Stuck in the 240’s after losing 70lbs.

[StraightCancer]

I was on Reta for 3 months and lost 70lbs. Yes, it’s incredible, yes, I’m grateful. Some of you have paid attention to my journey.

Towards month 4 I stopped losing weight. I got up to 8mg. 8 mg didn’t do much so I decided to take a 6 week break.

During the 6 week break, I only regained about 6lbs. From 250-256. I then started back on Reta and quickly dropped from 256-244. I’m now stuck again and have been for the last couple weeks. No clue what to do. If I eat less, I’ll likely be under 1200 calories a day as I try to eat less than 2000.

Anyone else experiencing this?

 

[Defcon]

In my experience, those first pounds come off fast and hard, after that its a lot slower and more gradual.

These last couple weeks, has the scale not moved at all, or just a lot slower? Additionally, are you noticing you're eating more or having more food noise?

 

[StraightCancer]

In my experience, those first pounds come off fast and hard, after that its a lot slower and more gradual.

These last couple weeks, has the scale not moved at all, or just a lot slower? Additionally, are you noticing you're eating more or having more food noise?

I think I had a week or a few days where I even gained a pound.

And much more food noise than when I started that’s part of reason I took the 6 week break. And yes eating more than when I started. But still not a lot

 

[RJ760]

70lbs is incredible so don't lose sight of that even when you're stuck. Plateaus are frustrating but they're also pretty normal after a run like that.

A few questions worth asking...are you actively tracking what you're eating right now? Not just estimating but actually logging it. It's really easy to underestimate intake without realizing it, especially when appetite is suppressed and meals feel smaller than they are. The flip side of that is eating too little can also work against you. Somewhere around 1600-1700 calories leaning heavy on protein is probably a better target than just trying to eat as little as possible.

Are you getting enough protein? It helps preserve muscle while you're losing and keeps you fuller longer. And do you have any kind of exercise routine going? Even consistent walking adds up more than most people expect.

I know CICO isn't the whole picture and there are other factors at play, but having a clear idea of what's going in and what's going out is at least a good baseline when things stall. Might be worth a week of strict tracking just to see where you actually land before making any bigger changes to your protocol.

 

[Rubidoux714]

I fully agree with above, use a tdee calculator and that can help guide you to the appropriate amount of calories, protein, fats, carbs you need.

 

[Such1943]

Now that it is getting warmer, go walk and enjoy the weight loss and break the plateau. You have to start moving at some point.

 

[RENjutsu]

I was on Reta for 3 months and lost 70lbs. Yes, it’s incredible, yes, I’m grateful. Some of you have paid attention to my journey.

Towards month 4 I stopped losing weight. I got up to 8mg. 8 mg didn’t do much so I decided to take a 6 week break.

During the 6 week break, I only regained about 6lbs. From 250-256. I then started back on Reta and quickly dropped from 256-244. I’m now stuck again and have been for the last couple weeks. No clue what to do. If I eat less, I’ll likely be under 1200 calories a day as I try to eat less than 2000.

Anyone else experiencing this?

my journey.

Towards month 4 I stopped losing weight. I got up to 8mg. 8 mg didn’t do much so I decided to take a 6 week break.

During the 6 week break, I only regained about 6lbs. From 250-256. I then started back on Reta and quickly dropped from 256-244. I’m now stuck again and have been for the last couple weeks. No clue what to do. If I eat less, I’ll likely be under 1200 calories a day as I try to eat less than 2000.

Anyone else experiencing this?

How much are you moving each day? If you’re taking reta or any GLP-1, I’d strongly recommend incorporating resistance training- lifting heavy weights-to help preserve muscle mass. You should also aim to hit a solid protein target, ideally around 0.8g per pound of bodyweight as a minimum.

You also don’t want your calories to drop too low. 1,200 calories is very low-if that’s all you’re getting at your weight, I’d actually suggest increasing your intake. Even if that number was hypothetical, it’s still important to fuel your body properly. If you’re eating closer to 2,000 calories and staying active throughout the day, progress should follow.

