Reta vs Tirz

[Grogu]

I'd also weigh your goals vs trial data outcomes and see where you land. For example, if you're wanting to lose 30+% of your starting weight, Reta doubles or better* the likelihood vs Tirz comparing 48 week Reta trial data to 72 week Tirz data. *Reta hadn't reached plateau at 48 weeks while Tirz had at 72 weeks.

A new idea/concept I'm exploring that I got from @Grogu is the idea that our bodies adapt to the peptides in a given time, not a given dose.... the various doses curves are all similar and plateau at similar timings. Antithetical to the idea of "low and slow"... but to my knowledge there haven't been studies to show the effects of increasing dose after the plateau and observing weigh changes and comparing that to being at a higher dose before the plateau.

Yes, no studies looking at what happens if we keep increasing doses in the period we would anticipate plateaus on these medications and absolutely no studies about changing pathways in the same period (e.g. adding an amylin receptor agonist, adding phentermine/topiramate, or even metformin).

I remember an interview a while back with Dr. Jastreboff, the lead researcher on most of the tirzepatide clinical trials, and someone asked her what happens if someone doesn't achieve the desired weightloss on tirzepatide. And she said something to the effect that depending on someone's level of obesity, multiple medications might be necessary if goal isn't reached. If one stops working then she would switch the patient to another medication.

 

[sheilarae74]

Reta pros:

-higher food intake

-more energy for exercise

Tirz pros:

-more food noise suppression

-less sleep disruption

-finished with phase 3 trials and excellent safety record

-more robust/easier storage of reconstituted peptide

-?more benefit for anxiety

Hopefully reta works better for you as far as energy. I have struggled with extreme exhaustion most of the time I have been on it. I would definitely get more exercise if it weren't for that. There is no way I could ever take tirz if it is worse for fatigue.

 

[woundcarping]

...it does seem like it would lead to fast weight loss...

My weight loss target is specific and purposeful, 1% week/week with .9-1.2% being the acceptable short term guardrails without a specific cause for deviation (like a few weeks in to TRT, gained 3lb overnight, took a few weeks to fall off).

...I know it would have given me serious allodynia.

I had a brief stint with allodynia, not intrusive and if I didn't know to attribute it to Reta, I'd have probably not given it enough thought to care enough to figure it out, just a minor annoyance of the body.

Wow. Did you really take 18mg of Reta over 18 days?...

I was already at 5mg/weekly of Tirz. I took frequent, small doses with the goal to get my Reta levels up to the reliable GCGR signaling range, estimated to be 6-8mg/week steady state, without running deep into sides I'd have to ride out. My transition from Tirz to Reta was very smooth and effective.

Specifically I took 12 pins in the first 18 days totaling 21mg; 15 pins in the first 30 totaling 32mg. I only took 2 doses of Tirz during that time totaling 4.5mg to support the transition.

 

[Loscar]

That makes sense. Maybe I am overblowing the negative impact on energy level from tirz? I work out but it takes a lot of motivation for me. I'm more of a buffalo than a squirrel.

I have to take pre work out and hype myself up. Then i go for it! Definitely there with you being more of a buffalo than a squirrel no matter how much I work out I feel like that every morning. I've been on Tirz since Feb.

 

[Fakenamerealwoman]

As someone who has only taken tirz, the energy thing is not an issue for me and I’m on 10mg and still 30ish pounds from goal weight. I’m actually more motivated to hit the gym. Part of my issue was putting in the work at the gym prior to any glp’s and not seeing my gains cause they were covered with fat. Now that I’m losing fat I am getting returns on that effort. Not to mention all the health markers coming down. I’m trying to resist jumping over to reta since what I’m doing is definitely working. Grass isn’t always greener on the other side or sometimes it’s just as green.

I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints about anhedonia on reta so if you have the ability to feel joy and still have a sex drive, are probably golden on tirz

 

[JCO79]

My weight loss target is specific and purposeful, 1% week/week with .9-1.2% being the acceptable short term guardrails without a specific cause for deviation (like a few weeks in to TRT, gained 3lb overnight, took a few weeks to fall off).

View attachment 21878

I had a brief stint with allodynia, not intrusive and if I didn't know to attribute it to Reta, I'd have probably not given it enough thought to care enough to figure it out, just a minor annoyance of the body.

I was already at 5mg/weekly of Tirz. I took frequent, small doses with the goal to get my Reta levels up to the reliable GCGR signaling range, estimated to be 6-8mg/week steady state, without running deep into sides I'd have to ride out. My transition from Tirz to Reta was very smooth and effective.

Specifically I took 12 pins in the first 18 days totaling 21mg; 15 pins in the first 30 totaling 32mg. I only took 2 doses of Tirz during that time totaling 4.5mg to support the transition.

