Reta Starting Dose: Gradual Ramp vs. Going Straight to 2 mg per Week

MarcTheAnimal

MarcTheAnimal

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I'd like to open a conversation about the initial dose of Reta and collect some firsthand accounts from others.

My own approach was extremely careful:

  • 0.5 mg across 2 weeks
  • after that, 1 mg for 2 more weeks
  • in the second week at 1 mg, I divided the week in two and injected an additional 1 mg
As a result, my current schedule is:

  • 1 mg each Tuesday at 6 am
  • 1 mg each Friday at 6 pm
To be honest, it's only at this point that I feel I've landed on the dose that suits me. Up until then, I could hardly claim to notice anything, apart from perhaps a slight effect roughly an hour after the shot.

I chose this route because I came across many reports from rats that went directly to 2 mg and later regretted it due to sides. Still, I now genuinely question whether beginning below 2 mg is actually useful for adaptation in real life, or whether a lot of people are just postponing any meaningful effects.

My weight did not budge at all until I hit a total of 2 mg/week. I should add that I'm already fit and not heavily overweight, so perhaps that makes a difference compared with those who have far more body fat to shed.

How did your starting doses go?

Do you believe gradual titration under 2 mg genuinely assists the body in adapting, or is it frequently pointless for those who handle it fine?

I'm keen to hear a range of views. Thanks for reading.
 
Sadly, there is no way to tell ahead of time whether it will sit well with you. My own approach was to begin with 1mg, then add another 1mg each week. Roughly 3 weeks back I reached 4mg. The one exception was when I switched suppliers — I stayed at 3mg for that step, worried the new product might behave differently.
 
I jumped right in at 2mg each week, and it brought on severe diarrhea. I attempted to push through, yet it refused to ease up, so I've dropped to 1mg at this point and everything appears fine.
 
Jaylar said:

I jumped right in at 2mg each week, and it brought on severe diarrhea. I attempted to push through, yet it refused to ease up, so I've dropped to 1mg at this point and everything appears fine.
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I appreciate the input. It makes me curious whether beginning at a higher dose right away would have brought on any side effects for me.
 
You handled it the right way. In my view, a gradual approach makes more sense, particularly when someone doesn't have much weight to lose. Once I hit 1.5 mg, that's when genuine appetite reduction kicked in, and my glucagon pathway seemed highly active. My sleep felt worse, and my resting heart rate went up.

At 2 mg, where are you seeing the real benefit? Is it the appetite suppression doing it? Or is it the weight coming off?
 
Omxxl said:

You handled it the right way. In my view, a gradual approach makes more sense, particularly when someone doesn't have much weight to lose. Once I hit 1.5 mg, that's when genuine appetite reduction kicked in, and my glucagon pathway seemed highly active. My sleep felt worse, and my resting heart rate went up.

At 2 mg, where are you seeing the real benefit? Is it the appetite suppression doing it? Or is it the weight coming off?
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Both. Up until then, the number on the scale had barely budged. My portions have always been huge, and early on my cravings actually got stronger, particularly for chocolate and sweets.

It's only at this point that the nonstop food thoughts have eased. Since January I've still been eating 5–6 small meals per day, but each one is tiny and spread apart, mostly so I can keep protein up.
 
MarcTheAnimal said:

I'd like to open a conversation about the initial dose of Reta and collect some firsthand accounts from others.

My own approach was extremely careful:

  • 0.5 mg across 2 weeks
  • after that, 1 mg for 2 more weeks
  • in the second week at 1 mg, I divided the week in two and injected an additional 1 mg
As a result, my current schedule is:

  • 1 mg each Tuesday at 6 am
  • 1 mg each Friday at 6 pm
To be honest, it's only at this point that I feel I've landed on the dose that suits me. Up until then, I could hardly claim to notice anything, apart from perhaps a slight effect roughly an hour after the shot.

