Retatrutide 3 month stall

[RoundMan]

I've been researching Reta since November.

I was 250lbs I've dropped 30lbs.

I'm just over 50 years old and have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

I've followed a slow path to my weightloss but for the last three months I've been in a stall.

I was researching 4mg for quite a while as I was making slow but steady progress, then I moved to 5mg for ten weeks and then 4 weeks ago I upped to 6mg, I'm still in the stall so I want to ask more experienced people here.

Shall I just go up to 8?

I've read the official protocols and understand that they say titrate every 4 weeks but with my medical history I have been cautious.

I feel like I'm wasting money increasing in small doses and stagnating when I could just pin the larger dose.

Advice welcome please.

 

[Builderman]

First question would be are you tracking your calories? Obviously we know if you’re eating too much you are not going to lose weight. But too sever of a deficit can also cause a stall due to your body thinking you’re starving and it won’t want to let go of your fat.

Your existing conditions could also really have an effect here. If you are not already, I’d suggest getting regular bloodwork to see what your body is telling you.

If you are doing both of these things and calories are at a reasonable level, nothing is wrong with your bloodwork, I’d say there’s no reason not to up your dose to 7mg and see how it goes from there.

 

[joaww]

What are you doing about your food intake have you changed anything there? Buying better stuff, buying less snacks and unnecessary sugars and focusing on protein? Is food noise part of the problem you could either try to switch to Tirzepatide or stack Reta+Tirz .

You should explain how the Retatrutide affects you when it comes to hunger, food habits and so on

 

[RoundMan]

Food wise I was stuck in a roundabout of fibro crash and then eating high calorie stuff for quick fix.

I've stopped that when I started on Ret.

But my condition makes me skip meals because I'm just too tired.

So I'll have breakfast at 2pm and then end up scoffing to much because I realise I'm hungry.

I have been battling that and made lots of progress.

I've upped my protein and snack on mostly chicken.

I try to be as active as possible.

I don't track calories because I end up losing count and stressed out.

Some weeks when I pin i get overwhelmed with hunger but manage to avoid eating everything in the cupboard.

 

[joaww]

Starving isnt great either obviosly, maybe look into ready "protein" drinks/shakes since i assume mixing an protein shake when you're tired would be "hard"? It would be hard for you to stick to in you're current condition but what i have found works really well for me on Tirzepatide was when i found the advice to eat every 3-4 hours and around 20g of protein every time. I do adjust the protein a little depending on the time between meals and also a little more since im not to far into my weight loss yet so i try to eat more protein to not loose to much muscle for now

 

[RoundMan]

I've just bought some of that meal replacement shake powder.

But like I say I'm trying to work out if I'm just wasting time with snail paced titration and should just bump up to either 7 or 8 mg

 

[jmikes]

My weight got stuck on Tirzepatide for a couple of months. Since I had berberine on the shelf, I decided to try it. Immediately, my weight started down at a steeper than it had in months. I have dropped 12 pounds since I added berberine. Berberine has a nickname: poor man's GLP-1. Berberine is over the counter. It helps with blood sugar control and can reduce blood pressure a tad.

 

[pughster25]

take a look at

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVCoTju3oBc

, he has some good info on reta, stalls and other compounds to enhance

 

[Devilseye]

I've been researching Reta since November.

I was 250lbs I've dropped 30lbs.

I'm just over 50 years old and have fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

I've followed a slow path to my weightloss but for the last three months I've been in a stall.

I was researching 4mg for quite a while as I was making slow but steady progress, then I moved to 5mg for ten weeks and then 4 weeks ago I upped to 6mg, I'm still in the stall so I want to ask more experienced people here.

Shall I just go up to 8?

I've read the official protocols and understand that they say titrate every 4 weeks but with my medical history I have been cautious.

I feel like I'm wasting money increasing in small doses and stagnating when I could just pin the larger dose.

Advice welcome please.

People on 8mg of reta lost a little above 20% bodyweight in a year roughly while 12mg are above 25%. So just start by asking yourself what your target weight is (i dont know your height) and take it from there. Keep in mind that they lost that weight in 48 weeks so be patient to see results.

For example it took me about 1.5 years to reach 30% bodyweight loss on tirz and sema.

Good luck!

