Reta, Anhedonia, and Fatigue: A 1-Month Update

[Don]

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

 

[sheilarae74]

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

 

[Don]

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

Honestly, that's pretty intriguing—what kind of benefits are you seeing at that dose, with 5mg per week?

 

[sheilarae74]

dondada109 said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

Honestly, that's pretty intriguing—what kind of benefits are you seeing at that dose, with 5mg per week?

During the initial 2 weeks, it left me feeling unwell. I had been injecting once per week, but once I switched to dividing the dose, that appeared to resolve it. These days, the only moments I feel terrible are if I haven't consumed enough food or taken in sufficient fluids.

 

[RascalRaccoon]

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

If I'm being honest, apathy is a better word for what I'm dealing with than anhedonia. After checking what anhedonia actually means, I can say that things still bring me joy — what's missing is the drive to actually go and do them. I remember texting my partner once delivery day was over, going on about how happy labeling makes me (crafting is a big love of mine), and that's when it clicked that joy is still there for me, so anhedonia isn't quite the right term.

Even so, I'm aware this isn't nothing. I had bloodwork done and it turns out I'm low on Vitamin D, so I've started supplementing and I'm really hoping that moves the needle. On top of that, I'm restarting semax tomorrow. Just a few small changes I'm counting on to bring some improvement.

Another thing I already know about myself: my protein intake is too low, so that's something I need to tackle. Nobody sabotages me quite like I do, haha

 

[RascalRaccoon]

Yesterday marked day 2 of my 2nd semax cycle, and this time I bought from another vendor. The result: I was SO PRODUCTIVE. Tasks that had been sitting on my to do list for weeks finally got crossed off.

No clue whether the previous batch (purchased from a single vial reseller) was simply garbage or something else, but I'm crossing my fingers that this keeps up.

 

[BlueDog55]

I've gone through this too — it hit me, so I stopped RETA for a month and things have been improving. Someone else recently started a thread on this same subject; I left a more detailed response there, and other people chimed in too. Not everyone gets affected by it, but I do. Oh, and one more thing: I was only on a low dose and just 8 weeks in when it started.

 

[pepibello]

Anhedonia isn't limited to reta — sema and tirz can bring it on too. Even though most leaflets don't officially list it, this kind of "emotional blunting" is a recognized side effect, caused by the way GLP-1/GIP medications act on the brain's dopamine and reward centers.

Anhedonia from GLP-1 Injections



Find out about anhedonia from GLP-1 injections —and why you may feel emotionally flat while losing weight.

www.pillsorted.com

 

[Crowreap]

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

 

[Don]

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

 

[Crowreap]

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

 

[coach chickpea]

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

 

[Don]

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

 

[Don]

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

It's genuinely fascinating how much variation there is between people when it comes to dosing and reactions, yet we all still end up experiencing what Reta does.

That makes me wonder whether there's a psychological piece at play — some folks treat eating as nothing more than fueling up, while others, myself included, are in it for the mouth orgasms hahah

 

[Crowreap]

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

I'm in the same boat — everything hits me hard, and 1 mg is all I need right now.

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

Alright, so given that you're lean, it might just be reta's side effects at play. You're still getting appetite suppression, but you're also dragging — which makes me wonder if your dose is simply too high. When I inject 1 mg, the following day I'm a bit wiped out, both in my head and in my body. Then the day after that, everything goes back to baseline. So if reta is giving you both the effects and the side effects, try dropping the dose next week and see what happens.

 

[coach chickpea]

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

I'm in the same boat — everything hits me hard, and 1 mg is all I need right now.

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

Alright, so given that you're lean, it might just be reta's side effects at play. You're still getting appetite suppression, but you're also dragging — which makes me wonder if your dose is simply too high. When I inject 1 mg, the following day I'm a bit wiped out, both in my head and in my body. Then the day after that, everything goes back to baseline. So if reta is giving you both the effects and the side effects, try dropping the dose next week and see what happens.

Yep, my dose is already down. That looks like what set it off.

 

[Crowreap]

coach chickpea said:

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

I'm in the same boat — everything hits me hard, and 1 mg is all I need right now.

