Hey all — joining this community feels great! At 26, I currently call Oakland home, and I'm getting ready to begin Reta, plus maybe other peptides, in the near future. Before this, I spent roughly a year on sermorelin. For years, I've had a hard time either shedding pounds or preventing lost weight from coming back. Volleyball, spikeball, golf, and movie watching are things I enjoy. My hope is to pick up knowledge from everyone here, and one day pass along my own journey so others can benefit too!
INTRO Hello from Oakland!
- Thread starter Shmeesh21
- Start date
The pairing still makes a lot of sense: Retatrutide brings hunger control + higher energy burn/glucagon activity for dropping fat, whereas MOTS-C backs up mitochondrial performance, AMPK signalling and improved nutrient partitioning (which helps hold onto muscle and energy while in a deficit). For someone young like YOU, that can mean results you can actually stick with and less of a "crash" from slashing calories hard.
MOTS-C also blunts the tiredness or flat energy that Retatrutide can bring.
Nothing suggests problems specific to younger users; the usual grumbles are the standard ones (nausea at the start, needing electrolytes).
Suggested Dosing (Adjusted for Age/Context)Begin carefully — being young doesn't mean starting big; easing up gradually is how you gauge tolerance.
now sourced from the internet...
Retatrutide (subcutaneous, injected weekly):
- Begin: 0.5–1 mg once weekly (Weeks 1–4) — the low end keeps nausea/GI trouble at bay, which beginners often hit.
- Escalate: bump it every 4 weeks if you handle it (e.g., Weeks 5–8: 2 mg; Weeks 9+: 4–8 mg, as far as 12 mg max where required or goals justify it).
- For a 26-year-old: plenty of anecdotal protocols land around 2–4 mg maintenance for fat loss while staying moderate. Bigger doses (8–12 mg) tend to be for aggressive obesity cases.
- MOTS-C (subcutaneous, often thigh/belly):
- Begin: 2–5 mg per injection, 1–2 times per week (e.g., every 3–5 days or pre-workout).
- Usual range: 5–10 mg total per week (split doses) when stacking—stay moderate so you don't overload your system in combination.
- For younger users: the low end (e.g., 5 mg/week total) usually does the job for clear endurance/metabolic gains; some go to 10–15 mg/week but cycle (e.g., 4–8 weeks on, 2–4 off).
- Begin: 2–5 mg per injection, 1–2 times per week (e.g., every 3–5 days or pre-workout).
- Retatrutide: 1–4 mg weekly.
- MOTS-C: 5 mg every 3–4 days (or 2–5 mg 2x/week).
- Cycle: 8–12 weeks, then reassess with bloods.
- Both (lyophilized powder): Unreconstituted → fridge (2–8°C) or freezer for longer term.
- After reconstitution (with bacteriostatic water): Fridge only (2–8°C); use within 2–4 weeks (Retatrutide often 21–28 days max). Don't freeze it once mixed, and keep it away from light and rough shaking.
Yeah, 5mg really adds up, Juice. As of today I'm restarting MOTS-c at 2mg 3x per week, now that my break is over.
Should you go ahead with it, try roughly 1mg as a trial pin first, purely to gauge your response and how you feel. This peptide carries uncommon adverse effects (look it up). I get the appeal — chasing that 'life cheat code' feeling is genuinely fun and thrilling. The thing is, most peptides like these are designed for older folks whose bodies have already worn down. You've still got youth on your side, so certain peptides might not land on you the way they land on those of us who are older.
What I'd suggest: start with your Retatrutide alone and observe how it performs by itself. If progress starts to plateau, that's the moment to look into possible reasons. On top of that, getting blood work done to establish your baseline would be smart, if that's feasible. It might also help to seek out a doctor familiar with peptides and share what you're considering.
good luck
Redgumby
Explorer
My MOTS-C should arrive tomorrow, and I plan to stack it with my Reta. The food noise has been kept in check thanks to Reta. That first week felt pretty different. My appetite wasn’t pushing me the same way, and I needed to increase fiber plus fluids since things were getting a bit backed up. By the weeks that followed, though, that settled down. I’ve been raising the dose every 4 weeks, and side effects have stayed minimal—just the odd bout of nausea now and then, nothing frequent. Welcome aboard.
vande250
Explorer
Welcome aboard! It's great to have you here. The peptide world fascinates me too, and I've picked up so much from the people in this community. Since you've already spent time with sermorelin, I'm curious to see how switching over to Reta works out for you.
Your activity lineup sounds fun as well — spikeball and volleyball are both a great time. Oakland works really well if you want to keep moving, too. Can't wait to hear what you discover and how your progress unfolds. There's a wealth of knowledge among this group, so you've landed in a good spot.
Let us know how it's going!
Your activity lineup sounds fun as well — spikeball and volleyball are both a great time. Oakland works really well if you want to keep moving, too. Can't wait to hear what you discover and how your progress unfolds. There's a wealth of knowledge among this group, so you've landed in a good spot.
Let us know how it's going!
I'm thinking 2mg of MOTS-C, 3x weekly, would be my maintenance target (the first couple weeks I'll do 1mg 2-3x a week), but that comes after I run Reta alone for 2-3 weeks. I went ahead and purchased 10 mg Reta plus 40 mg MOTS-C. This might be a dumb question, but does the amount of BAC used for reconstitution matter for each vial? Is there a range my units per dosage should fall in, say at least 10 units but not over 30? The syringes I have go up to 100 units.
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I appreciate it! Truth be told, it's only been a bit past a month since I relocated here, following roughly a year-plus in SF. Having roommates wore me down, so I decided I wanted a spot of my own. My job is still in SF and my social circle is there too, which means I end up spending a lot of time in the city, though I'd like to get to know Oakland better. Perhaps our paths will meet in SF at some point!
Redgumby
Explorer
I rely on a peptide dosage calculator, so there’s not much mental math involved. That said, my usual range is 10-30 units, along with 1-2mg of BAC. The more BAC you use, the more units you’ll need to draw.
Understood. My preference is 1 mL per 10mg, which I believe is the usual guideline most people follow. I was just wondering whether Reta or MOTS-C have specific characteristics that mean they should be diluted differently, but I'm likely overcomplicating it.
freedbondage
Explorer
Is there any way you could point me toward where that dosing information came from?
When you reconstitute a peptide vial, the volume of BAC water you use does have an effect—but it doesn't change the total peptide quantity in the vial or the dose you actually receive. What it changes is the concentration of the solution, and that concentration decides how much liquid (measured in mL or syringe units) you must pull to hit your target dose. This is the core principle found in peptide reconstitution guides..
How many doses you can get from a vial depends on the peptide amount inside it, not on how much water you introduce. For instance, a 5mg vial used for 250mcg doses yields 20 doses in total. Adding water simply dilutes the peptide, which can make measuring with your syringe easier or more accurate