I chose this route because I came across many reports from rats that went directly to 2 mg and later regretted it due to sides. Still, I now genuinely question whether beginning below 2 mg is actually useful for adaptation in real life, or whether a lot of people are just postponing any meaningful effects.

My weight did not budge at all until I hit a total of 2 mg/week. I should add that I'm already fit and not heavily overweight, so perhaps that makes a difference compared with those who have far more body fat to shed.

How did your starting doses go?

Do you believe gradual titration under 2 mg genuinely assists the body in adapting, or is it frequently pointless for those who handle it fine?

I'm keen to hear a range of views. Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

my first dose was a screw-up — I was supposed to take 2mg but took 4mg instead (please don't ask how). I felt awful, couldn't face food, the whole lot.

week 2 I dropped to 2mg, and got stomach cramps plus either constipation or dhiarea. from week 3 onward though, I split it: 1mg on Mondays, then another 1mg on Thursdays.

that pattern has been ideal for me — zero symptoms and weight coming off at a steady rate (too well, honestly!)

appetite is somewhat blunted, but nowhere near what others describe; the food noise has vanished entirely. I keep to my macros and hit my protein target every day.

two friends started on feta with my help, and I told them to begin at 0.5 for the first dose.

friend number one got every side effect going, but they'd cleared by week 2. he's moving up to 1mg next week.

my view: begin at 0.5 and let your body adjust, then climb gradually toward whatever dose you're aiming for. for most people the sweet spot looks like 2mg, without losing weight drastically fast.
 
Llanitox said:

MarcTheAnimal said:

I'd like to open a conversation about the initial dose of Reta and collect some firsthand accounts from others.

My own approach was extremely careful:

  • 0.5 mg across 2 weeks
  • after that, 1 mg for 2 more weeks
  • in the second week at 1 mg, I divided the week in two and injected an additional 1 mg
As a result, my current schedule is:

  • 1 mg each Tuesday at 6 am
  • 1 mg each Friday at 6 pm
To be honest, it's only at this point that I feel I've landed on the dose that suits me. Up until then, I could hardly claim to notice anything, apart from perhaps a slight effect roughly an hour after the shot.

I chose this route because I came across many reports from rats that went directly to 2 mg and later regretted it due to sides. Still, I now genuinely question whether beginning below 2 mg is actually useful for adaptation in real life, or whether a lot of people are just postponing any meaningful effects.

My weight did not budge at all until I hit a total of 2 mg/week. I should add that I'm already fit and not heavily overweight, so perhaps that makes a difference compared with those who have far more body fat to shed.

How did your starting doses go?

Do you believe gradual titration under 2 mg genuinely assists the body in adapting, or is it frequently pointless for those who handle it fine?

I'm keen to hear a range of views. Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...

my first dose was a screw-up — I was supposed to take 2mg but took 4mg instead (please don't ask how). I felt awful, couldn't face food, the whole lot.

week 2 I dropped to 2mg, and got stomach cramps plus either constipation or dhiarea. from week 3 onward though, I split it: 1mg on Mondays, then another 1mg on Thursdays.

that pattern has been ideal for me — zero symptoms and weight coming off at a steady rate (too well, honestly!)

appetite is somewhat blunted, but nowhere near what others describe; the food noise has vanished entirely. I keep to my macros and hit my protein target every day.

two friends started on feta with my help, and I told them to begin at 0.5 for the first dose.

friend number one got every side effect going, but they'd cleared by week 2. he's moving up to 1mg next week.

my view: begin at 0.5 and let your body adjust, then climb gradually toward whatever dose you're aiming for. for most people the sweet spot looks like 2mg, without losing weight drastically fast.
Click to expand...
I appreciate you sharing that. It makes me think about whether jumping in right away, the way the two of us are running it now, would have brought on side effects for me...

As things stand, this protocol feels quite comfortable to me right now.
 
