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Stuck at same weight for 2 weeks

28 replies19 peopleMay 12, 2026☆ Follow
Summary

why has weight loss stalled on tirzepatide after adding multiple peptides despite low calories and gym work

The original poster, a type 1 diabetic, lost 53 lb on tirzepatide alone but saw almost no scale movement after adding reta, tesamorelin and several other peptides eight days ago. Most replies conclude two weeks is too short to call a true stall, that tesamorelin commonly causes fluid retention that masks fat loss, and that stacking so many compounds at once makes it impossible to identify what is helping or hindering. Several note the scale is noisy after major weight loss and hard training, while others stress that a sustained calorie deficit remains the only driver of fat loss.

What this discussion establishesWhere people disagree

whether the stall is mainly fluid retention, insufficient calories, or simply too many compounds at once

Still open

what the actual daily calorie intake is and whether any single peptide is responsible for the lack of scale movement

Nothing here is advice.

28 replies · 19 people
QuietKettle56archiveopening postMay 12

Type 1 diabetic here. Started strictly on tirz back in November 2025, so about 6.5 months ago. Dropped from 269 lb down to 216 lb on tirz alone, 53 lb total. Following a very low calorie and carb diet, taking fiber supplements, drinking plenty of water, and keeping blood sugars 98 percent in range between 70 and 150. Weight loss slowed noticeably over the past four weeks, just a pound or two here and there. Going to the gym five days a week for an hour each time. Eight days ago added a new stack on top of the 15 mg weekly tirz dose: reta at 30 units or 3 mg once a week, tesamorelin 10 units Monday through Friday, aod 9604 6 units Monday through Friday, 5 amino 1q 6 units daily, bpc 157 plus tb 500 10 units daily, mots-c 10 units Monday through Friday, and ghk-cu 10 units daily for skin. Last week the scale did not move at all and stayed at 216. Surprised and a bit let down, though I realize these things need time. Goal weight is around 180.

WryCinder57archiveMay 12

Progress so far is solid, no need to panic right away. Plateaus happen and sometimes you just have to ride them out. Two options are to keep everything the same and wait, or try to jolt the system with something different because the body adapts to routine. Could try a higher calorie day, add more walking especially after meals, or change the lifting to hit several muscle groups per session with higher volume and heavier loads. The current mix looks decent, maybe just increase the reta once you find the right therapeutic level.

KeenKettle50archiveMay 12

Why combine all of those at once?

SharpWillow20archiveMay 12

A couple of possibilities. One week my reta seemed to stop working because I was dosing it too close to the other peptides, so I started spacing everything at least two hours apart. Also reta needs a couple of weeks to reach steady levels in the system.

NorthThistle70archiveMay 12

The phase 3 trial for reta used a slow ramp: 2 mg for four weeks, then 4 mg, 6 mg, 9 mg, and finally 12 mg. Tesamorelin tends to cause water retention, so it might be better to let the reta work without the extra fluid.

KeenKettle50archiveMay 12
↳ replying to @NorthThistle70

You just have to pee out that extra water.

ClearLantern81archiveMay 12
↳ replying to @QuietKettle56 (opening post)

Reads more like the body is signaling it needs a break than that nothing is working. Fifty three pounds in six and a half months is a big drop, and the closer you get to goal the harder the body works to hold onto weight. Two weeks is not a real stall, especially with heavy lifting. Water from muscle repair can hide fat loss completely. Adding so many new compounds at the same time means any one of them could be raising stress, inflammation, cortisol or changing appetite and sleep. Going harder is probably the wrong move when calories are already very low and training is frequent. Might actually need more food for recovery.

SlowLantern46archiveMay 12

That stack is a lot. Hard to tell what is helping versus what might be holding progress back. Also was it one week or a couple of bad weeks? Either way the overall loss is still large, better to judge over a longer period.

CopperSignal27archiveMay 12

Tesamorelin commonly causes fluid retention, so it is possible a couple pounds of fat were lost but replaced by water since starting it eight days ago. If fat loss continues the water should eventually drop and the scale will follow, or stopping the tesamorelin would clear the extra fluid in one to two weeks. That still does not explain the four weeks of little movement before the new stack. If calories have stayed the same while adding 3 mg reta on top of 15 mg tirz, true fat loss is unlikely to have stopped. Would need to see the weight trend over the last couple of months to know if it was a gradual slowdown or just normal fluid swings.

KeenCompass55archiveMay 12

Using units instead of milligrams shows some gaps in understanding dosing. Also seems overly concerned about a two week stall. Might help to slow down and review the basics again to avoid potential issues later.

BlueKettle52archiveMay 13

What are the daily calories and rough macro split? No movement for two weeks means there was not a calorie deficit during those fourteen days. A deficit is the only way fat comes off. Tracking an actual daily number makes small adjustments possible. Peptides are just a tool that makes staying in a deficit easier by lowering appetite, they do not cause the loss by themselves. Weight changes only when more calories are burned than taken in.

