Crazy first week

[lessthanhalf]

I was going to suggest split dosing for the skin sensitivity issue, but yours does not seem to have gotten worse with dose increases, mine is totally stable over several months and definitely worse with tiny dose increases.

You are losing 2kg per week. 37lbs over 8 weeks. or 16.8kg , even allowing for 2 to 4 kg of water weight 13-15kg in 8 weeks is still very quick especially as you are not severely over weight. I guess if you feel ok and not exhausted and wrecked it is working, but a very high calorie deficit per day for your weight, I assume you are both pretty active and not eating a lot of calories. 14 kg fat over 8 weeks is 1.75kg/w at 7700kcal / kg is a deficit of 1925 kcal/day, probably not quite that high as some will be muscle and non muscle lean mass with less calories per kilo than fat but still.

 

[smallbrainchud]

I was going to suggest split dosing for the skin sensitivity issue, but yours does not seem to have gotten worse with dose increases, mine is totally stable over several months and definitely worse with tiny dose increases.

You are losing 2kg per week. 37lbs over 8 weeks. or 16.8kg , even allowing for 2 to 4 kg of water weight 13-15kg in 8 weeks is still very quick especially as you are not severely over weight. I guess if you feel ok and not exhausted and wrecked it is working, but a very high calorie deficit per day for your weight, I assume you are both pretty active and not eating a lot of calories. 14 kg fat over 8 weeks is 1.75kg/w at 7700kcal / kg is a deficit of 1925 kcal/day, probably not quite that high as some will be muscle and non muscle lean mass with less calories per kilo than fat but still.

Thankfully the skin sensitivity issues went down by a lot. When I just started taking 4mg, it was very hard to tolerate. Now at 8mg, it really only shows up when I'm cold and even then, it's very minor.

I feel pretty great tbh. I don't have any fatigue or sleep issues. I don't live an active lifestyle either. My job involves sitting at a desk, then when I get home, I sit at another desk lol. I still eat fast food and drink plenty of flavoured energy drinks, so I'm not exactly starving myself or limiting myself in regards to what I consume. I also expect to lose muscle, but I'm okay with it.

I'll post a new thread with progress pictures next month, when I feel a little more satisfied with my appearance. I am hoping/expecting to be in the 170~ range (77kg - 81kg) by that point.

Edit: This was me 9 months into lifting, so if nothing else, I'm kind of excited to start hitting the gym again and rebuild whatever muscle I lose once I hit my goal weight of 170lbs.

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/GYM/comments/1i7y7z6/120lbs_dumbbell_bench/

 

[lessthanhalf]

It is amazing how much energy expenditure can vary and how inaccurate the standard ways of calculating it are. Going on what you are saying you have to be eating at least 1500kcal a day or more, plus at least a 1500kcal/day deficit based on the rate of weight loss, so over 3000 kcal/day despite not being severely obese or very active. After losing a lot of weight I need to eat 1600-1800kcal/day or less just to not gain weight.

 

[smallbrainchud]

It is amazing how much energy expenditure can vary and how inaccurate the standard ways of calculating it are. Going on what you are saying you have to be eating at least 1500kcal a day or more, plus at least a 1500kcal/day deficit based on the rate of weight loss, so over 3000 kcal/day despite not being severely obese or very active. After losing a lot of weight I need to eat 1600-1800kcal/day or less just to not gain weight.

I completely agree. I haven't tried to make any sense of it; I'm just happy to see the scale drop. I didn't think the rapid weight loss would continue after the initial water depletion at the start of my reta journey, but I suppose that's why it's a miracle drug. I was stuck at 202lbs for about 5 days before the scale started dropping again, which I thought was pretty weird.

Given how quickly I progressed at the gym and passed my peers, despite having a very "inefficient" workout plan, I always figured it just summed down to genetics. Seeing my body react to reta so well has reinforced that view for me.

1500 calories/day is what I used to do when I needed to lose weight from 190's to 170's. I'd honestly feel starved at 1600-1800/day, if not for reta.

 

[zkprv]

what's up with this AI slop response?

Not AI. what makes you think that? Posted something to remember -- I have friends that ran into 'drop as many calories as per day' -- they got health problems after. My point was about the limited amount of calories that can be absorbed from fat per day irrespective of what the deficit is.