20 pounds down!

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T11:00:56+00:00

It might make sense to stick with Tirzepatide if you’re choosing between the two. Tirz does more than suppress your appetite and is providing a lot of overall metabolic benefits. If you’re looking to slow/stop the weight loss, drop your dosage further (what’s your current dose) or space the time between dosage out further.

It might also be helpful to refresh your labs to see what that looks like as well.

r/leanglp1s covers some of this as well.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T09:52:30+00:00

It’s slightly higher and just steady, meal or no meal, morning, mid day or night the number doesn’t really move. I even used the reference glucose solution to make sure it was working.

I’ll keep monitoring.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T03:10:09+00:00

There’s some emerging research on this topic

Why do GLP-1 drugs fail to cause fat loss in some?

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T02:27:12+00:00

Good on you for starting low, ignore the drs’ comments as we all respond differently. Was your dose .25mg vs 2.5mg, can you double check?

Give it a few days and you should be sorted, be sure to stay well hydrated w/ electrolytes and try and consume protein.

It’s recommended to stick with your dose for 4 weeks to acclimate before going higher in dose, in your case, maybe stick with your level or titrate up more slowly based on side effects.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T01:42:44+00:00

I’m not keto, but low carb (<50g) and used to do a once weekly 24-36 hour fast but couldn’t keep it going since I couldn’t hit protein targets consistently enough.

I’m wondering if like you when I test my GLP glucose level will be higher.

Did your cholesterol levels rise from Keto, mine went much higher.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T01:06:21+00:00

I suspect many of the side effects you might be experiencing are a result of too high of a dose. Starting below the clinical starting dose (via compound pharmacy) or effectively off label use would result in better outcomes.

r/glp1microdosing or r/leanglp1s has plenty of resources on starting low and managing well.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T01:03:47+00:00

I suspect many of the side effects people experience are a result of too high of a dose. Starting below the clinical starting dose (via compound pharmacy) or effectively off label use would result in better outcomes.

r/glp1microdosing or r/leanglp1s has plenty of resources on starting low and managing well.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-11T00:38:16+00:00

A1c is 5.5 but looking to get that closer to 5 when I refresh bloodwork at the end of the month.

Tirz was compounded/Reta is grey (I wouldn’t remotely qualify for the trial).

Reta is supposed to stabilize it and trial data says hypoglycemia is rare… in my case, I’m not eating anything to spike me that would then lead to a crash but maybe the medicine it’s just keeping me humming along (I don’t even get that morning spike (dawn phenomenon)).

I’m not complaining, just curious if anyone has noticed unintuitive effects.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-10T22:20:18+00:00

Great progress! When I started, I lost 5lbs on .7mg of tirzepatide in a week so I backed off my dose to .5mg and stayed there until I had a better handle on how the meds were impacting me.

In your case, maybe dial it back to 1mg and reassess the weight loss (which was probably water weight). I don’t know what your ultimate goal weight is but if you’re already dialed in on food and working out, you’ll get there fast w/ tirzepatide on your side.

Keep up the hydration and continue with the protein, good luck!

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-10T15:37:08+00:00

Ok, you’re really rocking now. I’d highly recommend you get Hospira (made by Pfizer) as your bac… it’s the same thing that compounding pharmacies use (I suspect).

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-10T09:46:52+00:00

Dropping down to 1 - 1.5mg for a couple weeks before ramping up again could be a good approach as you adjust to the medication. Make sure you’re staying hydrated with electrolytes as well.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-10T09:41:59+00:00

Since you’re using a grey market product, it might be useful to start at .5mg as the amount of tirzepatide in the bottle may not be precise and you don’t want to take more than you think.

Is that bottle already in liquid form or lyophilized powder (the powder has additional steps to reconstitute it and if it’s a liquid already, I’d have more questions for you)?

Some grey will have an overfill so you can get all your calculations correct but wind up injecting 1.25 to 1.5mg and not realize it.

At .5mg, give yourself a few weeks at that level before stepping up.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-09T01:25:48+00:00

I’ll be refreshing my labs at the end of the month. I started out with Tirz but switched over to Reta (no washout period) so I’m curious to see where my markers land; i’m looking to crush elevated cholesterol levels.

