Down 18–20 lb on Tirz, trying to lose more body fat while preserving muscle — considering Reta

[Clyde22]

I’m 5’9” and lift weights about 4 times per week. Before starting Tirz, I was around 215 lb and probably close to 20% body fat. My goals were to decrease body fat, improve overall health, improve how I look, and hopefully improve my sleep apnea/CPAP situation if possible.

I’m currently around 196–197 lb and estimate I’m about 15% body fat, maybe slightly less. Overall, Tirz has worked well for me, but I’m trying to figure out the best approach from here.

I started at 2.5 mg, but that was not enough. I increased to 5 mg and it worked well for a couple of weeks. Then I started getting intense rebound hunger about five days after dosing. I started splitting the weekly 5 mg dose and taking 2.5 mg twice a week, which helped with the hunger, and I was on that for several months. Eventually, though, the hunger and cravings started creeping back in.

I’m currently on 7.5 mg Tirz, split as 3.75 mg twice weekly. I still get a fair amount of cravings and food noise, especially with sweets, but the hunger is fairly well managed. I try to keep mostly healthy food available like protein, vegetables, and some carbs (with very limited sugar). I also try to eat a real meal before giving in to junk food. Work makes it harder because there is always candy, donuts, and other poor food options around.

At this point, I don’t really want to increase the Tirz dose further because gut motility is already becoming the limiting side effect.

That’s what has me interested in Reta. I like that Reta can apparently increase metabolism as well as push the body toward using more fat as fuel by activating the glucagon receptor.

My thought would be to slowly introduce Reta while gradually backing down the Tirz and essentially shifting the ratio over time. I’ve read a lot of people say Reta does not suppress hunger or food noise as strongly as Tirz, so I could see myself keeping a small amount of Tirz onboard if needed for appetite or craving control.

If I really like Reta and it controls hunger well enough, I might eventually switch over to Reta completely. If I like the fat loss/metabolic effects of Reta, but still have too much hunger or food noise, then I might consider Reta with cagrilintide, instead of keeping Tirz onboard. I’m not really interested in running Reta, Tirz, and cagrilintide all together.

I’m curious for those with experience or knowledge:

• For people who moved from Tirz to Reta, did your hunger/food noise get better, worse, or stay about the same?
• Did Reta feel noticeably different in terms of energy, fat loss, or body composition?
• Did anyone find that they needed to keep a small amount of Tirz onboard for appetite or craving control?
• For those who have used cagrilintide, did it help more with cravings/fullness than Tirz or Reta alone?
• Any thoughts on whether a slow Tirz-to-Reta transition makes more sense than switching abruptly?
• Any other opinions or suggestions on my plan?

I’m mainly trying to lose additional body fat while preserving muscle, without making gut motility worse, and if possible, slightly decreasing cravings.

 

[fatjacked]

What's your goal weight and are you still losing on your current dose?

Have you seen any decline in key strength indicators that makes you feel like you're losing a lot of muscle?

I am down 35 pounds on tirz over 5 months, currently on 10mg. I am not having big problems with side effects. I have hit a couple mini-plateaus during that time and considered stacking reta, but most of the feedback I got was, if tirz is working and you still have room to increase dose, just stay the course. That's more or less what I have done.

I've lost a little bit off my max bench since dropping so much weight, but not too bad, and have basically maintained performance in other lifts. I decided not to worry about it too much until I hit my goal weight since I am closer to the end than the beginning.

 

[chewonmysac]

Your tirz split is failing. Maybe goto every 6 days full dose. Reta does not preserve muscle any more than Tirz. The quest to date the hot IG model instead of the wife you should have stayed with is overwhelming. Side effect profile is higher with Reta so the relief you seek will likely not be granted.

 

[AngieHolmes]

I’m 5’9” and lift weights about 4 times per week. Before starting Tirz, I was around 215 lb and probably close to 20% body fat. My goals were to decrease body fat, improve overall health, improve how I look, and hopefully improve my sleep apnea/CPAP situation if possible.

I’m currently around 196–197 lb and estimate I’m about 15% body fat, maybe slightly less. Overall, Tirz has worked well for me, but I’m trying to figure out the best approach from here.