 

[Jh02050]

Cagrilintide may complement retatrutide by adding stronger appetite suppression, earlier fullness, and less food noise. Retatrutide targets GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon receptors, while cagrilintide works through the amylin pathway, so the effects could be complementary.

The downside is potentially more nausea, constipation, dehydration, and difficulty eating enough protein or calories. The combination has not been clinically studied, and both drugs are still investigational.

 

[jurba1]

I researched all the way up to 12mg reta (1x weekly), was stalled for a few months, in the end decided to drop to 6mg and added cagri. Its better to keep the "gains” (lost weight) for longer than give up, a few more pounds have been lost over the last 6 months. Slower weight loss is easier for the body to handle and accept as normal.

 

[RoundMan]

So my goal weight is 182lb or 13 stone, in old money.

I'm 220 at the moment.

I was losing just under 2lb a week and was happy with that.

But this stall has been so frustrating.

I just want to break it and get the scales moving again

 

[Seasonal1]

I was researching 4mg for quite a while as I was making slow but steady progress, then I moved to 5mg for ten weeks and then 4 weeks ago I upped to 6mg, I'm still in the stall so I want to ask more experienced people here.

Shall I just go up to 8?

Before adding something else, I would first consider moving to 8 and then 10 of Reta if necessary. Plenty of people here are at these levels with excellent results.

If that doesn't work, also consider adding some Tirz off schedule from your Reta. I am using 7.5mg Triz (Friday) and 4mg Reta (Tuesday). I have not stalled more than a few days with my loss.

Triz takes the hunger away and Reta ramps up the fat burning. I think it's an awesome combination but your milage may very.

 

[bada bing]

People like to interpret the phase 3 trial data to fit their own narrative, rather than take the data for what it is: a uniformly dosed cohort to generate safety and efficacy data for approval submission. Managing your specific individual program is quite different from being a study participant.

Along that line, here's my torturing of phase 3 trial data: I would start looking at other moves before going above 8mg/week. In particular, I'd explore adding a small stack with Sema to bolster GLP1 effects. And potentially adding small amounts of Cag or Elora for additional appetite suppression with offsetting HR reduction. My reasoning is that the trial data clearly shows diminishing returns above 8mg/week of Reta for some parameters like liver fat. And the extension of the trial clearly shows that the benefits of higher doses are available later, if they become necessary.

It all depends on your objectives. If you want the weight off ASAP without regard to other parameters, then titrating up along the trial guidelines is the best guidelines you have. If you are looking at Reta as potentially being required for long term maintenance or even for life, then there are potential benefits and few risks for taking it slower.

 

[woundcarping]

Along that line, here's my torturing of phase 3 trial data: I would start looking at other moves before going above 8mg/week. In particular, I'd explore adding a small stack with Sema to bolster GLP1 effects. And potentially adding small amounts of Cag or Elora for additional appetite suppression with offsetting HR reduction. My reasoning is that the trial data clearly shows diminishing returns above 8mg/week of Reta for some parameters like liver fat...

Where are the studies that show stopping escalating Reta dosing in favor of adding Sema and Cag/Elora because Reta has diminishing returns on reducing liver fat?

Granted I could be weird but I take Reta to reduce my overall fat content, not specifically limited to my liver. A liver can only give up so much fat before it stops... 2-4% is a practical floor

According to DEXAs my VAT is down ~43% by weight and area from 1/30 to 7/20. That timeframe represents 54lb of my running 77lb total weight loss. In terms of total weight loss, I'm down 27.3% in 32 weeks. Triumph average numbers were 17.5% at 24 weeks, 24.2% at 48 weeks, and 28.3% in 80 weeks. I also take more than 8mg a week, with rousing metrics of dose dependent success.

 

[lessthanhalf]

Without knowing what medical issues you are concerned about interacting with reta, it is a bit hard to answer, but going on the chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia, I do not see a reason to avoid increasing reta doses. If anything reta is helpful for fibromyalgia, but certainly not definitively proven yet. It is hard to imagine that being a lot lighter would not help with fatigue or musculoskeletal pain in general. Some people get anhedonia or fatigue from reta, but most do not.

