The pouch has expanded over time, yet sticking to the high protein, low carb plan my doctor prescribed still leaves me feeling limited, and weight loss is possible. The real problem comes when I fall off track after several months and then go on a carb binge. A relative gave me Tirz to try, and even on a very small test dose, the drop in food noise let me ease straight into better routines. Once I moved up to the standard starting dose, eating felt impossible, so I quit. After learning that Reta cuts food noise while suppressing appetite less strongly, I figured it would be an ideal fit.Beardboost said:
If the stomach has stretched out by now and gone back to normal, then I don't think there would be a problem. Any side effects you might get are usually minimal and don't involve the stomach. Plenty of people go on Mounjaro soon after surgery, and Reta would work the same way
My peak weight was 370. Surgery happened when I was 340. After the procedure I dropped to 260, and for roughly the past 5 years I've been bouncing back and forth between 280 and 305. During a 3-week stretch on tirz, I shed 14 lbs. My height is 6'3". Getting below 240 is what I'm aiming for, which would move me out of morbid obesity. That makes 235 a solid target for me. I carry a lot of muscle, so I'll be putting in serious effort to preserve as much of it as I can.
No—the stomach won't expand simply from the passage of time. What causes it to stretch is repeatedly eating past fullness. My own sleeve was performed more than 10 years ago, and to this day I'm unable to consume a large amount of food.Beardboost said:
If the stomach has stretched out by now and gone back to normal, then I don't think there would be a problem. Any side effects you might get are usually minimal and don't involve the stomach. Plenty of people go on Mounjaro soon after surgery, and Reta would work the same way
It seems like you have a decent amount of weight to shed. I'm 1 or 2 inches shorter than you, and when I began Tirz 16.5 weeks ago I weighed 282lb; this morning the scale read 238lb. A few factors pushed me to switch over to Reta, and one of them was the idea that it helps spare lean mass.
Absolutely — Reta got me to my goal in the end. I say go for it.
My VSG was done 17 years ago. At my peak I weighed close to 600lbs. Similar to your situation, it brought me down to roughly 250lbs, and I held there for 7-8 years. After that, carbs took over, I shot back up to around 400lbs, and my knees had to be replaced. I had one done once I'd gotten to 300lbs, and that was through my own efforts. Then, following 3 months off work, I climbed to 325. That's when I began Compounded Tirz: 125lbs came off over 16 months, and 3 Dexa scans showed I put on 4lbs of lean mass during that stretch. The final 23lbs came off with Reta, achieved in a single month at 4mg. All told I've lost about 400lbs. For maintenance I alternate 1mg of Tirz and 1mg of Reta shots every 84 hours, and my BMI went from 84 to 27. Keep in mind, I didn't exercise during this period, though I did do a great deal of Physical Therapy. My diet stayed on point, and I also used some Lipo C & NAD+ back then.
Reta left me pretty ravenous right up until I reached 6.0. Because of that, I brought tirz into the mix to deal with the appetite. Protocol was never something I stuck to. I still take both, and my Reta dose is 8 now.
My procedure wasn't a sleeve—it was a duodenal switch with biliopancreatic diversion, which combines a sleeve with a bypass. While Tirz has delivered better results, using it by itself brings me side effects (severe tiredness, altered taste in food, and hard stools), so I combine it with Reta.
For me, hitting protein targets without hassle only worked when I started stirring plain protein powder into coffee. The trick is to blend it with something cool or cold first, then pour the hot coffee in gradually—otherwise you get lumps. My usual mix: 2-3 scoops, 1 cup of Darigold Fit milk, 1 packet of high-protein Carnation Instant Breakfast, and 2 cups of coffee. That lands somewhere between 107 and 120 grams of protein in a single shake. Since I'm not someone who eats breakfast, this approach feels necessary for me.
If you don't mind me asking, what's your tirz dosage, and how do you plan out your pins?
June marks 5 years since my surgery. Maintenance has gone quite well for me, and I've managed a solid body recomposition too. That said, just like you -- the food noise was LOUD, and combined with perimenopause/menopause it left me battling roughly 10lbs of ...regain or inflammation, I honestly can't tell which. Last January I began on a very low Tirz dose, which let me drop all of that regain and stay stable, though more recently the food aversions have crept in a bit more. In February I had an open shoulder procedure that turned out far hairier than expected, so I've been out of the gym for 2 months, and until recently only light cardio was possible; I've now started ramping that back toward my pre-shoulder levels. Since I couldn't move much yet was still eating to protect my pouch from the meds for my shoulder, those damn 10lbs are back! Right now I'm on a split dose of about 8mg of tirz per week, and soon I'll add a low dose of Reta to see whether I can get things under control again. A vial has been sitting waiting for reconstitution for about a month -- I kept putting off mixing it because it seemed like a waste while I wasn't exercising much! Hopefully I'll get it going this coming week.
I follow a somewhat unusual dosing pattern. I take 1 mg tirz, then 2 days afterward 3 mg Reta, then 2 days afterward 1 mg tirz, then 2 days afterward 3 mg Reta.
