Does and don’ts?

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Just started Reta today, took Tirz around a year ago, went up doses too quickly and had a bad enough time I had to get off of it, given my past I decided to try 1mg for this first week and see how things go.

I normally use keto to either maintain or cut weight, but I’ve been hearing some hearsay that keto or low carb is a no go, so, I’m basically asking what type of diet should I start? How large of a deficit?

In terms of exercise im aiming my for 3x weight training a week, but life is a little busy now so it might end up being around 2x.

Any certain supplements you all swear by, scary side effects to take seriously, etc etc.

Assuming things go well and I stick on this medication, any other supplementary peps? Goal is to cut fat, build strength, and all that super human crap. lol

Also idk if it’s just my paranoia or what but I can swear my stomach already feels warmer, I injected about an hour ago, also a strange acidic feeling in my throat. shrugs
 
1) I just started using an app called MacroFactor. It will help you track key nutrients, calories, etc but also allows you to enter in your goal weight and when you want to achieve it so you know what you deficit should be to obtain that at the right time.

2) I’m on tirzepatide but I’d recommend you add either Tesamorelin or CJC1295 no dac with Ipamorelin. This will help your body burn fat and retain muscle.

3) id also recommend MOTS-c to help leverage your workouts and compound the effects.
 
Make sure you titrate: go low and slow on Reta. When you're at a higher dose and you're having bad side effects, do split dosing to 2x/wk. My body couldn't handle 4mg/wk in a single dose, so I'm doing 2mg at 2x/wk instead and zero sides.

As for keto diet, since that's what your body is familiar with, I would stick with that, just don't go hard core. I'm still doing my keto, but also cycle my carbs 1x/wk. I've lost 20lbs on Reta so far (about 7 months) with keto and IF. Whatever you decide, listen to your body. Good luck on your journey.
 
BNLFL said:


Let the guy get started before turning him into a test dummy. It can be confusing just starting Reta.

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Right?...He won't know if he is coming or going, and what pep is doing what...

But the Reta is a solid choice!... 👍
 
trey915 said:


1) I just started using an app called MacroFactor. It will help you track key nutrients, calories, etc but also allows you to enter in your goal weight and when you want to achieve it so you know what you deficit should be to obtain that at the right time.

2) I’m on tirzepatide but I’d recommend you add either Tesamorelin or CJC1295 no dac with Ipamorelin. This will help your body burn fat and retain muscle.

3) id also recommend MOTS-c to help leverage your workouts and compound the effects.

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Just in response to this, If you want to use other peptides that is entirely your choice, what I would suggest is do not go and add multiple new peptides into the mix all at once and do not add any till you have adjusted to reta, and got the dose up a bit and it is working or is causing side effects, otherwise working out what peptide does what and what might be causing side effects is basically impossible. And if you are going to mess with the growth hormone system you need to check things out first , like blood sugar and IGF-1 at a minimum. I just noticed this a a longer version of the comment above.
 
lessthanhalf said:


Just in response to this, If you want to use other peptides that is entirely your choice, what I would suggest is do not go and add multiple new peptides into the mix all at once and do not add any till you have adjusted to reta, and got the dose up a bit and it is working or is causing side effects, otherwise working out what peptide does what and what might be causing side effects is basically impossible. And if you are going to mess with the growth hormone system you need to check things out first , like blood sugar and IGF-1 at a minimum. I just noticed this a a longer version of the comment above.

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All really good points. I I miss you-stated my recommendations. They were based on assuming you would titrate up on Reta first, not add everything all at once. You definitely want to add one at a time, titrating slowly and carefully.
 
trey915 said:


1) I just started using an app called MacroFactor. It will help you track key nutrients, calories, etc but also allows you to enter in your goal weight and when you want to achieve it so you know what you deficit should be to obtain that at the right time.

2) I’m on tirzepatide but I’d recommend you add either Tesamorelin or CJC1295 no dac with Ipamorelin. This will help your body burn fat and retain muscle.

3) id also recommend MOTS-c to help leverage your workouts and compound the effects.

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Ipa+CJC1295 No Dac helps preserving mauscle weight loss and support musclre growth. But I didn't observe anything about burning fat. I have used the stack during last 4 months. Muscles became much better responders to training. Despite losing 31kg and reaching 71kg body weight, my belly fat was still intact. After starting Eloralintide anfd teamorelin usage fat tissue has been much softer and promising to halp dissolving and getting rid of fat.
 
skaylife said:


Ipa+CJC1295 No Dac helps preserving mauscle weight loss and support musclre growth. But I didn't observe anything about burning fat. I have used the stack during last 4 months. Muscles became much better responders to training. Despite losing 31kg and reaching 71kg body weight, my belly fat was still intact. After starting Eloralintide anfd teamorelin usage fat tissue has been much softer and promising to halp dissolving and getting rid of fat.

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It’s the Ipamorelin component of the combo that targets visceral fat, just not as aggressively as tesamorelin.
 
I use 2x week and took 6 months to get to 4mg.