View attachment 21882

Woundcarping - can I ask how you determined this dosing strategy for your transition? Did you have some kind of pharmacokinetic model you were using or did you do this by how you were feeling? It is potentially going to take me a while to find my effective dose if I start low and increase the dose every 4 weeks, as I had been planning.

 

[woundcarping]

Woundcarping - can I ask how you determined this dosing strategy for your transition? Did you have some kind of pharmacokinetic model you were using or did you do this by how you were feeling? It is potentially going to take me a while to find my effective dose if I start low and increase the dose every 4 weeks, as I had been planning.

I wanted to get to 6-8mg steady state levels without flooring myself with sides.

My assumption was smaller doses could accumulate to real symptoms, but the peak across the line into symptoms would be relatively small and thus clear quickly.

So, I started taking doses, evaluating the sides (basically none) and kept taking them until I got to the point I wanted to be, then transition to 2x weekly dosing.

I started the transition on 1/10, and on 1/17 I took my first 4mg dose with the second 4mg dose being 3 days later (2x weekly). I don't have any notes recorded for why but the next week I did two 3.5mg doses, followed by 2 4mg, and moving on to 5mg on 2/16 and 2/20.

 

[BNLFL]

I've stockpiled a decade of tirzepatide and now that I'm pinning with reta, realize that I only have a couple years of reta and probably should have got some of that R140

I'll holler next time. I have 6 kits of Reta from GB from R30-R140 incoming eventually. I'm not telling you how many mg's I'll have. Some here know. I don't need any, but when someone posts up a killer price in a GB, I can't help myself.

 

[woundcarping]

I'll holler next time. I have 6 kits of Reta from GB from R30-R140 incoming eventually. I'm not telling you how many mg's I'll have. Some here know. I don't need any, but when someone posts up a killer price in a GB, I can't help myself.

It's not like he doesn't have access to the same spreadsheet with your name on it....

 

[Grogu]

I'll holler next time. I have 6 kits of Reta from GB from R30-R140 incoming eventually. I'm not telling you how many mg's I'll have. Some here know. I don't need any, but when someone posts up a killer price in a GB, I can't help myself.

Yes, I was aware of that GB and saw you and some other peeps from here on the spreadsheet.

I actually ordered 5 kits of cagri from that GB and vasillated about the R140 for weeks. Told myself over and over again (and other peeps) that I wasn't going to do it since I wasn't on reta. Started reta on Friday night. Things change .

 

[BNLFL]

Yes, I was aware of that GB and saw you and some other peeps from here on the spreadsheet.

I actually ordered 5 kits of cagri from that GB and vasillated about the R140 for weeks. Told myself over and over again (and other peeps) that I wasn't going to do it since I wasn't on reta. Started reta on Friday night. Things change .

Busted. I totally blew that 140 off even when I saw it in the WW coming soon. I keep seeing it, and finally said go for it when it got closer to the closing. I'm a sucker for 23 cents a mg.

 

[MrZardoz]

I've been on Tirz since I first started to lose weight - (from 322pound to current plateaued 226pounds) I've tried Reta - but whether I spend months and months taking it slowly, or starting with an outrageous amount (like up to 20mg) - Reta does absolutely NOTHING for me. I have no idea why this is so. So I'm stuck with Tirz and wondering what its like to lose weight on Reta...

 

[woundcarping]

I've been on Tirz since I first started to lose weight - (from 322pound to current plateaued 226pounds) I've tried Reta - but whether I spend months and months taking it slowly, or starting with an outrageous amount (like up to 20mg) - Reta does absolutely NOTHING for me. I have no idea why this is so. So I'm stuck with Tirz and wondering what its like to lose weight on Reta...

Out of curiosity... how long have you been on Tirz, what dose did you get to before the plateau, and how high did you try going above that dose to break the plateau?

There's no research on the weight loss efficacy increasing the dose after the plateau, would be interesting to hear your experience.

Someone else here was a similar weight and plateaued on Tirz. They added sema breaking the stall, dropping another ~30lb.

No clue why you're unaffected by Reta, that's curious and unfortunate.

ETA: I'm going through your older posts gaining some insights.

 

[MrZardoz]

B een on Tirz since around July 2025 (I think) - re doses, I already started going above the 15mg to about 20mg + - now I'm on around 33mg weekly, and have been taking cagrill (ranging from 5mg->20mg as well) Excessive I know, but that's my middle name, I guess.

I am thinking about going up to using an additional 12.5 brand name Tirz (that I get supplied for free to go along with my grey Tirz). Been hovering around 225 or so up or down about 5 pounds for a couple of months, unsure of what to try to kick start the continued weightloss...

 

[woundcarping]

B een on Tirz since around July 2025 (I think) - re doses, I already started going above the 15mg to about 20mg + - now I'm on around 33mg weekly, and have been taking cagrill (ranging from 5mg->20mg as well) Excessive I know, but that's my middle name, I guess.