ClearLantern81archiveMay 13
↳ replying to @BlueKettle52

Would be careful treating it as purely black and white. A deficit is required over time, but the scale does not track fat loss in real time, especially after 53 lb lost, five lifting days a week, type 1 diabetes, and multiple new compounds including one known for fluid retention. Training stress, glycogen, inflammation, insulin shifts, sodium, sleep and cortisol can all mask fat loss temporarily. Very low intake plus aggressive training sometimes means the body needs more fuel and recovery rather than more restriction.

BlueKettle52archiveMay 13
↳ replying to @ClearLantern81

Water retention and the other factors mentioned could certainly be involved. Still, two weeks flat on the scale points most directly to calories consumed. A few days without movement is normal, but two weeks is longer, especially on glp-1s. Body recomposition can keep the scale steady while fat is still lost, that is true.

BlueSignal97archiveMay 13

As a type 1 diabetic the risk of going too low with insulin plus this many compounds is real. Hypoglycemia can be dangerous.

ClearLantern81archiveMay 13
↳ replying to @BlueKettle52

Probably agree on more points than we disagree. Long term energy balance matters, but after big weight loss, hard training, very low calories, diabetes, and several new compounds one of which causes fluid retention, the scale becomes a noisy short term signal. In these discussions people often treat two weeks flat as a reason to add more peptides or eat even less, when sometimes recovery and adequate nutrition are what is needed next. See it frequently.

BlueTimber11archiveMay 13

Recomp is unlikely here. Prior rate was about two pounds a week, which would require gaining two pounds of muscle weekly to offset, and that does not happen.

ClearLantern81archiveMay 13
↳ replying to @BlueTimber11

Was only noting that recomp in general can stall the scale and lead people to immediately add more compounds or cut intake further.

QuietFenwick11archiveMay 13
↳ replying to @QuietKettle56 (opening post)

Units do not tell us the actual dose, could be anywhere from one to ten milligrams of tesamorelin. A true plateau is closer to five or six weeks without movement, so this is not one yet. Too many compounds at once, and without a scale that can separate fat from water it is hard to know what is happening. Probably best to drop the tesamorelin if extra water weight is unwanted.

SharpBeacon17archiveMay 13
↳ replying to @QuietKettle56 (opening post)

See this often, people read the benefits of each peptide but not the downsides and end up stacking everything. The body can get overwhelmed. For fat loss the simpler approach is reta plus tesamorelin and drop the rest unless there is an injury that needs bpc or tb. Aod is debated and may do little. Tesamorelin can also support muscle, so body composition might still be improving even if scale weight is flat. Could try bumping reta to 4 mg. After the cut phase consider cycling other peptides for inflammation and skin instead of running them all together.

RustPebble43archiveMay 14

Are the amounts correct? Units alone do not tell us the dose and suggest inexperience with how much is actually being taken.

SharpBeacon17archiveMay 14

Most people look for a quick fix instead of handling the basics like removing seed oils, eating properly, and choosing foods that lower inflammation. Even when they do the basics they still add peptides, which is why separating the peptides into different phases makes sense.

KeenKettle50archiveMay 14
↳ replying to @SharpBeacon17

Not in a position to lecture, but I only turned to these medications after trying every legal clean option for five months with no further movement after an initial 30 lb loss. Hashimoto, insulin resistance and low testosterone make things difficult. Seed oils are mostly just clickbait from certain blogs.

CopperSignal27archiveMay 14

Agree on confirming doses in milligrams. From my own experience losing large amounts of weight multiple times, two weeks flat on the scale means almost nothing because normal fluid shifts can swing weight by up to two kilograms. Weight can stay the same or even rise for a month with no change in calories and still resume the prior loss rate afterward. A real stall on glp-1s shows a gradual slowing over four to six weeks, not a sudden stop.

SharpBeacon17archiveMay 14
↳ replying to @KeenKettle50

No pride lost in getting some help. The bigger issue is most people want a shortcut rather than doing the basics consistently. Fixing low testosterone helps many areas and I use around 175 mg trt weekly to stay at the high end of range and keep mental clarity. Seed oils do contribute to arterial plaque because of the omega 6 content and they make calorie tracking harder, though moderation is usually fine.

WarmLedger35archiveMay 14

Six and a half months is 26 weeks. Typical advice is to cut for about 16 weeks then spend a few weeks at maintenance before resuming the deficit to avoid stalling. Eating at maintenance for a short period should get things moving again.

LevelThistle44archiveMay 14
↳ replying to @WarmLedger35

There are roughly 4.33 weeks in a month so 26 weeks is six months. Never heard of the 16 week cut rule, but a short maintenance phase is a solid way to handle a stall.

GreenMeadow54archiveMay 14
↳ replying to @WarmLedger35

That 16 week cut idea is more for bodybuilders trying to get extremely lean while preserving muscle, not for someone dropping a large amount of weight. I lost about 90 lb over 18 months without a glp-1 and had several two week stalls that were frustrating but normal. The body resists large losses but cannot fight thermodynamics forever. Agree the aggressive stack is questionable, but the weight loss itself does not seem to have a problem. Stay consistent.

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