Down 18–20 lb on Tirz, aiming to cut more fat while keeping muscle — thinking about Reta

[Clyde22]

fatjacked said:

What number are you targeting on the scale, and has your current dose kept the losses coming?

Has your strength on the main lifts slipped at all, enough to make you suspect muscle is going with the fat?

My own run: 35 lb gone on tirz across 5 months, now at 10mg. Side effects have not been a major issue for me. There were a couple of mini-plateaus along the way, and I thought about stacking reta. The response I mostly got, though, was that if tirz is still doing its job and there is room left to titrate up, the sensible move is to keep going as is. That is basically the path I took.

My max bench has come down somewhat after losing this much weight, but nothing drastic, and other lifts have held steady in terms of performance. I figured there is no point stressing over it before reaching my goal weight, given I am nearer the finish line than the start.

fatjacked said:

What number are you targeting on the scale, and has your current dose kept the losses coming?

Has your strength on the main lifts slipped at all, enough to make you suspect muscle is going with the fat?

My own run: 35 lb gone on tirz across 5 months, now at 10mg. Side effects have not been a major issue for me. There were a couple of mini-plateaus along the way, and I thought about stacking reta. The response I mostly got, though, was that if tirz is still doing its job and there is room left to titrate up, the sensible move is to keep going as is. That is basically the path I took.

My max bench has come down somewhat after losing this much weight, but nothing drastic, and other lifts have held steady in terms of performance. I figured there is no point stressing over it before reaching my goal weight, given I am nearer the finish line than the start.

 

[skaylife]

Clyde22 said:

I’m 5’9” and I hit the weights roughly 4 times a week. When I began Tirz, I weighed about 215 lb with what I’d guess was near 20% body fat. My aims were cutting body fat, getting healthier overall, looking better, and maybe easing my sleep apnea/CPAP issues if that was possible.

Right now I’m sitting around 196–197 lb and I figure I’m near 15% body fat, possibly a touch under that. On the whole, Tirz has done a lot for me, but I’m now working out what the smartest next step should be.

My starting dose was 2.5 mg, which wasn’t sufficient. I moved up to 5 mg and had a good couple of weeks on it. After that, roughly 5 days past each dose, I began getting severe rebound hunger. I switched to splitting the weekly 5 mg dose, taking 2.5 mg twice a week, and that eased the hunger; I stayed on that routine for several months. In time, though, hunger and cravings started returning.

At present I’m using 7.5 mg Tirz, split into 3.75 mg twice weekly. Cravings and food noise are still fairly present, particularly around sweets, though hunger itself is mostly under control. I make an effort to keep healthier options on hand, such as protein, vegetables, and some carbs, with sugar kept very limited. I also try to have a proper meal before I cave to junk food. My job doesn’t help, since candy, donuts, and other poor choices are constantly nearby.

At this stage, I’d rather not push the Tirz dose any higher, because gut motility is already the side effect that’s holding me back.

That’s why Reta has my attention. What appeals to me is that Reta may raise metabolism and also nudge the body toward burning more fat through glucagon receptor activation.

My idea would be to bring Reta in slowly while tapering Tirz down, basically changing the ratio over time. I’ve seen many people say Reta doesn’t blunt hunger or food noise as much as Tirz, so I could picture keeping a bit of Tirz in the mix if I need help with appetite or cravings.

If Reta works really well for me and keeps hunger controlled enough, I might in the end move to Reta alone. If I like Reta’s fat loss/metabolic effects but still deal with too much hunger or food noise, I might look at Reta plus cagrilintide rather than keeping Tirz in the mix. Running Reta, Tirz, and cagrilintide all at once doesn’t appeal to me.

I’m curious to hear from people with experience or knowledge:

• For those who went from Tirz to Reta, did hunger/food noise improve, worsen, or stay roughly the same?
  
• Did Reta feel clearly different when it came to energy, fat loss, or body composition?
  
• Did anyone discover they still needed a small amount of Tirz for appetite or craving control?
  
• For anyone who has used cagrilintide, did it help with cravings/fullness more than Tirz or Reta by itself?
  
• Any views on whether a gradual Tirz-to-Reta transition makes more sense than an abrupt switch?
  
• Any other opinions or suggestions about my plan?

My main goal is to drop more body fat while holding onto muscle, without worsening gut motility, and if I can, to bring cravings down a little.

How you figure out your body fat percentage is a mystery to me. Still, I believe you've got it wrong. At 5'9", I currently tip the scales at 163lbs. I don't go all out. Even so, I do weight training 3-4 times weekly plus bodyweight movements.

A Dexa scan happened 2 weeks back. Back then I weighed 167,5lbs. The scan put my fat at %21. After dropping 61lbs, the estimated muscle loss came out to no more than 5lbs. I've also got a Samsung watch that's meant to read body composition. It's a marvel that keeps lifting my mood. According to it, the entire Dexa scan is a total fabrication and my fat is %16.1. I'm never doing a Dexa scan again

Feeling some hunger pangs on days 5-6 post-injection is pretty normal. When that hit, I'd just ignore it for as long as possible and keep myself occupied with other things so I wouldn't think about it. As a last resort, I'd eat a few nuts, 2 olives, or 2-3 small cheese cubes and wait for the cravings to fade. They do stop for a bit. I'd repeat the same when they returned. Anything sweet just made it worse. I cut out all sugar. Don't let that beast pick its meal off a menu. Eventually it will go after fat when there's nothing else left. Adapting to this takes only a few days. Staying resolute and making smart choices matters far more than bumping up your dose. I never exceeded 5mg/week. I did try switching to reta for 2 weeks. My hunger cravings got much worse. No weight change either way, and it ended with 3 days of severe diarrhea. If Tirz is working for you, don't chase a stunt like I did. Just adjust your routines. If Tirz deserves %70 of the credit for my success, the remaining %30 is on me.

For 5 weeks now, I've been on a 2mg/week Tirz maintenance dose. I also inject 350mcg ipa+cjc1295 no dac stack every day. That also spikes hunger. What's mostly gotten me past plateaus is injecting the stack at 05:00Am when I get up and then fasting until 12:00Pm each day. I was stuck on a plateau for over a month at 170lbs and dropped 6.6lbs in the last 3 weeks at maintenance dose simply by fasting daily. Right now I can eat whatever I want. But not much of it. My stomach isn't large enough anymore to handle too much food. A small portion fills me up and it rejects more.

Work out on an empty stomach and don't eat anything for 1-1.5 hours after training. It will pay off.