Lipids worse on Reta??

How are you eating? Any other supplements, and do you train regularly? Reta has pushed my own lipid and glucose numbers lower over 3.5 months.

Losing weight can lower HDL, and so can TRT. I’m doing both and my HDL sits just below the normal range while the rest of my panel last month looked fine. I’ll repeat labs next month. Earlier home-kit results aren’t useful for comparison. I added fish oil last month at 3-4 g of EPA/DHA daily.

My eating is decent but I could use more fiber. I’m 58 and female. I do cardio plus fairly heavy lifting four days a week. I really thought LDL would get better.

Raising HDL by itself is tough. Endurance athletes tend to have higher levels from aerobic work. Omega-3s don’t move it much. What helped me was 25 minutes of cardio daily combined with a solid diet. The LDL-to-HDL ratio matters more than the separate numbers anyway.

A couple of points in LDL or TG probably don’t mean much; those numbers shift naturally day to day. HDL moves within a tighter range and is more meaningful, so a 10-point drop there counts. Have you reduced saturated fat? Some people cut it too far and see cholesterol numbers suffer. I switched to a low-carb approach heavy in butter, dairy, and coconut oil; HDL rose and TG fell over 18 months once weight stabilized.

Those numbers were all before any GLP-1 use. Adding one of those drugs makes before-and-after comparisons harder to read.

My biomarkers haven’t changed at all. I haven’t had any labs in about five years, though.