Before a trip, should I pause Reta? Looking for advice

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Jimmymiro12

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Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
Reaching steady levels in your body can take 4-5 weeks, and that depends on how long you've stayed at your current dose.

  1. What's the length of time you've been on that dose?
  2. Are you experiencing severe side effects?
  3. What's your reason for wanting to pause?
  4. How many days will your vacation last?
 
Skidude said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
Reaching steady levels in your body can take 4-5 weeks, and that depends on how long you've stayed at your current dose.

  1. What's the length of time you've been on that dose?
  2. Are you experiencing severe side effects?
  3. What's your reason for wanting to pause?
  4. How many days will your vacation last?
Click to expand...
That ^^...and on top of that, is your destination abroad or within the US?
 
What @Skidude said/asked. The brief response, though, is that keeping to your current plan and your usual dose is likely the better move if you can manage it.

Search around and you'll find plenty of threads covering the reasoning, plus plenty more on taking peptides and supplies with you while traveling [most worries turn out to be unnecessary].
 
We recently came back from a 7-day cruise and kept our usual Saturday injection routine. We actually ended up pinning a day late because we didn't get back until Sunday, but there were no problems at all. It didn't get in the way of having drinks on the ship, and even though our appetites were clearly lower, we didn't put on any weight during the trip!
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
If it isn't giving you any trouble right now, why not simply pack it along?
 
If the getaway is short enough, I probably wouldn’t pause it at all. With a half life of 5 days, reaching something close to steady blood levels of reta takes around 4 weeks. So for a 1 week trip, it’s basically as if no break happened.

As other people have mentioned, I’d either continue the same dose or drop it slightly.

One thing I’m wondering about: I think I came across something saying reta and alcohol may not be a great combination? My guess is that alcohol lingering in the stomach could mean it enters the bloodstream more quickly.

If drinking were on the agenda, that would make me a little cautious.

For me, I’ve gotten quite picky about alcohol, so an occasional drink shouldn’t be much of a problem.
 
Skidude said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
Reaching steady levels in your body can take 4-5 weeks, and that depends on how long you've stayed at your current dose.

  1. What's the length of time you've been on that dose?
  2. Are you experiencing severe side effects?
  3. What's your reason for wanting to pause?
  4. How many days will your vacation last?
Click to expand...
1. I've been on 1.5 for 2 weeks, and I started Reta in July at 0.5mg, then titrated upward.

2. Alcohol definitely hits differently—not that I drink much normally, but on a trip like this I realize it could become a problem. Some foods tend to bother me more in general. Since I cook at home more often, restaurant meals and similar situations sometimes trigger things.

3. The goal is to avoid worrying about side effects, or to lessen them, during vacation.

4. I'll be in New Orleans for 6 days.
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

Skidude said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
Reaching steady levels in your body can take 4-5 weeks, and that depends on how long you've stayed at your current dose.

  1. What's the length of time you've been on that dose?
  2. Are you experiencing severe side effects?
  3. What's your reason for wanting to pause?
  4. How many days will your vacation last?
Click to expand...
1. I've been on 1.5 for 2 weeks, and I started Reta in July at 0.5mg, then titrated upward.

2. Alcohol definitely hits differently—not that I drink much normally, but on a trip like this I realize it could become a problem. Some foods tend to bother me more in general. Since I cook at home more often, restaurant meals and similar situations sometimes trigger things.

3. The goal is to avoid worrying about side effects, or to lessen them, during vacation.

4. I'll be in New Orleans for 6 days.
Click to expand...
So your system has had time to accumulate it, and you've already gone through 1 titration step.

Drinking isn't a problem for me, except perhaps hangovers hit a bit harder..but then again, I'm not young..

Avoiding certain foods is the whole point of doing this 🙂 it keeps us headed the right way.

After 6-7 weeks of use, most people are left with only mild sides that are simple to manage.

A stretch of just 6 days isn't very long-

If my usual pin day were Sunday at 1.5, I'd stick to that schedule for the week, then I depart on 10/7 (Wednesday) and come back on 10/13 (Tuesday).

On my return, I'd either do a smaller shot of 1mg to bring levels back up (that's probably the route I'd take) and then resume the usual routine the following Sunday.

That said, if your total goal is only 10-20lbs, skipping a week probably won't make much difference.

In my case I had 27% to lose.. and failing wasn't something I wanted.

FYI, I reached goal 15 months ago, and my 6 day trip last week was handled in precisely this way.
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

Skidude said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
Reaching steady levels in your body can take 4-5 weeks, and that depends on how long you've stayed at your current dose.

  1. What's the length of time you've been on that dose?
  2. Are you experiencing severe side effects?
  3. What's your reason for wanting to pause?
  4. How many days will your vacation last?
Click to expand...
1. I've been on 1.5 for 2 weeks, and I started Reta in July at 0.5mg, then titrated upward.

