First poke.....

DoubtProcrastinate

DoubtProcrastinate

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Alright, 0.5mg for the first injection. About 60 minutes later, I noticed a slight euphoric sensation. Could be placebo, or possibly nerves, since it took roughly 60 minutes before I finally mustered the nerve to put the needle in.

My plan is to possibly take another .5mg after a few days, provided there’s no negative reaction. I want to increase the dose as quickly as my body allows, aiming for at least 2mg.

I’m a 40year old guy, 6'3" and 360lb. Underneath it all, I’m extremely muscular from years of lifting weights, playing sports, doing farm work, mountainbiking, hiking, and similar activities out west. I run a ranch/farm, and after my day job—which is work from home at a computer—I’m handling working animals nearly every day. When I get down to 230lb, the outline of a six pack starts to appear and my waist sits at 33-34". I’m eager to get back to that body fat level.

Anyway! Wish me luck!
 
DoubtProcrastinate said:

Alright, 0.5mg for the first injection. About 60 minutes later, I noticed a slight euphoric sensation. Could be placebo, or possibly nerves, since it took roughly 60 minutes before I finally mustered the nerve to put the needle in.

My plan is to possibly take another .5mg after a few days, provided there’s no negative reaction. I want to increase the dose as quickly as my body allows, aiming for at least 2mg.

I’m a 40year old guy, 6'3" and 360lb. Underneath it all, I’m extremely muscular from years of lifting weights, playing sports, doing farm work, mountainbiking, hiking, and similar activities out west. I run a ranch/farm, and after my day job—which is work from home at a computer—I’m handling working animals nearly every day. When I get down to 230lb, the outline of a six pack starts to appear and my waist sits at 33-34". I’m eager to get back to that body fat level.

Anyway! Wish me luck!
Click to expand...
Awesome, man! Can't wait to see how things go for you.

Why did you decide to take the microdose path?
 
DoubtProcrastinate said:

Alright, 0.5mg for the first injection. About 60 minutes later, I noticed a slight euphoric sensation. Could be placebo, or possibly nerves, since it took roughly 60 minutes before I finally mustered the nerve to put the needle in.

My plan is to possibly take another .5mg after a few days, provided there’s no negative reaction. I want to increase the dose as quickly as my body allows, aiming for at least 2mg.

I’m a 40year old guy, 6'3" and 360lb. Underneath it all, I’m extremely muscular from years of lifting weights, playing sports, doing farm work, mountainbiking, hiking, and similar activities out west. I run a ranch/farm, and after my day job—which is work from home at a computer—I’m handling working animals nearly every day. When I get down to 230lb, the outline of a six pack starts to appear and my waist sits at 33-34". I’m eager to get back to that body fat level.

Anyway! Wish me luck!
Click to expand...
for the first month at minimum, keep it at or below 1mg per week

get a feel for the side effects gradually
 
Estarossa19 said:

DoubtProcrastinate said:

Alright, 0.5mg for the first injection. About 60 minutes later, I noticed a slight euphoric sensation. Could be placebo, or possibly nerves, since it took roughly 60 minutes before I finally mustered the nerve to put the needle in.

My plan is to possibly take another .5mg after a few days, provided there’s no negative reaction. I want to increase the dose as quickly as my body allows, aiming for at least 2mg.

I’m a 40year old guy, 6'3" and 360lb. Underneath it all, I’m extremely muscular from years of lifting weights, playing sports, doing farm work, mountainbiking, hiking, and similar activities out west. I run a ranch/farm, and after my day job—which is work from home at a computer—I’m handling working animals nearly every day. When I get down to 230lb, the outline of a six pack starts to appear and my waist sits at 33-34". I’m eager to get back to that body fat level.

Anyway! Wish me luck!
Click to expand...
Awesome, man! Can't wait to see how things go for you.

Why did you decide to take the microdose path?
Click to expand...
My main goal was simply to see how my system would respond. I've always reacted strongly to medications, and I've even gone into anaphylactic shock from one before.

So I figured a very small poke would be a safe way to check things out. Once it seems safe, I'll go all in as soon as it makes sense.
 
px1984 said:

that initial jab likely sent a rush of adrenaline!

best of luck on your path, man
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Probably adrenaline, you're probably correct. But 4 hours later and I can still feel it. The poke happened around 10:45am central time, and it's nearly 3pm now.

Ate a late lunch near 2pm. I was hungry, but it didn't seem as intense as what I'd usually feel after going 2 hours past noon without eating. Really wondering how much of this is mental / placebo versus how ultra sensitive I've always been to every medication.
 
That adrenaline/euphoric sensation hasn't fully gone away... could be placebo, not sure.

