Reta and short breaks

[rpadevman]

My girlfriend and I have been using Reta for close to 3 months now. We recently increased the dose to 4mg, and the last injection was 5 days ago. We've got a 7 night cruise coming up in 1 week, and we're considering holding off on the next pin until we're back. I mean, unlimited free food is kind of a major perk of a cruise!

So, has anyone here done a similar pause? Would 12 days be long enough for our appetite to return, and once we're back, is it generally okay to resume at the same dose we left off at?

 

[woundcarping]

No chance I'd go two weeks without dosing just to indulge more on a cruise.

In March I visited Orlando and Vegas, stayed on schedule with my doses, and returned weighing less than before the trip. I've got a week-long trip out east coming up next weekend, and I'll keep dosing normally through that too.

 

[HRH_IceQueen]

I'm in a comparable situation. My Reta dose was 4mg/wk, though I divided the shots into 2mg every 3.5 days. There's a procedure on my schedule, and it requires me to pause all peps for 8 to 14 days beforehand. Following that, I'll be outside the country for roughly 2 weeks, so my plan is a month-long break, then resume Reta at 1mg for 1 week and increase every 2 weeks, or according to how my body reacts, until I reach my previous level.

 

[rpadevman]

woundcarping said:

No chance I'd go two weeks without dosing just to indulge more on a cruise.

In March I visited Orlando and Vegas, stayed on schedule with my doses, and returned weighing less than before the trip. I've got a week-long trip out east coming up next weekend, and I'll keep dosing normally through that too.

Is there a specific reason or is it just personal preference? My main worry is health issues and figuring out how to resume the dose. We’ve got the drink package, so even though I don’t intend to get wasted, this is unfamiliar for me.

 

[Mochizuki0124]

From my perspective, if reta is part of your routine most of the time, then the underlying issue is usually an eating pattern that led to weight gain in the first place. Pausing it specifically so you can eat heavily works against that goal.

What I'd do instead: cut back the dose while you're on the cruise, and don't throw away months of effort across 12 days.

 

[woundcarping]

rpadevman said:

woundcarping said:

No chance I'd go two weeks without dosing just to indulge more on a cruise.

In March I visited Orlando and Vegas, stayed on schedule with my doses, and returned weighing less than before the trip. I've got a week-long trip out east coming up next weekend, and I'll keep dosing normally through that too.

Is there a specific reason or is it just personal preference? My main worry is health issues and figuring out how to resume the dose. We’ve got the drink package, so even though I don’t intend to get wasted, this is unfamiliar for me.

Stopping and Restarting Certain GLP-1s to Lose Weight May Make the Drug Less Effective



I'm not trying to kick off yet another debate on whether glp-1s should be taken for life — feels like we've already run that one into the ground. What caught my eye here is a slightly different angle: the piece covers cycling glp-1s and whether going on and off could weaken the drug's effects compared to staying on it continuously...

GLP1Chat.com

Penn Researchers: GLP-1 Medications and the Stop-Start Problem: New Research on Therapeutic Resistance



According to new research, going on and off GLP-1 drugs such as semaglutide might lead to therapeutic resistance — potentially leaving patients heavier than those who never stopped taking it.

weightcontrol.com




Repeated Withdrawal of a GLPR Agonist Induces Hyperleptinemia and Deteriorates Metabolic Health in Obese Aging UM‐HET3 Mice - PMC



GLP‐1‐based therapy is highly effective in combating aging‐associated metabolic diseases. However, the metabolic effects of frequent withdrawal from this therapy in aged, obese mice have not been previously studied. In this study, aged obese UM‐HET3 ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Losing effectiveness or potential because of cycling is exactly what I want to steer clear of.

Mochizuki0124 said:

From my perspective, if reta is part of your routine most of the time, then the underlying issue is usually an eating pattern that led to weight gain in the first place. Pausing it specifically so you can eat heavily works against that goal.

What I'd do instead: cut back the dose while you're on the cruise, and don't throw away months of effort across 12 days.

That was my first reaction too, just put more bluntly.

 

[Grrrem]

Last year I took a cruise, and looking back I really wish reta had been part of the picture! It would definitely have curbed that mindless late-night snacking on cheese, crackers and desserts.

These days, while on reta, I can basically only manage 2 alcoholic drinks in a 3 hour stretch, so a drinks package would have been a total waste for me. I get how annoying that would be if you'd already shelled out for one. Has reta changed how much you and your gf are able to drink?

If it were me, I'd keep up the weekly pins right until the cruise starts. Have a bit of fun while you're away. Don't you notice your appetite creeping up slightly in the couple of days before your next pin anyway?