I am thinking about going up to using an additional 12.5 brand name Tirz (that I get supplied for free to go along with my grey Tirz). Been hovering around 225 or so up or down about 5 pounds for a couple of months, unsure of what to try to kick start the continued weightloss...

I scanned a majority of your posts... I saw where you said math wasn't your forte and that you're a writer by nature or trade.

In a span of ~33 weeks₁ you've plateaued at a 29% loss (97lb) taking up to 33mg/week of Tirz (220% max trial dose). Along the way you've stacked at least 2mg of Sema with 28mg/week Tirz. You've taken Reta "slow" as well as up to 20mg/week (166% max trial dose) with no effect, and Cagri from 5-20mg (444% max trialed dose, 833% the typical 2.4mg max dose)..

My take is either you're a unicorn, math isn't mathing, you're full of shit, or a combination therein. I've never seen a unicorn.

₁ Start date of 7/17/2025 minus 8 weeks for the "couple of month" stall.

 

[MrZardoz]

W ell thanks for investigating me. I don't know how long I've been on Tirz - re a unicorn - I have no idea what that is, (and I really am not going to find out either.) It did occur to me to re-examine the amount - and I DID screw up on one major thing: its 33'u' - on my insulin syringes - not milligrams. I apologize for that.

Re me being full of shit? Always.

A nd lastly, re the math - I genuinely have no idea how long my plateau has actually lasted. I'm now bothering to consulting my app 'Monitor Your Weight' for daily data..April 26 is when I first got to 225pounds... (I guess it just seems a hell of a lot longer, doing daily weight checking...)

O h and yes, that start date IS correct. I don't have a good brain for math, I never finished school either, and I currently am and have been on the far side of a stroke which took one of my carotid arteries away and did unknown things to my brain/mind - nonetheless I manage to keep on top of most things, reasonably well.

 

[Grogu]

W ell thanks for investigating me. I don't know how long I've been on Tirz - re a unicorn - I have no idea what that is, (and I really am not going to find out either.) It did occur to me to re-examine the amount - and I DID screw up on one major thing: its 33'u' - on my insulin syringes - not milligrams. I apologize for that.

Re me being full of shit? Always.

A nd lastly, re the math - I genuinely have no idea how long my plateau has actually lasted. I'm now bothering to consulting my app 'Monitor Your Weight' for daily data..April 26 is when I first got to 225pounds... (I guess it just seems a hell of a lot longer, doing daily weight checking...)

O h and yes, that start date IS correct. I don't have a good brain for math, I never finished school either, and I currently am and have been on the far side of a stroke which took one of my carotid arteries away and did unknown things to my brain/mind - nonetheless I manage to keep on top of most things, reasonably well.

Just out of curiosity, how much tirzepatide are you actually taking? You mention that you were confused between 33 units and 33 milligrams, which make more sense given the ranges that you've mentioned about various peptides. The 5mg to 20mg of cagrilintide would have been quite extreme. I'm kind of surprised that at 8 months you would be facing a stall. It's possible that you just need to titrate up on the tirzepatide.

 

[X3rocks]

Busted. I totally blew that 140 off even when I saw it in the WW coming soon. I keep seeing it, and finally said go for it when it got closer to the closing. I'm a sucker for 23 cents a mg.

Got to ask. This is 140mg per vial? How does it not go bad? 28 weeks worth @ 5mg per dose. Am I missing something?

 

[woundcarping]

Got to ask. This is 140mg per vial? How does it not go bad? 28 weeks worth @ 5mg per dose. Am I missing something?

5mg per dose is rookie numbers.

Some folk share vials.

I also have an X3 RR RC.

 

[lessthanhalf]

I also lost most of the weight from 145kg to 75 kg before starting GLP's, and definitely had issues with binge eating or food addiction.

I lost the weight by totally excluding high calorie / highly rewarding / high glycemic index foods, and sticking to a very high protein, low fat, low calorific density diet. Lean meat, vegetables, fruit low fat dairy.

I kept the weight off for a year before starting ozempic which made me a bit less hungry and a bit nauseous for a year then swapped to tirzepatide 15mg which caused less nausea and less hunger and added in 5mg of reta as well. This mostly fixed the permanently hungry problem, but I have kept to the total exclusion of those high calorie foods, as in the past even eating small amounts of them has triggered extreme hunger an hour or 2 later, presumably related to spikes in blood glucose followed by dips causing some sort of haywire extreme hunger response.

It might be possible to try eating some of those foods now, but I do not want to risk it, as this problem has caused fairly extreme weight regain in the past. And putting the weight back on carries fairly extreme health risks.

Your circumstances may be very different but it will be interesting to see how you go adding back in some currently not allowed foods after adding in GLP's.