No RegreReta.

[idontlikeneedles]

So. Peptides. Mine came through the post this morning - Some 24ish days after ordering.

I used to be fit, in as little as 12 months ago I was running a regular 30-50KM per-week, but couldn't clean up my diet to make the most of my efforts.
I don't know what it is, but during the evening a voice gets louder - and I find it very difficult to ignore and more times than not I end up snacking. After a holiday, and Christmas my weight had gone from a reasonable 94KG to a 'I need to do something about this' 104KG.

I haven't really been back to the gym in a serious way since just before Christmas, however I have set myself a 24 week programme which has a combination of running and resistance training which I am hopefully going to complete - this time however, with the 'secret weapon' of retatrutide. Hopefully this will keep my diet clean, and I will finally be able to get somewhere with my training ...

Today is the first day.

Age: 45.
SW: 104.9KG.
Starting dose: 0.5MG

My aim is to get myself down to approximately 85KG, but as a 6ft3 male, I am not sure how realistic that is.

I'll update the thread as I go, and probably ask a few questions along the way.

 

[on2jinm]

85 kg is absolutely realistic, it's right in the middle of the healthy BMI scale for your height, and it would represent a loss of 18.9% of body weight. I believe that some of Lilly's clinical trial subjects saw weight losses of up to 28%. A starting dose of .5mg won't move the needle much, if at all, but if you're using it just to confirm tolerability, you can titrate up pretty quickly to at least 2 mg, which is still at the lower end of starting doses used in the clinical trials.

 

[JCO79]

Maybe think about a second 0.5mg dose after 4 days if you have no side effects and no noticeable change in appetite.

 

[BNLFL]

.5mg is way to low for you. Start with 2mg for 4 weeks then decide. Where are you getting .5mg from? You probably would need a .3ml syringe to even read that amount.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I am starting at 0.5mg as I thought it best to see how I react to the medication - My ultimate aim is to get results obviously, but at the minimum dose with as few side effects as possible. I haven't taken any peptides before today, so just erring on the side of cation for the moment.

I have seen this approach recommended here on a few threads, is this not the way to go?

 

[BNLFL]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I am starting at 0.5mg as I thought it best to see how I react to the medication - My ultimate aim is to get results obviously, but at the minimum dose with as few side effects as possible. I haven't taken any peptides before today, so just erring on the side of cation for the moment.

I have seen this approach recommended here on a few threads, is this not the way to go?

I didn't. I started Reta before joining here, and started at 2mg based on all the E Lilly testing. That's what they did, and went 2-4-8-12 in 4 week cycles. I guess that's changed to 2-4-6-9-12 now.

 

[Vriende]

... I am starting at 0.5mg as I thought it best to see how I react to the medication - My ultimate aim is to get results obviously, but at the minimum dose with as few side effects as possible. I haven't taken any peptides before today, so just erring on the side of cation for the moment.

There are others of us who like to err on the side of caution.

 

[Bucky]

I am on week 2 of .5 mg, I prefer using the minimally effective dose. Will consider going to 1mg during week 4.

 

[WLBLD]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I am starting at 0.5mg as I thought it best to see how I react to the medication - My ultimate aim is to get results obviously, but at the minimum dose with as few side effects as possible. I haven't taken any peptides before today, so just erring on the side of cation for the moment.

I have seen this approach recommended here on a few threads, is this not the way to go?

To be cautious with meds I think its best to start low. Some respond at lower doses & you take longer to go up. This was my husband & he started losing on the .5 & stayed on 1 for a while with good results. Hes just starting to move up a little

PS-I like your user name. I should have used it, haha. If you don't like needles as much as me, try a pen (you can use the small 32g 4mm size with those)

 

[idontlikeneedles]

I am on week 2 of .5 mg, I prefer using the minimally effective dose. Will consider going to 1mg during week 4.

Likely, I will do the same - on the basis that it seems some time is required for the build up of the medication in the system (I have the shotsy app thanks to recommendations here!) I will play things by ear. There is no rush.

To be cautious with meds I think its best to start low. Some respond at lower doses & you take longer to go up. This was my husband & he started losing on the .5 & stayed on 1 for a while with good results. Hes just starting to move up a little

PS-I like your user name. I should have used it, haha. If you don't like needles as much as me, try a pen (you can use the small 32g 4mm size with those)

I really am not a fan of them. Yesterday was the first time I've ever actually given myself an injection, or received an injection outside of a medical situation! I am using a convipen for this, with those 4mm needles!

