Reta Early Aggressive Cut?

birdwhacker

birdwhacker

Explorer
Joined
Mar 28, 2026
Messages
591
Reaction score
0
Location
Florida
Sorry in advance, this post doesn't have much substance, but I wanted to open a thread for feedback and to see what others are doing.

To me there's a clock ticking on all of this, and I don't buy into free meals.

I'm 3 weeks into 2mg reta, split doses, and appetite suppression, which is my biggest concern, seems to be right in the sweet spot. Starting weight 237lbs, 6' white guy, never been athletic but spent years into supplements and drugs.

Week 1 I dropped 4lbs, mostly from starving myself, which left me pretty wiped out. Week 2 I tried to be a bit more disciplined but I didn't get the idea of splitting protein. Only 3lbs down. That pissed me off.

Because I'm out of work, I'm going for an aggressive cut right now. Around 120g of quality protein daily across four or five shakes, psilium husk fibre for digestive health, plus a lot of cardio. No gym access, so I'm doing what I can for upper body and core.

Basically I'm not stressing carbs, just pushing fat and calories as low as possible, something like 1500-1600 per day with 3+ hours of cardio and activity.

Has anyone taken a similar early approach? How did it go for you?

I'll only continue this until the weekend is over, I know it can't last. It isn't supposed to.
 
I'd bump your protein up to around 200g per day. That should help limit muscle loss and also assist with hunger.
 
JA$$E said:

I'd bump your protein up to around 200g per day. That should help limit muscle loss and also assist with hunger.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that would be perfect, but right now I just can't manage it.
 
Man, that protein is way too low and you're doing way too much cardio. That's the recipe for looking the same, only smaller because you're losing muscle.

Protein advice is all over the map, but I'm only a bit taller than you and I keep muscle fine on about 160 grams of protein a day.
 
Dude, if every single one of your calories is coming from 5 shakes, that is a problem. Get your nutrition from actual meals. Poultry, lean beef, turkey...

Shakes exist only as an add-on, there to cover whatever protein you did not get from actual meals.
 
sfkid said:

Dude, if every single one of your calories is coming from 5 shakes, that is a problem. Get your nutrition from actual meals. Poultry, lean beef, turkey...

Shakes exist only as an add-on, there to cover whatever protein you did not get from actual meals.
Click to expand...
That protein is a pricey beef isolate, and it also has colostrum plus organ meat mixed in. A 5 day cut should be doable for me, man. Starting tomorrow I'll change things around: 1 pound of beef along with 5 eggs. Possibly a chicken breast too.

It was eating food that landed me in this situation 🤣
 
gusterbuster said:

Man, that protein is way too low and you're doing way too much cardio. That's the recipe for looking the same, only smaller because you're losing muscle.

Protein advice is all over the map, but I'm only a bit taller than you and I keep muscle fine on about 160 grams of protein a day.
Click to expand...
What's your current streak length? During my first 2 weeks, while my protein intake was all over the place, I could tell I was losing strength. Things have improved since then, though I'm still not at the level I want. I'm still figuring out the protein side of things. I know it's not perfect, but shedding some muscle doesn't really worry me. Getting muscle back is way easier than getting rid of fat. Back when I was overweight, hitting 200g daily was effortless.
 
Going hard on the cuts doesn't do you any good (unless you happen to be an IFBB pro sitting 2 weeks out from a show).

Taking it slow and steady is what wins the race.
 
birdwhacker said:

gusterbuster said:

Man, that protein is way too low and you're doing way too much cardio. That's the recipe for looking the same, only smaller because you're losing muscle.

Protein advice is all over the map, but I'm only a bit taller than you and I keep muscle fine on about 160 grams of protein a day.
Click to expand...
What's your current streak length? During my first 2 weeks, while my protein intake was all over the place, I could tell I was losing strength. Things have improved since then, though I'm still not at the level I want. I'm still figuring out the protein side of things. I know it's not perfect, but shedding some muscle doesn't really worry me. Getting muscle back is way easier than getting rid of fat. Back when I was overweight, hitting 200g daily was effortless.
Click to expand...
That cut ran roughly 6 months. I've just wrapped up a bulk, so now I'm looking at a 2-3 month cut to bring myself back down to 12-13 percent bodyfat.

Sure, muscle memory exists and you bounce back quickly, but what's the point of suffering through a cut where you look and feel awful? On top of that, the fast cut plus the time needed to rebuild muscle probably takes longer overall than simply cutting the right way. Maybe it's some brand of toxic masculinity, or maybe it's the veteran in me, but I won't allow myself to be weak. And when you lose lean mass, there's a real chance you'll be stuck with maintenance calories that are extremely low.

There's also something few people mention, and I've witnessed it firsthand more times than I can count. Dropping weight fast while ignoring lean mass leaves you with a gaunt face paired with a strange skinny fat physique. That's exactly why facial fillers have gotten so common alongside careless glp weightloss.

I hold firmly to this view: GLPs should be used to boost how well you stick to a solid diet and training plan, not to crash your way down to a lower weight.
 
Back
Top