Reta Begins - Blog

[UnusualLLama]

px1984 said:

I'm having a good time with this since my situation is almost identical — early 40s, hitting the gym regularly, only somewhat taller and somewhat heavier than you, and definitely without your RHR. Mine sits at about 60, though honestly cardio has never been something I enjoy.

Took my initial shot on Sunday, so I'm roughly 4 days in. Weekdays are simple for me because I'm away for work and bring all my meals along, so everything is arranged while doing intermittent fasting. Early on I really wondered whether it was doing anything, since food noise still felt fairly typical, but because I fast for 16hrs I figured Reta simply doesn't erase every bit of hunger noise, plus I only used 0.5mg in week 1 and plan to move up to 1mg next week.

What I did notice was putting in a bit more effort at the gym, and sweating came much more easily, happening on lifts where that never usually occurs. Whether the extra effort is a placebo of "if you are injecting yourself you should probably put max effort in", I can't say.

My starting weight was 92.2kg on our rubbish bathroom scales on Monday morning beforehand (following a weekend away with plenty of food/drink), and this morning the scale showed 89.3kg. Truly the first time I've been under 90kg in roughly 15 years, and I definitely look different in the mirror, though I realize it will be water loss and such — still, even after days of fasting I hadn't seen that number, and I've actually eaten more good calories daily this week than I typically would.

As for sides, I definitely experienced the hydration aspect along with itchy skin and dry eyes, and had to increase to 2 electrolyte sachets daily when normally I'd just take 1 in the morning; those seem to have settled now. Food noise is quieting somewhat, but I haven't reached the weekend yet! Nothing major on RHR so far either

I realize that skin that's itchy or sensitive may be a side effect, though dry eyes weren't something I'd heard about.

In any case, right now is the worst part of allergy season where I am, so there's no way to know whether that could be a side effect in my case or simply how things always are for me during this part of the year

 

[UnusualLLama]

Last night's RHR reading came in at 50bpm, which falls outside what I normally see.

Looking back, the first genuine uptick showed up 2-days post-pinning, right after that initial injection. Given that there's now more reta circulating than there was a week ago, an increase like this doesn't seem too surprising.

Then again, it could just be a weird reading. I ate later than usual yesterday, and I could still feel food sitting in my stomach as I went to bed — eating late tends to nudge my RHR upward.

On top of that, my HRV has been trending down over roughly the past week. I may give breathwork a shot to see whether it helps, and if not, I'll just keep watching it.

 

[px1984]

UnusualLLama said:

Last night's RHR reading came in at 50bpm, which falls outside what I normally see.

Looking back, the first genuine uptick showed up 2-days post-pinning, right after that initial injection. Given that there's now more reta circulating than there was a week ago, an increase like this doesn't seem too surprising.

Then again, it could just be a weird reading. I ate later than usual yesterday, and I could still feel food sitting in my stomach as I went to bed — eating late tends to nudge my RHR upward.

On top of that, my HRV has been trending down over roughly the past week. I may give breathwork a shot to see whether it helps, and if not, I'll just keep watching it.

Have you kept your dose at 1mg?

 

[UnusualLLama]

px1984 said:

UnusualLLama said:

Last night's RHR reading came in at 50bpm, which falls outside what I normally see.

Looking back, the first genuine uptick showed up 2-days post-pinning, right after that initial injection. Given that there's now more reta circulating than there was a week ago, an increase like this doesn't seem too surprising.

Then again, it could just be a weird reading. I ate later than usual yesterday, and I could still feel food sitting in my stomach as I went to bed — eating late tends to nudge my RHR upward.

On top of that, my HRV has been trending down over roughly the past week. I may give breathwork a shot to see whether it helps, and if not, I'll just keep watching it.

Have you kept your dose at 1mg?

Yes, I'm still on 1mg since I'm only in week 2. The idea that there's extra reta in my body comes purely from the half-life — meaning some of the week 1 dose is still circulating alongside the 1mg from week 2.

 

[Lovedog100]

UnusualLLama said:

Here we go then..

A little background first: I'm a guy in his 40's, generally in good health, and for more than 10 years I've been consistently hitting the gym and staying active. Getting lean, though, has never worked out for me.

Strength and size come easily enough, but lean is a different story. My genetics seem to prefer a softer look than I'd choose (right now I'm sitting at roughly 20-22% bf), so I looked into GLP's, and once Reta caught my eye, I was basically decided.

My approach - the smallest possible dose, just enough to nudge things in the right direction.

My current weight and bf% have been stable for some time and it's not unmanageable, but leaning out is the goal, and I'm hoping reta takes on some of that heavy lifting. So I figured I'd share weekly observations here as things progress, since similar posts from others have been genuinely useful to me.

