Love this post — and I guarantee it’s helpful for more people than you think. A lot of us had the exact same “what in the world am I doing?” journey before that first injection.
The progression you described is almost a rite of passage around here:
Reddit → confusion → weeks of reading → realizing normal people are doing this → learning reconstitution → the crypto panic → the “did I just send money into the void?” moment → the mysterious package appearing on your doorstep → the first jab
Your story about the vial sizes made me laugh too. Everyone imagines these big medicine bottles at first and then the package arrives and it’s like… “wait… THAT’S the vial?” The first time you see how tiny 10 units actually is, it suddenly makes sense.
Huge respect for pushing through the needle phobia as well. That first injection is always the hardest psychologically, and after that it usually becomes very routine.
Also sounds like you’re approaching this in a really thoughtful way:
• Starting low with 1 mg
• Already exercising and staying active
• Watching muscle mass with a smart scale
• Being mindful of thyroid meds
• Adjusting food timing if appetite changes
That’s honestly a great foundation for success.
And you’re already ahead of the curve starting at 175 with a goal of 140–160 . Reta seems to work particularly well for people who are closer to the “last stretch” of weight loss compared to some of the other GLPs.
Most importantly — congratulations on getting through the entire learning curve. The research phase can honestly be more stressful than the injection itself.
Welcome to the experiment, and definitely keep posting updates. A lot of newcomers will read posts like yours and think, “Okay… maybe I can actually do this too.”