Jaylar
Explorer
Best of luck—I'm eager to hear how things go. Also, aim to keep your diet clean, with wholesome carbs and protein.
First reta dose taken today
- Thread starter longestyards
- Start date
longestyards
Explorer
WEEK 1 UPDATE
Wednesday was my start day, though I'll be posting updates on Fridays from now on. So this initial report covers slightly over 7 days. Starting with WEEK 2, each update will span exactly 7 days.
WEIGHT
Last Wednesday I weighed 94.5 kg at about 4pm. Since then I've switched to morning weigh-ins right after urinating. That makes this first number a little off, since morning weights tend to run 0.5-1kg lower.
Last week: 94.5kg / 208.3 lbs
Now: 93.3kg / 205.7 lbs
Difference: -1.2kg / -2.7 lbs
PROTOCOL
0.5 mg reta Tuesday morning (around 6am)
0.5 mg reta Friday afternoon (around 6 pm)
My thinking behind this schedule: splitting the dose seems smarter than one big weekly shot. The half-life is 6 days, so why not divide it into two weekly doses? Nobody's making us do it once a week, right?
But honestly, hehe, the real main reason was that I began last Wednesday with 0.5 mg (my first reta experience) and by Friday I got impatient for stronger effects, so I figured another 0.5 mg would still only put me at 1mg for the week. Then I did the math and realized splitting 7 days in half gives 3.5 days. So Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning are 3.5 days apart (I know it sounds confusing but trust me, that's 3.5 days between those times).
DIARY
I had no clue what 0.5 mg reta would feel like the first time. After my Wednesday evening injection, I chose to fast on Thursday. Surprisingly, it felt "easy". I wasn't very hungry! So I thought "Wow, the reta is already working!". Around mid-Thursday, a massive headache hit, and I realized I'd forgotten to drink water (which I had). So I drank two glasses. Mistake. My stomach got so full and I felt nauseous, forcing me to lie down for 1 hour before it passed. I thought "Wow, maybe that's the reta, it fills your stomach super fast" (I doubt this now after one week, more on that later).
Anyway, I fasted all Thursday, and planned to fast Friday too, but surprise, I actually got hungry Friday afternoon around 1pm. I was somewhat disappointed since I'd hoped to avoid hunger. So I ate. And because I was impatient about "not feeling hunger", I injected another 0.5 mg around 6 pm. Note that I ate normally that day, maybe 2500 kcal.
Saturday I was hungry again and ate another 2500 kcal. I started wondering if the reta was even working.
Sunday, hunger began dropping and I ate only around 1500 kcal. Now I felt more hopeful about the reta, and glad I'd taken the extra 0.5mg on Friday.
Monday, not very hungry, ate 1000 kcal. By then I was certain the reta was working. I knew my chinese reta wasn't fake. Because I truly had no food noise. However, you still get that "annoyance" from not eating for a long time. To be clear, it's not hunger pangs, or any food want or food noise or food craving or anything food-related. It was just the body feeling annoyed at not getting food, which I recognized from my many past diets. But this feeling, you could just ignore. The only issue is you become mildly annoyed (which is why hungry people snap at you). So realistically, 0.5 mg every 3.5 days could give zero food noise and a perfect deficit diet. However... if you eat, food tastes damn fucking good... And you could easily eat more...
So, Tuesday I injected another 0.5 mg to keep reta levels up and continue my deficit. No surprise, I felt very hungry Tuesday and ate 2500 kcal.
Then 2000 kcal on wednesday.
Finally Thursday we're back at 1500 kcal.
Now, today, Friday, I've had 1500 kcal so far and it's 6:50 pm, so no more eating today. Also, I injected another 0.5 mg 50 minutes ago at 6 pm.
PLANS FORWARD
I intend to raise injections to 1.5 mg, or 0.75 mg twice weekly. The reason: for a few days each week, I "crack" and eat like 2000-2500 kcal. That's okay, since it's still maintenance, but I want harder results so I keep eating 1500 kcal ALL the time. And maybe even 1000 kcal sometimes. Yes, I know this is superhardcore and definitely bad for my muscles. But I'm not too worried about preserving muscle right now.
