Bulking on Reta- starting to believe!

Nattybynature

Nattybynature

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Hey everyone! I just wanted to share what I've been through and also hear about other people's experiences!

My first Reta dose was Jan 10. I've been running peds for several years and had already built a really solid muscle base. My starting weight was 228lbs at around 18% bf, I'm 5'9" and 33 yrs old. By March 10th I had gotten all the way down to 197 and 13%bf. I was super happy with those results and never went above 5mg per week. I also ran 4 weeks of mots c, which seemed to boost fat loss quite a bit, and throughout that whole period I was on Trt and hgh too! The only thing that worries me is I know I've lost a decent amount of muscle during this stretch and my strength is way down.

I began my bulk around the 12 of March. Right now I'm taking test, eq, gh and keeping Reta at 2.25mg per week for the time being. My bulk is clean and slow, I've kept the same diet from cutting but I'm adding carbs in gradually to try to stay lean. Went from 2700 a day while cutting to 3300 currently. I may push carbs even higher as long as fat gain doesn't start.

I was starting to get discouraged because the scale wasn't moving the way I'm used to when I bulk, I'm up to about 203lbs first thing in the am. Normally I'd put this weight on instantly. I did another body scan yesterday and it said I'm down to 11.8% bf and have gained 4.5lbs of muscle! Incredible results for me and encouraging to keep going!

Anyone else have experience bulking with Reta? This stuff is a game changer for me.

**** I know these scans are not super accurate but still encouraging. Although I do feel 11.8 is a little generous! But adding muscle while losing bf is the holy grail!
 
I'm in week 9 of a lean bulk. My stack: Test 450 mg/week, NPP 250 mg/week, Primo 200 mg/week, plus 3 IU HGH in the evening. Reta at 12mg per week, along with KLOW. My results look a lot like yours, running a 5-day split of Push/Lower/Pull/cardio/Lower/Upper/cardio. On average I'm down -0.71 lb each week, while skeletal Muscle% climbs +0.07 %/week. Even in a deficit, the mirror shows mass building up. Come Dec I'm planning a bigger bulk with EQ. How's EQ treating you — can you eat past the Reta wall? Another thing I picked up: timing my carb load before and after training keeps my weight steady, it just refills muscle glycogen for energy. Also, my stash of high stim pre-workout is getting a bit out of control.
 
That's fantastic, great results! A week at 12 mg would probably wreck me. How long has the Reta run been going? Gaining muscle while in a deficit is wild! .07% weekly makes me wonder whether that shift is just overall mass dropping while the muscle figure holds steady? Shouldn't the percentage climb as overall BW falls?

I'd been planning on deca myself but decided to toss in some tren over the final 6 weeks maybe. What's water retention like on Decca?

Eq works beautifully for keeping E2 in check, and I'd rather run it with a 2:1 test to eq ratio than reach for an AI. Eating through the Reta has been no trouble, though my dose sits well below yours! I also pair my carbs with. Workout and I've even taken to putting 30 grams of dextrose in intraworkout, particularly on heavy leg days.
 
Reta has been part of my routine for 14 months. My dose began at 2mg, and I worked up until I settled on 12mg. So far, NPP/Deca has treated me well. Since this was my first run with it, I picked the short ester as a precaution. Whether it's helping my joints is tough to judge, since KLOW is also in the mix and the KVP clearly does help with joints. I've read that for joint support Deca could beat NPP, though it may be harsher mentally, even if both are the same compound. As for Deca dick, there's really nothing to report, nothing I've noticed, perhaps I just go a little longer. For keeping E2 in check I rely on Primo, and for me it works very well. I actually had to lower my weekly dose in order to bring my E2 numbers up. EQ makes me nervous, because from what I hear it's supposedly even stronger than Primo at suppressing E2, but I don't want to drop under the lowest dose that still does the job. I want it to be worth the squeeze.
 
Yeah, that makes sense. Primo is really hard to come by up in Canada, otherwise I'd for sure be trying it!

Awesome to hear how far you've come! Keep it going!
 
After 14 months of Reta, my ALMI has climbed from 8.9 to 9.3 (Kg/m2). I'll take that as a victory.

ALMI stands for Appendicular Lean Mass Index — the muscle in your arms and legs, leaving out trunk fat, organs, and visceral fat — measured via Before and After DEXA. What ALMI tracks is the functional muscle that powers strength and metabolism.

The main levers are how much and how hard I train. I bumped protein slightly, yet it's still just around 100-125 grams daily. TRT has stayed steady at 135 mg weekly.
 
Dogmandu said:

After 14 months of Reta, my ALMI has climbed from 8.9 to 9.3 (Kg/m2). I'll take that as a victory.

ALMI stands for Appendicular Lean Mass Index — the muscle in your arms and legs, leaving out trunk fat, organs, and visceral fat — measured via Before and After DEXA. What ALMI tracks is the functional muscle that powers strength and metabolism.

The main levers are how much and how hard I train. I bumped protein slightly, yet it's still just around 100-125 grams daily. TRT has stayed steady at 135 mg weekly.
Click to expand...
Wow! What calorie deficit are you running, and how much weight have you dropped?
 
