My TRT plus Reta: progress and goals so far

RamCummins6.7

RamCummins6.7

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What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
 
That sounds like a great goal, close to what I'm chasing myself — except I'm sitting at 300 at the moment. TRT is far newer to me, but pairing it with the GLP meds is clearly a winner. Watching how someone else, yourself included, moves along on this combo should be interesting. All the best to you!
 
RamCummins6.7 said:

Appreciate it, and best of luck on your journey. How many months has the combo been going for you?
Click to expand...
My test has been at 120mg and I'm going into week three. Deep into the honeymoon phase with it — feeling good, energy, sleep, motivation, all of it. Alongside that I've had a Reta and Tirz combo going for 8 weeks now, both at low doses: 2.5mg Tirz, 2mg Reta. My aim was a higher GLP-1/GIP ratio so the food noise gets shut down properly. Reta plus Cag might have been the alternative, but I already have the Tirz and it's doing the job. 30 lbs in a month and a half. Not too bad.
 
TRT has been my protocol for several years, starting at age 50. Low dose Reta maintenance is what I'm reading up on now. Your metabolism goes up on TRT and that in turn leaves you hungry. There's still work ahead for me — getting some back water and learning Crypto — and I'm hoping July is when Reta starts. One thing that nags at me is the rise in RHR from Reta, given TRT already has mine running high.
 
msyntakz said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

Appreciate it, and best of luck on your journey. How many months has the combo been going for you?
Click to expand...
My test has been at 120mg and I'm going into week three. Deep into the honeymoon phase with it — feeling good, energy, sleep, motivation, all of it. Alongside that I've had a Reta and Tirz combo going for 8 weeks now, both at low doses: 2.5mg Tirz, 2mg Reta. My aim was a higher GLP-1/GIP ratio so the food noise gets shut down properly. Reta plus Cag might have been the alternative, but I already have the Tirz and it's doing the job. 30 lbs in a month and a half. Not too bad.
Click to expand...
What a transformation that is so far. Where does your test sit now on the 120g dose?
 
JimGainz said:

TRT has been my protocol for several years, starting at age 50. Low dose Reta maintenance is what I'm reading up on now. Your metabolism goes up on TRT and that in turn leaves you hungry. There's still work ahead for me — getting some back water and learning Crypto — and I'm hoping July is when Reta starts. One thing that nags at me is the rise in RHR from Reta, given TRT already has mine running high.
Click to expand...
Cardio on a regular basis ought to keep your RHR where it was, or that's been my experience anyway.
 
RamCummins6.7 said:

msyntakz said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

Appreciate it, and best of luck on your journey. How many months has the combo been going for you?
Click to expand...
My test has been at 120mg and I'm going into week three. Deep into the honeymoon phase with it — feeling good, energy, sleep, motivation, all of it. Alongside that I've had a Reta and Tirz combo going for 8 weeks now, both at low doses: 2.5mg Tirz, 2mg Reta. My aim was a higher GLP-1/GIP ratio so the food noise gets shut down properly. Reta plus Cag might have been the alternative, but I already have the Tirz and it's doing the job. 30 lbs in a month and a half. Not too bad.
Click to expand...
What a transformation that is so far. Where does your test sit now on the 120g dose?
Click to expand...
That's still unknown. Retesting has to wait until the first 8 weeks are behind me. What those numbers turn out to be is something I'm keen to see.
 
msyntakz said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

msyntakz said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

Appreciate it, and best of luck on your journey. How many months has the combo been going for you?
Click to expand...
My test has been at 120mg and I'm going into week three. Deep into the honeymoon phase with it — feeling good, energy, sleep, motivation, all of it. Alongside that I've had a Reta and Tirz combo going for 8 weeks now, both at low doses: 2.5mg Tirz, 2mg Reta. My aim was a higher GLP-1/GIP ratio so the food noise gets shut down properly. Reta plus Cag might have been the alternative, but I already have the Tirz and it's doing the job. 30 lbs in a month and a half. Not too bad.
Click to expand...
What a transformation that is so far. Where does your test sit now on the 120g dose?
Click to expand...
That's still unknown. Retesting has to wait until the first 8 weeks are behind me. What those numbers turn out to be is something I'm keen to see.
Click to expand...
Let us know once the results arrive.
 
JimGainz said:

TRT has been my protocol for several years, starting at age 50. Low dose Reta maintenance is what I'm reading up on now. Your metabolism goes up on TRT and that in turn leaves you hungry. There's still work ahead for me — getting some back water and learning Crypto — and I'm hoping July is when Reta starts. One thing that nags at me is the rise in RHR from Reta, given TRT already has mine running high.
Click to expand...
pay a visit to Kerala, my own homeland, and you'll find the most celebrated backwaters on earth.

RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
Monster incoming!

msyntakz said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

Appreciate it, and best of luck on your journey. How many months has the combo been going for you?
Click to expand...
My test has been at 120mg and I'm going into week three. Deep into the honeymoon phase with it — feeling good, energy, sleep, motivation, all of it. Alongside that I've had a Reta and Tirz combo going for 8 weeks now, both at low doses: 2.5mg Tirz, 2mg Reta. My aim was a higher GLP-1/GIP ratio so the food noise gets shut down properly. Reta plus Cag might have been the alternative, but I already have the Tirz and it's doing the job. 30 lbs in a month and a half. Not too bad.
Click to expand...
The Envy Evocation operation paid off.

msyntakz said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

Appreciate it, and best of luck on your journey. How many months has the combo been going for you?
Click to expand...
My test has been at 120mg and I'm going into week three. Deep into the honeymoon phase with it — feeling good, energy, sleep, motivation, all of it. Alongside that I've had a Reta and Tirz combo going for 8 weeks now, both at low doses: 2.5mg Tirz, 2mg Reta. My aim was a higher GLP-1/GIP ratio so the food noise gets shut down properly. Reta plus Cag might have been the alternative, but I already have the Tirz and it's doing the job. 30 lbs in a month and a half. Not too bad.
Click to expand...
Envy Evocation, the 2.0 version
 
RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
Short of being freakishly tall, that composition is IFBB pro territory. Best of luck on the mass monster road! Keep posting updates on how it's going
 
Tbagger said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
Short of being freakishly tall, that composition is IFBB pro territory. Best of luck on the mass monster road! Keep posting updates on how it's going
Click to expand...
Agreed. A physique like that is a moment in time sort of goal. The moment you come off that stack, you'll either expand or contract — depending on whether it's the peptides or the anabolics you drop, respectively.
 
Tbagger said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
Short of being freakishly tall, that composition is IFBB pro territory. Best of luck on the mass monster road! Keep posting updates on how it's going
Click to expand...
Getting down to that low a BF isn't new to me, though back then my bw was much lower at 189lbs. Then my training changed direction — years of powerlifting and strongman on a surplus diet took me up to 268 to be exact, at 5’10”. These days the aim is a recomp: hold a lower bf while adding lean tissue without much bf coming with it.

My actual job and my kids reshaped my workload and schedule, which pushed my training toward a powerbuilding style with the occasional strongman movement mixed in. The volume and the hours the gym demanded were something I could no longer sustain while balancing work and family.
 
JimGainz said:

TRT has been my protocol for several years, starting at age 50. Low dose Reta maintenance is what I'm reading up on now. Your metabolism goes up on TRT and that in turn leaves you hungry. There's still work ahead for me — getting some back water and learning Crypto — and I'm hoping July is when Reta starts. One thing that nags at me is the rise in RHR from Reta, given TRT already has mine running high.
Click to expand...
What I've seen is that RHR largely settles once you've been through an adjustment and saturation period. In my N1, most sides do the same. I'm 45 and 4 months in (working up to 4 mg /wk slowly), and titrating gradually may be why the sides were milder for me. Already (2-3 more weeks, if I had to guess) I'm looking at titrating down to maintenance, since it's worked so well (down 45 lb. in a year, roughly 25 of that with Reta after a long stall) and I'm around 10 lbs. from my ultimate goal/bf%. Maintaining from here on is the plan, given the marked impacts I've felt beyond fat loss.
 
RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
How long was it before it kicked in for you? 200mg/week TRT is where I've been for about 8 weeks. Reta at 2mg every 6 days as well. The Reta doesn't feel like it's started working on me yet...
 
Bastogne22 said:

RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
How long was it before it kicked in for you? 200mg/week TRT is where I've been for about 8 weeks. Reta at 2mg every 6 days as well. The Reta doesn't feel like it's started working on me yet...
Click to expand...
At 2mg things were subtle for me, even with .5 increases. 4mg hit like a smack in the face — cravings vanished, eating came down to only what I had to eat, digestion slowed, and the bf started falling fast
 
It's great to see other people getting positive results and putting their lives back together!

At 44, the Reta and TRT pairing has changed everything for me. My dose just came down to 100mg twice a week (from 125mg twice a week) since my total sat at 1555 with free in the few hundreds at the end of a cycle. There was a time I was pumping 300mg/week and still hovering around 300-400ng/dL. A huge amount of body fat is gone (down to 205, from nearly 300lbs), anastrazole is behind me, and I've brought the TRT dose down stepwise as my body composition improved.

Near the end of all this you'll feel like an entirely new person — just trust the process, keep your head down, and keep working toward your goal!
 
RamCummins6.7 said:

What’s up, everyone. TRT has been part of my life for about 3 years now, and I’m happy I went that direction. Diet and training took me up to around 270 lbs on a bulk. Powerlifting and Strongman have always been my sports. Then my role at work changed and the hours grew, so the same pace wasn’t sustainable and I moved over to a powerbuilding routine. Wanting to shed weight and lean out, I went the recomp route — calories came down from roughly 5k to 2500 and Reta went in. Once it took hold I genuinely love what it’s doing for me. Everything people say about food noise and losing cravings is true, and it makes eating at a deficit easy. Cravings for things like alcohol went away as well. My body is more insulin sensitive now, which means more daytime energy and no crash, no need for coffee or pre-workout. Reta has been in for about 2 months, I’m down to 247 lbs, and I’m working my way up to 5mg.

Getting down to 235-240 at around 10-12% BF and holding it there while still

adding lean muscle and keeping my strength is the goal. This is a great board, and I'm reading a lot of threads and picking up valuable inforl from all over.
Click to expand...
Was it a medical professional you went through, or did the forums get you sorted? I'm female, and getting help is like pulling teeth.
 
So far, at 5mg for me, the positive effects are all back and the negatives aren't. My wife is 3 weeks in at 8mg and it's only just starting to hit her, with a bit of nausea still around. Making sure she gets her protein is the main thing, but her waistline and legs have leaned out markedly.
 
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