That said, I think you could definitely do just 1 mg weekly on reta and literally lose weight slow and steady, say 0.7-1 lbs a week without food noise. So in that sense, that's crazy amazing. Like, it's life changing actually.
However, for me, I'm going on vacation till summer, so I want to lose as much as possible to be somewhat lean for the beach. I know, I know, I'm a bit vain here. And honestly, I kinda regret buying the ticket and hotels already, because otherwise I'd be so happy doing just 1mg a week. That's why I think I'll stop at 1.5 mg a week. Meaning, from next week I'll do 0.75 mg twice a week and just stay here for at least 3-4 weeks. Then see if I want to go up to 2 mg a week.
PLANS AFTER 4 WEEKS
Since the reta is obviously working, I've ordered (payment done today!) tesamorelin + ipamorelin. I'm planning a 40 day protocol doing around 0.75-1mg tesamorelin and 0.3-0.4 mg ipamorelin stack nightly 5 days a week with weekends off. That's also why I think maybe after 4 weeks I might have to up the reta to 2mg a week.
THANKS FOR READING!
Wednesday was my start day, though I'll be posting updates on Fridays from now on. So this initial report covers slightly over 7 days. Starting with WEEK 2, each update will span exactly 7 days.
WEIGHT
Last Wednesday I weighed 94.5 kg at about 4pm. Since then I've switched to morning weigh-ins right after urinating. That makes this first number a little off, since morning weights tend to run 0.5-1kg lower.
Last week: 94.5kg / 208.3 lbs
Now: 93.3kg / 205.7 lbs
Difference: -1.2kg / -2.7 lbs
PROTOCOL
0.5 mg reta Tuesday morning (around 6am)
0.5 mg reta Friday afternoon (around 6 pm)
My thinking behind this schedule: splitting the dose seems smarter than one big weekly shot. The half-life is 6 days, so why not divide it into two weekly doses? Nobody's making us do it once a week, right?
But honestly, hehe, the real main reason was that I began last Wednesday with 0.5 mg (my first reta experience) and by Friday I got impatient for stronger effects, so I figured another 0.5 mg would still only put me at 1mg for the week. Then I did the math and realized splitting 7 days in half gives 3.5 days. So Friday afternoon and Tuesday morning are 3.5 days apart (I know it sounds confusing but trust me, that's 3.5 days between those times).
DIARY
I had no clue what 0.5 mg reta would feel like the first time. After my Wednesday evening injection, I chose to fast on Thursday. Surprisingly, it felt "easy". I wasn't very hungry! So I thought "Wow, the reta is already working!". Around mid-Thursday, a massive headache hit, and I realized I'd forgotten to drink water (which I had). So I drank two glasses. Mistake. My stomach got so full and I felt nauseous, forcing me to lie down for 1 hour before it passed. I thought "Wow, maybe that's the reta, it fills your stomach super fast" (I doubt this now after one week, more on that later).
Anyway, I fasted all Thursday, and planned to fast Friday too, but surprise, I actually got hungry Friday afternoon around 1pm. I was somewhat disappointed since I'd hoped to avoid hunger. So I ate. And because I was impatient about "not feeling hunger", I injected another 0.5 mg around 6 pm. Note that I ate normally that day, maybe 2500 kcal.
Saturday I was hungry again and ate another 2500 kcal. I started wondering if the reta was even working.
Sunday, hunger began dropping and I ate only around 1500 kcal. Now I felt more hopeful about the reta, and glad I'd taken the extra 0.5mg on Friday.