I jumped right in at 2mg weekly and dealt with side effects (diarrhoea, feeling cold constantly, sensitive skin). Those faded after roughly 3 weeks, and when I later increased to 4mg I switched to split dosing; the same side effects came back but milder during the first week, and after that I didn't notice anything significant. It looks like I get sides during the first week whenever I titrate up—I just moved to 6mg this week and I'm feeling chilly once more.

At the start I weighed 197lb. I'm a 5ft 3 F, obese category, so I had plenty of weight to lose. I've been on it since 24th Jan.
 
My research began with 0.25 mg, just to check whether the rat could handle it. From there I moved her up to 0.5 mg. At present she receives 1.25 mg, and the next step will be 1.5 mg. She notices nothing at all and continues to overeat. For close to 2 years she had been taking M@njaro 15mg; right now she is stepping that down to 12.5mg, and later this month to 10mg. The rat has dropped 38% of her bodyweight, and maybe that is the limit, though I cannot say. I will need to try reta in my research for a few months.
 
I started out with 1mg each week, then bumped it up to 1.5mg the following week. My reason for using it is the metabolic advantages, not shedding pounds. Once I started dropping weight I didn't want to lose (my BMI is 19.3), I returned to 1mg per week.
 
I began following the Lilly trial protocol, but then I adjusted it. 2mg for 4 weeks, then 4mg for 5 weeks, then 6mg for 6 weeks, then 7mg for 3 weeks, and I’m just now starting 8mg. Over 18 weeks I’ve been losing an average of 2.2lbs each week. That’s 40lbs, or 18kg for a few of you guys.
 
Here is how Eli lilly ran the dosing in its phase 3 Trial (Triumph):

2mg/week x4

4mg/week x4

6mg/week x4

9mg/week x4

12mg/week x4

I made it to 12mg and stayed there 2 weeks, at which point I reached my goal. These days I'm back at 6mg/week.
 
Buffalo_beau said:

Took my initial 1MG dose this morning. Only time will reveal the outcome. If anyone wants, I can share updates as things progress.
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Since Wednesday night I've clearly been noticing the effects. My body reacts quite strongly (which I count as fortunate) to these, which explains my choice of 1mg as the starting point. Yesterday brought mild queasiness, but it wasn't severe. I'd read that appetite suppression tends to be weaker, yet by Friday afternoon it's doing the job nicely for me. One thing stood out: my anxiety has gone up. Nothing extreme. Has anyone else had that happen?
 
appreciate you sharing this, it cleared up nearly everything I was wondering about since I'll soon be beginning my jopurney with this.
 
With Reta, my concern was RHR (on Sema it climbed from the 50's into the low 70's). That's why I began at 1mg for 2 weeks, and after seeing there was no issue I moved up to 2 mg. From there I stuck with the trial titration schedule. Side-effects stayed away until 6 mg (severe allodynia). I reached my goal weight while on 8 mg, then titrated back down. Currently at 3 mgs with no side-effects at all and keeping the weight off.
 
Wednesday night was when I injected 1mg for the very first time. Despite my usual magnesium and glycine, sleep did not come easily. Throughout the day I consumed only protein shakes and vitamins, and that held true even with early morning strength sessions, right up until I got home from work, where my wife had dinner ready on Thursday and Friday. Today brought my first lunch craving, and I gave in to it. I'm thinking about taking another 1mg tonight; if I go ahead, I'll stick with a split schedule and take 1mg again next Wednesday.
 
jc1892 said:

Wednesday night was when I injected 1mg for the very first time. Despite my usual magnesium and glycine, sleep did not come easily. Throughout the day I consumed only protein shakes and vitamins, and that held true even with early morning strength sessions, right up until I got home from work, where my wife had dinner ready on Thursday and Friday. Today brought my first lunch craving, and I gave in to it. I'm thinking about taking another 1mg tonight; if I go ahead, I'll stick with a split schedule and take 1mg again next Wednesday.
Click to expand...
Be sure to consume enough protein.
 
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