Try to increase your daily movement-aim for around 10,000 steps per day- and train consistently. A good baseline would be weight training three times per week if you’re not already doing that. For example, at 250 lbs, targeting around 220g of protein, lifting weights three times weekly with a structured routine, and hitting 10k steps daily is a strong approach.

Around 2,000 calories sounds like a reasonable amount t, though individual needs vary-so adjust based on how your body responds.

 

[StraightCancer]

How much are you moving each day? If you’re taking reta or any GLP-1, I’d strongly recommend incorporating resistance training- lifting heavy weights-to help preserve muscle mass. You should also aim to hit a solid protein target, ideally around 0.8g per pound of bodyweight as a minimum.

You also don’t want your calories to drop too low. 1,200 calories is very low-if that’s all you’re getting at your weight, I’d actually suggest increasing your intake. Even if that number was hypothetical, it’s still important to fuel your body properly. If you’re eating closer to 2,000 calories and staying active throughout the day, progress should follow.

Try to increase your daily movement-aim for around 10,000 steps per day- and train consistently. A good baseline would be weight training three times per week if you’re not already doing that. For example, at 250 lbs, targeting around 220g of protein, lifting weights three times weekly with a structured routine, and hitting 10k steps daily is a strong approach.

Around 2,000 calories sounds like a reasonable amount t, though individual needs vary-so adjust based on how your body responds.

Tbh I stopped lifting because I had no energy from hardly eating at about month 3 of Reta. Which is funny, because that’s when I stopped losing weight so quickly.

Used to lift about 40 minutes per session and tried for at least 3 times a week. Feel like that helped a lot.

But I’m down to 240 as of today. No clue what broke the plateau. No answers. 2nd week of 8mg seemed to do some good damage.

To answer others, my diet isn’t fantastic. But I’m certainly eating well under maintenance. I count calories in anything I eat. Typically eat one meal a day. Need to go by The meat locker soon though.

 

[Such1943]

I stopped lifting because I had no energy from hardly eating at about month 3 of Reta.

I had to start carb cycling before and after workouts, 70 before and 130 after. 2 Rice cakes, 1 banana and maple syrup pie. I also have 1 carb load day a week of ayce sushi. It was hard going from keto for years to enjoying them again. I eat to lift these days.

 

[lessthanhalf]

I realise your calorie intake is lowish, but are you hungry or struggling to eat? Have you measured every single thing you eat for a while to make sure your calorie estimates are correct? At that weight , even 70 lbs down 1200 kcal/day should be a calorie deficit and should in theory be causing some weight loss at least.
Is there a reason for not increasing the reta dose? Obviously it may reduce appetite, but will also increase weight loss independently of food intake due to the metabolic effects of all the agonists in it but especially the glucagon part.

 

[RENjutsu]

Tbh I stopped lifting because I had no energy from hardly eating at about month 3 of Reta. Which is funny, because that’s when I stopped losing weight so quickly.

Used to lift about 40 minutes per session and tried for at least 3 times a week. Feel like that helped a lot.

But I’m down to 240 as of today. No clue what broke the plateau. No answers. 2nd week of 8mg seemed to do some good damage.

To answer others, my diet isn’t fantastic. But I’m certainly eating well under maintenance. I count calories in anything I eat. Typically eat one meal a day. Need to go by The meat locker soon though.

Honestly I lost about 20lbs in 2 months I think? Averaging 3lbs down week started at 230, I was eating under maintenance which was aggressive but only at 1mg reta, eating enough protein and lifting - if you're on 8mg I would focus less on lowering calories and more on physical exercise, weights and putting on muscle - you will see better results especially long term, don't forget with all this weight loss you are losing muscle too, if you don't eat high protein and do resistance training you could come out at a weight you may want but not looking like you thought you would

 

[BNLFL]

I had about 2.5/weeks of no change, then bam, 2.5lbs. You haven't changed suppliers/brands have you?