Monday, not very hungry, ate 1000 kcal. By then I was certain the reta was working. I knew my chinese reta wasn't fake. Because I truly had no food noise. However, you still get that "annoyance" from not eating for a long time. To be clear, it's not hunger pangs, or any food want or food noise or food craving or anything food-related. It was just the body feeling annoyed at not getting food, which I recognized from my many past diets. But this feeling, you could just ignore. The only issue is you become mildly annoyed (which is why hungry people snap at you). So realistically, 0.5 mg every 3.5 days could give zero food noise and a perfect deficit diet. However... if you eat, food tastes damn fucking good... And you could easily eat more...
So, Tuesday I injected another 0.5 mg to keep reta levels up and continue my deficit. No surprise, I felt very hungry Tuesday and ate 2500 kcal.
Then 2000 kcal on wednesday.
Finally Thursday we're back at 1500 kcal.
Now, today, Friday, I've had 1500 kcal so far and it's 6:50 pm, so no more eating today. Also, I injected another 0.5 mg 50 minutes ago at 6 pm.
PLANS FORWARD
I intend to raise injections to 1.5 mg, or 0.75 mg twice weekly. The reason: for a few days each week, I "crack" and eat like 2000-2500 kcal. That's okay, since it's still maintenance, but I want harder results so I keep eating 1500 kcal ALL the time. And maybe even 1000 kcal sometimes. Yes, I know this is superhardcore and definitely bad for my muscles. But I'm not too worried about preserving muscle right now.
That said, I think you could definitely do just 1 mg weekly on reta and literally lose weight slow and steady, say 0.7-1 lbs a week without food noise. So in that sense, that's crazy amazing. Like, it's life changing actually.
However, for me, I'm going on vacation till summer, so I want to lose as much as possible to be somewhat lean for the beach. I know, I know, I'm a bit vain here. And honestly, I kinda regret buying the ticket and hotels already, because otherwise I'd be so happy doing just 1mg a week. That's why I think I'll stop at 1.5 mg a week. Meaning, from next week I'll do 0.75 mg twice a week and just stay here for at least 3-4 weeks. Then see if I want to go up to 2 mg a week.
PLANS AFTER 4 WEEKS
Since the reta is obviously working, I've ordered (payment done today!) tesamorelin + ipamorelin. I'm planning a 40 day protocol doing around 0.75-1mg tesamorelin and 0.3-0.4 mg ipamorelin stack nightly 5 days a week with weekends off. That's also why I think maybe after 4 weeks I might have to up the reta to 2mg a week.
THANKS FOR READING!
MTSpace
Explorer
Thanks for laying out your protocol. I'm only beginning with Reta, and my goal leans toward recomp rather than dropping pounds. Currently on TRT at 140mg per week. Really curious to hear how things go with your Tesa/Ipamorelin stack.
longestyards
Explorer
From what YouTube folks say, a run of 60-90 days is what you want, with a schedule of 5 days injecting and 2 days off — say injections Monday through Friday, then skip Saturday and Sunday.
As for the ratio, it ought to be 2:1 or 3:1 in favor of tesamorelin. That means tesamorelin is always named first: 1mg tesamorelin plus 0.5mg ipa (2:1), or 1mg tesamorelin plus 0.33mg ipa (3:1).
Their suggestion is 1-2mg each night prior to sleeping, and nothing to eat for at least 3 hours before you inject. The studies they lean on, I believe, use roughly 1.4 mg. My plan is 1mg.
Abrakebabra
Explorer
Each person ends up on their own protocol, and that's okay, but my Tesa/Ipa setup looks a bit different from that.
Here's what I'm doing:
- A 6 Month cycle
- 7 days a week (the whole 5 on 2 off approach is mostly about saving money and there isn't much clinical evidence behind it)
- 2mg Tesa/200mcg Ipa per dose
If you stayed at the low end of that range (60 days), my concern would be that you'd barely notice any improvement. That said, like I mentioned, there's nothing "wrong" here, and each person can figure out what suits them best based on goals/finances/starting point and so on.
