INTRO Stalled Tirz user in Florida looking for another way

[waterpixie00]

Just dropping in to introduce myself and share a bit of background. I'm a 43 year old woman living in Florida.

My peptide journey began last March with compounded Semaglutide, starting at roughly 220, and I dropped about 15 pounds before my doctor and I agreed to transition to compounded Tirzepatide. Since then I've shed another 25 pounds, but for roughly six months now I've been stuck around 190 while on 15mg. The monthly cost of compounded medication has become a real source of frustration for me.

I exercise around 6 times per week, with weightlifting on a couple of those days plus running and Peloton rides on another three to five days. Over the past ten years I've completed 15 half marathons, and even at my current size my blood work shows that I genuinely put effort into my health.

My goal is to drop another 20-30 pounds so I can reach a "normal" BMI for the first time in decades. Throughout most of my adult years my weight has swung between overweight and obese, and I want to finally move past that.

I've joined to look into other possibilities and find out whether a better approach exists. Reta is of particular interest to me, along with the idea of peptide stacking to maximize what I get out of it. The quieting of food noise on tirz has been something I really valued, though lately I've felt it creeping back, which makes it tougher to tune out.

Any guidance or suggestions are very much appreciated, and I'm eager to browse the forum in hopes of supporting my journey.

 

[indolent]

Hello there!

Make sure you're drinking more than enough water throughout the day, loading up on protein from your meals, and steering clear of carbs along with sugary items — including artificial sweeteners.

Should your stall come with food noise creeping back, trying a split dose could be the smartest first move, instead of stacking on more medication or making a switch. Look up split dosing with a search on this site.

 

[DunningKruger]

Welcome!

I've got a question for you. Could some kind of inflammation be behind the stall you're experiencing? Things like autoimmunity, training too much, job stress, or environmental triggers (mold, VOCs, and so on)?

About me: 44F, near my goal weight, and I discovered that nothing would budge until I stopped drinking alcohol and got my body's internal stressors under control. Even while on GLP-1's, eating foods that set off inflammation (dairy, alcohol, nightshades, etc.) would stop my progress or even push my weight up.

Right now I'm testing Reta 2mg/weekly plus 1mg Tesamorelin each night before sleep, and it's working for me without any side effects.

Switching things up is a good move, and yes, resistance to compounds does develop, but it could also be worth looking at what other signalling is happening inside the system.

 

[lessthanhalf]

According to the research, tirzepatide produces an average weight reduction of roughly 20 to 25% at best. Given how much you have already dropped, and the fact that 6 months on 15 mg has produced no further change, your result fits that picture. Going from 220 down to 190 works out to 30/220, or slightly under 15%, so the drug is doing its job — but half of everyone who takes it will end up below the average. Sadly, in your case that is the ceiling.

At this point, no GLP is really capable of fixing obesity on its own, particularly when someone is significantly overweight, though they do help, and far more than any earlier option. It is not that the medication quit working. As you shed weight, your metabolic rate drops and appetite rises; GLP's help push the number you settle at on the scale downward and can hold you there as long as you keep using them. Quit, and most people, most of the time, will slowly climb back toward where they started.

I am not going to seriously suggest diet or lifestyle changes as a long term weight loss strategy, because broadly speaking they fail, or deliver only a few percent of difference. If you can change your diet for good and exercise more, then yes, it can work — but most people, most of the time, lose weight for a while, then slide back into old habits and regain it.

For me, keeping up a healthier way of eating is far easier while on tirzepatide, even after enormous weight loss, since I am no longer hungry all the time the way I was after dropping half my weight and before I began GLP's.

Nothing currently approved by medicine does better. Every other route is experimental, not yet shown to be safe, so there is always a chance of unknown side effects appearing (on top of the known possible ones), and that risk has to be weighed against the fact that obesity itself is quite damaging to health.

Retatrutide is not approved yet, but the evidence behind it is fairly strong, and it delivers about 5% more weight loss than tirzepatide; the newest, longest study reported an average of 29% weight loss.

Tirzepatide doses above 15mg could be tried, and a study of higher doses is underway (probably 20 to 25mg), though the company will not even confirm it is happening. If you get few side effects from it, this is probably the easiest path; as the dose climbs you likely reach a point where more dose adds little extra weight loss but more side effects, so it might help but is unlikely to change things dramatically. They picked 15mg as the top dose for a reason — it delivers most of the weight loss available without excessive side effects. Still, people clearly respond differently, whether in weight loss or side effects, so testing a higher dose for a while to see how you do is fairly straightforward.

