Mushy's [Reta] Fat Loss Progress

[Mushy404]

Regardless of how you want to be talked to, people are saying the right things. Gotta have thicker skin on the internet.

I've dealt with him appropriately as far as I am concerned. I am not known for being patient. He did well to make it this far before being put on ignore.

If I’m not mistaken, you don’t even track calories or macros right? That’s a huge issue that electro is trying to point out to you. Keto “works” if it keeps you in a deficit, not bc you’re eliminating carbs. I don’t want to say fats are the enemy, but Based off your lifestyle prior to trying to get healthy, I highly doubt your diet is full of clean healthy fats right now. Do you have any recent blood work? Do you intend on tracking cals/macros?

You’re correct that I don’t currently count calories.

I’m not against tracking in principle. Some people absolutely benefit from it. But right now ive been losing weight consistently without logging everything, so I havn't a need to add that layer yet.

Regarding macros... I don’t plug them into an app or write them down. I used to track macros quite obsessively, so I now have a pretty good intuitive sense of what’s in what and build my meals around that.

Carbs are kept very low, meat-based protein prioritised, and fats are mainly animal fats from whole foods (mostly oven-cooked), plus some nuts, butter, fish and a high omega-3 intake (~3 g/day EPA/DHA). It’s very different from my old lifestyle.

On the deficit point, we actually agree. Fat loss is about energy balance.

1 lb of fat is about 3,500 kcal?
I’m averaging 2.3 lbs lost per week. That implies a deficit of roughly 8,050 kcal/week, or about 1,150 kcal/day.

So whatever you think of my exact method, I’m clearly in a substantial deficit already.

I’ve seen a couple of comments framing it as me “only” losing 40 lbs in 4 months. That’s still 2.3 lbs/week, which is a solid, sustainable rate. Also worth noting: I was already fully keto for a few weeks before I started Reta/this log at 391 lbs, so the classic early keto water drop had already happened before this thread even began. At my fattest I was 410 lbs. So if we really want to nit pick, I am down 60lbs, not 40. I've only been referencing from July 16th, when I started Reta at 391, after I lost some weight from keto.

Now that my shoulder injury seems to be getting close to recovery, I’m planning to ramp up the intensity of my training. When I do that, I’ll most likely introduce some macro tracking – especially if I start experimenting with complex carbs around training. I'm currently considering carbs more like a targeted supplement. I recognise their benefits for training performance, so I’m open to exploring that. But nothing is set in stone yet – I genuinely like keto and I’m feeling better and better as the weeks and months go by.

I’m not trying to be a competitive bodybuilder, so I don’t need or want to treat carbs the way they do. I can absolutely transform my body and health staying ketogenic – or using a small, structured amount of carbs around training days. If/when I change things, it’ll be because it supports performance and recovery, not because the current approach “doesn’t work”.

Regarding bloods - yep, I have posted a few of them here already and we looked at the trends from older compared to newer. I should have more bloods again tomorrow, or perhaps Monday.


EDIT: I forgot to add that one of the reasons keto works well for me specifically is the lipolysis side of things: keeping carbs very low keeps insulin low, which makes it easier to mobilise and burn fat for fuel. I get fewer crashes, and more stable energy.

 

[Mushy404]

Sorry - made a few late edits there. Kept remembering things I was suppose to add

 

[BlackVeil]

You need to talk less and think more.
.

I think you need to look in the mirror.

 

[Infernalmango]

I've dealt with him appropriately as far as I am concerned. I am not known for being patient. He did well to make it this far before being put on ignore.



You’re correct that I don’t currently count calories.

I’m not against tracking in principle. Some people absolutely benefit from it. But right now ive been losing weight consistently without logging everything, so I havn't a need to add that layer yet.

Regarding macros... I don’t plug them into an app or write them down. I used to track macros quite obsessively, so I now have a pretty good intuitive sense of what’s in what and build my meals around that.

Carbs are kept very low, meat-based protein prioritised, and fats are mainly animal fats from whole foods (mostly oven-cooked), plus some nuts, butter, fish and a high omega-3 intake (~3 g/day EPA/DHA). It’s very different from my old lifestyle.

On the deficit point, we actually agree. Fat loss is about energy balance.