Nattybynature said:

Dogmandu said:

After 14 months of Reta, my ALMI has climbed from 8.9 to 9.3 (Kg/m2). I'll take that as a victory.

ALMI stands for Appendicular Lean Mass Index — the muscle in your arms and legs, leaving out trunk fat, organs, and visceral fat — measured via Before and After DEXA. What ALMI tracks is the functional muscle that powers strength and metabolism.

The main levers are how much and how hard I train. I bumped protein slightly, yet it's still just around 100-125 grams daily. TRT has stayed steady at 135 mg weekly.
Click to expand...
Wow! What calorie deficit are you running, and how much weight have you dropped?
Click to expand...
My calorie deficit isn't very large. Some months my weight doesn't move much. That doesn't bother me, since I have a small frame and I've dropped roughly 15 lbs of fat. I've put on 5-10 lbs of muscle. My waist shrank by 4". Losing weight was never what I was after - body recomp and a strong metabolic correction were - and those are going well. The change shows up mainly around the midsection and internally.
 
Ticks said:

Putting on mass while using Reta — what an era we're living in.
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I realize it doesn't seem logical. Still, I wanted to test it for myself. Preserving insulin sensitivity as I increase carbs (particularly alongside growth hormone) strikes me as a real difference maker. In the past, 1 month into a bulk would leave me looking soft and bloated.
 
Does anybody have before-and-after photos to share? I'm aiming for a recomp. Step one is getting TRT fully dialed in. After that, I'll bring in Reta. When that's holding steady, I'll add 1-2 HGH. Nothing fancy, but that's the way I prefer to live.
 
MTSpace said:

Does anybody have before-and-after photos to share? I'm aiming for a recomp. Step one is getting TRT fully dialed in. After that, I'll bring in Reta. When that's holding steady, I'll add 1-2 HGH. Nothing fancy, but that's the way I prefer to live.
Click to expand...
When it comes to reta and testosterone, what you mostly find on Reddit is before-and-after photos where people hide their faces to protect their privacy. From my own experience, it felt like I had some moon face while on 1-2 iu of HGH, though my spouse never noticed it. Taking Jardiance as a diuretic appeared to keep that from happening. Even so, it gave me one more reason to make the switch to tesa, which I'll begin this weekend.
 
MTSpace said:

Does anybody have before-and-after photos to share? I'm aiming for a recomp. Step one is getting TRT fully dialed in. After that, I'll bring in Reta. When that's holding steady, I'll add 1-2 HGH. Nothing fancy, but that's the way I prefer to live.
Click to expand...
I'd really like to share my own pictures. The problem is my tattoos make me easy to identify, and staying private matters a lot to me. There's always a small chance somebody I know could be browsing here. That said, plenty of fitness coaches on insta do put up their clients' before and after shots.
 
Calm Logic said:

MTSpace said:

Does anybody have before-and-after photos to share? I'm aiming for a recomp. Step one is getting TRT fully dialed in. After that, I'll bring in Reta. When that's holding steady, I'll add 1-2 HGH. Nothing fancy, but that's the way I prefer to live.
Click to expand...
When it comes to reta and testosterone, what you mostly find on Reddit is before-and-after photos where people hide their faces to protect their privacy. From my own experience, it felt like I had some moon face while on 1-2 iu of HGH, though my spouse never noticed it. Taking Jardiance as a diuretic appeared to keep that from happening. Even so, it gave me one more reason to make the switch to tesa, which I'll begin this weekend.
Click to expand...
Let us know how things go with swapping in Tesa. Did HGH do anything for you? Was it 191aa that you ran? And what was your length of time on HGH?
 
Just about done with week 7 of being back on Reta. I'm also running test and growth. The mirror and the way my clothes fit are definitely starting to show a difference.

Vascularity is coming through pretty well too.
 
Vash_ said:

Just about done with week 7 of being back on Reta. I'm also running test and growth. The mirror and the way my clothes fit are definitely starting to show a difference.

Vascularity is coming through pretty well too.
Click to expand...

Definitely—I'm seeing veins pop in spots that never showed them previously!

Assuming you're increasing the dose gradually, you're likely hitting the ideal range right about now!
 
Nattybynature said:

Vash_ said:

Just about done with week 7 of being back on Reta. I'm also running test and growth. The mirror and the way my clothes fit are definitely starting to show a difference.

Vascularity is coming through pretty well too.
Click to expand...

Definitely—I'm seeing veins pop in spots that never showed them previously!

Assuming you're increasing the dose gradually, you're likely hitting the ideal range right about now!
Click to expand...
Right now I'm running 3mg Reta alongside 2iu growth. Next week I intend to raise both.
 
MTSpace said:

Does anybody have before-and-after photos to share? I'm aiming for a recomp. Step one is getting TRT fully dialed in. After that, I'll bring in Reta. When that's holding steady, I'll add 1-2 HGH. Nothing fancy, but that's the way I prefer to live.
Click to expand...
The first photo dates back 18 months. I spent a year on Reta plus dieting to get lean, then gradually resumed training. TRT went in on Aug 25, while AAS/HGH started Feb 5 26.





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