 

[tubby]

I was on Reta for 3 months and lost 70lbs. Yes, it’s incredible, yes, I’m grateful. Some of you have paid attention to my journey.

Towards month 4 I stopped losing weight. I got up to 8mg. 8 mg didn’t do much so I decided to take a 6 week break.

During the 6 week break, I only regained about 6lbs. From 250-256. I then started back on Reta and quickly dropped from 256-244. I’m now stuck again and have been for the last couple weeks. No clue what to do. If I eat less, I’ll likely be under 1200 calories a day as I try to eat less than 2000.

Anyone else experiencing this?

You haven't indicated how long ago you restarted reta. If it was less than a month ago then you're still titrating up. The first 8mg shot of reta (after a long break) brings the level in your body up to 8mg. By the time you're a month into 8mg/week, that shot is going to bring you up to about 16mg in your body (give or take). That means for the first month after restarting you have actually been at a lower bodily dose than you previously were.

A big part of that weight gain you experienced while off of reta was probably some increase in inflammation manifesting itself on your scale via water retention. When you reintroduced reta that likely led to a rapid reduction in water retention since you obviously didn't lose 10+ pounds of fat in short order. While your body is in a state of flux like that you can't really trust anything the scale says will corresponds to the amount of fat in your body.

On your first go-round with reta you probably didn't experience an initial "plateau" like that (related to water retention dumping) because you were losing fat so rapidly that dwarfed the slight regain in water retention that would have followed the rapid dumping. Now your rate of fat loss is likely lower so that slight regain period (due to some water retention returning) is preventing you from seeing a change on the scale.

That's all pure speculation on my part, of course, but it's what would be expected to happen. And obviously, if it turns out you've been back on reta for several months already at a constant dose then ignore all that because it wouldn't apply to your current dilemma.

 

[CNCCurrency]

You haven't indicated how long ago you restarted reta. If it was less than a month ago then you're still titrating up. The first 8mg shot of reta (after a long break) brings the level in your body up to 8mg. By the time you're a month into 8mg/week, that shot is going to bring you up to about 16mg in your body (give or take). That means for the first month after restarting you have actually been at a lower bodily dose than you previously were.

A big part of that weight gain you experienced while off of reta was probably some increase in inflammation manifesting itself on your scale via water retention. When you reintroduced reta that likely led to a rapid reduction in water retention since you obviously didn't lose 10+ pounds of fat in short order. While your body is in a state of flux like that you can't really trust anything the scale says will corresponds to the amount of fat in your body.

On your first go-round with reta you probably didn't experience an initial "plateau" like that (related to water retention dumping) because you were losing fat so rapidly that dwarfed the slight regain in water retention that would have followed the rapid dumping. Now your rate of fat loss is likely lower so that slight regain period (due to some water retention returning) is preventing you from seeing a change on the scale.

That's all pure speculation on my part, of course, but it's what would be expected to happen. And obviously, if it turns out you've been back on reta for several months already at a constant dose then ignore all that because it wouldn't apply to your current dilemma.

He started it with saying? I was on Reta for 3 months and lost 70lbs.

 

[tubby]

He started it with saying? I was on Reta for 3 months and lost 70lbs.

You may have missed the very next paragraph. 😉

Towards month 4 I stopped losing weight. I got up to 8mg. 8 mg didn’t do much so I decided to take a 6 week break.

 

[Lovedog100]

I stalled in my weight loss as well. I wasn't eating enough to count, and still wasn't losing weight. Then I found two things that each greatly accelerated my weight loss. First I joined a gym and started exercising. The second was adding tesamorelin which I take in the evenings on the days that I work out. I have to admit, the quality of my life has gone up with the additions.

 

[BNLFL]

I stalled in my weight loss as well. I wasn't eating enough to count, and still wasn't losing weight. Then I found two things that each greatly accelerated my weight loss. First I joined a gym and started exercising. The second was adding tesamorelin which I take in the evenings on the days that I work out. I have to admit, the quality of my life has gone up with the additions.

I found meat proteins help too. My best weeks are the ones where I've eaten a bunch of it during the week.