HGH Week 2: Scale Up, Clothes Looser – Normal?

[bayardtrustin]

Two weeks of HGH at 2 IU per day are now behind me, and on the whole the experience has been positive. My sleep is clearly better, recovery has improved a lot, and this week I added two-a-days — lifting in the morning, then Zone 2 walking at night.

On the food side, I'm running roughly a 500 calorie deficit and staying fairly strict:

Protein above 150g

Fat under 95g

Carbs under 25g

What stands out, though, is roughly 5 lbs gained on the scale across these couple of weeks. My guess is water retention from the HGH, since my clothes feel clearly looser even as the number rises, and my strength is definitely climbing.

Anyone else run into this? Mentally it's been odd after watching the scale go down for so long.

Still, I'm only about 15 lbs away from maintenance and goal weight, and what matters more to me now is reaching roughly 12–15% body fat instead of fixating on a scale number.

Current stack:

Ret 14mg weekly (7mg Monday & Friday)

HGH 2 IU daily

I stopped Tirz not long ago once my vial ran out, because I wanted time to research and experiment with a Ret + HGH stack as I enter the last stretch of this journey.

 

[Smiter]

bayardtrustin said:


That said, I’m only about 15 lbs from maintenance and goal weight, and my bigger focus now is getting down to around 12–15% body fat rather than chasing a specific number on the scale.

Current stack:

Ret 14mg weekly (7mg Monday & Friday)

HGH 2 IU daily

Click to expand...

In my opinion, the objective you describe and the protocol you picked don't really line up.

 

[mybodyisasewer]

I've followed a pretty close path to yours. Water retention with HGH is real, but keep in mind some of that water sits in your muscles, which lets you push training harder. Once everything is fine-tuned, bumping the HGH is an option. At 4-5 iu while in a steep deficit, it can feel like a miracle. That reta dose is wild though, you're an absolute unit, but that's your call.

Should the scale still not trend downward after 3 or 4 weeks on GH, then your calories and deficit need another look.

I've been considering KLOW purely for between-workout recovery during a deficit. Whether that's a valid reason, I have no clue, but science is my thing.

 

[lessthanhalf]

Oddly enough, fluid retention never happened for me on 1.5iu hgh, even though my IGF-1 ended up far above the normal range, which forced me to lower the dose to 0.8iu. Male, 58yo.

What I did notice was a bigger drop in waist circumference: prior to hgh, weight fell 8 kg alongside 4 cm wc; once on hgh, wc dropped 6cm while weight went down 5kg.

Should fluid retention be the issue, keep an eye on things such as carpal tunnel, and I figure you're already planning to monitor IGF-1 and blood sugars, though at that reta dose, elevated readings seem unlikely.

Beyond that, it appears to be producing precisely the anticipated effects: less visceral fat plus fluid retention.

 

[bayardtrustin]

mybodyisasewer said:

I've followed a pretty close path to yours. Water retention with HGH is real, but keep in mind some of that water sits in your muscles, which lets you push training harder. Once everything is fine-tuned, bumping the HGH is an option. At 4-5 iu while in a steep deficit, it can feel like a miracle. That reta dose is wild though, you're an absolute unit, but that's your call.

Should the scale still not trend downward after 3 or 4 weeks on GH, then your calories and deficit need another look.

I've been considering KLOW purely for between-workout recovery during a deficit. Whether that's a valid reason, I have no clue, but science is my thing.

That makes sense regarding water being held in the muscles. I can handle a lot more in training now, and I actually look forward to workout days instead of feeling apprehensive about them.

mybodyisasewer said:

I've followed a pretty close path to yours. Water retention with HGH is real, but keep in mind some of that water sits in your muscles, which lets you push training harder. Once everything is fine-tuned, bumping the HGH is an option. At 4-5 iu while in a steep deficit, it can feel like a miracle. That reta dose is wild though, you're an absolute unit, but that's your call.

Should the scale still not trend downward after 3 or 4 weeks on GH, then your calories and deficit need another look.

I've been considering KLOW purely for between-workout recovery during a deficit. Whether that's a valid reason, I have no clue, but science is my thing.

I'll wait another 2 weeks or so. Height is 5'10'' and my weight climbed from 173 to 178 across the last couple of weeks, though it has held steady for the past 3 days.

mybodyisasewer said:

I've followed a pretty close path to yours. Water retention with HGH is real, but keep in mind some of that water sits in your muscles, which lets you push training harder. Once everything is fine-tuned, bumping the HGH is an option. At 4-5 iu while in a steep deficit, it can feel like a miracle. That reta dose is wild though, you're an absolute unit, but that's your call.

Should the scale still not trend downward after 3 or 4 weeks on GH, then your calories and deficit need another look.

I've been considering KLOW purely for between-workout recovery during a deficit. Whether that's a valid reason, I have no clue, but science is my thing.

 

[bayardtrustin]

lessthanhalf said:

Oddly enough, fluid retention never happened for me on 1.5iu hgh, even though my IGF-1 ended up far above the normal range, which forced me to lower the dose to 0.8iu. Male, 58yo.

What I did notice was a bigger drop in waist circumference: prior to hgh, weight fell 8 kg alongside 4 cm wc; once on hgh, wc dropped 6cm while weight went down 5kg.

Should fluid retention be the issue, keep an eye on things such as carpal tunnel, and I figure you're already planning to monitor IGF-1 and blood sugars, though at that reta dose, elevated readings seem unlikely.

Beyond that, it appears to be producing precisely the anticipated effects: less visceral fat plus fluid retention.

What was the timeframe before you noticed the scale going down?

lessthanhalf said:

Oddly enough, fluid retention never happened for me on 1.5iu hgh, even though my IGF-1 ended up far above the normal range, which forced me to lower the dose to 0.8iu. Male, 58yo.

What I did notice was a bigger drop in waist circumference: prior to hgh, weight fell 8 kg alongside 4 cm wc; once on hgh, wc dropped 6cm while weight went down 5kg.

Should fluid retention be the issue, keep an eye on things such as carpal tunnel, and I figure you're already planning to monitor IGF-1 and blood sugars, though at that reta dose, elevated readings seem unlikely.

Beyond that, it appears to be producing precisely the anticipated effects: less visceral fat plus fluid retention.

Appreciate the details. I haven't noticed any side effects whatsoever, though I'll stay watchful for carpal tunnel.

 

[Bunts]

I've been running HGH just over a month now, and I'm pleased you're seeing similar results.

Honestly, it's great. I've been consistent on a circa 700 calorie deficit and, like you, I've noticed better lifts. My watch does electrical impedence too and I've been watching that as well. I accept that method isn't 100% accurate, but trends are what matter.

I've not dropped a huge amount of weight, though much of it has been water retention (I'm at the far end of that now and it's tailing off). That said, I've put on almost 1kg of muscle and lost a significant amount of fat. Bare in mind these are 'newbie gains' figures, and I've been lifting consistently for over 3 years now.

Other than really dialing in my nutrition (I was under eating before!) the only change is HGH. I'm still on Reta, for the benefits it brings but also the insulin side when running HGH.

Hope it keeps working for you. I've been posting updates on another thread here, for people to refer to when doing their own research.