Basic stats

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weight - 79kg/174.165lbs

Body fat estimate - 20-22% (withings scale, not the most accurate I know, but I'm tracking trends)

Resting heart rate average - 44-46

Blood pressure average - 110/71

Starting dose: 1mg reta

Initial thoughts and observations

Well, that first time definitely gets the heart going a bit. After way too many videos on reconstituting reta, plus reading up on injections and everything else, I finally went ahead and did it.

Mistake number one: every syringe I own is 1ml, and I wanted 2ml of BAC water in my reta vial, which holds 20mg reta. That meant 2 injections of BAC into the vial, and I briefly thought I'd ruined everything because a few small lumps of reta remained after I'd rolled it around, though they did dissolve in the end.

Then came drawing the right dose. I'm starting at 1mg, and somehow I'd talked myself into believing it would probably fill the syringe, taking 2 minutes just to get it all in during 1 go, but when I actually pulled it to the target amount it was tiny.

Tiny tiny tiny, 10 units.

So a part of me is sitting there thinking "Surely not, that can't really do anything, can it. That tiny little sliver of fluid?"

Regardless, off we went and I pinned it with no problems.

I'd half expected some big dramatic reaction, maybe someone bursting out of a closet with a trumpet and party poppers, but no, that was it. In and done.

Nothing much sensation-wise after pinning either, perhaps a slight bit of heat? Though I suspect that's my head more than anything else.

Now the waiting begins. I'm still trying to work out what, exactly, this is going to feel like. That's the tricky part for me at the moment, not knowing what to expect on that front. Maybe it's because being hungry and having cravings is such a normal state half the time that the thought of possibly not feeling that as much is a strange concept?

I dunno, we'll see how it goes, I'm mostly hoping that a combination of reduced snacking (especially at the weekends) and a slight boost to my metabolism (I spend most of my days in front of a computer, so the 2 hours in the morning when I'm working out is the majority of my daily activity) will help turn this perpetual state of maintenance into a steady deficit, but I know some people can react differently to others so time will tell.

But that's it for now, I'll probably update again on the next pin (doing once weekly), unless there are any other interesting observations I notice between now and then.

It's unlikely you'll see results from 1mg; usually 2mg works better as an initial dose. That said, based on your stats, my hunch is visceral fat is what's troubling you. People who exercise regularly often have a stubborn belly they can't shift, and that's not regular body fat. For the visceral fat surrounding your organs, Tesamorlin is the superior option. It also boosts HGH output, which aids muscle growth. I stack both for an amplified fat-loss effect

 

[UnusualLLama]

Lovedog100 said:

UnusualLLama said:

Here we go then..

A little background first: I'm a guy in his 40's, generally in good health, and for more than 10 years I've been consistently hitting the gym and staying active. Getting lean, though, has never worked out for me.

Strength and size come easily enough, but lean is a different story. My genetics seem to prefer a softer look than I'd choose (right now I'm sitting at roughly 20-22% bf), so I looked into GLP's, and once Reta caught my eye, I was basically decided.

My approach - the smallest possible dose, just enough to nudge things in the right direction.

My current weight and bf% have been stable for some time and it's not unmanageable, but leaning out is the goal, and I'm hoping reta takes on some of that heavy lifting. So I figured I'd share weekly observations here as things progress, since similar posts from others have been genuinely useful to me.

Basic stats

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weight - 79kg/174.165lbs

Body fat estimate - 20-22% (withings scale, not the most accurate I know, but I'm tracking trends)

Resting heart rate average - 44-46

Blood pressure average - 110/71

Starting dose: 1mg reta

Initial thoughts and observations

Well, that first time definitely gets the heart going a bit. After way too many videos on reconstituting reta, plus reading up on injections and everything else, I finally went ahead and did it.

Mistake number one: every syringe I own is 1ml, and I wanted 2ml of BAC water in my reta vial, which holds 20mg reta. That meant 2 injections of BAC into the vial, and I briefly thought I'd ruined everything because a few small lumps of reta remained after I'd rolled it around, though they did dissolve in the end.

Then came drawing the right dose. I'm starting at 1mg, and somehow I'd talked myself into believing it would probably fill the syringe, taking 2 minutes just to get it all in during 1 go, but when I actually pulled it to the target amount it was tiny.

Tiny tiny tiny, 10 units.

So a part of me is sitting there thinking "Surely not, that can't really do anything, can it. That tiny little sliver of fluid?"

Regardless, off we went and I pinned it with no problems.

I'd half expected some big dramatic reaction, maybe someone bursting out of a closet with a trumpet and party poppers, but no, that was it. In and done.

Nothing much sensation-wise after pinning either, perhaps a slight bit of heat? Though I suspect that's my head more than anything else.

Now the waiting begins. I'm still trying to work out what, exactly, this is going to feel like. That's the tricky part for me at the moment, not knowing what to expect on that front. Maybe it's because being hungry and having cravings is such a normal state half the time that the thought of possibly not feeling that as much is a strange concept?

