INTRO On a Journey to definition.

[6packseeker]

Hey everyone! I'm a guy in his mid-40s living in the US. My compounded semaglutide experience began roughly 3 years back at a local weight loss clinic. At first, I dropped from 270 to 210 at my lowest during that initial year, with hardly any exercise beyond walking each day. When I relocated to another state around then, I had to find a new supplier and went with an online telehealth company. Whatever that new pharmacy provided never felt anywhere near as potent, and my weight loss flatlined entirely—though at least I didn't gain.

Roughly 18 months ago, I embarked on a side quest with TRT (prescribed dose only, no blasting), and since then I've rebuilt a fair amount of the muscle I'd lost while on semaglutide by lifting 4 days per week plus keeping up those daily walks. The scale now reads 235, yet I'm still fitting into the same shirt size and same waist size in my slacks.

I've joined to pick up on newer weight loss approaches and techniques, and to carry this journey forward. In the end, my aim is to glance at the scale and see a number starting with 1. That hasn't happened since around 2003, and as my username hints, maybe I'll finally get a look at some abs for the first time in my life.

 

[frizzle-fry]

Hi and welcome. My own start was with a telehealth compounding service too, and I had doubts about whatever they were sending me. All I noticed was feeling sick the day after injecting, with zero curb on my appetite. After that I switched to this community, and suddenly the whole thing felt effortless.

 

[6packseeker]

What’s strange is that my TRT came from the same compounding pharmacy, at the same location, as my sema—just through a different provider—and it felt like nothing. Of course, TRT can boost appetite, particularly when you’re training in the gym the right way. I’d like to think the bulk of my weight gain was muscle, but I’m not that gullible.

 

[ssmith]

Hey @6packseeker, glad you made it to the forum. The crowd here is fantastic and there's plenty of knowledge to soak up — have a good time.

There's a ton to explore around these parts. /

 

[Oldpyr8]

Hello. Technically I "just joined," but my account is actually 10 months old. I've spent a long time reading through all the material on this site, and thanks to the forum's assistance I was able to lock down my sources.

Reta has been part of my routine for 11 months, and TRT for a few years now. Even with strict diet and exercise, TRT by itself never gave me the toned look I wanted. I hit the weights 5 to 6 days every week. Older guy. I had built some strength and muscle, yet remained soft. No definition. Weight loss wasn't my reason for starting Reta. The reason was that I sat .1 point shy of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis, plus I was dealing with persistent high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, along with other problems.

So I began digging into the research and went grey market, because my dr wouldn't write me a Zepbound script for diabetes prevention. Their stance: you must either be obese or already fully type 2! F*#%n medical community tosses preventive medicine right out the window. All they care about is prescribing Metformin, lipitor, and whichever drugs bring pharma companies the biggest profits, just to "manage" your health issues. Prevent all of it with GLPs and they lose the chance to sell you their lucrative drugs for life. That infuriated me to no end. I came across this forum and began my research.

Less than two months into Reta, my Hba1c fell by a full point, my blood pressure went from hypertension down to supremely normal, cholesterol came back normal, and triglycerides dropped 100. It was amazing! I also shed 14 lbs without even trying and stopped all my prescriptions.

Sorry, I digressed. Anyway, as I said, losing weight wasn't my goal. But once I had the biometric health measures of a 20 year old again and had dropped a few pounds, I caught the bug. I wanted to look fit. So….10 months on reta, I dropped 40 lbs. I'm ripped. Reta didn't stop the hunger all the time. Craved carbs on and off, and hit plateaus. Hoping you can power through those peaks and valleys.

The biggest thing that helped me was getting a calorie/nutrition tracker app and micromanaging the crap out of everything I ate daily while running a 400 to 500 calorie daily deficit. Recorded everything. Calories, fat, carbs, protein, etc. it completely retrained how I ate, with a major focus on protein. 130 to 160 grams daily. Chicken, tuna, salmon, protein shakes, (no red meat) etc. what I learned is when reta doesn't completely suppress the cravings, eating a lot of protein will. Combining those two got me there. But couldn't have done it proper without tracking everything daily.