I may have lost some opportunity to get faster results but I’ve never had any negative side effects. I still got 10-12 kgs down off 100kg so satisfied
 
Ok so it’s been 3 weeks, first two I did 1mg, just took 2mg yesterday, despite the appetite control working and eating less, maybe like 1200-1500 calories daily, on top of weightlifting 3-4 times a week, I’ve yet to lose weight. I ordered from a vendor whom has decent reviews here so now I’m worried about whether it’s the right stuff or not.

When I started Mounjaro, I think I lost 10lbs in the first month doing what I’m doing now.

I’m going to stay on 2 for as long as I can, I’m hoping that maybe that dose was too small.

I am interested in Klow, if I could focus on maintaining muscle and recovering faster I think that would be a great thing to do with it, but I’m gonna wait until I’ve been on this awhile.

Thanks everyone for your replies they’re actually really helpful and exactly the the type of answers I was seeking!
 
ladyj779 said:


If you are not losing, you are likely not eating 1200-1500 calories. Unless you are a small older woman.

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No, I definitely have been. Tracking calories, weighing before eating, etc. It almost feels like a plateau, but one so fast seems unlikely.

Also getting terribly vivid dreams every night, worse sleep, and terrible headaches. This also happened to me on Tirz, but it isn’t as severe. Electrolytes, daily vitamin, 128oz of water daily. 🤷

Despite no weight loss I did notice pants are fitting better. My bloating has went down significantly too. I’m going to be patient and continue to monitor.
 
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The thread title made me think of "Don't Do What Donny Don't Does." 😁
 
I do not know age, height or starting weight , I am guessing you are not super obese as you are going to the gym, want to build strength and cut fat, rather than lose lots of weight.

If your calorie count is accurate, then you will be losing fat whatever the scales say, Unless there is a very good reason, like having lost 100kg or being very small, there is zero chance that number of calories is maintenance. If bloating has gone down it might be waist circumference has also gone down, you can also use that to track fat loss, but it is not super accurate, and GI issues can alter it as well, like bloating.

But you are on a very small dose of reta, In the studies 1mg caused 9% weight loss over a year, but that does suggest a pretty slow rate of loss overall. And quite a lot of people are going to have no or minimal response to doses of 2mg, that gets a fair bit less likely at 4mg. So you are going to have to wait and see or up doses before you find out how well it works for you. As you had issues with tirz, which generally has milder side effects than reta, going up doses slowly is probably a good idea.
 
lessthanhalf said:


But you are on a very small dose of reta, In the studies 1mg caused 9% weight loss over a year, but that does suggest a pretty slow rate of loss overall.

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In Triumph, much like the Tirzepatide trials, participants had to have a daily deficit of 500 calories.

If a person loses 1lb a week, on that metric alone, it would on average be 52lbs a year.

It would have to be a 500lb person to lose 10% or 52lbs in a year (using 10% as an approximation for easy math).

Isn't fair to say the placebo group would have a certain amount of success based on calorie deficit alone?

Trial Protocol and Diet Guidelines

    • Lifestyle Counseling: Protocols by Eli Lilly required participants to receive regular counseling on a healthy diet and physical activity (typically targeting a moderate daily deficit of around 500 calories), rather than enforcing a computer-calculated, universal BMR ceiling. [1, 2]
    • Natural Deficit: Because retatrutide acts as a triple-hormone receptor agonist (GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon), profound appetite suppression naturally drove a reduced energy intake without needing rigid daily calorie tracking. [1, 2]
    • Energy Expenditure Impact: The addition of glucagon receptor activation natively increases daily energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate by an estimated 100 to 200 calories per day, countering the typical metabolic slowdown seen during weight loss

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There's lots of good advise here. Find what works for you. A diet you can stick to, exercise plan you will fallow. And titration at a pace that works for you. I would recommend playing the long game. When you stop lossing wieght, recheck your diet, sleep and exercise, before you consider upping your dose. Titration up, only when/if you need more help, and if/when you titration up do so in small increments. You may be on reta for the rest of your life, don't rush it.
 
Calorie deficits will cause weight loss always, just that people are terrible at counting calories and even worse at sticking to low calorie diets long term, at least without the help of GLP drugs. I would expect the placebo takers to lose some weight, especially earlier on but tend towards putting it back on over a year or so, it would depend a lot on how intensive the dietary advice and support was. There is no doubt intensive weight loss programs based on diet and exercise can work, and the more intensive, the more effective, but whether they can get people to maintain the losses long term is much more doubtful, especially once the intensive support and monitoring ceases. Most of the trials for GLP's showed a few percent weight loss in the placebo groups.
 
Never rely on cardio for weight loss. I learned it hard way. Between 2024-2025, I was eating at 1600kcal at 240lb and went an hour cardio every other day. Did not budge a pound. I stopped asking myself why.
 
lastresort said:


Never rely on cardio for weight loss. I learned it hard way. Between 2024-2025, I was eating at 1600kcal at 240lb and went an hour cardio every other day. Did not budge a pound. I stopped asking myself why.

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I gained weight training for a marathon. That was eye opening for sure.

I was ravenous all the time and ate a bunch. I pay more attention to calorie input than output these days.
 
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