This comes from the data supplement of a phase 2 reta trial:
Even though I think your suspicions are usually right and it's mostly a trick to push sellers, there's still 5-10% of people who genuinely get incredible results from doses that small.
Has Anyone Switched from Reta to Tirz?
- Thread starter poundsdownstayfit
- Start date
This comes from the data supplement of a phase 2 reta trial:
Even though I think your suspicions are usually right and it's mostly a trick to push sellers, there's still 5-10% of people who genuinely get incredible results from doses that small.
Wakesetter5477
Explorer
Count me in that group. Over roughly 8 weeks I dropped from 196 down to 176. My starting dose was .25mg taken every third day, and by week 8 I had worked my way up to 1mg every third day. I didn't really have much weight left to shed, but running a low dose did the trick for me.
Troposphere
Explorer
You've nailed it here. Once I began CJC/Ipa, my progress flatlined for a number of weeks, and that stall carried over when I moved to GH. In time the pounds started coming off once more, and they're still dropping now, even though that isn't really my goal anymore.
You clearly grasp it, yet it amazes me how many folks fail to see it. The hint is literally in the label: GROWTH hormone
Fat loss can definitely be aided by it, but when it comes to weight loss, it might not do much — at least over the short term.
CrimsonTaco47
Explorer
I went the opposite way — tirz to Reta — though that happened after taking a year and a half off for pregnancy and breastfeeding. Doing a fast switch, where you're on Reta or tirz one day and then swap at your next injection, seems like it would be far harder to balance.
That said…I'm sort of the peptide manager for my family, and my brother, who is morbidly very very obese, has now been on Reta for a year with only minimal progress. He doesn't say much about the overall picture, probably because he's embarrassed, but I don't believe he manages to eat well. His mental cravings and his mental battles with everything food-related (addiction) make that really tough, and unless you're truly ready…even Reta won't help.
That said, I really want to push him to make the switch to tirz, since the suppression of mental food noise is much stronger, and I think the way it works would suit him better. They all work differently, and plenty of people are still out there getting great results from sema. Reta has worked great for me, but tirz actually helped me lose weight quicker because the appetite suppression was stronger, and my main issue is cravings I can't seem to overcome plus portion sizes.
I hope you find what works best for you!
That said…I'm sort of the peptide manager for my family, and my brother, who is morbidly very very obese, has now been on Reta for a year with only minimal progress. He doesn't say much about the overall picture, probably because he's embarrassed, but I don't believe he manages to eat well. His mental cravings and his mental battles with everything food-related (addiction) make that really tough, and unless you're truly ready…even Reta won't help.
That said, I really want to push him to make the switch to tirz, since the suppression of mental food noise is much stronger, and I think the way it works would suit him better. They all work differently, and plenty of people are still out there getting great results from sema. Reta has worked great for me, but tirz actually helped me lose weight quicker because the appetite suppression was stronger, and my main issue is cravings I can't seem to overcome plus portion sizes.
I hope you find what works best for you!
SaltyFloridaGal
Explorer
For those of you who made the move from Reta to Tirz, how did you handle the dosing — straight from 7.5 mg Reta onto 5mg Tirz, or did you build the Tirz up to 5mg step by step? I'm thinking about doing the same switch. I take medication for tachycardia, and the higher resting heart rate I'm experiencing on Reta is getting in the way of my motivation to work out, plus it's ramping up my anxiety. I'm considering whether adding Selank and or BPC-157 might ease the anxiety.
poundsdownstayfit
Explorer
Appreciate the response. I'm a 42-year-old guy, standing 5'7". Right now I'm at 198, with a near-term goal of 185, and if things go well I'd love to get down to 175. Part of this might just be me being stubborn and letting pride get in the way of accepting a high reta dose. I suppose I feel a bit envious when I hear about people dropping 20-30lbs in 2 months while only on 1-2mg. Comparison is the thief of joy, right? Most likely I'll go up to 8 for my next pin and see how that goes.
poundsdownstayfit
Explorer
I appreciate you telling me about your experience!
I'm running a protocol that's nearly identical at the moment (week 6 of CJC/Ipa for me), and around week 4 I saw a huge change.
Rather than concluding you're a low responder to the Reta or going back to Tirz, take a hard look at how much water you're holding. Subcutaneous water retention is a well-known effect of GH secretagogues, particularly during the first month or two. At the start my scale hardly moved because of that extra water, but once week 4 hit, body recomposition really took off—my stomach looked noticeably flatter and my clothes fit in a totally different way even though the scale was stuck.
Given that you're lifting weights and keeping an eye on your diet, you're probably adding lean mass or retaining fluid while losing fat. If you can visibly see your body composition changing, then the Reta is definitely doing its job! Let the peptides have a bit more time to settle your fluid balance before you make the switch back to Tirzepatide.
Rather than concluding you're a low responder to the Reta or going back to Tirz, take a hard look at how much water you're holding. Subcutaneous water retention is a well-known effect of GH secretagogues, particularly during the first month or two. At the start my scale hardly moved because of that extra water, but once week 4 hit, body recomposition really took off—my stomach looked noticeably flatter and my clothes fit in a totally different way even though the scale was stuck.