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

Alright, so given that you're lean, it might just be reta's side effects at play. You're still getting appetite suppression, but you're also dragging — which makes me wonder if your dose is simply too high. When I inject 1 mg, the following day I'm a bit wiped out, both in my head and in my body. Then the day after that, everything goes back to baseline. So if reta is giving you both the effects and the side effects, try dropping the dose next week and see what happens.

Yep, my dose is already down. That looks like what set it off.

That's the nature of these weight loss medications, honestly. The variation between individuals blows my mind — a dose in mg that does nothing for one person can be plenty for someone else. So there's a lot of trial and error happening, plus a lot of self-experimentation, which I actually find enjoyable. Even so, reading forums, watching videos, and going through Reddit threads still gives you a decent amount of anecdotal evidence. So I keep picking up new things!

 

[Don]

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

I'm in the same boat — everything hits me hard, and 1 mg is all I need right now.

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

Alright, so given that you're lean, it might just be reta's side effects at play. You're still getting appetite suppression, but you're also dragging — which makes me wonder if your dose is simply too high. When I inject 1 mg, the following day I'm a bit wiped out, both in my head and in my body. Then the day after that, everything goes back to baseline. So if reta is giving you both the effects and the side effects, try dropping the dose next week and see what happens.

On a lower dose, the appetite suppression effect really isn't very noticeable for me, and from the time I started, I've never experienced fatigue or anything else after injecting.

We'll see where this goes.

 

[Bastogne22]

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

I'm in the same boat — everything hits me hard, and 1 mg is all I need right now.

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

Alright, so given that you're lean, it might just be reta's side effects at play. You're still getting appetite suppression, but you're also dragging — which makes me wonder if your dose is simply too high. When I inject 1 mg, the following day I'm a bit wiped out, both in my head and in my body. Then the day after that, everything goes back to baseline. So if reta is giving you both the effects and the side effects, try dropping the dose next week and see what happens.

Yep, my dose is already down. That looks like what set it off.

That's the nature of these weight loss medications, honestly. The variation between individuals blows my mind — a dose in mg that does nothing for one person can be plenty for someone else. So there's a lot of trial and error happening, plus a lot of self-experimentation, which I actually find enjoyable. Even so, reading forums, watching videos, and going through Reddit threads still gives you a decent amount of anecdotal evidence. So I keep picking up new things!

Is there anything reliable out there for fighting this off? Phentermine? Mots-C? Pre-workout? Semax? Booger Sugar? lol

The only part that really bothers me is having no drive at all to hit the gym. Everything else about it doesn't get to me much. I'd like to figure out something that helps me move past that.

 

[sheilarae74]

Bastogne22 said:

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

Crowreap said:

coach chickpea said:

sheilarae74 said:

For the past few months, that's how I've been feeling. It's as though activities I used to take pleasure in no longer appeal to me. Over the last several weeks I've been dosing 2.5mg every 3.5 days, and the Anhedonia is beginning to let up somewhat. The fatigue is intermittent, but I've noticed that when I keep my protein intake steady across the whole day rather than having it just once or twice as I had been doing, the exhaustion isn't as bad.

At only 1mg, the blunting hit me as well—though my body overreacts to basically everything. I dropped down to .6mg, but that turned out to be insufficient, so .8mg is where I've landed. Motivation has come back, my appetite is healthy, yet cravings are gone—if that tracks.

I'm in the same boat — everything hits me hard, and 1 mg is all I need right now.

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

How tall are you and what do you weigh? With that energy intake, 200 g of carbs ought to be enough. Do you also notice feeling cold?

dondada109 said:

Crowreap said:

dondada109 said:

Hey everyone,

I figured I'd share a brief progress report after being on Reta for 1 month.

My last 3 shots have been bumped to 2mg every 5 days — roughly 2.8mg weekly. As far as keeping hunger down, it's decent; I'd give it about a 5.5/10, where 0/10 would be how hungry I normally am without Reta. That said, I fill up quite quickly (though that might also be tied to the pretty aggressive deficit I'm running right now).

The strange part: roughly 2–3 hours later, hunger comes back, even though a normal-sized meal leaves me feeling like I cleared out an all-you-can-eat buffet. Still, it's much easier to tolerate than it used to be. I'm considering raising it to 4mg per week before long, hoping to get more of the glucagon effect.

