Will Tesa water retention go away?

[RealRustyShackleford]

Coming up on 5 weeks of Tesa at 2mg every day alongside a big calorie deficit, but the number on the scale keeps climbing.

I'm also taking Reta at 2mg, and I began 5mg of creatine daily at the same point I started Tesa.

8 pounds have been added. Whether that comes from Tesa or the creatine, I honestly don't know.

What's odd is that my feet, hands, and face don't look puffy at all. Visually it's like nothing is happening, yet the scale tells a different story.

Does anyone know when the accumulation will level off, or is stopping Tesa the only way to make that happen?

 

[Calm Logic]

Is your blood pressure still the same and within a good range?

For my part, carrying eight pounds of water weight puts extra strain on the vascular system, so I would think about dropping down to 1 mg — perhaps after checking IGF-1 and fasting insulin, A1C, and/or fasting blood glucose — or stopping altogether for a while. A "five days on, two off" schedule is something some people try, hoping it will cut down on fluid retention.

As for why no edema is visible:

Gemini said:


The reason you don't visually see typical swelling in your face or ankles is likely because GH/IGF-1 strongly promotes intracellular (intramuscular) hydration. The water is being pulled straight into the muscle bellies, making them full rather than spilling over into doughy peripheral edema.

Your muscles are absorbing the heavy brunt of it (~5 lbs), while your vascular system is only holding onto a fraction of a pound—but that tiny fraction is all it takes to shift your blood pressure metrics.

At this stage, the fluid is highly unlikely to stop accumulating or drop on its own without making a direct change to the protocol.

Click to expand...

 

[RealRustyShackleford]

Calm Logic said:

Is your blood pressure still the same and within a good range?

For my part, carrying eight pounds of water weight puts extra strain on the vascular system, so I would think about dropping down to 1 mg — perhaps after checking IGF-1 and fasting insulin, A1C, and/or fasting blood glucose — or stopping altogether for a while. A "five days on, two off" schedule is something some people try, hoping it will cut down on fluid retention.

As for why no edema is visible:

Gemini said:


The reason you don't visually see typical swelling in your face or ankles is likely because GH/IGF-1 strongly promotes intracellular (intramuscular) hydration. The water is being pulled straight into the muscle bellies, making them full rather than spilling over into doughy peripheral edema.

Your muscles are absorbing the heavy brunt of it (~5 lbs), while your vascular system is only holding onto a fraction of a pound—but that tiny fraction is all it takes to shift your blood pressure metrics.

At this stage, the fluid is highly unlikely to stop accumulating or drop on its own without making a direct change to the protocol.

Click to expand...

I got labs drawn just before beginning, and all results were normal. I also went back and updated my first post to mention that 5mg of creatine per day was added at the same point as the Tesa. Given that both creatine and Tesa might be contributing, is an 8-pound increase still unreasonable?

 

[Calm Logic]

Much less worrying at this point. Still, blood pressure is worth watching.

 

[Pepperboi]

From what I've gathered, Tesa needs roughly 4 weeks before results appear; during the 2nd month it's expected to fade, and by the 3rd month it ought to begin dropping off. Creatine definitely causes water retention too. All the material I've come across about Tesa pretty much advised ignoring the scale and instead watching visceral fat areas only in a surface-level way. Could be worth reducing creatine for a few days to check whether things move the opposite way.

 

[Habibibi]

RealRustyShackleford said:

Coming up on 5 weeks of Tesa at 2mg every day alongside a big calorie deficit, but the number on the scale keeps climbing.

I'm also taking Reta at 2mg, and I began 5mg of creatine daily at the same point I started Tesa.

8 pounds have been added. Whether that comes from Tesa or the creatine, I honestly don't know.

What's odd is that my feet, hands, and face don't look puffy at all. Visually it's like nothing is happening, yet the scale tells a different story.

Does anyone know when the accumulation will level off, or is stopping Tesa the only way to make that happen?

Once you quit, that water retention clears up. Should you remain on it, a few months down the line it may also resolve. The most useful step would be picking up a smart scale, so that when you weigh in you can at least tell lean mass apart from fat mass.

 

[Mochizuki0124]

An 8 lbs jump looks like more than plain water retention to me.

What does your day to day movement look like? How about food and sodium?

Bumping the reta up may be worth considering too.

 

[RealRustyShackleford]

Mochizuki0124 said:

An 8 lbs jump looks like more than plain water retention to me.

What does your day to day movement look like? How about food and sodium?

Bumping the reta up may be worth considering too.

My diet is on point: no more than 1500 calories daily, 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, with carbs and fats kept low.

On top of that, I've been strength training and my lifts are climbing.