1 lb of fat is about 3,500 kcal?
I’m averaging 2.3 lbs lost per week. That implies a deficit of roughly 8,050 kcal/week, or about 1,150 kcal/day.

So whatever you think of my exact method, I’m clearly in a substantial deficit already.

I’ve seen a couple of comments framing it as me “only” losing 40 lbs in 4 months. That’s still 2.3 lbs/week, which is a solid, sustainable rate. Also worth noting: I was already fully keto for a few weeks before I started Reta/this log at 391 lbs, so the classic early keto water drop had already happened before this thread even began. At my fattest I was 410 lbs. So if we really want to nit pick, I am down 60lbs, not 40. I've only been referencing from July 16th, when I started Reta at 391, after I lost some weight from keto.

Now that my shoulder injury seems to be getting close to recovery, I’m planning to ramp up the intensity of my training. When I do that, I’ll most likely introduce some macro tracking – especially if I start experimenting with complex carbs around training. I'm currently considering carbs more like a targeted supplement. I recognise their benefits for training performance, so I’m open to exploring that. But nothing is set in stone yet – I genuinely like keto and I’m feeling better and better as the weeks and months go by.

I’m not trying to be a competitive bodybuilder, so I don’t need or want to treat carbs the way they do. I can absolutely transform my body and health staying ketogenic – or using a small, structured amount of carbs around training days. If/when I change things, it’ll be because it supports performance and recovery, not because the current approach “doesn’t work”.

Regarding bloods - yep, I have posted a few of them here already and we looked at the trends from older compared to newer. I should have more bloods again tomorrow, or perhaps Monday.


EDIT: I forgot to add that one of the reasons keto works well for me specifically is the lipolysis side of things: keeping carbs very low keeps insulin low, which makes it easier to mobilise and burn fat for fuel. I get fewer crashes, and more stable energy.

To be honest man you just seem to have a lot of excuses. A lot of delusion. A lot of I’m smarter and my way is the right way, with no intentions of taking advice.

You need to take a good hard look at where you started, at how not very far you’ve gotten, and realize you need to start doing the right things. The simple things - Eat smarter. Track your calories. Start exercising. This doesn’t mean hit weights like you keep saying your shoulder is your excuse for avoiding working out. Plenty to do beyond one body part.

I don’t think you’ll be successful, so I’m out on this. But I hope you prove me wrong. Goodluck.

 

[Mushy404]

To be honest man you just seem to have a lot of excuses. A lot of delusion. A lot of I’m smarter and my way is the right way, with no intentions of taking advice.

You need to take a good hard look at where you started, at how not very far you’ve gotten, and realize you need to start doing the right things. The simple things - Eat smarter. Track your calories. Start exercising. This doesn’t mean hit weights like you keep saying your shoulder is your excuse for avoiding working out. Plenty to do beyond one body part.

I don’t think you’ll be successful, so I’m out on this. But I hope you prove me wrong. Goodluck.

Before you go.
I curious to know how much fat loss you would expect me to have lost in exactly 4 months.

 

[Infernalmango]

Before you go.
I curious to know how much fat loss you would expect me to have lost in exactly 4 months.

Minimum 60.

 

[BlackVeil]

Before you go.
I curious to know how much fat loss you would expect me to have lost in exactly 4 months.

Your obese.
40 on reta over 5 months is a joke, both I and my friend lost 20 in the first month and we are no where near you.

When I was 275 back in 2024 on tirz, I lost 80 pounds in 3 months.
Again, no where near your size.
All you flipping have to do is COUNT CALORIES, and do cardio. Cant work out? Cardio.
Quit making excuses.
I see all the shit you buy, you have no place buying any of that.
All you need is trt and reta.

On Reta Im down 35 pounds right now in 2 months and some change… tell me if you feel you are truly doing a good job, at your size, losing 40 pounds in 4 months.

 

[Elektrobot]

I see all the shit you buy, you have no place buying any of that.

This dude is in other threads complaining about the color of the NPP he bought, but says he just signed up for the gym yesterday

He wants drugs to do what he refuses to do for himself

Fat and lazy drug user mentality will keep him fat and lazy

 

[Mushy404]

Minimum 60.

