It seems nullified androgen receptors from PMO do cause fat gain/retention (by lowering carnitine)

I'm sure it's common knowledge for many that studies have shown dopamine from masturbation shuts off or 'fills the locks' of androgen receptors in our brain. (The studies are more so in mice and due to their nature, quite limited in humans, but mice & human's are biologically very similar).

I found this study today that shows when CPTI (carnitine palmitoyltrqnsferase I) levels in the skeletal muscle are low, it greatly decreases fat metabolism. Diabetics can have low CPTI from what I've read, and this means even when fasting, the body will struggle to use fatty acids as a fuel source. CPTI or carnitine, is an essential acid that transports fatty acids to the muscle mitochondria to be used as energy, it can also remove waste and increase performance. No carnitine would mean the fatty acids would be released then shuttled back into storage as unable to be used - or fat loss cannot work properly.

This is the role of carnitine and it's dietary sources:

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/carnitine-HealthProfessional/

This is the study showing suppressed androgen receptors or low T uptake can affect carnitine levels:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31788014/

When we have surpressed androgen receptors from masturbation, this already puts our body in an environment that seems to shun testosterone uptake and cause more estrogen - which in turn makes fat loss and muscle gain very difficult, but fat gain and muscle loss much easier for the body.

More body fat is a vicious cycle as this is a good environment for more estrogen and lower Testosterone. Throw in this study regarding nullified androgen receptors making free fatty acid use near enough ineffective, this explains why getting into shape or good health - combined with masturbating, are a bad combination.

I hope someone finds this information helpful.

There are also many studies regarding low testosterone obese individuals (the same as having lots of testosterone and not uptaking it from nullified androgen receptors) and when given exogenous testosterone, or T replacement therapy, this helps these individuals lose body fat. The same when people are given L-carnitine as a supplement (we don't want either of the above to be low or unusable).

For anyone struggling with PMO, but also struggling to getting into shape or drop any weight, abstinence seems like it could yield great results.

Several ways to increase androgen receptor sensitivity and density (L-carnitine is mentioned):

https://www.performanceinsiders.com/androgen-receptors.html

I'm going to try this as a supplement along with abstinence and will update if my weight training, HIIT cardio, fasting & balanced whole foods actually start working. Because I think with PMO and suppressed AR/low carnitine, it's been making me waste my time, I'm seeing no results really. Yet in the past, I'm sure during abstinence for a week or so, I saw pretty noticeable changes in body composition.