BUT here's my uncertainty — I can't tell whether it's because I'm already fairly lean and worn down from dieting, or some mix of both, but honestly my emotions have felt blunted recently. Normally I really enjoy gaming at night; it used to be the best part of my day. Right now, though, I just don't have much desire to do it.

It's not depression or anything that serious — more of a low-energy mood. Sort of like how you feel when you're hungry and run down, except you're not actually hungry. If that makes any sense.

How have you all dealt with this aspect of Retatrutide, assuming you've run into it at all? I've seen plenty of people report something similar while on it, but there's always the other camp saying they feel totally normal.

I'd really like to hear what you've experienced with this.

Similar to you, I fill up quite quickly. After that, though, I'm basically set for the following 24 hours. That's probably where our experiences diverge. Hunger doesn't hit me right away. Also worth noting: I follow OMAD, and I've been doing OMAD for years. Once I added reta, I kept fasting 24 hours a day as before, but my calorie intake dropped a lot since a few bites now make me full. My dose is 1 mg weekly, and I've kept that up for 7 weeks. I began 7 weeks ago and haven't moved to a higher dose because 1 mg works perfectly for me. Perhaps your low-energy mood comes from not taking in enough carbohydrates. I've done plenty of self-experimentation, and since starting reta my calories are much lower, and I've seen that when I eat around 50 grams of carbs, the next day feels very strange. Reta keeps me from being hungry, yet I'm completely wiped out and low on energy. On a day like that, if I take in about 150 to 220 grams of carbohydrates, the following day I feel normal again. Remember, I log my calories, so even with identical calories, my day-to-day state depends heavily on how many carbs I had the day before. I lift every day and keep protein at roughly 105 to 110 grams daily, which stays steady. Among my macros, only dietary fat and carbohydrates shift. So if you're feeling drained, you should really try raising your carbohydrate intake, and that solves everything. You mentioned being fairly lean, and I'm fairly lean too. When you're very lean, calories are extremely low, and reta means you're never hungry, carbs will rescue you, both mentally and physically.

That's definitely a fascinating thing to go through. Honestly, I get plenty of carbs, roughly 200g+ daily, with some going in before my lifts and some after, mainly to bring glycogen back up. As for protein, I'm taking in at least 150g every day right now while cutting. It's possible my body just isn't carrying much fat it can tap for fuel at the moment, so it's resisting me on that front.

Once I move back to maintenance calories or start a lean bulk, I'll have a better idea.

possibly. that hinges on how lean you happen to be.

I stand at roughly 1.82m and 75kg, sitting near 12% bf. Right now it's genuinely quite hot where I am in Germany — 30+ degrees — so no, not at the moment.

Alright, so given that you're lean, it might just be reta's side effects at play. You're still getting appetite suppression, but you're also dragging — which makes me wonder if your dose is simply too high. When I inject 1 mg, the following day I'm a bit wiped out, both in my head and in my body. Then the day after that, everything goes back to baseline. So if reta is giving you both the effects and the side effects, try dropping the dose next week and see what happens.

Yep, my dose is already down. That looks like what set it off.

That's the nature of these weight loss medications, honestly. The variation between individuals blows my mind — a dose in mg that does nothing for one person can be plenty for someone else. So there's a lot of trial and error happening, plus a lot of self-experimentation, which I actually find enjoyable. Even so, reading forums, watching videos, and going through Reddit threads still gives you a decent amount of anecdotal evidence. So I keep picking up new things!

Is there anything reliable out there for fighting this off? Phentermine? Mots-C? Pre-workout? Semax? Booger Sugar? lol

The only part that really bothers me is having no drive at all to hit the gym. Everything else about it doesn't get to me much. I'd like to figure out something that helps me move past that.

Exactly the same for me. Losing weight was something I pursued mainly because I hoped it would leave me with enough energy to actually accomplish things. That's the reason my core is so weak. There's zero drive. Getting through arm and leg days takes sheer willpower. And my eating has taken a hit as well, since I simply don't have the stamina to prepare a proper meal.