I dunno, we'll see how it goes, I'm mostly hoping that a combination of reduced snacking (especially at the weekends) and a slight boost to my metabolism (I spend most of my days in front of a computer, so the 2 hours in the morning when I'm working out is the majority of my daily activity) will help turn this perpetual state of maintenance into a steady deficit, but I know some people can react differently to others so time will tell.

But that's it for now, I'll probably update again on the next pin (doing once weekly), unless there are any other interesting observations I notice between now and then.

It's unlikely you'll see results from 1mg; usually 2mg works better as an initial dose. That said, based on your stats, my hunch is visceral fat is what's troubling you. People who exercise regularly often have a stubborn belly they can't shift, and that's not regular body fat. For the visceral fat surrounding your organs, Tesamorlin is the superior option. It also boosts HGH output, which aids muscle growth. I stack both for an amplified fat-loss effect

I don't think 2mg is a superior starting dose. In my honest opinion, treating "this is the best dose to start on" as something fixed isn't a great idea, because it really comes down to the individual and how they respond.

That said, I do agree that 2mg is what the trials are using.

But yeah, on 1mg I'm already seeing results. So for now we keep going with this. The smart approach in my book is the lowest functional dose.

 

[Smiter]

All is unfolding exactly as it should. The reta from your initial injection is what reached your heart—your shots haven't started taking effect yet...that super-fast pulse of yours likely sent the Reta into a heavy sleep rather than a surge. If your RHR sits at 40 while you're sleeping, I have to ask: did some necromancer attempt to resurrect you, then weep over his own inadequacy?

On another note, once retatruding got underway, did you pick up on any shifts in energy?

 

[JimGainz]

Lovedog100 said:

UnusualLLama said:

Here we go then..

A little background first: I'm a guy in his 40's, generally in good health, and for more than 10 years I've been consistently hitting the gym and staying active. Getting lean, though, has never worked out for me.

Strength and size come easily enough, but lean is a different story. My genetics seem to prefer a softer look than I'd choose (right now I'm sitting at roughly 20-22% bf), so I looked into GLP's, and once Reta caught my eye, I was basically decided.

My approach - the smallest possible dose, just enough to nudge things in the right direction.

My current weight and bf% have been stable for some time and it's not unmanageable, but leaning out is the goal, and I'm hoping reta takes on some of that heavy lifting. So I figured I'd share weekly observations here as things progress, since similar posts from others have been genuinely useful to me.

Basic stats

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weight - 79kg/174.165lbs

Body fat estimate - 20-22% (withings scale, not the most accurate I know, but I'm tracking trends)

Resting heart rate average - 44-46

Blood pressure average - 110/71

Starting dose: 1mg reta

Initial thoughts and observations

Well, that first time definitely gets the heart going a bit. After way too many videos on reconstituting reta, plus reading up on injections and everything else, I finally went ahead and did it.

Mistake number one: every syringe I own is 1ml, and I wanted 2ml of BAC water in my reta vial, which holds 20mg reta. That meant 2 injections of BAC into the vial, and I briefly thought I'd ruined everything because a few small lumps of reta remained after I'd rolled it around, though they did dissolve in the end.

Then came drawing the right dose. I'm starting at 1mg, and somehow I'd talked myself into believing it would probably fill the syringe, taking 2 minutes just to get it all in during 1 go, but when I actually pulled it to the target amount it was tiny.

Tiny tiny tiny, 10 units.

So a part of me is sitting there thinking "Surely not, that can't really do anything, can it. That tiny little sliver of fluid?"

Regardless, off we went and I pinned it with no problems.

I'd half expected some big dramatic reaction, maybe someone bursting out of a closet with a trumpet and party poppers, but no, that was it. In and done.

Nothing much sensation-wise after pinning either, perhaps a slight bit of heat? Though I suspect that's my head more than anything else.

Now the waiting begins. I'm still trying to work out what, exactly, this is going to feel like. That's the tricky part for me at the moment, not knowing what to expect on that front. Maybe it's because being hungry and having cravings is such a normal state half the time that the thought of possibly not feeling that as much is a strange concept?

I dunno, we'll see how it goes, I'm mostly hoping that a combination of reduced snacking (especially at the weekends) and a slight boost to my metabolism (I spend most of my days in front of a computer, so the 2 hours in the morning when I'm working out is the majority of my daily activity) will help turn this perpetual state of maintenance into a steady deficit, but I know some people can react differently to others so time will tell.

But that's it for now, I'll probably update again on the next pin (doing once weekly), unless there are any other interesting observations I notice between now and then.

