used to be and that feels great."
"I would like to not stand out"
With a bodybuilding competition coming up in a couple of months for the man who takes steroids but doesn't exercise, Peter said he didn't expect to win anything in it but was planning to enter the 'natural' category and not look out of place with the other contestants.
He said he 'couldn’t hold a torch' to people who've been lifting and taking steroids for years, but he hopes to 'fit in' with those who have a naturally trained physique in the eyes of any onlookers.
When asked if he felt like his drinking and steroid use was incurring a debt that his body would inevitably had to pay, he agreed but said he planned to 'figure out a way to still make that worth my while'.
He agreed with the idea 'there’s going to be a debt to pay', but said it was 'not going to be now' and when the bill did inevitably come he'd be ready.
Peter said he'd 'push this bet down the road as long as possible' and either 'undo damage that's been done' before the moment of reckoning arrived.
His aim is to live 'a long and happy and free life doing whatever I want to do', so he plans to figure it out.
The side effects of steroids
The various side effects of steroid usage the NHS warn about vary depending on who is taking them, as men can suffer from a reduced sperm count or even become infertile, develop breasts, lose hair and have an increased risk of testicular cancer.
Women, meanwhile, might have their breasts shrink in size and grow more hair, particularly on the face and body, while they might have a swollen clitoris and increased sex drive.
However, anyone taking them and misusing them runs the risk of some very serious consequences including:
- Heart attack or stroke
- Liver or kidney problems or failure
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- Deep vein thrombosis
- Dluid retention
- High cholesterol
Joe Harker