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| 28 Days on Retatrutide |
Retatrutide is the successor to Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 drugs Ozempic/Wegovy (Semaglutide) and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro (Trizepatide).
Retatrutide is NOT approved by the FDA and is currently undergoing research in a clinical trial. If you are accepted into the trial, you are either given Retatrutide or a placebo. In the case of a placebo, boo hoo, you won't lose weight.
Meanwhile, Retatrutide participants are losing close to 30% of their weight while showing an unbelievable reduction in liver fat. Some indications suggest better muscle sparing as well, making the weight loss even more impressive.
Retatrutide is available under a "research only" provision from many companies, as it is NOT FDA-approved. It is a grey area. That said, if you walk into any weight-loss or wellness clinic, you will find that many are selling Retatrutide at quite a premium. They may even label it as a "designer weight loss peptide."
You may have also seen Hims and Hers and other telemedicine firms selling "compounded" Semaglutide and Trizepatide in the past year. Compounded is another grey area distribution method. Recently, the FDA has been cracking down on compounded drugs, while Kennedy has been promoting the use of Peptides. Hims and Hers, and other telemedicine firms, have stopped selling compounded Semaglutide and Trizepatide in favor of the real versions from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
It is my understanding that most of the Retatrutide is coming from China with very little being produced in the US. That isn't necessarily bad. The Chinese even have key patents and processes in play to manufacture Reta. But legitimacy is always a concern. There are real risks for things like endotoxins.
Most sellers or resellers of Retatrutide will provide a Certificate of Authenticity to verify the product's authenticity and purity. Some won't even use the word Retatrutide on their website, but will mark the product with something like "GLP-R" where the R stands for Reta. If you hear the word "Ratatouille," this is slang for Retatrutide. Either way, the product is sent to labs for purity and quantity testing, as well as for testing for contaminants such as endotoxins. Be aware: you can always fake a certificate of authenticity!
That said, people are going to be people and find a way even if you tell them NOT to. I did!
I ordered a 15mg vial of the Retatrutide peptide from Evolve Peptides based on a recommendation from a very well-known biohacker and triathlete, and took the plunge. NONE of this is Medical Advice BTW. This is just my experience!
In 28 days (Mar 15-Apr11) I lost 22lbs. Yes, I'm sure a ton is water weight, but there was plenty of weight loss as well. The results are simply undeniable. In addition, as a former pro triathlete, I pretty much stopped exercising in favor of landscaping instead. Now, landscaping can be a lot of work, but I had been told you have to be careful how much cardio you do on reta because weight just melts off. I guess it did anyway.
Protocol
I decided to go with a 1mg injection on Saturday night, and 1mg injection Tuesday or Wednesday for 2mg weekly doses.
To do so, I bought a 15mg vial. Vials are guaranteed for 28 days for best sterility, but I plan to use them for up to 45 days. Vials must be kept refrigerated. They risk both bacterial contamination and peptides themselves breaking down. I have heard retatrutide will last up to 60 days, but any reconstituted peptide is still only good for 28 days.
Given my 2mg a week injection, I really should have bought a 10mg bottle. If I had planned to do 1mg a week, then a 5mg bottle would have been sufficient.
Vials are usually overfilled, so if you get a 10mg vial, it might contain 10.13mg.
Supplies I needed other than Retatrutride
It isn't just the Retatrutide that I needed. I also needed...
- Disposable Gloves 100 count - Glove up for sterility.
- Sterile prep pads - Used to wipe the injection site and the tops of both the peptide vial and the reconstitution solution vial.
- Reconstitution Solution (From Evolve) - Sterile Bacteriostatic water vial, which I draw from and inject into the peptide vial to reconstitute the Retatrutide. I ordered my solution from Amazon, but Amazon has pulled all its reconstitution solution recently. May be part of that FDA crackdown.
- 1ml Syringes 31g 1/4 6mm 20 Pack - used to inject myself in the left or right abdominal belly fat with peptides drawn from the peptide bottle. A 31-gauge needle is tiny. You don't even feel it.
- 2.5ml Syringes 25ga 25pack - Used to draw the bacteriostatic water and inject it into the peptide vial to reconstitute the peptide. You only do this once per vial at the very beginning. Then you draw from the peptide bottle with smaller needles.
Reconstitution of Retatrutide
Retatrutide arrives as a dry powder (lyophilized) because it's more stable and lasts longer. However, that means it must be reconstituted. That is why I needed the other supplies listed above. It wasn't complicated.
In my case, because I had 15mg of Retatrutide Peptide, I reconstituted it with 1.5ml of reconstitution solution. I used 1.5ml to keep the math easy. See, doing it this way means all I need to do to get my 1mg dose is draw 10 units from the peptide vial (.1ml).
If I wanted a 2mg dose, I would need 20 units (.2ml). The 1ml syringe has a total of 100 unit capacity so I am using about 1/10 the capacity.
The simple math for 10mg would be 1ml of reconstitution. 20mg 2ml. 5mg .5ml. This is just to keep it easy, but I could do whatever
I watched other videos on Youtube for best practices in reconstitution
Coupon Codes
I have only ever used Evolve Peptides. If you follow my editorial policy from my pro triathlete days, I only use and recommend products that I actually use.
15% off Evolve Peptides Coupon Code - Use code ThomasGerlach
Side Effects
Some people have asked what side effects I have had. Side effects are similar to semaglutide and trizepatide. I will only list the side effects I have had which correspond to side effects listed from the Phase 2 and Phase 3 Eli Lilly Retatrutride study.
1) Nausea - early on, I did have some low-grade nausea. It wasn't bad, but the food didn't even look appealing. Nothing like you might have with say the flu
2) Diarrhea - early on I did have some mild diarrhea. That has mostly corrected. I did have one night where I got up to use the bathroom which is highly unusual. In general eating less affects how often and when you have bowel movements
3) Resting heart rate - my resting heart rate did creep up from roughly 44 to about 50. I will mention again that I did not exercise in this period except for 2 short run which is much less than I would usually do.
4) I did not notice any sleep abnormality like some people have. I do pay particular close attention to my sleep and creating a good sleep environment that is dark and cool. I could easily see how Retatrutide makes one run extra hot at night. I also found myself probably waking up less to pee in general than I normally would.