It's unlikely you'll see results from 1mg; usually 2mg works better as an initial dose. That said, based on your stats, my hunch is visceral fat is what's troubling you. People who exercise regularly often have a stubborn belly they can't shift, and that's not regular body fat. For the visceral fat surrounding your organs, Tesamorlin is the superior option. It also boosts HGH output, which aids muscle growth. I stack both for an amplified fat-loss effect

This is exactly the subject I need to study further. The Reta + Tesa stack really catches my attention. At first, I assumed these two were redundant, but after reading more, I can see that some people do use both together. I am a complete beginner, yet when combined with Tesa, using only 1mg of Reta appears sensible. Actually, I have come across accounts of individuals saying they intend to stay on 1mg of Reta permanently for general wellness ... Very fascinating

 

[px1984]

Lovedog100 said:

UnusualLLama said:

Here we go then..

A little background first: I'm a guy in his 40's, generally in good health, and for more than 10 years I've been consistently hitting the gym and staying active. Getting lean, though, has never worked out for me.

Strength and size come easily enough, but lean is a different story. My genetics seem to prefer a softer look than I'd choose (right now I'm sitting at roughly 20-22% bf), so I looked into GLP's, and once Reta caught my eye, I was basically decided.

My approach - the smallest possible dose, just enough to nudge things in the right direction.

My current weight and bf% have been stable for some time and it's not unmanageable, but leaning out is the goal, and I'm hoping reta takes on some of that heavy lifting. So I figured I'd share weekly observations here as things progress, since similar posts from others have been genuinely useful to me.

Basic stats

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weight - 79kg/174.165lbs

Body fat estimate - 20-22% (withings scale, not the most accurate I know, but I'm tracking trends)

Resting heart rate average - 44-46

Blood pressure average - 110/71

Starting dose: 1mg reta

Initial thoughts and observations

Well, that first time definitely gets the heart going a bit. After way too many videos on reconstituting reta, plus reading up on injections and everything else, I finally went ahead and did it.

Mistake number one: every syringe I own is 1ml, and I wanted 2ml of BAC water in my reta vial, which holds 20mg reta. That meant 2 injections of BAC into the vial, and I briefly thought I'd ruined everything because a few small lumps of reta remained after I'd rolled it around, though they did dissolve in the end.

Then came drawing the right dose. I'm starting at 1mg, and somehow I'd talked myself into believing it would probably fill the syringe, taking 2 minutes just to get it all in during 1 go, but when I actually pulled it to the target amount it was tiny.

Tiny tiny tiny, 10 units.

So a part of me is sitting there thinking "Surely not, that can't really do anything, can it. That tiny little sliver of fluid?"

Regardless, off we went and I pinned it with no problems.

I'd half expected some big dramatic reaction, maybe someone bursting out of a closet with a trumpet and party poppers, but no, that was it. In and done.

Nothing much sensation-wise after pinning either, perhaps a slight bit of heat? Though I suspect that's my head more than anything else.

Now the waiting begins. I'm still trying to work out what, exactly, this is going to feel like. That's the tricky part for me at the moment, not knowing what to expect on that front. Maybe it's because being hungry and having cravings is such a normal state half the time that the thought of possibly not feeling that as much is a strange concept?

I dunno, we'll see how it goes, I'm mostly hoping that a combination of reduced snacking (especially at the weekends) and a slight boost to my metabolism (I spend most of my days in front of a computer, so the 2 hours in the morning when I'm working out is the majority of my daily activity) will help turn this perpetual state of maintenance into a steady deficit, but I know some people can react differently to others so time will tell.

But that's it for now, I'll probably update again on the next pin (doing once weekly), unless there are any other interesting observations I notice between now and then.

It's unlikely you'll see results from 1mg; usually 2mg works better as an initial dose. That said, based on your stats, my hunch is visceral fat is what's troubling you. People who exercise regularly often have a stubborn belly they can't shift, and that's not regular body fat. For the visceral fat surrounding your organs, Tesamorlin is the superior option. It also boosts HGH output, which aids muscle growth. I stack both for an amplified fat-loss effect

I've kicked off with 0.5mg of Reta, mainly to get a handle on which side effects show up and what kind of response it produces. So far the scale is moving in the right direction, which is encouraging. My approach is to increase gradually across a month and then reassess — nothing here feels like it has to happen on a fixed timeline, so slow and steady seems like the smart play.

There's definitely some subcutaneous fat I need to shift before anything else, but Tesamorlin has caught my attention as something worth considering down the line. The bigger worry for me is how to drop weight without sacrificing muscle mass.

Would running Reta and Tesa together be a viable way to keep the weight coming off while holding onto muscle?

 

[UnusualLLama]

Smiter said:

All is unfolding exactly as it should. The reta from your initial injection is what reached your heart—your shots haven't started taking effect yet...that super-fast pulse of yours likely sent the Reta into a heavy sleep rather than a surge. If your RHR sits at 40 while you're sleeping, I have to ask: did some necromancer attempt to resurrect you, then weep over his own inadequacy?