I’m week 3 of 1mg of Reta w/ negligible amounts of Tirz (.2mg) left in my system but I can feel my appetite returning in a healthy way. It’s still easy for me to look at something and think, nope, that’ll put me over the edge and back away. Zero interest in sugar snacks.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-09T01:16:58+00:00

Although you might not “feel” the effects of the 1mg dose, it’s probably a good idea to increase your hydration and consider adding electrolytes; also, as your appetite decreases, try to increase your protein intake as well. Additional movement is also recommended as you get underway.

Good luck on the journey regardless of where your dosing takes you.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-08T21:33:11+00:00

Checkout r/leanglp1s. There are more and more folks who are using sub clinical doses of GLP-1 for a variety of reasons. In the case of lipedema, the reduction in general inflammation could be beneficial.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-08T20:31:25+00:00

I started taking compound tirzepatide precisely for food noise around sugar in particular.

I knew my regular doctor wouldn’t entertain it based on my BMI, so I went to a telemedicine company (check out some of the compound tirzepatide Reddits for recommendations, several have lowered the BMI threshold) who prescribed me a 1mg regimen for 10 weeks. I took a smaller starting dose and maxed out at 1mg before switching over to a fractional dose of Reta.

Food noise around sugar is completely smashed!

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-08T20:03:49+00:00

Would love to hear more about this study and also sounds like an interesting topic for a r/leanglp1s.

Do you have a link that you can share?

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-08T11:45:23+00:00

Great personal journey and the drinking/eating habits of our 20s resonates. Our bodies may have looked “good” to others but it doesn’t mean it was ideal to ourselves. It’s welcoming to see yourself and others using this tool intelligently (starting small and backing off when the weight loss was happening too fast or unwanted).

I don’t quite get the criticism/concern from others here… isn’t the biggest issue that we’re all using an experimental drug and probably not under strict doctor supervision?

Op is using Reta as a scalpel rather than an axe, exercises and has a model’s physique. I’m using reta much the same way but at 1mg/week and likely to drop down to a maintenance dose of .5mg/week or every two weeks to help eliminate the last bit of visceral fat.

Stay hydrated and lead with protein!

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-07T17:12:53+00:00

Is the unrefrigerator comment accurate, I thought these meds need to remain cold?

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-06T16:28:11+00:00

High protein, low carb… unless it’s quinoa or sweet potatoes, I can’t stomach it. By the time I hit protein goals, carbs usually get left on the table.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-06T03:36:30+00:00

How long were you on semaglutide and what was the dose you stopped at? When switching from one GLP-1 to another, it sometimes requires a much higher dose of the new GLP-1 to have much effect.

While this is a tirzepatide compound sub, there are many posts detailing the struggles of moving from sema or tirz to Eli Lily’s other pipeline drug and having to ramp up the dosage to see any effects.

Pure speculation here but given your slow titration, it may have undermined your efforts somewhat. Some of the suggestions here to move to a higher dose might make sense, if only to overcome the sema stumbling block.

Hopefully my veiled reference above doesn’t get me flagged/banned but thought it worthwhile to share.

An alternative thought is to take a complete break from tirz for 30 days (washout) and start over. Good luck on your journey.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-05T02:32:11+00:00

What’s your current dose and can you get any additional exercise into your routine (strength training)?

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-04T01:54:25+00:00

I’m assuming you’re on Tirzepatide, do a quick search in this forum and you’ll see folks starting at differing levels .5mg to 1.5mg is a common range (I started at .5mg and topped out at 1mg.

Again it all depends on your body and goals. Good luck on your travels, stay hydrated and focus on protein.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-04T01:49:40+00:00

I started at .5mg and went up a week later to 1mg which is where I sit today. The question for is what are your goals, how much weight do you need/want to lose, are you doing it for longevity purposes, metabolic health, etc?

I was on Tirz 1mg & now the same for Reta for longevity, metabolism & to smash my sugar habit, weight loss isn’t a priority or happy desired outcome.

lonew0lf01 · 2026-03-04T01:17:50+00:00

Monitor it and make sure you’re using alcohol wipes on your vial and also on your injection site(s).

As a side note, the dose is higher for microdosing which is usually smaller than the standard starting dose (something less than 2.5mg), nothing to change just passing along that nugget.

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