I started at 2.5 mg, but that was not enough. I increased to 5 mg and it worked well for a couple of weeks. Then I started getting intense rebound hunger about five days after dosing. I started splitting the weekly 5 mg dose and taking 2.5 mg twice a week, which helped with the hunger, and I was on that for several months. Eventually, though, the hunger and cravings started creeping back in.

I’m currently on 7.5 mg Tirz, split as 3.75 mg twice weekly. I still get a fair amount of cravings and food noise, especially with sweets, but the hunger is fairly well managed. I try to keep mostly healthy food available like protein, vegetables, and some carbs (with very limited sugar). I also try to eat a real meal before giving in to junk food. Work makes it harder because there is always candy, donuts, and other poor food options around.

At this point, I don’t really want to increase the Tirz dose further because gut motility is already becoming the limiting side effect.

That’s what has me interested in Reta. I like that Reta can apparently increase metabolism as well as push the body toward using more fat as fuel by activating the glucagon receptor.

My thought would be to slowly introduce Reta while gradually backing down the Tirz and essentially shifting the ratio over time. I’ve read a lot of people say Reta does not suppress hunger or food noise as strongly as Tirz, so I could see myself keeping a small amount of Tirz onboard if needed for appetite or craving control.

If I really like Reta and it controls hunger well enough, I might eventually switch over to Reta completely. If I like the fat loss/metabolic effects of Reta, but still have too much hunger or food noise, then I might consider Reta with cagrilintide, instead of keeping Tirz onboard. I’m not really interested in running Reta, Tirz, and cagrilintide all together.

I’m curious for those with experience or knowledge:

• For people who moved from Tirz to Reta, did your hunger/food noise get better, worse, or stay about the same?
• Did Reta feel noticeably different in terms of energy, fat loss, or body composition?
• Did anyone find that they needed to keep a small amount of Tirz onboard for appetite or craving control?
• For those who have used cagrilintide, did it help more with cravings/fullness than Tirz or Reta alone?
• Any thoughts on whether a slow Tirz-to-Reta transition makes more sense than switching abruptly?
• Any other opinions or suggestions on my plan?

I’m mainly trying to lose additional body fat while preserving muscle, without making gut motility worse, and if possible, slightly decreasing cravings.

My plan was similar to yours: Titrate up on reta while titrating down on tirz. It's worked exactly as I'd hoped. I now take 2mg retail weekly, and no tirz -- bc no food noise. I'm open to adding 1 - 2mg tirz as needed. Weight is coming off much faster and I'm about 10 pounds from my first goal (160, down from 205). When I hit that I'll consider maintenance or going lower.

No different to how I felt on tirz. I'm surprised bc I kinda expected food noise on reta alone, but we really can't predict how this stuff will affect us. At this point I'm categorizing the two: Reta for losing, tirz for maintaining. That could change but that's where I'm at for now.

 

[AngieHolmes]

reta! no, autocorrect, I don't mean "retail" or "retain"

 

[Clyde22]

What's your goal weight and are you still losing on your current dose?

Have you seen any decline in key strength indicators that makes you feel like you're losing a lot of muscle?

I am down 35 pounds on tirz over 5 months, currently on 10mg. I am not having big problems with side effects. I have hit a couple mini-plateaus during that time and considered stacking reta, but most of the feedback I got was, if tirz is working and you still have room to increase dose, just stay the course. That's more or less what I have done.

I've lost a little bit off my max bench since dropping so much weight, but not too bad, and have basically maintained performance in other lifts. I decided not to worry about it too much until I hit my goal weight since I am closer to the end than the beginning.

My goal weight is 190lbs. Hopefully 10-12% bodyfat. See how I look and feel. My strength is nearly the same. No noticable drop in my lift strengths. Very small. Maybe endurance changed a little and I needed longer break between sets when I was losing weight. I lost about 20 lbs in the first 4 months. Almost exactly 5 lbs loss a month. Then gained back about 2lbs and have not budged in weight the past 2 months. So I want to lose 7lbs more. The decrease in GI motility is about the max I am comfortable with, so I can’t up the Tirz. Sounds like you are still losing weight. You said you are not having any side effects? You’re GI has not slowed down? Or is tolerable on 10mg?

