Cutting pounds or building lean tissue?

[BLASIUS]

Hi everyone,

I'm curious to hear what you make of the changes I've seen in myself during the past 14 days.

Background:

My GLP-1 use began in August 2025. During the first 6 months I was on Tirzepatide (no more than 5 mg/week), after which I made a gradual changeover to retatrutide (at present 5 mg/week). By 14 days ago, roughly 16 kg had come off. I gave a larger Retatrutide dose a try (6 mg/week), yet it brought on too much discomfort for me (especially diarrhea). Because the scale had been stuck for around 4 weeks, I chose 14 days ago to introduce cagrilintide (0.12 mg/week). Following what some people at my gym recommended, I also began taking 3 g/day of creatine monohydrate at the same time.

The bioelectrical impedance scale graphs show what followed:

my weight went up by no less than 2 kg, yet my lean mass rose noticeably at the same time, and my body fat percentage went down.

As far as how I feel, it's very good, but losing weight has been my main aim ever since I started the GLP-1 journey.

What's your take on what's going on with me? Has anyone here gone through something similar? Should I keep my focus on losing weight, or should I accept that gaining lean mass is preferable to dropping weight?

Thanks in advance

PS: terms translation:

Peso -> weight

Grasso corporeo -> Body fat

Massa muscolare -> Lean mass

 

[DrPEPr]

Creatine adds to your lean mass (that is fluid held in the muscles) and needs roughly two weeks of loading, so your explanation fits perfectly.

 

[BLASIUS]

DrPEPr said:

Creatine adds to your lean mass (that is fluid held in the muscles) and needs roughly two weeks of loading, so your explanation fits perfectly.

I know Creatine does that, but here's my problem: do I keep taking it, or do I need to quit? How will that affect what I'm mainly after, which is losing weight?

 

[DrPEPr]

Dropping creatine isn't something I'd advise. While you're training with weights, it's a solid supplement with real evidence behind it.

Sure, the scale may creep up a bit. But your actual target should be shedding FAT, rather than simply dropping pounds on the scale. (After all, chop off a limb and you'd drop a lot of weight too.)

 

[Ascojoerg]

We're at almost the same body weight and BMI right now, so we're both around 185cm. That said, I'd trade places with you on body fat% any day — mine sits at 32,5% (measured by my smartwatch, so take it with a bucket of salt). Getting myself to the gym is a constant struggle for me, so I'm probably not far off from where you are.

Weight does not equal Weight.

At least not when it comes to what I consider the things that matter, namely health and well being.

If weight is the only thing you're chasing, then DrPEPr's suggestion might be worth considering

 

[miameow]

When you begin taking creatine, a bit of weight gain is normal. You started the supplement and this has only been going on for 1 week, so the two line up. The scale won't keep climbing because of it; give it time and your weight should trend downward once more, provided you don't eat too much.

For my part, "weight loss" is a phrase I really dislike. What matters is "fat loss" while keeping or building up "lean mass." Losing lean mass is never a trade worth making, not under any circumstances.

 

[FartfulCodger]

Assuming that impedance scale isn't lying, consider yourself fortunate (conta le sue benedizioni)! Fat has come off while muscle has gone on. That leaves you in better health, and chances are you appear leaner and more attractive.

My only gripe is that I'd like to have more faith in what these impedance scales report.

 

[BLASIUS]

Appreciate the input — I'll post updates on how things go.

For the coming 3-4 weeks I'm staying on the same stack and gathering data.

I'm thinking about bumping the weekly reta dose, or at minimum shortening the gap between shots to 6 days, since the food noise is stronger than what I had with tirze, and so far the extra cagri hasn't made a difference

 

[wellhellothere]

being labelled "Obeso" by an app is genuinely a bit funny

 

[BLASIUS]

wellhellothere said:

being labelled "Obeso" by an app is genuinely a bit funny

If BMI alone is used to judge obesity, then yes, I fall into the obese category (BMI 32). What truly startles me is how the app derives my ideal weight—it relies on the other metrics the bioimpedance scale captures (body fat, muscle, etc.).

The app puts my ideal weight at 71.3Kg!!

That means I'd have to shed another 33,45 Kg to hit that target

I can't picture myself at 71.3Kg—the last time I weighed 71.3Kg, I was 12yo

 

[lessthanhalf]

A few points.

At the cagri dose you used, it may just be too low for any effect. Without going higher, there is not much you can conclude — at least 0.25 to 0.5 to find out whether it helps or brings side effects — though ramping up slowly is wise.

With GLP's, side effects can shift with time. Some tolerance develops to gastrointestinal effects and to the slowing of gastric emptying across several months, so a small dose increase you could not tolerate at one point might be fine if you tried again a few months later. Still, if you were to retry reta, I would strongly suggest very small increments, or perhaps splitting the doses, if the diarrhoea came only 1 or 2 days after a dose.

 

[BLASIUS]

lessthanhalf said:

A few points.

At the cagri dose you used, it may just be too low for any effect. Without going higher, there is not much you can conclude — at least 0.25 to 0.5 to find out whether it helps or brings side effects — though ramping up slowly is wise.

With GLP's, side effects can shift with time. Some tolerance develops to gastrointestinal effects and to the slowing of gastric emptying across several months, so a small dose increase you could not tolerate at one point might be fine if you tried again a few months later. Still, if you were to retry reta, I would strongly suggest very small increments, or perhaps splitting the doses, if the diarrhoea came only 1 or 2 days after a dose.

Over the past 7 days the diarrhoea became controllable — perhaps the psillio I began taking is doing its job. My most recent injection happened yesterday, and I nudged cagri up slightly (0.2mg), while keeping reta at 5mg.

As for the diarrhoea that troubled me in the weeks before, all I can say is that on certain days it hit me as a truly awful side effect: I was running to the toilet 4 or 5 times overnight, and each episode felt like some kind of shit blasting.

So, should the diarrhoea come to an end, my plan is to raise both reta and cagri gradually.

Thanks for the comments