 

[Flash-BCR]

I'm with the 'don't break your Reta streak' camp. Honestly, skipping a shot day isn't something I'd want to do, so it would come along with me. Tirz is what I'm running at the moment, and I've still got a handful of pharmacy pill bottles that a compounder once shipped vials inside. For anything short-haul coming up, the plan is simply to drop a reconstituted vial into one of those (they carry a script label), then pack it beside a couple of syringes and some alcohol wipes in a compact insulin travel case...

Can't speak for the OP, but my relationship with food is completely different now. I still get pleasure from eating and I'd happily try plenty of what a cruise puts out...yet 'all you can eat' holds far, far less pull for me these days. There are any number of buffet joints in my own town I could hit without ever boarding a ship...and honestly that's the last sort of place I'd pick now...GLP for life here. The overstuffed mini-freezer at home is my proof...

 

[5byfive]

Next month I've got a trip planned, and I'm considering raising my dose slightly for that week. There will be way too many tempting (and unhealthy) food choices around, and I'd have a better time if I weren't battling cravings constantly. It's frustrating to undo a month's worth of progress in just 7 days. I've experienced that before, and I have no interest in repeating it.

 

[woundcarping]

Grrrem said:

Last year I took a cruise, and looking back I really wish reta had been part of the picture! It would definitely have curbed that mindless late-night snacking on cheese, crackers and desserts.

These days, while on reta, I can basically only manage 2 alcoholic drinks in a 3 hour stretch, so a drinks package would have been a total waste for me. I get how annoying that would be if you'd already shelled out for one. Has reta changed how much you and your gf are able to drink?

If it were me, I'd keep up the weekly pins right until the cruise starts. Have a bit of fun while you're away. Don't you notice your appetite creeping up slightly in the couple of days before your next pin anyway?

Sunk Cost Fallacy

5byfive said:

Next month I've got a trip planned, and I'm considering raising my dose slightly for that week. There will be way too many tempting (and unhealthy) food choices around, and I'd have a better time if I weren't battling cravings constantly. It's frustrating to undo a month's worth of progress in just 7 days. I've experienced that before, and I have no interest in repeating it.

I've thought about bumping my dose as a precaution, and I've actually done it before, but where I am now in this process I'd rather just keep things as they are. Back in March, before I traveled, I added a preventive Tirz increase on top of my Reta. At that point I hadn't built up as much confidence in what I was doing. TRT water retention was also in the picture as I headed into that trip, so I was in a more "fragile" state. My weight was down 30lb from where I started at that time; today I sit 40lb below what I weighed on that trip, and I'm more "mature" and/or less worried about how this all unfolds.

Realistically, there's no chance I could consume enough over 1 week to undo a month's worth of progress. Across more than 6 months, my average fat loss has exceeded 2lb per week. Putting away 30k additional calories in 1 week isn't something my body can do. To add 2lb of fat (covering my usual loss plus 2lb more), I'd need an extra 2k calories daily… not happening.

Broadly speaking, my view is: don't stress the pretty stuff and don't pet the sweaty stuff. Life is for living, not losing fat. Decision fatigue is real, a week break is unlikely to affect my long term outcome in a negative way.

 

[randompersonrandom]

Look, the reason I ended up fat was that I treated “consume tons of calorie-dense food!” as a valid way to feel happy. No way I’d say “I’ll stop the medication that lets me remove eating tons of calorie-dense food as a source of happiness for 1 week, just so I can eat tons of calorie-dense food because it makes me happy.” On the cruise, I’d find other enjoyable activities.

 

[jpru2001]

Head out and have a good time with the food. Simply take smaller portions, pace yourself, and savor the flavors. That's the benefit I've gotten from reta. Feeling less hungry and filling up sooner doesn't stop me from taking pleasure in a meal.

 

[rokowho]

I pushed my injection back a couple of days on purpose, so I would have more appetite during the first part of the cruise. The doses came along with me, packed in a travel case that had a small ice pack inside. Prefilled syringes have gone with me on cruises and flights before, and nothing has ever come up. Once aboard, I just stick them in the fridge. I resume mid cruise, which means I will not still be dealing with extra hunger once I am back home.

 

[rpadevman]

Update: back from the cruise now. Went with what most people said and pinned before leaving. My worry about barely eating and missing out on the drinks package turned out to be way overblown. I actually ate more than I normally do, not out of hunger but because I didn't want to be drinking on an empty stomach. And I still came home 5 lbs lighter

 

[Reta Ed]

It stays in your body for about a month after your final injection, so keep that in mind. A few of the most intense effects will fade, but the ones that blunt alcohol—the ones that stop it from hitting GABA, which strips away most of its calming effects—need a while before they wear off.