 

[lessthanhalf]

I think starting at 0.5mg is a bit pointless, starting at 1mg at least sort of makes sense as it is half the recommended start dose. Starting super low dose does not prevent you from getting side effects, overall you are going to get them at the dose that causes them in you when you get to that dose, whether that is 1mg or 10mg, at best starting super slow will delay the side effects or make them less sudden, but I do not really think it will change the overall amount of them much or what doses cause them in a particular person. Just maybe if you increase the dose slowly enough over a year you might get tolerance to GI side effects at the same rate as you increase the dose, but it seems a bit improbable. And most likely the tolerance effect only kicks in once side effects are there to get tolerant to.

If you are aiming to lose nearly 20% body weight you are likely to need reasonable doses, you might be a super responder, and some not very overweight people do seem to get pretty good results from low doses in the 2-4mg range, but 1mg of reta caused 9% weight loss in the studies and 12mg caused 29%, so most likely you are going to need between 4 and 10mg eventually, but there is a lot of individual variation in response. So you have to increase doses till you get the desired rate of weight loss or amount of hunger suppression you want, and be aware that most people will put most of the weight back on once you stop it so you need to either stay on it or somehow magically solve the long term weight loss problem some other way.

 

[MTSpace]

There are others of us who like to err on the side of caution.

Agreed. I started at .25 twice a week and had sides for 3 weeks. Now I am at .750 twice a week and forget to eat. Everyone responds differently.

 

[WLBLD]

Likely, I will do the same - on the basis that it seems some time is required for the build up of the medication in the system (I have the shotsy app thanks to recommendations here!) I will play things by ear. There is no rush.


I really am not a fan of them. Yesterday was the first time I've ever actually given myself an injection, or received an injection outside of a medical situation! I am using a convipen for this, with those 4mm needles!

If its still uncomfortable for you icing before really helps a lot!!

 

[JCO79]

After reading another thread about intractable nausea and vomiting for multiple days on a relatively low dose of tirz, and thinking about going to the ER for iv fluids and possibly needing to disclose using unknown Chinese powder (hopefully people test when possible), I don’t think there’s much to lose from starting slow except for time.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

After reading another thread about intractable nausea and vomiting for multiple days on a relatively low dose of tirz, and thinking about going to the ER for iv fluids and possibly needing to disclose using unknown Chinese powder (hopefully people test when possible), I don’t think there’s much to lose from starting slow except for time.

Exactly this.

 

[BNLFL]

 

[idontlikeneedles]

The first weeks results are as follows:

My weight at the beginning of the week was 104.90KG, and my weight as of this morning was 103.60KG which represents a drop of 1.30KG (2.8lbs) in 7 days.

During this time I have been easing myself back in to my exercise routine, and have run approximately 6km, and have done a couple of sessions in the gym totalling approx. 2hrs. I'm aware that the dropped weight is likely a combination of water/glycogen loss rather than fat loss, but I guess it all begins somewhere.

I didn't feel a great deal from the injection, I have been eating more protein and less rubbish but I am thinking this is more of a motivational thing with starting this rather than anything to do with retatrutide itself. I have had no side effects at all, no real suppression or food revulsion, sleep issues or etc - and so today I have upped my dose to 1MG.

I do have a question. The reconstituted vial I have (currently in my fridge, in a convipen) is 20MG. At my current dose, this is going to last a fair bit of time. How long is it safe to keep using this vial? I was thinking no longer than 5 weeks - is that too long or short?

Thanks all!

 

[lessthanhalf]

The "official" recommendation is no longer than 4 weeks, stored in the fridge and diluted with bac. Longer times increases the chances of growing a few bugs in there. Even if you make sure to use an alcohol wipe before touching it with a syringe. The bacterostatic agent in the bac stops them from replicating, so most likely the numbers of bacteria or fungi are small if they are not zero, and most bacteria cannot start an infection from just a few organisms.
Personally I do not worry too much if it is 2 or 3 months, the injections are subcutaneous, I have an immune system, there would be a small chance of getting a subcutaneous abscess if enough bugs got in and your immune system could not deal with them, or by terrible luck it was an especially virulent bug that could cause a spreading infection. I think if it was a common issue people on the forum would complain about it happening, and I actually have not seen any one say this.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

The "official" recommendation is no longer than 4 weeks, stored in the fridge and diluted with bac. Longer times increases the chances of growing a few bugs in there. Even if you make sure to use an alcohol wipe before touching it with a syringe. The bacterostatic agent in the bac stops them from replicating, so most likely the numbers of bacteria or fungi are small if they are not zero, and most bacteria cannot start an infection from just a few organisms.
Personally I do not worry too much if it is 2 or 3 months, the injections are subcutaneous, I have an immune system, there would be a small chance of getting a subcutaneous abscess if enough bugs got in and your immune system could not deal with them, or by terrible luck it was an especially virulent bug that could cause a spreading infection. I think if it was a common issue people on the forum would complain about it happening, and I actually have not seen any one say this.