On another note, once retatruding got underway, did you pick up on any shifts in energy?

That's likely the reason my cats rouse me each morning — they're verifying I'm not dead.

They pick up on that kind of thing; they're cleverer than people assume.

Clever enough that the little jerks climb onto the window and part the curtains down the middle, so at 5am the sun beams straight into my eyes.

All so they can confirm I'm still breathing.

Clever.

And probably wicked too.

 

[Lovedog100]

px1984 said:

Lovedog100 said:

UnusualLLama said:

Here we go then..

A little background first: I'm a guy in his 40's, generally in good health, and for more than 10 years I've been consistently hitting the gym and staying active. Getting lean, though, has never worked out for me.

Strength and size come easily enough, but lean is a different story. My genetics seem to prefer a softer look than I'd choose (right now I'm sitting at roughly 20-22% bf), so I looked into GLP's, and once Reta caught my eye, I was basically decided.

My approach - the smallest possible dose, just enough to nudge things in the right direction.

My current weight and bf% have been stable for some time and it's not unmanageable, but leaning out is the goal, and I'm hoping reta takes on some of that heavy lifting. So I figured I'd share weekly observations here as things progress, since similar posts from others have been genuinely useful to me.

Basic stats

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weight - 79kg/174.165lbs

Body fat estimate - 20-22% (withings scale, not the most accurate I know, but I'm tracking trends)

Resting heart rate average - 44-46

Blood pressure average - 110/71

Starting dose: 1mg reta

Initial thoughts and observations

Well, that first time definitely gets the heart going a bit. After way too many videos on reconstituting reta, plus reading up on injections and everything else, I finally went ahead and did it.

Mistake number one: every syringe I own is 1ml, and I wanted 2ml of BAC water in my reta vial, which holds 20mg reta. That meant 2 injections of BAC into the vial, and I briefly thought I'd ruined everything because a few small lumps of reta remained after I'd rolled it around, though they did dissolve in the end.

Then came drawing the right dose. I'm starting at 1mg, and somehow I'd talked myself into believing it would probably fill the syringe, taking 2 minutes just to get it all in during 1 go, but when I actually pulled it to the target amount it was tiny.

Tiny tiny tiny, 10 units.

So a part of me is sitting there thinking "Surely not, that can't really do anything, can it. That tiny little sliver of fluid?"

Regardless, off we went and I pinned it with no problems.

I'd half expected some big dramatic reaction, maybe someone bursting out of a closet with a trumpet and party poppers, but no, that was it. In and done.

Nothing much sensation-wise after pinning either, perhaps a slight bit of heat? Though I suspect that's my head more than anything else.

Now the waiting begins. I'm still trying to work out what, exactly, this is going to feel like. That's the tricky part for me at the moment, not knowing what to expect on that front. Maybe it's because being hungry and having cravings is such a normal state half the time that the thought of possibly not feeling that as much is a strange concept?

I dunno, we'll see how it goes, I'm mostly hoping that a combination of reduced snacking (especially at the weekends) and a slight boost to my metabolism (I spend most of my days in front of a computer, so the 2 hours in the morning when I'm working out is the majority of my daily activity) will help turn this perpetual state of maintenance into a steady deficit, but I know some people can react differently to others so time will tell.

But that's it for now, I'll probably update again on the next pin (doing once weekly), unless there are any other interesting observations I notice between now and then.

It's unlikely you'll see results from 1mg; usually 2mg works better as an initial dose. That said, based on your stats, my hunch is visceral fat is what's troubling you. People who exercise regularly often have a stubborn belly they can't shift, and that's not regular body fat. For the visceral fat surrounding your organs, Tesamorlin is the superior option. It also boosts HGH output, which aids muscle growth. I stack both for an amplified fat-loss effect

I've kicked off with 0.5mg of Reta, mainly to get a handle on which side effects show up and what kind of response it produces. So far the scale is moving in the right direction, which is encouraging. My approach is to increase gradually across a month and then reassess — nothing here feels like it has to happen on a fixed timeline, so slow and steady seems like the smart play.

There's definitely some subcutaneous fat I need to shift before anything else, but Tesamorlin has caught my attention as something worth considering down the line. The bigger worry for me is how to drop weight without sacrificing muscle mass.

Would running Reta and Tesa together be a viable way to keep the weight coming off while holding onto muscle?

Once I had been on Reta for a month, I added Tesamorlin. The difference for me was enormous. The need to inject on 5 days each week is something I dislike, and it does disturb my sleep to some degree. Even so, combining the two has produced amazing results for me.

 

[UnusualLLama]

Week number two is in the books!