I've come across the .5mg test poke mentioned in quite a few spots. Plus a relative of mine is using grey and he did .5 for the whole first month and it worked out... Poking again in a few days is no issue as long as this initial .5mg doesn't produce any side effects.

There's a headache that showed up, extremely mild and very very slight. Just keeping an eye on it and staying occupied with other stuff.
 
Also, stay hydrated. My own beginning dose was .5mg, and for several days it put me in what felt like another dimension, though I didn’t dislike it. That said, if a bigger dose had produced a stronger reaction right away, I wouldn’t have wanted that. The nice thing about gray is that the dose is ours to decide. There’s no reason to rush at the start; I’ve spent years messing around getting fat, so taking an extra month or two to shed it doesn’t bother me. For me
 
Well, this is quite intriguing. As I brought up earlier in this thread, I suspect I may genuinely be among the super responders to Reta, which is a pattern I see with most other medications too.

That euphoric sensation is still lingering somewhat, and my headache has cleared up.

I had dinner and there was definitely some degree of appetite suppression happening. My partner cooked the favorite dish she makes entirely from scratch. Of my initial plate, I managed roughly 1/4-1/2 of what I'd normally consume. Absolutely no interest in going back for a second plate.

Now here's the intriguing bit…. Blood glucose. I've been tracking with Abbott Ligo sensors, and post-meal I'm nearly always at 120-140mg/dl. Tonight my peak landed somewhere between 90-100, and now about 3 hours after eating I'm sitting at 58. There's a bit of hunger creeping in, but not sufficient to actually eat anything. I'll stay up another hour or two just in case it drops further.
 
DoubtProcrastinate said:

Well, this is quite intriguing. As I brought up earlier in this thread, I suspect I may genuinely be among the super responders to Reta, which is a pattern I see with most other medications too.

That euphoric sensation is still lingering somewhat, and my headache has cleared up.

I had dinner and there was definitely some degree of appetite suppression happening. My partner cooked the favorite dish she makes entirely from scratch. Of my initial plate, I managed roughly 1/4-1/2 of what I'd normally consume. Absolutely no interest in going back for a second plate.

Now here's the intriguing bit…. Blood glucose. I've been tracking with Abbott Ligo sensors, and post-meal I'm nearly always at 120-140mg/dl. Tonight my peak landed somewhere between 90-100, and now about 3 hours after eating I'm sitting at 58. There's a bit of hunger creeping in, but not sufficient to actually eat anything. I'll stay up another hour or two just in case it drops further.
Click to expand...
If you haven't already, definitely make electrolytes part of your routine—headaches are likely from dehydration
 
Smiter said:

DoubtProcrastinate said:

Still dealing with a headache. It's a bit higher than normal, and at this point I've decided to go ahead and use ibuprofen.
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Stay away from NSAIDs..go with Tylenol/Acetaminophen instead. Tramadol works too, if that's something you've got.
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That's the approach! Should tramadol be on hand, now is when it would come in handy. Right after beginning glp-1s, I dealt with a headache that refused to budge. Days went by with me putting up with it. Eventually it hit me that I should reach for something with a bit more kick. Day 1 I went through 4 tramadol, then a couple on the following day, and the headache disappeared.
 
That glucose dip last night rattled me, so I had a small bite and things bounced back.

Today the headache has stayed away, the euphoria has worn off, and my appetite is back. Sleeping until roughly 9:30 am was great. My sleep score came in at 95, which matches what I've been seeing for the past few weeks since I began taking daily supplements.
 
Smiter said:

BNLFL said:

Given how much you weigh, 2mg is the right place to begin. Where exactly are all of you finding this .5mg starter amount, though? That sensation you had was almost certainly just anxiety from hitting yourself with it.
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I was close to doing that too..but ended up choosing 1mg.
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What weight did you begin at, and what does your titration plan look like right now? How are things going for you up to this point? I'm thinking about making the switch from Tirz before long.
 
DustAndDignity said:

Smiter said:

BNLFL said:

Given how much you weigh, 2mg is the right place to begin. Where exactly are all of you finding this .5mg starter amount, though? That sensation you had was almost certainly just anxiety from hitting yourself with it.
Click to expand...
I was close to doing that too..but ended up choosing 1mg.
Click to expand...
What weight did you begin at, and what does your titration plan look like right now? How are things going for you up to this point? I'm thinking about making the switch from Tirz before long.
Click to expand...

Regarding my current Reta regimen: my first dose was May 1st, administered as a weekly injection. The starting amount was 1mg, which I increased to 1.5mg on the 7th, and my 4th injection on the 21st was also 1.5mg. My weight was 255lbs when I began, and as of today it is 242lbs.
 
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