What's your goal weight and are you still losing on your current dose?

Have you seen any decline in key strength indicators that makes you feel like you're losing a lot of muscle?

I am down 35 pounds on tirz over 5 months, currently on 10mg. I am not having big problems with side effects. I have hit a couple mini-plateaus during that time and considered stacking reta, but most of the feedback I got was, if tirz is working and you still have room to increase dose, just stay the course. That's more or less what I have done.

I've lost a little bit off my max bench since dropping so much weight, but not too bad, and have basically maintained performance in other lifts. I decided not to worry about it too much until I hit my goal weight since I am closer to the end than the beginning.

 

[Clyde22]

My goal weight is 190lbs. Hopefully 10-12% bodyfat. See how I look and feel. My strength is nearly the same. No noticable drop in my lift strengths. Very small. Maybe endurance changed a little and I needed longer break between sets when I was losing weight. I lost about 20 lbs in the first 4 months. Almost exactly 5 lbs loss a month. Then gained back about 2lbs and have not budged in weight the past 2 months. So I want to lose 7lbs more. The decrease in GI motility is about the max I am comfortable with, so I can’t up the Tirz. Sounds like you are still losing weight. You said you are not having any side effects? You’re GI has not slowed down? Or is tolerable on 10mg?

What's your goal weight and are you still losing on your current dose?

Have you seen any decline in key strength indicators that makes you feel like you're losing a lot of muscle?

I am down 35 pounds on tirz over 5 months, currently on 10mg. I am not having big problems with side effects. I have hit a couple mini-plateaus during that time and considered stacking reta, but most of the feedback I got was, if tirz is working and you still have room to increase dose, just stay the course. That's more or less what I have done.

I've lost a little bit off my max bench since dropping so much weight, but not too bad, and have basically maintained performance in other lifts. I decided not to worry about it too much until I hit my goal weight since I am closer to the end than the beginning.

Your tirz split is failing. Maybe goto every 6 days full dose. Reta does not preserve muscle any more than Tirz. The quest to date the hot IG model instead of the wife you should have stayed with is overwhelming. Side effect profile is higher with Reta so the relief you seek will likely

 

[fatjacked]

My goal weight is 190lbs. Hopefully 10-12% bodyfat. See how I look and feel. My strength is nearly the same. No noticable drop in my lift strengths. Very small. Maybe endurance changed a little and I needed longer break between sets when I was losing weight. I lost about 20 lbs in the first 4 months. Almost exactly 5 lbs loss a month. Then gained back about 2lbs and have not budged in weight the past 2 months. So I want to lose 7lbs more. The decrease in GI motility is about the max I am comfortable with, so I can’t up the Tirz. Sounds like you are still losing weight. You said you are not having any side effects? You’re GI has not slowed down? Or is tolerable on 10mg?

My GI has definitely slowed down, but it's been manageable and it's less noticeable when I limit greasy / fatty foods. I am also taking KLOW and it has some positive GI effects for me, but honestly I was fine without it too.

You are pretty close to your goal weight, almost to the point where I would think about how you transition to maintenance as part of this decision, or shortly after it. It certainly seems reasonable to think about adding reta at this point, as it does sound like you've plateau'd. There are lots of posts here about gradually transitioning to reta from tirz, or stacking the two together. I would suggest searching here as well as the tirz and reta subs. I think you could also consider titrating up very slowly with the tirz to see if you break your plateau (e.g. go to 4mg 2x weekly, or 3.75mg every 3 days instead of 2x per week) without worsening sides, and/or consider adding something for gut health to your stack at the same time.

I haven't tried it so don't have any direct experience, but when I was looking into it I heard from some people here who started this process by adding a small dose of reta between tirz doses instead of pinning them on the same day.

 

[Bird_of_Hermes]

Your tirz split is failing. Maybe goto every 6 days full dose. Reta does not preserve muscle any more than Tirz. The quest to date the hot IG model instead of the wife you should have stayed with is overwhelming. Side effect profile is higher with Reta so the relief you seek will likely not be granted.

I was under the impression that preserving muscle mass was one of the major benefits of reta.