The numbers

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weigh-in - 76.5.9kg/168.6536lbs (previously 77.9kg/171.7401lbs)

My rolling 7-day average has dropped 0.7kg/1.54324lbs (matching last week's average)

Body fat estimate - a 0.6% decrease (the scale I use is a withings, and while I'm aware it isn't the most precise, I'm tracking the direction)

Resting heart rate average - 46-48 (previously 44-47)

Blood pressure average - 113/71 (previously 110/72)

Dose I'm currently running - 1mg reta

What I'm noticing

Compared to last week, my thoughts and observations haven't shifted much beyond confirming that the patterns are holding steady.

The weight is trending down well, and I'm confident the majority of it is fat. Every lift has either stayed the same or gone up slightly in the gym, though that bump might also come from cutting back to 3x strength sessions per week rather than 5x, which gives me extra recovery time between sessions (that was the whole point of switching to 3x for now).

The second reason I'm confident it's mostly fat is that I can actually see the changes in specific body areas and I'm noticing vascularity with less effort.

As for the heart-rate side of things, it's mostly unchanged from week number one, but the pattern is much clearer to me now.

Usually, about 24ish hours after I pin, my RHR climbs by a small 2-3bpm and stays there for 3-4 days before easing back toward baseline. My working heart rate behaves the same way (working zones are easier to reach, while peaks/max zones remain at the same levels).

This also connects pretty clearly to food noise and hunger. Generally, a day or two ahead of my next pin is when hunger and the chatter start creeping in. It's not really a problem, but I can feel the shift.

With that in mind, I'm actually thinking about bumping my dose up to 1.5 or even 2mg. I remember reading somewhere that if food noise and hunger show up before pinning day, that's likely a sign you need to raise your dose a bit more.

Beyond that, everything is going well. No sides worth mentioning (no nausea, no sleep issues, just a very minor HR increase). I believe I brought this up in my previous update, but the only side I could really call out would be the occasional headache brought on by not drinking enough fluids.

I'm usually good about staying on top of hydration, but there's always going to be a day where you end up short for one reason or another, and that's something I've always been a bit sensitive to.

Still, the progress is solid, so we keep pushing forward!

 

[px1984]

UnusualLLama said:

Week number two is in the books!

The numbers

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weigh-in - 76.5.9kg/168.6536lbs (previously 77.9kg/171.7401lbs)

My rolling 7-day average has dropped 0.7kg/1.54324lbs (matching last week's average)

Body fat estimate - a 0.6% decrease (the scale I use is a withings, and while I'm aware it isn't the most precise, I'm tracking the direction)

Resting heart rate average - 46-48 (previously 44-47)

Blood pressure average - 113/71 (previously 110/72)

Dose I'm currently running - 1mg reta

What I'm noticing

Compared to last week, my thoughts and observations haven't shifted much beyond confirming that the patterns are holding steady.

The weight is trending down well, and I'm confident the majority of it is fat. Every lift has either stayed the same or gone up slightly in the gym, though that bump might also come from cutting back to 3x strength sessions per week rather than 5x, which gives me extra recovery time between sessions (that was the whole point of switching to 3x for now).

The second reason I'm confident it's mostly fat is that I can actually see the changes in specific body areas and I'm noticing vascularity with less effort.

As for the heart-rate side of things, it's mostly unchanged from week number one, but the pattern is much clearer to me now.

Usually, about 24ish hours after I pin, my RHR climbs by a small 2-3bpm and stays there for 3-4 days before easing back toward baseline. My working heart rate behaves the same way (working zones are easier to reach, while peaks/max zones remain at the same levels).

This also connects pretty clearly to food noise and hunger. Generally, a day or two ahead of my next pin is when hunger and the chatter start creeping in. It's not really a problem, but I can feel the shift.

With that in mind, I'm actually thinking about bumping my dose up to 1.5 or even 2mg. I remember reading somewhere that if food noise and hunger show up before pinning day, that's likely a sign you need to raise your dose a bit more.

Beyond that, everything is going well. No sides worth mentioning (no nausea, no sleep issues, just a very minor HR increase). I believe I brought this up in my previous update, but the only side I could really call out would be the occasional headache brought on by not drinking enough fluids.

I'm usually good about staying on top of hydration, but there's always going to be a day where you end up short for one reason or another, and that's something I've always been a bit sensitive to.

Still, the progress is solid, so we keep pushing forward!

If the noise is the problem, it could help to divide the doses. This week I followed the same approach, but took them on Sunday and Thursday, which kept the noise under control.

 

[UnusualLLama]

px1984 said:

UnusualLLama said:

Week number two is in the books!

