ronin365
Explorer
Hey all. I'm a 53-year-old guy. On Reddit and boards like this one, I tend to stay quiet and just read. Talking about myself isn't my thing, and intros like this one aren't either. Still, I get why they matter. So I'll "overshare" a little so you can see my background.
Over the past few decades, my weight has crept up slowly, year after year. That happened even though I spent 20 years going low-carb, then keto, then OMAD, and in the end carnivore. My diet path kept the worst health problems away, but my body was still declining and the pounds kept adding up. Exercise and walks became tougher and tougher.
Almost 2 years back, I tried TRT. It went completely sideways, adding water and visceral fat that put strain on my heart. Even while eating once a day and carnivore, I gained another 25 plus lbs within a year.
Half a year ago, I reached a new bottom and felt a health crisis was close. I paid a health coach I'd been following for a while--a former IFBB champion. He talked about peptides often, and that got my attention.
Once I began with him, we ran my blood work and things moved fast. He told me to restart TRT (at double the dose), eat carbs, raise my calories, get my steps and cardio in, and train at the gym. It felt like going backwards; I was certain carbs were my problem and that TRT would fail and make it worse. Around 3 months passed with plenty of difficulty, but I was inching forward. The whole time he insisted I should be progressing faster and that I must not be following the plan, even though I was following it closely.
He never suggested peptides as a way to improve my situation. When I asked, he said I wasn't ready to put "chemicals" into my body. I was supposed to stay on his plan indefinitely until he decided I was ready. I'll give him credit for steering me the right way. But how things were going didn't feel right to me, so I decided to pursue peptides on my own.
After about a month of reading and putting it off--I finally did it. I began Reta in November. During week 1, the edema in my ankles went away. That opened my eyes. Add to that how intense and genuine the appetite suppression is. Around week 2 or 3, I ordered more peptides and began stacking. First GLOW, then MOTS-C, cycled Tesamorelin, then moved to KLOW. CJC-1295/Ipamorelin (no DAC) is on its way. Epitalon is next on my list to help with my sleep hygiene.
At my last weigh in, I've dropped from 314 lbs to 278 lbs--I was losing weight through the holidays from Thanksgiving to the new year. For the first time in my life, I'm seeing real progress and getting stronger--even more important, it's building my gym discipline now that I'm actually getting serious results.
My current hurdles are handling costs and gaining more informed experience. Reddit, and social media to a lesser extent, were decent places to start, but with content moderation and conversations that aren't very smart, it's hard to reach the next level. I really want to read other people's experiences, ideas, and insights. I'm also glad to share mine if it can help someone else.
So... here I am.
Over the past few decades, my weight has crept up slowly, year after year. That happened even though I spent 20 years going low-carb, then keto, then OMAD, and in the end carnivore. My diet path kept the worst health problems away, but my body was still declining and the pounds kept adding up. Exercise and walks became tougher and tougher.
Almost 2 years back, I tried TRT. It went completely sideways, adding water and visceral fat that put strain on my heart. Even while eating once a day and carnivore, I gained another 25 plus lbs within a year.
Half a year ago, I reached a new bottom and felt a health crisis was close. I paid a health coach I'd been following for a while--a former IFBB champion. He talked about peptides often, and that got my attention.
Once I began with him, we ran my blood work and things moved fast. He told me to restart TRT (at double the dose), eat carbs, raise my calories, get my steps and cardio in, and train at the gym. It felt like going backwards; I was certain carbs were my problem and that TRT would fail and make it worse. Around 3 months passed with plenty of difficulty, but I was inching forward. The whole time he insisted I should be progressing faster and that I must not be following the plan, even though I was following it closely.
He never suggested peptides as a way to improve my situation. When I asked, he said I wasn't ready to put "chemicals" into my body. I was supposed to stay on his plan indefinitely until he decided I was ready. I'll give him credit for steering me the right way. But how things were going didn't feel right to me, so I decided to pursue peptides on my own.
After about a month of reading and putting it off--I finally did it. I began Reta in November. During week 1, the edema in my ankles went away. That opened my eyes. Add to that how intense and genuine the appetite suppression is. Around week 2 or 3, I ordered more peptides and began stacking. First GLOW, then MOTS-C, cycled Tesamorelin, then moved to KLOW. CJC-1295/Ipamorelin (no DAC) is on its way. Epitalon is next on my list to help with my sleep hygiene.
At my last weigh in, I've dropped from 314 lbs to 278 lbs--I was losing weight through the holidays from Thanksgiving to the new year. For the first time in my life, I'm seeing real progress and getting stronger--even more important, it's building my gym discipline now that I'm actually getting serious results.
My current hurdles are handling costs and gaining more informed experience. Reddit, and social media to a lesser extent, were decent places to start, but with content moderation and conversations that aren't very smart, it's hard to reach the next level. I really want to read other people's experiences, ideas, and insights. I'm also glad to share mine if it can help someone else.
So... here I am.