(I know you said you were out of here, so I don’t expect you to read or respond. But I’m still going to address this for anyone else following along.)

You know what… I was going to come at this from a different angle, but in the process of typing I decided to check my progress against the Reta trials. From what I make out, I’m coming in at roughly 82-83% of the progress of the max-dose trial in percentage terms.

Seeing that has actually made me want to push harder. Right or wrong, we all have our own motivations. Of course, the bit about me making “almost no progress” is a pretty silly thing to say - but if your point is that I could have pushed harder, then you absolutely have a fair point.

Can I say I’ve done everything possible? No. I could have joined a gym sooner, could have focused more on lower-body/other workarounds for my shoulder, and could have done more structured cardio instead of just a bit here and there. So hands up: I could have done more and I have hidden somewhat behind my busted shoulder.

You also said you don’t think I’ll be successful. If I changed nothing from what I’m doing now, I’d still end up in a completely different place physically and medically over the next year or two, on top of the improvements I’ve already had in HbA1c, blood pressure, breathing, sleep and day-to-day quality of life. That’s already a big shift from where I started.

I do think you were being a bit disingenuous and dramatic when you said I wasn’t willing to listen to advice. My response clearly showed that I was considering changes and that I’d like to implement some sort of tracking of calories, and in particular macros. We have differing opinions on keto, and that’s fine.

Anyway, if you want to go, then go. I’m not logging my progress for the approval of some randos on the internet. I will make improvements to my training and conditioning, and I do want to narrow that gap between me and the top-dose Reta trial participants.

 

[ikemay]

Skipping the basics isn't a brag

who's bragging? its not a flex, its just not needed with that diet. you'd have a hell of a time trying exceed a deficit on meat/fat, food noise is next to zero once your past the keto flu after a week or 2 and there really isnt much to track when your diet is mostly steak.

edit to add that on regular keto you should def be tracking, its easy to lose sight on the right ratio especially as time goes by and you lose sight of what your macros actually need to be

 

[Elektrobot]

I don't think there is ever a case where gulping down lard and calling it good > learning how to program your nutrition, weighing and tracking it, recalculating frequently to account for new maintenance numbers, and consuming healthful balanced foods.

Especially when coming from a place of obesity and needing to re-learn food for yourself.

"no need to weigh my food" sounds intentionally lazy and ignorant

 

[Mushy404]

UPDATE: New Bloods!

I plugged my September bloods and November bloods into ChatGPT to be better able to review. Below are the results of both tests. NOTE: Obviously take ChatGPT's analysis with a pinch of salt, but the numbers are what's important here. Specifically the trends.

My lipids have improved a little, Triglycerides a LOT! Will focus on lowering LDL a bit more and raising HDL. NOTE: My LDL was 5.6 in Dec 2024, 5.1 in Feb this year, and while still above the range, is now 3.8. Clearly trending the right way.

E2 is a wild swing, from 167 to 76 is huge. I moved from .25mg Anastrazole e7d to e6d, but the main factor in such a swing is I took my dose the night before these morning bloods. Last time it wouldnt have been so close. I dont like the wild swing in E2 from dose day to the day before following dose day - so I am going to discuss with my TRT doc whether Exemestane would be better, since I can control that more stable. Anastrazole tabs are too small to break into more than quarters.

I am delighted with my HbA1C! Phenomenal improvement! The keto diet has been huge for me here! Of course the fat loss too, but dropping carbs like a hot snot has been significant in bringing HbA1C down.

I am delighted with my improvement in Haematocrit too! I started on 100mg of Test/week and would like to push it in the direction of 140/week to get to the typical male range in the 1970's, when men were healthier - arguably when men were men. Doesn't mean exactly 140/week but I want to optimise as much as I can, without the side effects. So now that my H-crit is even lower, I am going to increase my weekly T.

Anyway, gotta get back to work. But just wanted to post those results for any of the doubters or those chatting shit about my progress.