Thank you for the info!

 

[idontlikeneedles]

The second weeks results are as follows:

My weight at the beginning of the week was 103.60KG and is currently 103.40KG - which represents a drop of 0.2KG. This is obviously not ideal! During the week I was working away from home for a couple of days, which meant a lot of driving and a little 'service station' food and a missed day (or two) of workouts. I don't know if this can really account for the lack of progress, but I can say that I haven't been feeling a huge difference in much since the first injection - no real side effects, other than a little fatigue on the day of dosing.

I have been able to work out as I wasn't away from home for the entirety of the week and have run approx. 8km and have had roughly 2hrs in the gym doing resistance training so it hasn't been completely sedentary.

As I mentioned earlier, side effects and even 'effects' have been fairly minimal up until this point and so in the hope that it will help move things along I have pinned 2mg. Lets see how it goes.

Have a great week, thanks all!

 

[on2jinm]

The second weeks results are as follows:

My weight at the beginning of the week was 103.60KG and is currently 103.40KG - which represents a drop of 0.2KG. This is obviously not ideal! During the week I was working away from home for a couple of days, which meant a lot of driving and a little 'service station' food and a missed day (or two) of workouts. I don't know if this can really account for the lack of progress, but I can say that I haven't been feeling a huge difference in much since the first injection - no real side effects, other than a little fatigue on the day of dosing.

I have been able to work out as I wasn't away from home for the entirety of the week and have run approx. 8km and have had roughly 2hrs in the gym doing resistance training so it hasn't been completely sedentary.

As I mentioned earlier, side effects and even 'effects' have been fairly minimal up until this point and so in the hope that it will help move things along I have pinned 2mg. Lets see how it goes.

Have a great week, thanks all!

Hey, even with a little cheating at least you're going in the right direction! I'm sure that the 2 mg dose will give you better results, but don't be afraid to titrate up from there, you're still at the very low end of the dosage used in the clinical trials.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

Hey, even with a little cheating at least you're going in the right direction! I'm sure that the 2 mg dose will give you better results, but don't be afraid to titrate up from there, you're still at the very low end of the dosage used in the clinical trials.

Thanks Jinm, I appreciate it!

 

[idontlikeneedles]

There is another thread here on the site which references a forum sponsor who may have sent out R10 labeled as R20 for a particular batch. My batch number matches the one mentioned - basically, the vials could be half full and thus I am dosing half the amount I think I am. There is 'another' testing website, which has some tests for the same batch, with some being fine and some having the same issue. Really disappointing from my point of view, now I am a little lost - am I taking 2mg, or 1mg? Could this be why I don't feel 'too much' from what I have taken so far?

 

[UnusualLLama]

The first weeks results are as follows:

My weight at the beginning of the week was 104.90KG, and my weight as of this morning was 103.60KG which represents a drop of 1.30KG (2.8lbs) in 7 days.

During this time I have been easing myself back in to my exercise routine, and have run approximately 6km, and have done a couple of sessions in the gym totalling approx. 2hrs. I'm aware that the dropped weight is likely a combination of water/glycogen loss rather than fat loss, but I guess it all begins somewhere.

I didn't feel a great deal from the injection, I have been eating more protein and less rubbish but I am thinking this is more of a motivational thing with starting this rather than anything to do with retatrutide itself. I have had no side effects at all, no real suppression or food revulsion, sleep issues or etc - and so today I have upped my dose to 1MG.

I do have a question. The reconstituted vial I have (currently in my fridge, in a convipen) is 20MG. At my current dose, this is going to last a fair bit of time. How long is it safe to keep using this vial? I was thinking no longer than 5 weeks - is that too long or short?

Thanks all!

If I recall correctly, Magic Peter (janoshik) said that you'll probably start to see a degradation in potency when you start getting up to the 2-months post-recon stage and beyond (can't remember exactly but I think it was something like 80-90% the potency of a freshly reconned vial).