The numbers

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weigh-in - 76.5.9kg/168.6536lbs (previously 77.9kg/171.7401lbs)

My rolling 7-day average has dropped 0.7kg/1.54324lbs (matching last week's average)

Body fat estimate - a 0.6% decrease (the scale I use is a withings, and while I'm aware it isn't the most precise, I'm tracking the direction)

Resting heart rate average - 46-48 (previously 44-47)

Blood pressure average - 113/71 (previously 110/72)

Dose I'm currently running - 1mg reta

What I'm noticing

Compared to last week, my thoughts and observations haven't shifted much beyond confirming that the patterns are holding steady.

The weight is trending down well, and I'm confident the majority of it is fat. Every lift has either stayed the same or gone up slightly in the gym, though that bump might also come from cutting back to 3x strength sessions per week rather than 5x, which gives me extra recovery time between sessions (that was the whole point of switching to 3x for now).

The second reason I'm confident it's mostly fat is that I can actually see the changes in specific body areas and I'm noticing vascularity with less effort.

As for the heart-rate side of things, it's mostly unchanged from week number one, but the pattern is much clearer to me now.

Usually, about 24ish hours after I pin, my RHR climbs by a small 2-3bpm and stays there for 3-4 days before easing back toward baseline. My working heart rate behaves the same way (working zones are easier to reach, while peaks/max zones remain at the same levels).

This also connects pretty clearly to food noise and hunger. Generally, a day or two ahead of my next pin is when hunger and the chatter start creeping in. It's not really a problem, but I can feel the shift.

With that in mind, I'm actually thinking about bumping my dose up to 1.5 or even 2mg. I remember reading somewhere that if food noise and hunger show up before pinning day, that's likely a sign you need to raise your dose a bit more.

Beyond that, everything is going well. No sides worth mentioning (no nausea, no sleep issues, just a very minor HR increase). I believe I brought this up in my previous update, but the only side I could really call out would be the occasional headache brought on by not drinking enough fluids.

I'm usually good about staying on top of hydration, but there's always going to be a day where you end up short for one reason or another, and that's something I've always been a bit sensitive to.

Still, the progress is solid, so we keep pushing forward!

If the noise is the problem, it could help to divide the doses. This week I followed the same approach, but took them on Sunday and Thursday, which kept the noise under control.

That option has crossed my mind too, but realistically, at a dose this small, I doubt there's any problem with moving to 1.5/2 once per week.

Beyond that, I'm also interested in whether it would change how my heart rate responds - either a bigger effect, or the same slight bump, just spread more evenly across the week.

 

[UnusualLLama]

Another 7 days done and dusted!

The numbers

Male

Mid-40's

5'10/178cm

This morning's weight - 75.9.kg/167.3309lbs (previously 76.5.kg/168.6536lbs)

7-day rolling average has dropped 0.8kg/1.7637lbs (slightly more than the week before)

Body fat estimate - 0.3% lower (withings scale, aware it's not the most precise, but I track the direction - and since I began, withings reports a total BF drop of 1.4% and a muscle mass gain of 1.3%)

Resting heart rate average - 46-48 (unchanged from last week)

Blood pressure average - 112/69 (previously 113/71)

Dose - was 1mg reta, bumped it to 2mg yesterday

What I'm noticing

The headline here is that basically nothing shifted compared to last week, everything I wrote then still holds. The one change is that I went from 1mg to 2mg.

This isn't because "it's not doing anything" because it obviously is, I can see it, the numbers confirm it, all signs point that way. The only reason is that the last couple of days before my next pin get a bit tougher.

I'm curious how strongly dose and heart-rate will correlate, and I'll report any sides, but I expect it'll be fine.

Muscle retention rant

I'll probably ramble a bit here, but this has been on my mind a lot this past week or so, particularly after seeing my withings trends consistently show higher lean mass and lower fat numbers.

Taken at face value, that means I'm losing fat and gaining muscle. The fat loss is certain, the muscle gain I'm not sure about, but what I feel more confident in is that I'm not losing muscle. And that was one of my worries with reta. I mentioned it in my first post, I want to get lean while keeping as much muscle as I can, yet everywhere you look reta gets painted as some muscle-devouring compound you could inject into the Hulk to turn him back into Bruce Banner.

I don't believe that's true.

So here are a few things I've been turning over that I want to raise.

1. Every study shows roughly 25-30% lean mass reduction in people on Reta. But that's misleading. The world's reflex seems to be that lean mass = muscle, which isn't correct.

Lean mass covers a lot, and when you're talking about muscle specifically, it isn't even all muscle. A big chunk is water (do a heavy leg session that you feel the next day, I can easily weigh 1kg more than I should), intra-muscular fat, all kinds of things that feed into that number. But we see lean mass in the studies and people instantly think muscle.

2. Back to the studies. Most participants have clinical obesity plus a whole range of other chronic conditions, and from what I can tell, there are plenty of much older people in them too.

This matters because you're dealing not only with people whose metabolism is broken, but also people who probably aren't doing everything possible to limit lean mass loss while in a calorie deficit. Which brings me neatly to the next point.

