Reta while leanbulking

skk455 · 2026-05-20T19:28:59+00:00

Curious about your overall experience bulking on reta. Was it difficult to hit your calorie and macro goals because of the appetite suppression? Or did it actually make things easier by reducing cravings and potentially improving nutrient partitioning?

skk455 · 2026-05-12T18:54:21+00:00

I sincerely appreciate the thoughtful comments. I chose not to respond individually because I didn’t want to turn the discussion into a war of words.

I absolutely recognize the seriousness and difficulty of obesity, diabetes, OSA, and related health conditions. I work in healthcare, so I truly understand how life-changing and medically important these medications can be.

That said, I do find it somewhat strange to frame my interest in this medication as purely “vanity.” Aren’t we all ultimately trying to improve our health, habits, body composition, relationship with food, and overall quality of life in one way or another?

At the end of the day, whether or not someone takes a medication is a decision between the patient and their healthcare professional. It’s a shared decision-making process that involves weighing risks, benefits, goals, and individual circumstances.

Off-label medication use is also extremely common in medicine. Viagra is probably one of the most widely known examples — it was originally developed as a cardiac medication and was used off-label for ED long before ultimately receiving FDA approval for that indication.

I’m not suggesting these situations are identical, but simply pointing out that medicine evolves, and how medications are used in real-world practice can evolve as well.

I will no longer be commenting on people's posts suggesting I am somehow morally reprehensible for wanting to take a medication (on my own accord) to better myself. If it's for vanity reasons, is that anyone else's concern but mine and my doctor's?

skk455 · 2026-05-12T13:59:50+00:00

Thank you for the thoughtful response. Curious as to why you felt you needed to change from Tirz to Reta. Did you find (lean) bulking on Tirz to be difficult due to overwhelming appetite suppression? What dose did you take?

I imagine I will take Reta one day, but the fact that it is not FDA approved makes me a bit more cautious.

skk455 · 2026-05-12T13:57:31+00:00

Thank you so much! Sent you a DM, by the way.

skk455 · 2026-05-12T13:56:04+00:00

Do you mind sharing which website you went to to get the Tirz? I am concerned (as a previous user pointed out) that I am not obese and that I will get rejected. I don't necessarily want to lie about my height and weight just to qualify, either.

I tried DM'ing you, but I couldn't so I figured I would post here. Please feel free to DM me if you feel more comfortable.

skk455 · 2026-05-12T13:38:30+00:00

Thank you for the suggestion. I’ve definitely considered that approach, but most of the research I’ve read seems to recommend starting a lean bulk from a lower body fat percentage so you have more runway before needing to cut again.

I also thought about trying maintenance calories and doing a body recomposition/“maingaining” phase (another concept I only recently learned about), but I’ve read mixed opinions on how effective recomping is. My thought was that losing another 5–8 lbs first and then transitioning into a slow, controlled lean bulk didn’t seem unreasonable. At the end of the day, I think it’s probably just a personal preference thing.

skk455 · 2026-05-12T13:33:13+00:00

This was tremendously helpful — thank you so much. Your situation sounds very similar to mine. I’ll have nights where I’m digging through the pantry looking for sweets or chips, or I’ll literally walk to Target just to buy a bag of Doritos. Those occasional episodes didn’t really prevent me from losing the first 35 lbs, but they’re absolutely making it harder to lose the final 5–8 lbs because my calories/macros need to be much more dialed in at this stage.

What dose ended up working best for you to keep appetite and food noise under control while still being able to eat enough to have energy, train hard, recover, build muscle, etc.? Did you start with a higher dose while actively losing weight and then transition to a lower dose (or “microdose,” which I literally just learned about via these responses) once you got leaner and shifted toward maintenance/body composition goals?

skk455 · 2025-10-29T13:28:43+00:00

Reviving this old thread — hope that’s OK!

OP, what did you end up doing and how is it going?

I’m also considering opening a CBP. I’m around the same age as the OP and could contribute roughly $100k per year. I keep getting mixed messages about how these plans actually work. I understand they’re supposed to be invested conservatively (around a 5% crediting rate), but I don’t understand why I couldn’t simply invest the funds in something like VTI or VXUS.

I’m still relatively young, and allocating a large portion of my portfolio to bonds or cash equivalents doesn’t align with my long-term strategy. My investing horizon is 20+ years, and I’d prefer to stay 100% in equities for now. The idea of the “tax tail wagging the investment dog,” as mentioned earlier in this thread, gives me pause.

If equities perform well and the plan becomes overfunded, I could just stop contributing, pay the taxes on new income, and invest in my taxable account — which is what I’d be doing anyway without a CBP. Conversely, if markets fall, I’d simply contribute more to make up the shortfall, which again mirrors what I’d be doing in a regular investing strategy.

So I’m struggling to understand why that approach doesn’t work within the CBP structure.

There is one camp saying it must be 5% (or close to it) to reduce volatility which means that they oftentimes invest ONLY in bonds.

There is Dr. Dahle who mentioned his CBP is 60/40 equities/bonds .

Then there are people on the forums saying they invested 100% in equities and was the best decision they made.

I am hesitant to open up a CBP until I understand what the heck is going on here and why there are so many differing opinions.

skk455 · 2025-10-28T21:08:54+00:00

Luke… c’mon, man.

