My experience as a new Reta user

Scraps

GLP-1 Apprentice
Member Since
Apr 3, 2026
Posts
38
Likes Received
69
Location
Central Scotland
Scotland
Hi everyone. I was looking for some comparison data before starting out so thought I could give my experience for others.

For context I am a 40yo, 6 foot tall man. I used to be a martial arts instructor and I had a couple of fights so I was athletic and strong, but no one would say I had a body building physique. A few years ago after a couple of injuries I stopped training, pretty much altogether. I have a very sedentary job so it wasn't long before I started putting on weight.

Losing it naturally was slow and inconsistent, I needed to be on a massive deficit to lose consistently and it was getting me down.

After some research I decided on Reta. At my heaviest before I started I weighed 225lb at 30% bf.

I was unsure what dosage to start with but decided on 2mg. After the first injection I suffered some pretty extreme gastric distress. To be blunt, the gates of hell opened and everything ive eaten since I was 6 years old shot out of me with just about enough thrust to achieve near earth orbit. But the results came quickly. Unsurprising considering the amount of water weight I was losing the first 2 days.

Things settled down quickly though and I noticed some real changes. I know that Reta isn't the best at muting food noise, and I would have to agree. I still think about food fairly often, but most of the time I'm just not hungry. When I do eat I get full very quickly, but sometimes want to eat again soon. It's like my appetite has been blunted 50%, but my ability to eat has been blunted by 90%.

I went up to 3mg after a few weeks as that appetite suppression just wasn't there. No new side effects to mention, but pretty quickly I found I had adapted and was hungry more again.

I've been at 4mg for 5 weeks now. The first 2 weeks at 4mg I experienced the skin sensitivity. It wasn't uncomfortable, but definitely noticeable. My wife was on it too, but at 3mg the sensitivity was too much and she couldn't bear it. She's moved over to Tirz now.

I weigh myself every day. Most days see a modest loss, hardly ever does it wobble up. I am losing around 2.5lb per week on average and have come down from 225 to 193. I do feel the hunger a bit more, but don't want to keep cranking the Reta if I'm susceptible to the sides so I'm thinking about adding a little Tirz in as well to help.

To be honest I'm a little unhappy with my progress with the weight loss. I had set a goal weight of 185, but to be honest when I get there I think I will have a bit more to go to shed the last of my belly fat. My arms are much more defined, my legs never had any fat on them, but the bit in the middle is still looking a little fluffy!

My first dose was on the 1st of May, and I take it every 6 days now.

I was also a little worried about lean mass loss, but I'm now down to 23%bf so I make 22lb of the 30lb loss to be fat. Goal now isn't a weight, but a 14% bf before building back up my lean mass.

Hope that helps anyone new that's starting out and might find themselves on a similar path.
 
All's good except one thing, but this is my opinion. Weighing everyday will drive you nuts. At least it did with me. One day down, next up a lbs or two. I do once a week on the scale. I'm down 50lbs since 1/9/26 with 5lbs to goal. These last 5 are a bitch it seems. I gained 0.2lbs last week. Not life changing, but fro ma average 2.2lbs/week, a shock.
 
Just a piece of advice. Work out at least a little. A set of resistance bands at work. Lift 5 minutes every hour. Take a brisk walk at lunch. This will probably double your results.
 
Yeah, I know the daily weighing is off putting for spme people. I'm an analyst though so only having one data point per week is too ambiguous for me! I'm aware that in a day your weight can fluctuate up to 1kg so I just bear that in mind. Like I said though, generally every day has seen at least a little loss.
 
Just a piece of advice. Work out at least a little. A set of resistance bands at work. Lift 5 minutes every hour. Take a brisk walk at lunch. This will probably double your results.
Absolutely, it's definitely my biggest downfall right now. I'm already on TRT so have been using that as a crutch to help avoid lean mass loss but I should be doing more for myself. I don't have a gym membership right now but I'll get back to working out at home, even with a little bodyweight exercises.
 
Absolutely, it's definitely my biggest downfall right now. I'm already on TRT so have been using that as a crutch to help avoid lean mass loss but I should be doing more for myself. I don't have a gym membership right now but I'll get back to working out at home, even with a little bodyweight exercises.
Push-ups, sit-ups, squats. As many as you can do. 3 sets, 3 days a week.
 
You're leaning way too much on the reta to do this for you. You really do need to meet it in the middle. 10k steps a day on a fitness tracker. Lifting heavy things 2-4x per week. These are really not negotiable. Especially at only 40. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh.

I see a formula for regain of more fat than you started with if you ever stop taking reta. Do you fully intend to remain on reta indefinitely? What's your exit strategy?

You're at a caloric deficit without stimulating muscle gain (or retention) you're absolutely losing muscle therefore reducing your resting metabolic rate. You're going to have the physique of a flabby marathon runner without the stamina.

I hate to even ask, but what are your macros like? Getting enough protein?

How are your labs looking on t? E2 in good shape? Taking an ai?
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I know the daily weighing is off putting for spme people. I'm an analyst though so only having one data point per week is too ambiguous for me! I'm aware that in a day your weight can fluctuate up to 1kg so I just bear that in mind. Like I said though, generally every day has seen at least a little loss.
A lot of people like daily weighing for that-it makes lots of data points so each one carries less emotion and “weight” as it were 🤣

Unfortunately I have such a dysfunctional relationship with the scale so I can’t weigh myself more than 2x a week, but it’s a shame because I’d love those data points. Also there at least one peer review paper that shows that daily weighing is one of the best predictors of maintaining one’s maintenance weight (this was pre-GLP-1s, so I’m sure best predictors now include maintenance meds.)
 

Trending Topics

Forum Statistics

Threads
18,355
Posts
191,421
Members
61,503
Newest
Keepitreal0208
Back
Top Bottom