3. Unless you're on a solid TRT dose, loaded up with SARMS (or similar), or you make a swishing noise when you move because you're pinning so many peptides daily, then anyone in a calorie deficit will lose some lean mass.

Anyone. Everyone.

And that's talking about a normal diet, eating less than you burn.

The human body is great, incredible, it does many things really really well.

But it's not perfect. You can't nail the golden ratio of calories in vs. calories out with ideal muscle stimulus and decimal-accurate protein amounts and expect the body to flip a switch and say "I'm only going to be burning 100% fat now". It's not THAT good. If you're in a deficit and losing weight, some of it will be lean mass.

Sure, you can tweak things and do the right stuff, and minimise the ratio, but you will lose lean mass. Full stop.

4. This is the point that jumps out at me most, and it's kind of wild that I don't see anyone discussing it now that I've thought about it for a while.

Lean mass to total body weight ratio.

Here's a very rough example to illustrate.

Take someone who's overweight, 50% of their total weight is lean mass, the rest fat.

That person loses weight, say with a GLP. And when they hit their goal, scans show they lost 30% lean mass.

Shocking, right? Or is it?

That person started with a lean mass to total weight ratio of 0.5 (for every lb of weight, 0.5 of it was lean mass, the rest fat).

But at the end, because only 30% of the total weight they lost was lean mass, that means the other 70% was fat.

So now, instead of a ratio of 0.5 it's probably closer to 0.7. They've gone from half their weight being lean mass to 70% of their weight being lean mass. Not only is that healthier, but it will visibly look a ton better, as well as feeling immensely better.

But this ratio never gets highlighted, it's only the "30% lean mass/muscle gone" without the proper nuance it actually needs.

So now that I've rambled way too much, my point is this. I think it's very possible to retain a very good amount of muscle (I said muscle not lean mass for a reason, read above )on Reta with just a few simple steps.

1. Easy calorie deficit, nothing too extreme. (I understand this might not be the case for everyone, some people have a lot more weight to lose, so you do you).

2. Adequate protein amounts. 1 gram of protein per estimated lb of lean mass (important distinction, lean mass, not muscle).

3. Proper stimulus for the muscles. You don't need to smash the gym 20x per week, just a few workouts where you have 1 or 2 sets in most muscle groups getting within 1-2 reps of failure should do it (I always like to push 1 set to absolute failure on most lifts where viable, don't do this for barbell squats and other compounds etc.)

4. Decent rest and recovery. This is when all of the work you put in is turned into something more than just work. Don't neglect sleep and recovery.

And that's it, rant over. I've typed way too much for something non-work related so I'm out.

Onto the next!

 

[UnusualLLama]

Side note - has anyone else noticed they're consuming less coffee while on reta? Or perhaps less caffeine overall? I know I'm certainly having less than before, and for a Swede, that's practically a crime worthy of the gallows.

 

[SeaGypsy]

UnusualLLama said:

Side note - has anyone else noticed they're consuming less coffee while on reta? Or perhaps less caffeine overall? I know I'm certainly having less than before, and for a Swede, that's practically a crime worthy of the gallows.

Yep! Coffee was something I’d sip all day long, and I’d even have a cup at night. These days I still make my morning cup, though more often than not I leave some behind. Java Monster used to be a treat I’d reach for now and then—now I don’t want them at all.

 

[px1984]

UnusualLLama said:

Side note - has anyone else noticed they're consuming less coffee while on reta? Or perhaps less caffeine overall? I know I'm certainly having less than before, and for a Swede, that's practically a crime worthy of the gallows.

Seems to cover nearly all cravings for me. I used to have 5/6 cups of tea daily, now I barely drink any — maybe 1 in 2 weeks. Alcohol urges are somewhat reduced too, and chocolate/snack cravings are totally gone.

 

[UnusualLLama]

I'll keep this one brief since work has been absolutely relentless lately.

Moved up to 2mg a week ago. No sides so far, and nothing else really stands out besides a modest bump in weight loss (despite my calorie intake staying identical) plus the food noise staying quiet during the final day or two before my next pin.

Every other metric holds steady, including heart rate at rest and during activity, so going from 1mg to 2mg made no difference there in my case.

One more thing; when the lighting hits right, the top abs are beginning to show!

 

[px1984]

UnusualLLama said:

I'll keep this one brief since work has been absolutely relentless lately.





View attachment 10446

Moved up to 2mg a week ago. No sides so far, and nothing else really stands out besides a modest bump in weight loss (despite my calorie intake staying identical) plus the food noise staying quiet during the final day or two before my next pin.

Every other metric holds steady, including heart rate at rest and during activity, so going from 1mg to 2mg made no difference there in my case.

One more thing; when the lighting hits right, the top abs are beginning to show!

What weight are you aiming for?