I would actually in general disagree with focusing on calorie intake. Deliberately restricting calories can work short term, but sustaining it for the long term is much much harder. It makes much more sense to increase the reta dose to where you are less hungry so you are eating less, but doing it comfortably, without excessive hunger, as this way of doing it is intrinsically more sustainable, and would allow you to stick to the process long term so you an succeed in getting the weight off and then stay on the reta to keep it off. Obviously eating healthier foods and exercising is a good idea, but I would suggest restricting especially very unhealthy foods rather than overall amounts, and use the reta to control calorie intake.

If you have not lost weight for 3 months then ideally you should have increased the dose 2 months ago, but I cannot see a reason not to do it now, you are not describing side effects that are a problem, and realistically that is the main reason not to increase doses if hungry or not losing weight. If you are concerned about side effects you could always just increase the dose 1mg every 2 weeks rather than 2 mg every 4 weeks to increase doses a bit more gently. It sounds to me like the drug is working just fine, the dose is just too low. 30 lbs from 6mg of reta is not a poor response, probably just below average, but gradually increasing it to or towards 12mg is most likely what will be needed ( unless lower doses work perfectly fine for further weight loss or side effects become a problem )

 

[bluewater]

Food wise I was stuck in a roundabout of fibro crash and then eating high calorie stuff for quick fix.

I've stopped that when I started on Ret.

But my condition makes me skip meals because I'm just too tired.

So I'll have breakfast at 2pm and then end up scoffing to much because I realise I'm hungry.

I have been battling that and made lots of progress.

I've upped my protein and snack on mostly chicken.

I try to be as active as possible.

I don't track calories because I end up losing count and stressed out.

Some weeks when I pin i get overwhelmed with hunger but manage to avoid eating everything in the cupboard.

At the end of the day no amount of exercise or reta can outrun a bad diet. It's a very simple equation food in needs to be less than energy out to lose weight. I think if you do some research you will be able to get comfortable with healthy food choices and basic calorie counting. It doesn't need to be something to get stressed out about and will help you understand where you need to make changes to get things back on track.

 

[RoundMan]

I did follow a fasting diet that the chronic fatigue clinic advised.

I was eating healthy and fasting for 12 hours 8pm to 8am

That didn't work so we experimented a bit with longer fasting times.

I was going 8pm until about 2pm.

Ended up putting a few pounds on so she said she didn't know why and that was the end of the advice

 

[JoonyO]

I did follow a fasting diet that the chronic fatigue clinic advised.

I was eating healthy and fasting for 12 hours 8pm to 8am

That didn't work so we experimented a bit with longer fasting times.

I was going 8pm until about 2pm.

Ended up putting a few pounds on so she said she didn't know why and that was the end of the advice

It seems you've plenty of armchairing advice to wallow through. My experience was my body got used to eating fewer calories after months of it and daily (16+ hr) intermittent fasting and only when I went a couple hundred fewer did it start to drop again. But as far as I was concerned that was just too few calories-so I just ate MORE calories for a week and then went back to the -500 cals a day diet.

At the end of the day there is one guarantee-CICO. Good honest food. Not the processed crap like we ate most of our lives because we didn't know any better. I mean why would we be sold sh*t we shouldn't eat? Why do "Drs" seem to mostly prescribe PILLS rather than tell you to change what you're eating? ( and then your BP and other issues resolve without the use of pills? )

Best of luck on solving your current puzzle, Sir.

 

[Cannonball72]

First question would be are you tracking your calories? Obviously we know if you’re eating too much you are not going to lose weight. But too sever of a deficit can also cause a stall due to your body thinking you’re starving and it won’t want to let go of your fat.

Your existing conditions could also really have an effect here. If you are not already, I’d suggest getting regular bloodwork to see what your body is telling you.

If you are doing both of these things and calories are at a reasonable level, nothing is wrong with your bloodwork, I’d say there’s no reason not to up your dose to 7mg and see how it goes from there.

Building on this post, are you exercising/ weight training? Do you take bodily measures beyond weight?

I have been in a stall for about 6 weeks.

I have been weight training for over 15 years. I also use calipers to monitor fat.

Net. My weight is stalled, this is directly related to calorie consumption. This said, I am visibly getting leaner and caliper measures and pants size

reinforce this.

I think the Reta is doing the partitioning I need it to do at this point.

Weight is only one measure, and there are a lot of variables at play. The more you monitor, the more direction you get on how to adjust and if you need to adjust.

FWIW I’m down 30lbs, was targeting 40lbs. Now I think I have 5lbs of true sub-q fat to go.