EDIT to add - Great Reta journal btw, will be following to see how you go!
longestyards
Explorer
Right, I recall the 60-90 day window being mentioned for seeing results. I'm halting at 40 days since a 6-week vacation is coming up. Once that's done, I'll restart with a 90+ protocol. As for why many YouTubers go with 5/2, they claim those 2 off days let the body "rest" so it doesn't get too resistant or similar. Either way, lots of people reporting 5/2 and getting results, so that works for me right now.
What's your experience been with tesa + ipa? Do you combine it with reta? Any results?
agreed! I figured on keeping it under 2mg weekly for a minimum of 4 weeks. Since I began at 1mg, I considered bumping to 1.5 mg this week already. But then I'll stick at 1.5 through the month's end. Why? Despite food noise being largely gone, I can still overeat pretty easily…
cujet
Explorer
Reta at 4mg weekly plus Tesa 1mg daily, 5 days on and 2 days off, is my current routine. Tesa wasn't started immediately—though in hindsight, beginning it right away would have been fine. No matter. This morning the scale showed 198 pounds (90kg)! Unbelievable. My highest was 262 pounds (119kg). The goal is roughly 190.
Overeating isn't a problem for me. Eating as much as I do makes me feel guilty, which is strange. Still, the pounds keep dropping. Over the months, my doses went 2mg/wk, then 3, 4, 5, and 4.
Overeating isn't a problem for me. Eating as much as I do makes me feel guilty, which is strange. Still, the pounds keep dropping. Over the months, my doses went 2mg/wk, then 3, 4, 5, and 4.
longestyards
Explorer
Glad to hear it! I suspect I've been eating too much because I count on reta to handle everything, so the moment I feel even slightly irritated, I reach for food. That needs to change — I should use the absence of food noise and push myself harder. I've been mulling this over a lot, and I've given myself a pep talk to go hardcore starting now. Basically, allow myself to feel annoyed for a bit, and genuinely make the most of the reta. It isn't meant to carry the whole load on its own.
When you added tesa, did you notice a real change compared to reta alone?
FlowerFairy
Explorer
At least 4 weeks at the same dose is what they ought to do. Yes, they should.
longestyards
Explorer
If someone isn’t getting the effect they were hoping for, what then? Would you still say they ought to keep the same dose for a minimum of 4 weeks?
longestyards
Explorer
WEEK 2 UPDATE
My progress so far leaves me quite dissatisfied. Food noise is absent, yet hunger is present! I don't dwell on food, but I still feel hungry, and when I do eat, the taste is really good and I can put away about as much as I always could (nearly).
My guess is that this comes down to my protocol being so low at 1 mg per week. So I've made the call to increase to 2 mg per week, which matches the starting dose used in the clinical trials that produced the best results (roughly 24%-26% weightloss). I've also settled on injecting once a week, since that is what the trials did.
WEIGHT
Last week: 93.3kg / 205.7 lbs
Now: 94.3kg / 207.9 lbs
Difference: +1kg / +2.2 lbs
It's pretty wild that my weight went back up. I can't quite explain it, but from what I can tell, some fat around my belly is gone and it looks a bit tighter. So I really don't know what to make of this, though it could simply be water fluctuations.
PROTOCOL
2.0 mg reta Friday afternoon (around 6 pm today)
DIARY
Saturday and Sunday I ate like normal, but 3000 kcal on both days, which is far too much. Monday came in at 1000 kcal, which is strangely little. Tuesday was 1500 kcal, which is fine. Wednesday was 2000, still fine but borderline not fine. Then Thursday and today (Friday) were 2500 kcal, which is not fine since that is basically my maintenance calories.
PLANS FORWARD
My hope is to stay at 2 mg for 3-4 weeks. I hope 2 mg will genuinely make me eat consistently less and help me lose weight. Because as things stand, on 4 out of the 7 days I am basically eating just normally! Over really long time that is good, but it is not "easy". So, hopefully 2mg makes it a bit "easier".
My progress so far leaves me quite dissatisfied. Food noise is absent, yet hunger is present! I don't dwell on food, but I still feel hungry, and when I do eat, the taste is really good and I can put away about as much as I always could (nearly).