Given that you're lifting weights and keeping an eye on your diet, you're probably adding lean mass or retaining fluid while losing fat. If you can visibly see your body composition changing, then the Reta is definitely doing its job! Let the peptides have a bit more time to settle your fluid balance before you make the switch back to Tirzepatide.
After a month-long break, I began again at 2.5mg. That dose lasted a month, then I increased it to 5mg. Once a month at 5 had passed, I went up to 7.5. The constipation became unbearable. So I went back down to 5mg and that's where I've remained.
Troposphere
Explorer
By the time I began CJC/Ipa and eventually moved on to GH, I already knew a stall was coming. I'd come across enough accounts from other people to understand that this was the road ahead.
It's hard to believe that many people are going through something like this. Realistically, a consistent 2lbs/wk is an excellent result. To me, that pace produces the best outcomes. Your skin has time to adjust, gallbladder problems are less likely, and you stand a better chance of holding onto muscle mass, among other things.
My own experience lines up quite closely with this. For roughly the first four weeks on GH, my weight held at 150lbs. After that it started dropping consistently, and this morning I'm at 138lbs, possibly with the best physique I've had in my life, and I'm 51. Throughout, the bioelectrical impedance feature on my smart watch indicates I've kept most of my muscle mass. I've dropped 35lbs, and 3-5lbs of that came from lean mass.
lessthanhalf
Explorer
How each person reacts to these medications varies enormously. The chart tubby posted somewhere on this forum illustrates it nicely — a fairly uniform distribution running from zero weight lost all the way up to 20% on 1mg of reta. And the sole method of discovering your own response, or which doses you'd require, is to actually trial them. Likely it comes down to small differences in the genes coding for the incretin receptors, or in whatever step follows in the pathway, none of which is under your control. Usually, requiring larger doses tends to go along with fewer side effects, though not always, and that's a plus — unless you're someone who gets side effects at low doses yet needs high doses for any effect, which would be quite frustrating. Internalised bias around weight, and the sense that controlling it demands effort, is really tough to shake; the enormous benefit of these drugs is that they can largely eliminate that, so losing weight and keeping it off no longer calls for some relentless, superhuman exertion.
AngieHolmes
Explorer
That's a scary leap. Good to hear tirz is doing such a great job for you.
AngieHolmes
Explorer
This envy really makes me wonder. Is the reason that those taking small doses pay less for their medication? Or could it be that they're dropping pounds more quickly than you are -- honestly, who wouldn't feel a bit jealous
?I'm still pretty new to all of this, but I have to say — seeing folks mention 4mg, 6mg, or even 8 mg of Reta every week genuinely shocks me. That's just not something I can wrap my head around. My own starting point was 1mg/week, and I've stayed right there for roughly 8 months now. It continues to work amazingly well. My appetite is blunted and I get full really fast..and the weight loss has been quite something. Heartburn does happen for me, plus a higher resting heart rate, and there's no way I'd push past 2mg/week. I've thought about giving that a try, but I don't really feel the need. Ultimately, I'm buying gray market, and I honestly have no real way of knowing whether what's in the bottle matches what was advertised, but the one thing I can say is that it is definitely working.
Troposphere
Explorer
Some context would help this post. What's your height, starting weight, current weight, and goal weight, plus how fast you're losing (lbs/wk)? Without that, saying weight loss has been "quite something" doesn't really tell us anything.
gusterbuster
Explorer
What's confusing about it? I'd figure you looked into things before beginning reta and are aware that 2mg was the starting dose. You're plainly part of the small group of hyper responders.
Should have included this. I'm 6'1". Began at 240 pounds and I'm sitting at 215 pounds now. If those love handles would finally go, getting to 205 would make me happy. My abs are nearly showing. This has taken roughly 8 months — no tracker on my end, but the pace has been slow and consistent. It doesn't seem like the loss has fully stalled, so staying on Reta should mean I keep dropping.
lessthanhalf
Explorer
I have to say, almost everyone making a claim like that hasn't dealt with serious, long-term obesity. Only a handful of people I've come across who had more serious weight issues managed to do really well and drop 20 or 30% while on low doses of reta or tirz — that's pretty uncommon. When it's just a bit of extra weight, low doses of reta frequently do work quite well. But in my case, someone trying to hold onto a 56% loss, I wish I could raise the dose, but I can't, or my skin begins to hurt instead of just feeling somewhat odd, and that's at tirz 15/reta 8mg
Troposphere
Explorer
Be glad you can drop weight like that on 1mg/wk. Most people can't. But keep in mind that needing a bigger dose doesn't make someone lesser.
For me, 30-35lbs was all I had to lose, and it took 4mg/wk to get there.
This isn't a contest about who can shed the most pounds on the smallest dose. Save that kind of thinking for the normie no peptides crowd that calls weight loss "discipline".