1. Red cells / oxygen-carrying capacity​

September → November:

• Haemoglobin: 160 → 150 g/L (normal both times; you’ve moved from upper-mid to mid-range)
• Haematocrit: 0.489 → 0.451 L/L (also a step down but still within range)
• RBC count: 5.31 → 4.98 ×10¹²/L (both normal)
• MCV: 92 → 90.4 fL (normal)
• MCH/MCHC: essentially unchanged and normal.
• RDW: 14.6 → 16.0% (now just above the upper limit of 15%)

Interpretation

• Hb/Hct have come down a bit from near the top of the range. For someone on TRT with clotting history, this is not a bad thing – it means less erythrocytosis risk while still having perfectly adequate oxygen-carrying capacity.
• RDW going from normal to mildly high suggests your red cells are a bit more variable in size. In practice this can:
  • Be a transient lab artefact
  • Or hint at early iron/B12/folate issues or other “mixed” states even when Hb is still normal

Given:

• Hb/Hct are fine,
• Ferritin is still decent (see below),
  this is a “watch” not a “panic”. I’d just make sure that on a future panel you get iron studies + B12 + folate if not already done with your GP.

---

2. White cells / infection / inflammation​

September → November:

• WCC: 12.0 → 10.2 ×10⁹/L
  • Sept: mildly high
  • Nov: back within reference but at the upper end
• Neutrophils: 8.8 → 7.7 ×10⁹/L
  • Both above the stated upper limit of 7.5, but November is closer to normal
• Lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, basophils: all within range on both, with trivial shifts.

With your URTI on the November morning:

• You’d actually expect neutrophils and total WCC to go up with an acute infection.
• Despite that, both WCC and neutrophils are lower than they were in September.

So overall:

• September: looks more like a neutrophil-driven bump – could have been low-grade infection/inflammation or even handling artefact (they even warn EDTA storage can distort counts).
  
  
• November: improved and more reassuring, and the slight neutrophil edge is easily explained by your URTI on the day.

Nothing here screams chronic pathology; trend is towards normal, not away.

---

3. Platelets / clotting​

September → November:

• Platelets: 324 → 321 ×10⁹/L (basically identical and comfortably normal)
• MPV: 9.9 → 9.5 fL (normal)

No concerns. Given your DVT history and Apixaban use, it’s good that platelets are rock-steady mid-range.

4. Kidney function​

September → November:

• Urea: 5.9 → 4.8 mmol/L
• Creatinine: 92 → 91 µmol/L
• eGFR: 90 → 90 mL/min/1.73m²

Essentially unchanged, all normal. No sign of deterioration.

---

5. Liver function​

September → November:

• ALT: 38 → 18 U/L (dropped from the upper half of normal to the low–mid range)
• GGT: 46 → 22 U/L (big improvement; from mid-range to low)
• ALP: 112 → 113 U/L (stable normal)
• Bilirubin: 8 → 7 µmol/L (stable normal)

This is one of the most positive shifts:

• Your November liver profile looks cleaner – especially the GGT drop, which often tracks hepatic stress, fatty liver, alcohol, and some drugs.
• In the context of your weight loss and regime, this looks very much like genuine improvement, not random variation.

---

6. Glucose control (HbA1c)​

September → November:

• HbA1c: 39 → 31 mmol/mol

Both are in the “non-diabetic” range, but:

• 39 is at the top of normal.
• 31 is firmly in the lower half.

That’s a major improvement in average glycaemia and absolutely matches what you’d expect from the fat loss + ketogenic pattern you’ve been running. Metabolic risk is moving in the right direction here.

---

7. Lipids​

September → November:

• Total Cholesterol: 5.54 → 5.03 mmol/L (both just above the ideal cut-off; improving)
• LDL: 3.96 → 3.78 mmol/L (still above the <3.0 target; modest improvement)
• Non-HDL: 4.83 → 4.31 mmol/L (still above <4.0, but clearly improved)
• HDL: 0.71 → 0.72 mmol/L (both low; essentially unchanged)
• Triglycerides: 1.92 → 1.18 mmol/L (nice improvement; first result was upper-normal, second is comfortably low)
• Total Chol/HDL ratio: 7.78 → 7.01 (still above the <6 target; trending better)

Net picture:

• Direction: clearly better – TC, LDL, non-HDL and TG all improved.
• Absolute risk: still atherogenic:
  • HDL is low in both panels.
  • The ratio remains high even after improvement.