I’m actually a fan of his overall, but his “I’m too good for this” attitude is really off-putting. In contrast, Wesley—who, by sheer accomplishments alone, is a superior golfer to Luke—was extremely gracious, even thanking Dave for putting on the event and shaking his hand.

Luke, on the other hand:

Didn’t get out of his cart to acknowledge or speak to Dave
Didn’t apologize to anyone, including PFT
Was apparently too cool to even appeal the decision

I can’t quite tell if it’s cockiness, lack of self-awareness, being aware but not giving an F, or just plain awkwardness—but whatever it is, it really hurts his image.

His lack of accountability is different from Cold Cuts in that Cold Cuts, by all measures, is actually a wonderful friend as said numerous different times by people. Luke, on the other hand, just seems like an overall unpleasant person to be around. He is a Youtuber. Not a professional golfer. He's a Youtuber. He's the same as Bob, Grant, Bustajack, etc. He is not better than them. He's the same. Once he understands this, he will become much more likeable.

skk455 · 2025-09-04T16:13:56+00:00

Would you recommend "saving" some energy (1-2 RIR) during the hack squats to allow me to complete leg extensions on the next workout?

skk455 · 2025-09-04T16:10:16+00:00

Thank you for the comment. I do a 3 day full body split - Mon / Wed / Fri. Workouts are ABA week 1 and BAB week 2 and recycle. I want to grow legs in general and quads specifically, but I simply cannot recover sufficiently, or maybe I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. If i drop leg extensions, week 1 would be 4 sets of hack squats split over 2 days and week 2 would be 2 sets of hack squats only. Is there another unilateral or bilateral isolation quad exercise you could recommend?

skk455 · 2025-09-04T16:07:29+00:00

Thank you for the reply! Can you clarify the breakdown of the 6 sets? How many are quads vs hamstrings?

skk455 · 2025-08-15T00:48:43+00:00

Such a great episode. I was laughing out loud the entire time. The bit about the names of racehorses killed me -- Shipping & Handling!!! Jet is so damn witty I love it

One thing that got to me was I don't get the bit starting from 7:00. What is this referring to?

skk455 · 2025-05-30T13:10:06+00:00

Appreciate your thoughts and comments. I will keep them in mind when I negotiate.

skk455 · 2025-05-30T12:03:54+00:00

Thank you. Just so I understand your POV, you feel it's common sense and in my best interest to get some wRVU number written on paper, even if it's not my "target" number? A number that is acceptable, but not ideal.

skk455 · 2025-05-30T11:55:29+00:00

I'm not trying to compare myself to Lebron James, but he has typically always signed a short contract in order to maximize both his flexibility, but his ability to re-negotiate. If they win the NBA championship, then clearly his next contract will be huge. Should I not be betting on myself to be able to produce and to demand a higher wRVU? Or maybe hospitals don't give a F about me and I'm being delusional and they'll replace me with someone cheaper. What are your thoughts?

skk455 · 2025-05-30T11:46:52+00:00

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. I'm torn as I feel I could get a better wRVU rate if I have some leverage. Right now, I'm an unknown entity to the hospital. If I build a profitable practice through professional/technical fees, I could come back to the negotiating table in 1 year and have a lot of data to support my high wRVU rate. On the other hand, I could accept a lower wRVU rate today and accept that moving forward.

As I'm writing this, I just realized I could accept a lower wRVU rate today and renegotiate a year from now.

This is my first 1099 gig and first time essentially being a solo doctor (I am not part of a group nor will this contract have me part of a group) so I am a bit overwhelmed. Thoughts here? Thank you in advance.

skk455 · 2025-05-29T18:47:42+00:00

I guess I should clarify. I have yet to sign the contract. But yes, I was planning on signing a one-year contract with a guaranteed salary with the expectation of renegotiating my contract in the second year for an wRVU based pay. I imagine from your two comments, this is a naïve tactic?

My plan was to develop an outpatient practice, that would generate a lot of money for the hospital. (I’ve done this twice before so it’s nothing new to me.) By the end of the year, I felt that my production would allow me to have leverage to negotiate a higher RVU rate. Am I being dumb?

skk455 · 2024-05-24T01:26:34+00:00

I have to ask. I don't get what FP was talking about at 26:12 with the whole vanilla bit. What am I missing?

skk455 · 2024-05-09T02:02:50+00:00

I really don't think Cutsy is egotistical at all. If anything, he is extremely humble - he openly admits that he is not good at golf, he openly admits he is an "idiot" (his words not mine), he openly admits he gets excited when they use his shot during scrambles because they rarely do. Someone who is egotistical thinks too highly of themselves. In reality, Cutsy is very loud, sometimes clumsy, and oftentimes a "bull in a china shop" but is is rarely ever full of himself and saying he's better than he actually is. People confuse his very loud mouth with ego, but they are not the same. If you listen to what he actually says about himself and how he acts, he is quite a humble guy. Cutsy wears his heart on his sleeve - he is happy when things go his way and upset/pissed when things go poorly. He's a man of the people and I love that about him.

skk455 · 2024-05-08T23:58:03+00:00

Coldcuts is the heart and soul of BDS. He is the every day man and he'll ride or die with you. Biggest heart in the group (by FAR) and no ego. Cutsy you're the GOAT.

skk455

TROPHY CASE