2. Alcohol definitely hits differently—not that I drink much normally, but on a trip like this I realize it could become a problem. Some foods tend to bother me more in general. Since I cook at home more often, restaurant meals and similar situations sometimes trigger things.

3. The goal is to avoid worrying about side effects, or to lessen them, during vacation.

4. I'll be in New Orleans for 6 days.
Click to expand...

For a trip that short, you've got flexibility in how you handle it. My own approach would be to keep my normal dosing day at home, then resume with the next dose once I'm back. Pushing a dose back by a few days really isn't a big deal.

Honestly, what I'd do is take a shot timed so I'm at peak right before heading out, though Reta doesn't change how much I enjoy eating and drinking—it mostly just reduces how much I consume. If you're interested, a blood level calculator can help you work out a suitable booster dose. Alternatively, if skipping doses is what you prefer, that same calculator can give you an idea of how much your blood levels would drop.
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

Skidude said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
Reaching steady levels in your body can take 4-5 weeks, and that depends on how long you've stayed at your current dose.

  1. What's the length of time you've been on that dose?
  2. Are you experiencing severe side effects?
  3. What's your reason for wanting to pause?
  4. How many days will your vacation last?
Click to expand...
1. I've been on 1.5 for 2 weeks, and I started Reta in July at 0.5mg, then titrated upward.

2. Alcohol definitely hits differently—not that I drink much normally, but on a trip like this I realize it could become a problem. Some foods tend to bother me more in general. Since I cook at home more often, restaurant meals and similar situations sometimes trigger things.

3. The goal is to avoid worrying about side effects, or to lessen them, during vacation.

4. I'll be in New Orleans for 6 days.
Click to expand...
No need to stop it — you’ll be okay. Keep the same dose; it’s a small amount. On our trip we skipped the Friday injection, returned late Sunday night, and then took the usual Friday shot on Monday. After that we spaced the injections 6 days apart until Friday lined up again. For context, I was at 8mg then. Nothing went wrong.
 
I'm aware that alcohol has had a bigger effect, and I'm wondering whether stopping beforehand would help lessen that impact
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

I'm aware that alcohol has had a bigger effect, and I'm wondering whether stopping beforehand would help lessen that impact
Click to expand...
The effects don't vanish the moment you quit. Clearing it entirely from your body takes 4-6 weeks. And after you stop, restarting won't give you the same results. That's the reason a lot of us end up staying on it long-term at a reduced maintenance dose.
 
Jimmymiro12 said:

Looking for advice, not criticism

I'm heading out on vacation on October 7

My Reta injections are normally on Sundays, and I'm on 1.5mg right now. To avoid any possible issues with food, alcohol, and so on, how far in advance of the trip should I stop taking Reta?

If I do stop while I'm away, once I'm back home should I restart at a lower dose and work my way up again?

I realize 1.5mg isn't a high dose, but it's been doing the job for me
Click to expand...
What's the reason for pausing? If you've already been using it for over 4-5 weeks, then 1.5mg is quite a low dose and probably won't have any impact on eating, drinking, or anything like that. I just bring all my peptides along with me.
 
BNLFL said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

I'm aware that alcohol has had a bigger effect, and I'm wondering whether stopping beforehand would help lessen that impact
Click to expand...
The effects don't vanish the moment you quit. Clearing it entirely from your body takes 4-6 weeks. And after you stop, restarting won't give you the same results. That's the reason a lot of us end up staying on it long-term at a reduced maintenance dose.
Click to expand...
A buddy of mine ran a cut 3 years back with tirzepatide, then switched to retatrutide for the same goal in both last year and this year. Each cycle lasts roughly 2 months for him. When I brought it up with him not long ago, he told me he couldn’t tell any difference between those years—the drug performed really well every single time.
 
Ares_2323 said:

BNLFL said:

Jimmymiro12 said:

I'm aware that alcohol has had a bigger effect, and I'm wondering whether stopping beforehand would help lessen that impact
Click to expand...
The effects don't vanish the moment you quit. Clearing it entirely from your body takes 4-6 weeks. And after you stop, restarting won't give you the same results. That's the reason a lot of us end up staying on it long-term at a reduced maintenance dose.
Click to expand...
A buddy of mine ran a cut 3 years back with tirzepatide, then switched to retatrutide for the same goal in both last year and this year. Each cycle lasts roughly 2 months for him. When I brought it up with him not long ago, he told me he couldn’t tell any difference between those years—the drug performed really well every single time.
Click to expand...

I notice this comes up a lot, with words like "cutting" and so on.

Let's say the person lifts weights and wants to bring bf% down, or at minimum is very physically active.

It makes sense that community members chasing muscle gain have to consume a calorie surplus and put in plenty of resistance training; that could account for the odd outcomes.

According to GLP1 studies, returns shrink each time you stop and restart, and the usual explanation given is muscle loss on every attempt. People don't just put the weight back on — often the fat percentage ends up higher too.
 
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