Given your other risk factors (history of obesity, DVT, TRT, etc.), lipids are still a key area to optimise further with your prescriber: diet, weight loss (already ongoing), maybe pharmacologic lipid lowering if not already addressed in the rest of your care.

---

8. Proteins & iron stores​

Proteins:

• Total protein: 73 → 66 g/L (both normal)
• Albumin: 45 → 40 g/L (normal, slightly lower on the November test)
• Globulin: 28 → 26 g/L (normal)

These small downward shifts can reflect differences in hydration and acute-phase status – and you were mildly ill on the November draw. Well within normal; nothing worrying.


Ferritin:

• 237 → 147 µg/L (both within range; now mid-range rather than high-normal).

That’s a healthy direction overall – excessively high ferritin can be inflammatory or iron-overload territory. Combined with the slightly raised RDW, I wouldn’t assume iron deficiency, but I would:

• Log the trend.
• If RDW stays high or you develop symptoms / Hb falls further, get full iron studies (ferritin, transferrin saturation), B12, folate.

9. Thyroid​

September → November:

• TSH: 2.38 → 1.85 mIU/L
• Free T3: 4.8 → 4.2 pmol/L
• Free T4: 18.5 → 18 pmol/L

All solidly euthyroid on both panels. The micro-changes are trivial and well within what you’d expect from day-to-day variation. Nothing here suggests under- or over-replacement compared to before.

---

10. Sex hormones, prolactin & SHBG (TRT context)​

September → November:

• Total Testosterone: 18.5 → 16.9 nmol/L
  • Both comfortably mid-range for a male on TRT.
• Free Testosterone (calc): 0.5462 → 0.5158 nmol/L
  • Both close to the top of the reference range.
• Free Androgen Index: 130 → 104%
  • Both above the upper ref (92.6%); i.e. androgen status still on the highish side, but less extreme than September.
• SHBG: 14.2 → 16.2 nmol/L (still low vs reference, but slightly improved)

Oestradiol:

• 167 → 76.7 pmol/L
  • September: just above the male upper limit (159)
  • November: comfortably mid-range for a male (ref 41.4–159)

FSH / LH:

• FSH: 0.3 → 0.3 IU/L
• LH: 0.3 → 0.3 IU/L

Both suppressed on both panels – exactly what you’d expect on exogenous TRT.


Prolactin:

• 369 → 157 mIU/L
  • September: mildly above the upper limit (324).
  • November: well within normal.

Takeaways:

• Androgen status: very similar overall; a slight drop in total and free T, but still in a strong replacement range, not sub-physiological by any stretch.
• Oestradiol: this is a big, and frankly very helpful, improvement: you’ve gone from slightly supraphysiologic E2 (which can tie into gyno, mood, fluid retention) down to a very normal level. Given your known AI adjustments, this matches what we’d expect.
• Prolactin: clearly normalised – that’s a win in terms of libido, mood, and gyno risk.

The combined hormone picture is cleaner in November: T is still good, E2 is now tidy, and prolactin is no longer an outlier.

11. PSA / prostate​

September → November:

• PSA: 0.48 → 0.33 µg/L

Both are low; November is even lower. No concern here.

 

[Mushy404]

Something to keep me entertained:

Admittedly, I haven't been following the Reta trial protocol like-for-like. And this for some bizarre reason has butt hurt a few people (?!).

The other day after some fella on here said my progress was shit and I would not succeed, I decided to check my progress Vs the Reta trials and found I was a little behind the highest dose (12mg) group. NOTE: I haven't even went above 7mg Reta per week yet.

For shits and giggles I am going to use the 12mg highest dose trial as a benchmark for my progress. Why am I doing this? Because it's entertaining to me. Let's see where my changing and tweaking of things gets me in the end. Will I be ahead or behind the top performing Reta trial group at weeks 24 and 48? And by how much? Let's find out!


With the help of AI I was able to pull the following together:

Quick snapshot of my Retatrutide vs 12 mg trial arm:

• I started 16 July 2025 at 391 lb.
• As of 22 Nov 2025 I’m 345 lb → 46 lb lost = 11.8% of starting weight in ~18.4 weeks.
• I’m male. In the phase 2 data, women on high-dose Reta lost more than men overall (around 28–29% vs 21–22% at the top dose), so I’m comparing myself against a curve that’s slightly “female-favoured”.
• However, I have TRT and GH in my toolbelt.