I'm in a similar boat. I have 20mg vials, but using a dose low enough where that will easily surpass 1-month of use per vial so I think as long as you're doing things cleanly, the liquid remains clear with no signs of anything changing, and are aware of probably small decrease in potency as you get towards the end of the 2nd month, you'll probably be fine for 2-3 months as someone else mentioned.

And let's be honest, we can talk about a persons risk profile but we're all here pinning powder from China with (unless you've individually tested your stuff) little more than some screens of COA's and more or less a "trust me bro" from someone that may or may not have called you dear about 20 times in the same messaging chain.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

There is another thread here on the site which references a forum sponsor who may have sent out R10 labeled as R20 for a particular batch. My batch number matches the one mentioned - basically, the vials could be half full and thus I am dosing half the amount I think I am. There is 'another' testing website, which has some tests for the same batch, with some being fine and some having the same issue. Really disappointing from my point of view, now I am a little lost - am I taking 2mg, or 1mg? Could this be why I don't feel 'too much' from what I have taken so far?

I have chatted with my 'rep' and raised my concerns. They have said that they have identified the suspect vials, and they were all ordered in February. As I ordered mine toward the end of April, I am - apparently, fine.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

Good morning all,

At the beginning of last week, I had weighed in at 103.40kg. This weeks weigh-in this morning sees me at 101.90kg - a drop of approx. 1.5kg which I am quite happy about following a slightly stalled previous week. My lowest weight this week was actually 101.10kg but I have rebounded slightly, but either way I am happy with how things have gone. I have just taken 2.5mg of RT - toward the end of the weekend I am feeling like things are tapering off a little too much and so decided to take it up a little. Ideally, I will remain at this dose now for a few more weeks as long as weight loss is still occurring.
In terms of sides, I felt the usual (for me) half day of fatigue +24hrs or so after taking the dose, and I had a couple of bouts of nausea whilst I was eating food but nothing really too bad. I think I am almost glad to have had them, as it confirms I am on a 'working dose' for me at the moment at the very least.

Exercise has been coming along well. Gradual improvements in terms of distances completed in running (this week 11k) and the time spent resistance training in the gym (2.5hrs approx).

Feeling happy with progress, and positive.

Thanks all, have a great week.

 

[idontlikeneedles]

It's that time of the week again ...

This time last Monday, I had weighed in at 101.9kg. Today, I have weighed in at 100.7kg - representing a drop of approximately 1.2kg. I am quite happy with this in terms of progress, as I have begun taking creatine again and have done so for the last 10 days or so - I would expect a small gain in terms of water weight because of this, perhaps 0.5kg or thereabouts.

Exercise has been going well, this week I have run approximately 11km again and I have spent roughly 3.5hrs in the gym doing resistance training so things are progressing nicely.

Sides ... this time it was a little different. I had a lot of fatigue, feeling tired, a little depressed at times. More noticeable nausea for the first 2-3 days - but nothing really stopping the intake of food, just not really very pleasant in terms of an experience. That being said, I did feel less inclined to snack as the week was ending and so I have decided to stick with 2.5mg for the time being and hope that this week won't be so bad.

Attached is the output from Shotsy for the first month.

Have a great week, everyone.

 

[reta-stacker]

Like you, I started at a low dose, 0.5 the first week, 1.0 the second, and by week 4, I was at 1.0, but twice a week. I found that almost immediately my appetite plunged. Food noise was gone and I had to remind myself to eat, and to eat protein rich food. I'm now at 2 to 2.5 doses twice a week. I also do resistance training three times a week, and a bit of cardio (which I hate). Weight came off pretty quickly but there were occasional "set backs" of one or two pounds, but the overall direction has been great, and I'm down 30+lbs in 11 weeks. My only noticeable side effects have been skin sensitivity which was annoying but not critical, evening chills from having lost an insulating layer of fat, and most distressing... what's become known as "ozempic face"! With the loss of a layer of fat, wrinkles on my face have become more apparent. I like to think of it as being the layer of fat has been replaced with a layer of sophistication and wisdom... lol. To slow this aging process, I started taking GLOW a few weeks ago. Dunno if it's helping with the aging, but a knee that I injured over a year ago hurts a lot less. And a couple of weeks ago, I started micro-dosing tesamorelin in hopes of targetting visceral fat, the final frontier for me. Your journey has been interesting to read. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. I'm looking forward to your updates!

 

[idontlikeneedles]

... I like to think of it as being the layer of fat has been replaced with a layer of sophistication and wisdom...

🤣

Thank you for your reply - Congratulations on the significant weight loss, good luck with the knee and GLOW. Keep us posted with how it is all going!!