Another long stall

I thought the calorie count might be off so I tightened everything up and now weigh every item in MFP. My meals are very repetitive and basically the same every day. I cannot see where the error is but I agree it must be there. At 47 and after a lifetime of dieting I know stalls happen. I just do not want another four months stuck. Hopefully raising the reta dose will move things again.

I read these stall threads and keep wondering where ladyj779 is. Any thread that mentions TDEE, consistent deficit, stalls, logging, or weighing needs her practical take. A lot of people here and on YouTube seem to think the drugs should do all the work. When progress stops they just raise doses or add another medication. The idea is to keep stacking until goal weight arrives and that diet or exercise never matters because the medication handles everything. This is still medication and you have to let it work.

When people hear all their lives that the average person needs 2000 calories it feels unfair that they might need less to stay healthy or avoid excess weight. A lot of that old nutrition advice was shaped by economic interests in agriculture and other industries and was based on populations that did far more physical labor than most do now. Food today is also very different in composition and availability. On top of all that, muscle declines and metabolism slows with age so calorie needs drop whether someone is 45 or 70. I have been thinking about how much heavier populations have become over the last few decades.

My wife was in the same spot. She had been on tirz since October, reached max dose, and stalled. We added reta three months ago in early June, kept tirz at 15 mg, and titrated reta up to 4 mg split twice a week. She has been losing steadily again. After her tirz shot her appetite is basically gone for two days. We are planning to lower the tirz dose starting this week.

Thanks for the details. That is the direction I am hoping to go. Did she have many side effects?

None from the reta. All her side effects have come from the tirz. We are still at a fairly low reta dose. Split dosing seems to reduce sides. She did not start losing until reta reached 3 mg. The schedule was 1 mg for one week, 2 mg for three weeks, 3 mg for six weeks, and now 4 mg for the fifth week. We plan to stay at 4 mg for a while as long as loss stays around a pound a week.

Good point. I am also 47 and perimenopausal. I just recalculated and my TDEE is 1876. A cut should be around 1300 so I will aim closer to that. I never add exercise calories back in anyway.

I do not think the drug is supposed to do everything. I am definitely doing my part.

Yes, I have been on levothyroxine for about four years.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have been taking tirz and reta on the same day but I think I will split them. I might also drop the cagri since it does not seem to help me.

Yes, definitely split them. I do reta on Sundays and tirz on Thursdays. That should help keep calorie reduction more consistent.

Thanks!

I am 47, 5'8, no diabetes. I started in June 2024 at 272 pounds on sema, switched to tirz after ten months and 50 pounds lost once sema was maxed. I am definitely a slow responder with no side effects. I have gone between 15 mg and 12.5 mg of tirz for the last year and a half with similar slow results. Goal is a healthy BMI at 160, so 34 more pounds. I am much happier at the current size but disappointed that all the effort has not gotten me to goal. I had planned to stop tirz entirely but many people here succeed with both so I will try that. Cagri just makes me tired for two days and gives bad injection-site reactions. I still have part of a kit left so that option remains open. Thanks for the input.

A lot of good points here. The first time I went to Europe years ago I was struck by how much slimmer everyone looked. Stepping off the plane back home the difference in average size was obvious. I do not travel as much now but the trend toward larger sizes seems to have spread. Opportunities and cues to overeat are everywhere. One benefit of the GLPs is they reduce both internal urges and the pull from constant advertising and abundant food. For someone who has always eaten without brakes these medications make it easier to stop at a normal amount.

What does your injection schedule look like? Do you pin the elora and reta on the same day?

Tirz Monday evening, elora Wednesday whenever, tirz again Friday morning, reta Sunday morning. The idea with the split tirz is to keep levels even across the week and stronger on the weekend. Reta takes time to feel so Sunday keeps it strong by Monday. Elora on Wednesday just fits between the two tirz days. Open to other ideas.

Love-hate relationship with MyFitnessPal.

I have a straight love relationship with the loseit app. Walking plus that app helped me drop 110 pounds in a year and a half before I could afford GLPs. I still like both but these medications feel like an extra boost.

Agreed. I lost 40 pounds with CICO and going sober but the GLPs make it feel easier. You still do the work though. I sent a DM about CICO if you want to discuss it. Not trolling. Have a good one.

I do something similar for the same reason. I just started reta seven weeks ago. I was splitting tirz Monday and Friday mornings and swapped the Friday one for reta. The Friday pin is meant to carry through the weekend. Both reta and tirz peak on day two or three so Thursday night pins can hit hardest on Saturday and Sunday. Monday morning then carries through the next week.

My diet is fairly clean. I do not drink, cook most meals, and rarely eat processed foods. One issue is activity on non-gym days. I go three days a week but the other four days are only so-so. I am working on that but it is not easy. Sleep is tough at 47, perimenopausal, with a five- and six-year-old. What is sleep?

I hear that advice but my body does not respond that way. One day of overeating and I gain five pounds. No one would ever call me skinny. I am seeing strength gains in the gym and enjoy that. Looking forward to seeing more muscle once the rest comes off.

I get it. I have three kids ages two, four, and six and another on the way. Sleep is rough. On non-gym days maybe a treadmill, stepper, or stationary bike could work?

Trying a three-day fast now. I have not done one in years even though I do a lot of OMAD and stay in nutritional ketosis. Water weight is unpredictable. I had a snack around 9 pm Wednesday after a workout, woke up at 277 Thursday, had only black coffee, water, and zero-calorie electrolytes yesterday, and woke at 278.2 today. I know daily weighing shows fluctuations but I was hoping for a small confidence boost. It backfired.

Water retention can happen for odd reasons. Make sure you are getting enough water and electrolytes. Being dehydrated can actually make the body hold more water. Dandelion tea can act as a mild diuretic. Eating after 7 pm also tends to show up as a higher morning weight for me. Daily weighing can still be useful if you focus on the overall trend and ignore day-to-day changes. Good luck.

On another note, do you track how different peptides affect blood ketone levels and fasting glucose? I posted about it elsewhere. MOTS-C seems to raise ketone levels well above baseline. I am also testing oral 5-amino-1mq and will see what that does.

The only peptide I am using right now is reta. I check fasting blood glucose and ketones daily. I have noticed deeper nutritional ketosis after starting reta even without changing the diet.

I have a treadmill but getting the kids to play nicely while I use it feels like more effort than it is worth. Still, I should try harder.

I get what you're telling me. Does that mean you've never boosted intake over seven days just from a single day's impact? It restarts how the body uses energy. Sure, packing on thirty-five pounds during those days would make me agree, yet without getting away from the weighing machine and trying a full seven days at steady intake levels, it's impossible to tell. I absolutely despise eggs! Still, along with sardines, they provided my main protein during the initial seventy-two hours.