Dose vs trial:

• Trial 12 mg arm: 2 → 4 → 8 → 12 mg once weekly (each step 4 weeks), at full 12 mg/week from week 13 to week 48, with –17.5% at 24 weeks and –24.2% at 48 weeks.
• At my current timepoint (~18.4 weeks), an interpolated 12 mg curve would be about –13.4%; I’m at –11.8%, so roughly 1.6 percentage points (~6–7 lb) behind despite never hitting 12 mg/week and having had lower average exposure so far.

Going forward:

• From 23 Nov 2025 (my next shot) I’m increasing to 5 mg every 4 days (~8.75 mg/week).
• My aim is to beat the 12 mg/week group while never going above ~10 mg/week, since the trial seems to show diminishing extra benefit between 8 and 12 mg with more side-effects, and I’m also running GH + TRT, which should help tilt things in my favour, and have all sorts of other benefits.
• The cleanest comparison will be at 24 and 48 weeks (for me that’s 31 Dec 2025), because that’s where the trial gives hard numbers (24 and 48 weeks), so I’ll re-benchmark myself then against the 12 mg data.

I am going home for Christmas the 19th Dec to 4th Jan, so will not be keto. Meaning, the 24 week comparrison will be a temporarily blurred out of my favour, but all excess water will be gone a week after I get back.

Let's see what happens!

 

[BlackVeil]

I am going home for Christmas the 19th Dec to 4th Jan, so will not be keto.

lol




You type a lot of useless fluff.
Whats your daily food intake?
Your only goal should be learning how to count calories.

 

[hellerhiwater]

Mushy, I saw your initial thread from July and was curious how you’re finding everything.

It was cool to see you’re still actively posting and following the plan you laid out.

 

[Mushy404]

Mushy, I saw your initial thread from July and was curious how you’re finding everything.

It was cool to see you’re still actively posting and following the plan you laid out.

Hey mate,
Yeah, still going strong!

Started 391lbs, and when I weighed last week I was 345lbs - so 46lbs down in 4 months.

Up to 5mg e4d Reta now and still no issues with diet, nor any significant side effects. Bloods have dramatically improved also.

Still a lot more work to do, but am confident that I will do it.

 

[Mushy404]

Can You Build Muscle on a Low-Carb Ketogenic Diet?​

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CBH-R7DJ0o

 

[Elektrobot]

Can You Build Muscle on a Low-Carb Ketogenic Diet?​

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CBH-R7DJ0o

You can also fck your cars exhaust pipe.

"Can" doesn't = better, optimal, or even good.

Anyone who understands nutrition will write this guy off as a shill in the first 50 seconds.

 

[Mushy404]

TL;DR at the end


5-Month Update – Retatrutide / Training / TRT

Dec 16th marked exactly 5 months since starting Retatrutide, and I weighed in at 340 lbs. That’s 51 lbs down from my 391 lb starting point on July 16th (and ~70 lbs down from my fattest at ~410 lbs in late 2024).

I’ve included a monthly graph with this update so you can see the trend clearly.



You’ll probably notice a flattening between month 2 and month 3. That wasn’t a fat-loss stall — it coincides with HGH commencement roughly two weeks before the month-3 weigh-in. As expected, water retention masked progress for a short period. Once that water dropped away, weight loss resumed its strong downward trend, which you can clearly see from month 3 onward.

Overall, I feel great. I can walk much further now before fatiguing or getting PAD-like symptoms in my lower legs. As part of a follow-up for a previous DVT I’ve had further testing, and I’m told arterial blood flow is fine. However, one vein is damaged from the DVT, which makes me prone to lower-leg oedema.

That said, as the weight comes down and activity goes up, I’m seeing far fewer bouts of oedema, which is encouraging. Keto certainly helps here too.

TRT / Hormones

On the TRT front, I’ve increased Test Cyp to ~122 mg/week (UGL now, so a little asterisk there lol). I’ve also switched from Anastrozole to Exemestane. Part of that was practicality — cutting those tiny Anastrazole tabs into quarters for 0.25 mg E5D was a nightmare. To be fair, the Exemestane tabs aren’t much bigger either.

