Would you mind elaborating a bit on your DNP use?
For example, length of time, dose, typical escalation schedule, diet, supps, nutrition / nutrition strategies (IF, PSMF, low carb, etc), changes to workout routine, what you feel is best length of time + dose which balances results with sides, etc.
Would be helpful and appreciated.
Oh man. I was a mess when I started. Sort of did a depression spiral. I preface my DNP use with this because how I went about using the drug was irresponsible and I didn't care what happened to me. I wouldn't recommend this drug to most people. But this board isn't most people. I hope Meso members are smart enough to follow safety protocols and abandon use at first signs of trouble.
Luckily I have a log on my phone to refer to.
First cycle:
Started off with 100 mg per day. Was frustrating because I actually gained weight due to the initial water retention Did this for a week before jumping to 200 mg for two days. Then out of frustration jumped to 400 mg.
After three days of 400 mg I was at a friend's house and my heart rate resting was 115 and I ended up vomiting. This was a DNP overdose.
Backed off and took no doses for two days then started back on 200 and worked back to 400.
In the end I did 14 days at 400 mg. Lost 15 lbs and 2.5 inches off my waist. As noted I did get a burning sensation in my fingers and toes and that is when I abandoned this cycle.
Stayed off DNP for 3 months
Unfortunately I was way less detailed in my log on the next cycles. I did technically do 2 more cycles but one I don't count because I abandoned it quickly. I just happened to get a flu or something soon after starting.
The last cycle I did I consider the most successful , and this is the protocol I now recommend:
Spent 4 days eating close to zero carbs prior to first dose. Doing 30-45 mins stairs + my usual 15,000 steps per day. Really depleted all the glycogen.
I believe I started with 250 mg of powdered DNP for 3 days to further eliminate any possible glycogen stores. Then jumped to 500 mg. I alternated between 375 and 500 mg per day depending on how heavily I found the effects. Spent 8 days at the higher dose (I don't personally consider the 250 mg days as part of the main fat loss phase and think of it more in terms of removing all glycogen). I was also on 20 mg cardarine, which I do recommend as DNP causes so much lethargy. Another 10 ish lbs and 1.5 inches in that time.
Truthfully I didn't need the second DNP run as I had hit my stride and was losing weight naturally with the heavy cardio and good diet. But doing a cycle of DNP is months of progress in a short time. I think of it as taking all the long term suffering of dieting and condensing it into a short period.
Second cycle supplements:
-Liver HD taking 4 caps daily to get the 1,000 mg TUDCA total + all the other stuff HD muscle puts in the supplement.
-1000 mg vitamin C 4-5 times day
- 800 mg vitamin E
-400 mg coq 10
-400 mg magnesium
-5 mg melatonin
-electrolyte powder I mixed into water throughout the day
-Iodine but I don't remember the dose
-8-16 mg ephedrine sporadically if I had to work. Mostly combating lethargy
Other than being super hot all the time I had no side effects from the second cycle. No pins and needles feeling, never had nausea or GI distress. I think the mix of depleting the liver prior to start to jump start fat loss + the supplements helped.
Training was just a bro split. You won't hit any PRs. So just focused on compounds and trying to match previous best as much as possible.
Cardio I think you should do dedicated cardio daily + just increase movement. Tons of steps. Really take advantage of your jacked up metabolism.
For diet the big thing is the low/zero carb depletion phase prior to starting. While on DNP the two focuses were keeping protein 1-1.5 g/lb and making sure to have vegetables and berries multiple times a day. Calories would've been a 500 deficit if I wasn't on DNP, so that 500 + the massive deficit cause by the DNP. I think fasting while on is a mistake. You want a consistent flow of nutrients imo.
DNP suppresses the thyroid. So after coming off I kept my calories even lower than I normally would have for two weeks. And even then slowly raised them back to where I wanted to be.
I disagree with the idea of taking 200 mg for long periods of time. I get the theory. 200 mg is about a 30% increase in TDEE and you don't feel it at all. But I feel the best use is to get in and get out. It feels the worst at night. But if you can ride out the suffering you will be rewarded.
Weirdest thing is the water retention. I gained 5-10 lbs of water at the start of the first cycle. Second cycle was a lot better and max 5 lbs. But when you come off the water doesn't come off quickly. With both the first and last cycle I found my weight and waist measurements both bottomed out 14 days after the last dose of DNP.
In the future I think I'd try the opposite approach. The Vigorous Mitochondrial optimization stack route. Literally the opposite of what DNP does lmao. But DNP will always have it's fans quietly using it because there is nothing like it. It's guaranteed results in a bottle.