Adding cagrilintide to tirzepatide is another possibility, also unapproved, but phase 2 trials so far look promising — for it added to semaglutide, since it has not yet been studied with tirzepatide, though there is no particular reason it would cause a problem.

The other peptides discussed on this forum mostly carry far less safety data, and most have never been tested in humans at all. The glp drugs, even the ones not officially on the market yet, have at least gone through reasonably large human clinical trials that succeeded, and the common ones are close to release.

 

[JoonyO]

waterpixie00 said:

Just dropping in to introduce myself and share a bit of background. I'm a 43 year old woman living in Florida.

My peptide journey began last March with compounded Semaglutide, starting at roughly 220, and I dropped about 15 pounds before my doctor and I agreed to transition to compounded Tirzepatide. Since then I've shed another 25 pounds, but for roughly six months now I've been stuck around 190 while on 15mg. The monthly cost of compounded medication has become a real source of frustration for me.

I exercise around 6 times per week, with weightlifting on a couple of those days plus running and Peloton rides on another three to five days. Over the past ten years I've completed 15 half marathons, and even at my current size my blood work shows that I genuinely put effort into my health.

My goal is to drop another 20-30 pounds so I can reach a "normal" BMI for the first time in decades. Throughout most of my adult years my weight has swung between overweight and obese, and I want to finally move past that.

I've joined to look into other possibilities and find out whether a better approach exists. Reta is of particular interest to me, along with the idea of peptide stacking to maximize what I get out of it. The quieting of food noise on tirz has been something I really valued, though lately I've felt it creeping back, which makes it tougher to tune out.

Any guidance or suggestions are very much appreciated, and I'm eager to browse the forum in hopes of supporting my journey.

Can you tell me when your most recent 3 day fast with nothing but water was? That's what broke through a plateau for me. Some people also push eating just 1 specific food group for 3 days.

It was actually hitting that "stall" that got me researching peptides 6-7 months back. SO ANNOYING right?

Since then I've mostly stuck to 16-8. I keep an eye on my macros. 2 hrs of cardio every day. I don't do weights as much as I ought to, even though I can still hurt myself by going heavier than I should. I had to rest 2 weeks hoping my torn pec would heal...it's still slightly there but not enough to make me yell out from the pain...so at least there's that.

Honestly I believe fasting plus paying close attention to what you eat can "reset" the loss.

Someone might jump in saying "Reta got me unstuck" since I've come across those accounts, but I've also seen people who switched and then went back-because Reta doesn't suppress food noise as strongly. Not all of us have the same willpower as others.

YMMV

Your wish will come true.

 

[Chefcookingwithflame]

DunningKruger said:

Welcome!

I've got a question for you. Could some kind of inflammation be behind the stall you're experiencing? Things like autoimmunity, training too much, job stress, or environmental triggers (mold, VOCs, and so on)?

About me: 44F, near my goal weight, and I discovered that nothing would budge until I stopped drinking alcohol and got my body's internal stressors under control. Even while on GLP-1's, eating foods that set off inflammation (dairy, alcohol, nightshades, etc.) would stop my progress or even push my weight up.

Right now I'm testing Reta 2mg/weekly plus 1mg Tesamorelin each night before sleep, and it's working for me without any side effects.

Switching things up is a good move, and yes, resistance to compounds does develop, but it could also be worth looking at what other signalling is happening inside the system.

2mg Reta alongside 1mg tesa is working really well for me too. Here's hoping you reach your target weight before long!

 

[waterpixie00]

Thanks to all of you for such a kind welcome! Lately I've been keeping a record of my injections, and dividing my dose into separate shots is one option I really should explore, to find out whether it could help me break through this plateau.

On the inflammation side of things - right now it's likely a mix of pushing myself too hard with exercise (I almost never take a day off) plus stress. I had honestly never thought about that angle before. I tend to overlook the fact that inflammation can create problems too.

A fast lasting several days is not something I've ever tried. My blood sugar drops easily and I turn into a real grump, so I doubt my family, friends, and co-workers would enjoy being around that, though it might be worth considering anyway.

Reta is absolutely on my radar right now and I'm digging into it a lot. That's the reason I came here, because this crowd comes across as both well-informed and welcoming!