My TRT doc advised starting ¼ of a 25 mg Exemestane tab every 4 days. In hindsight, that’s probably a bit too much for me. For the past ~1.5 weeks I’ve been very irritable, moody, and sleeping terribly — classic signs I’ve overshot. He’s advised pushing it out to E5D, which I’ll do. Personally, I suspect E6D may end up being more appropriate, but we’ll see what the bloods say. Unfortunately I can’t test until around the second week of January, as I’m away. We also changed test dose and AI at the same time, so attribution isn’t perfectly clean.

Training

I started back in the gym towards the end of November. I’m deliberately not going crazy yet as I’m very de-trained, but I’m nudging things up each week and already hitting new PRs for this phase of life (even if I lifted more when I was younger).

So far it’s been full-body training each session, 3× per week, aiming for RPE 7–8. Adaptation has been quick and loads are increasing almost every session.

I reflected a bit on earlier comments about my updates being very PED-heavy (GH, Reta, T3 etc.) and light on diet/training. At the time I half-joked that training and nutrition are “boring” compared to drugs — but that got me thinking. If I get bored of the gym, I’m far more likely to quit or become inconsistent.

So lately I’ve been watching a lot of training-science podcasts and content, trying to get the same enjoyment from learning about training as I do from learning about pharmacology. I’m pleased to say it’s actually working — I’m enjoying it, and hopefully that translates into smarter, more sustainable training long-term.

Holidays / Short-Term Plans

I train again tomorrow, then on Friday I fly back home to the sticks for the holidays. I don’t drive, so there probably won’t be much weight training, but I’ll stay active and try not to go completely off the rails with food. I won’t be keto while I’m there, so the first weigh-in when I return should be… interesting. I’d expect things to normalise again within 1–2 weeks.

Shoulder

My shoulder injury has been a rollercoaster — feeling better, then re-aggravating it, rinse and repeat. I did tweak it pretty badly in the gym last Friday, but strangely there’s been a noticeable step forward over the past few days. Each flare-up seems to resolve faster than the last, possibly because I’m strengthening the surrounding musculature.

Training Going Forward

When I’m back, the plan is to move away from full-body RPE 7–8 work and transition to more focused muscle-group training at RPE 8–9. Realistically, after missing ~2 weeks over the holidays, I’ll probably do 1–2 more weeks of full-body sessions before ramping things up — but I’m genuinely looking forward to it.

Bloods / Lipids / Odds & Ends

Casting back to my previous update: bloods have improved a lot, which I’m really chuffed with. Lipids are still an issue but are moving in the right direction compared to Dec 2024. Exemestane is generally a bit kinder on lipids than Anastrozole, so while I don’t expect miracles, every little helps.

I’ve also dropped Proviron, which I briefly introduced to tinker with libido. That should help HDL in particular, and may also nudge LDL in the right direction.

Lastly, I do plan to run HCG for a few months when I get back to restore some testicular size. Part curiosity, part long-term prudence — I’m not comfortable leaving them pea-sized indefinitely, and I suspect that leaving them severely atrophied for many years would make recovery later less effective.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and I’ll post the next update around Jan 16th.

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TL;DR

5 months on Retatrutide: 391 → 340 lbs (−51 lbs total; ~70 lbs down from fattest).

Monthly graph included; brief Month 2–3 flattening was HGH water retention, not fat loss. Trend resumed strongly after.

Feeling much better physically — more walking tolerance, fewer lower-leg oedema episodes as weight drops (prior DVT damage still a factor).

TRT: Test C up to ~122 mg/week (UGL). Switched Anastrozole → Exemestane; current dose likely a bit high → adjusting frequency, bloods in Jan.

Training: Back in the gym late Nov, full-body 3×/week @ RPE 7–8, strength climbing fast. Plan to move to more focused RPE 8–9 work after holidays.

Holidays: Short training break, off keto briefly; expect temporary scale noise.

Bloods: Much improved overall; lipids still a work in progress but trending better. Dropped Proviron to help HDL.

Next: Possible short HCG run on return. Next update mid-Jan.