My guess is that this comes down to my protocol being so low at 1 mg per week. So I've made the call to increase to 2 mg per week, which matches the starting dose used in the clinical trials that produced the best results (roughly 24%-26% weightloss). I've also settled on injecting once a week, since that is what the trials did.
WEIGHT
Last week: 93.3kg / 205.7 lbs
Now: 94.3kg / 207.9 lbs
Difference: +1kg / +2.2 lbs
It's pretty wild that my weight went back up. I can't quite explain it, but from what I can tell, some fat around my belly is gone and it looks a bit tighter. So I really don't know what to make of this, though it could simply be water fluctuations.
PROTOCOL
2.0 mg reta Friday afternoon (around 6 pm today)
DIARY
Saturday and Sunday I ate like normal, but 3000 kcal on both days, which is far too much. Monday came in at 1000 kcal, which is strangely little. Tuesday was 1500 kcal, which is fine. Wednesday was 2000, still fine but borderline not fine. Then Thursday and today (Friday) were 2500 kcal, which is not fine since that is basically my maintenance calories.
PLANS FORWARD
My hope is to stay at 2 mg for 3-4 weeks. I hope 2 mg will genuinely make me eat consistently less and help me lose weight. Because as things stand, on 4 out of the 7 days I am basically eating just normally! Over really long time that is good, but it is not "easy". So, hopefully 2mg makes it a bit "easier".
gimmeshelter
Explorer
For week 1, .2 could work well enough. In my case, 2 weeks in, .5mg suffices. It gives me complete command over what I eat.
longestyards
Explorer
Hearing that is great, since the price is really low lol
BNLFL
Explorer
2mg for 2 weeks then, is that right?
longestyards
Explorer
No — my first week was 1mg, then 1.5mg during week 2. As this week begins, I'm on 2mg with a single Friday shot. I switched because the results fell short of what I'd hoped for. So rather than sticking to a self-made plan, I'm now mirroring the trial protocol: 2mg for 4 weeks, then stepping up to 4mg. One injection per week.
BNLFL
Explorer
Same here, except I'm at 6 now, using 6mg. It still appears to be effective.
Hey, which part of the country are you in right now? I'm located in the middle of Oslo, and that's where customs in Norway are toughest. Asking since I'm stressed about them grabbing my packages. Plus what might happen after, and so on.
longestyards
Explorer
Good to know, and I can tell it's doing its job for sure
I'm in Norway too. That worried me a lot as well, but my package appears to have made it through without any trouble.
hi,
Great write-up, really thorough.
Could you describe the type of hunger you're experiencing? Are you following any diet plan?
My Reta journey began at 0.5 weekly, which I then divided into 2 shots of 0.25. Eventually 3 shots of 0.25 turned out to be my sweet spot. After roughly 3 weeks my body tends to adapt, so I bump each dose up by another 0.25. That approach lets me keep hunger in check, quiet food noise, and still benefit from glucagon.
I stick to a strict diet plan with 4 meals per day. As mealtime approaches, I also feel hungry (not impulsive hunger) and eating makes it go away. Perhaps fixed eating times could work for you as well.
Reta doesn't cause the massive appetite suppression that others do, which is actually why it's better... your body needs food for energy and to preserve mass
Great write-up, really thorough.
Could you describe the type of hunger you're experiencing? Are you following any diet plan?
My Reta journey began at 0.5 weekly, which I then divided into 2 shots of 0.25. Eventually 3 shots of 0.25 turned out to be my sweet spot. After roughly 3 weeks my body tends to adapt, so I bump each dose up by another 0.25. That approach lets me keep hunger in check, quiet food noise, and still benefit from glucagon.
I stick to a strict diet plan with 4 meals per day. As mealtime approaches, I also feel hungry (not impulsive hunger) and eating makes it go away. Perhaps fixed eating times could work for you as well.
Reta doesn't cause the massive appetite suppression that others do, which is actually why it's better... your body needs food for energy and to preserve mass