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Gained weight on reta

19 replies17 peopleOct 22, 2026☆ Follow
Summary

why did weight jump up 12 lbs in a few days while on retatrutide after starting gym work and other peptides

The original poster lost 65 lbs over months on reta plus CJC/Ipa but then stalled and recently gained 12 lbs after one hard gym session. Most replies point to water retention from the new training or the added peptides rather than muscle growth or spoiled product. Diet consistency and tracking are emphasized as the real levers once the initial loss slows. Several users report similar stalls when adding secretagogues and note the weight often drops again after a couple weeks.

What this discussion establishesWhere people disagree

Some participants want to drop the CJC/Ipa stack immediately while others say to keep it and simply track more carefully; a few stress that diet must be tightened while others say the peptides are still working fine

Still open

Whether the recent stall is purely water, a true loss of drug effect, or an undetected change in eating habits

Nothing here is advice.

19 replies · 17 people
AmberPebble43archiveopening post17h

Been using reta since June, titrating slowly from 1 mg. Started at 325 and got down to 270 while also running KLOW, CJC and Ipa. The drop was fast at first then stalled even after raising the dose. Sides that used to be rough have disappeared. Now at 3 mg twice a week. Got to 260 over several months. Wondering if keeping vials in the fridge door shook them up and ruined the product or if one vial in the kit was off. Hit the gym hard a few days ago for the first time in ages, now so sore I can barely move, back and limbs hurt badly. Weighed today and saw a 12 lb gain in about four days. Could the gym session plus CJC/Ipa have added muscle and water that fast, or is it just fluid? Hoping it is only water but I am conc

SharpLedger72archive16h

Yes. Soreness after training brings water retention. Give it time and avoid overdoing carbs.

SteadyCinder74archive16h

When did the CJC/IPA start? Did the loss slow after adding them? My own weight stalled for a month once I began secretagogues, which seems common and mostly from water. Judge progress by appetite and how much you are eating. You can tell if reta is still active. If hunger returns and portions grow, raise the dose. After four months you could be at 8 mg a week. The fridge door storage is not an issue. Overall there is no real problem here. Dropping 55 lbs in four months is solid progress. Keep going and stay with the gym. The soreness fades once your body adapts.

PlainAlder11archive16h

Opening and closing the fridge door will not affect the product. Weigh once a week on the same day and scale. Twelve pounds from one gym session does not add up. Has anything changed with food? Male or female?

WarmCompass27archive16h

Immediate muscle gain from one day of lifting is not realistic. How steady was food intake before the last weigh-in? Were sodium or carbs higher than usual? Do your legs or hands look puffy or larger? That can signal extra fluid. Your body is stressed from the new training and may be holding water in response. Muscle repair itself pulls in water and nutrients, which can add to the scale. No reason to think the reta stopped working. If diet stayed the same the extra weight should drop in a week or two.

GreenMeadow54archive15h
↳ replying to @AmberPebble43 (opening post)

The fridge door is not the real issue. The bigger point is expecting the drug to handle everything while diet stays unexamined. Your post barely mentions food. Progress can happen that way but only up to a point. These meds work best when they help change how you eat. You do not need to count every calorie but it helps. Focus on higher protein and lower calorie density foods if you want lasting results. The stall is from not being in a deficit, not from the medication or dose level.

BrightSparrow36archive15h

The morelins do cause water retention. Use an app to log intake, set activity to sedentary, and do not eat back exercise calories. Track every meal and weigh morning and night. That shows exactly how diet, training, and different compounds affect daily numbers. After starting sermorelin six weeks ago my loss flattened, but tracking showed it was fluid. Last week two pounds came off, then two more this week. The drop reflects the prior six weeks of actual loss plus the water finally leaving.

AmberTimber37archive15h

Water retention usually shows clear signs. One I notice is the marks socks leave on my calves.

SharpCinder28archive15h
↳ replying to @AmberPebble43 (opening post)

Same experience here once the honeymoon phase ended. Higher doses or different schedules are options some use. I finished a vial and am switching back to tirz for now, then plan to stack later with other compounds. People running stacks seem more satisfied lately.

BrightSparrow36archive14h

I looked into many peptides once I entered this space. Sermorelin interested me for its lower risk profile, but the water retention effect made me wait until I was near my first goal. Now that I am deliberately slowing the rate of loss I am fine with the fluid because I expected it and am tracking other health markers.

PlainCinder75archive13h
↳ replying to @AmberPebble43 (opening post)

Probably water. After six months on reta I added tesa in month two and saw almost no loss the first month. Once I stopped after three months the next month brought more loss than expected. Started tesa again in early October and now weigh more than at the start of the month despite no diet changes, so again it looks like fluid.

PlainAlder11archive13h
↳ replying to @SharpCinder28

Stacking a low dose of tirz with the higher reta dose restarted progress for her. Dropped the reta amount and added the tirz; she has lost a couple pounds since the first dose and reports mild nausea.

NorthWillow72archive12h
↳ replying to @PlainAlder11

Sounds like you are now checking vitals on your patient and she is reporting weight. Good work.

LevelThistle60archive12h

Some water may be present but the amount and type of food eaten is probably driving the stall at least as much.

BrightCompass57archive12h

The scale stops being the main measure at some point. I am near that stage around 233 and have been hovering between 233-235 for over a week yet see more definition. With so little fat left the number can rise. Growth hormone and related peptides reliably add weight when first started.

↳ replying to @PlainAlder11

Funny you mention that. I was about to ask if she had tried tirz yet and whether hunger returns on the reta. Some do better on tirz. Let her know people here are cheering her on even if she does not post.

IronKettle95archive6h
↳ replying to @PlainAlder11

Looking forward to the weekly update. Enjoy the research and wish there was a dedicated thread for it.

SlowLedger99archive6h
↳ replying to @AmberPebble43 (opening post)

325 to 260 is a strong stretch even with the stall. Hope the fridge door idea turns out to be the simple fix.

55 lb over 16 weeks equals 3.4 lb per week.

PlainAlder11archive6h
↳ replying to @NorthWillow72

Might pick up a few vials myself. Not fully up on current tirz pricing. At 2.5 mg the 30 mg vials should last. Could shift her more toward tirz and less reta depending on results. Appreciate the input. She may weigh on a different day than I do. I will probably jot down a few notes to keep track.

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