CommunityFood & Appetite

CJC + Ipamorelin stacked with Retatrutide

6 replies6 peopleAug 1, 2026☆ Follow
Summary

Should I change CJC/Ipamorelin timing or drop it when stacking with Retatrutide because of rising appetite and missing sleep gains?

Users report mixed results moving the evening CJC/Ipamorelin dose to morning: appetite rises and evening fasting ends, slowing fat loss, yet some gain training strength and avoid 3 a.m. cortisol spikes with a bedtime protein snack. Several note hunger often fades after a few weeks and that muscle retention on a cut still depends mainly on holding the 250-calorie deficit and high protein rather than the peptides. Others suggest pausing the stack until goal weight if sleep benefits never appear, since edema or joint issues can appear. One long-term user described clear recomp at the waist after 12 weeks of daily Tesamorelin plus Ipamorelin before cycling off.

What this discussion establishesWhere people disagree

Whether to keep the peptides through the final fat-loss phase or pause them until goal weight is reached

Still open

Whether shifting the dose earlier will restore any sleep benefit for the original poster

Nothing here is advice.

6 replies · 6 people
SteadyThistle36archiveopening postAug 1

Been running Retatrutide at 2 mg for roughly six weeks now. Progress is decent but nothing dramatic. Training and food are locked in, though sleep still needs work. Dropped from 25 % body fat five months ago down to 18 % without any peptides and want to reach 13-14 %. Added CJC-1295 without DAC plus Ipamorelin two weeks back at a 50-to-150 mcg ramp, five days on two off, hoping to hold muscle in a mild deficit. Gym feels better and energy is up, but hunger has climbed. Last meal around 6-7 pm and pinning the blend at 11-11:30 pm. Deficit sits near 250 calories yet staying there got tougher this week. Not sure if the timing is helping or hurting sleep, or if moving the shot earlier would change anything. Also wondering whether pushing the final meal earlier or just stopping the blend would be smarter while fat loss is still the main goal.

BrightBeacon35archiveAug 1

Some people take it first thing in the morning because it disrupts their sleep. Could be worth testing as long as you're active or heading to train. Sitting around afterward might just make you drowsy.

KeenSparrow66archiveAug 1

I switched my shots to the morning so I could eat dinner with family. That change made me eat more overall. Evening shots had me fasting from 6 pm until 8 am, which helped weight loss more. Since the switch the scale has slowed but I'm not gaining and my lifts feel stronger. Depends on your goals whether you keep or adjust the dose. One upside of the morning timing is I can have a high-protein snack before bed. While on Retatrutide blood sugar can drop overnight and cortisol rises, waking people up. The snack seems to keep cortisol in check and I now wake around 5 am instead of 3 am. On the last point your idea sounds reasonable. I have only about eight pounds left so I'm fine staying where I am and using the blend for recomp from here.

WryHarbour70archiveAug 1
↳ replying to @SteadyThistle36 (opening post)

Plenty of people see the extra hunger from these GH precursors fade after a few weeks, so waiting it out is an option. At your current body-fat level the extra IGF probably won't add much until you lean out further, so there's a case for either keeping or dropping it. Since holding muscle while reaching goal weight matters most to you, the real key is staying 250 calories under maintenance with high protein. Maintaining muscle in a cut without AAS is tough and these peptides don't come close to what AAS can do for retention. Given your priorities I'd focus on controlling calories first.

CopperPebble12archiveAug 2

Without any sleep improvement it makes sense to pause the blend until you hit your goal, because better rest is one of the main ways it helps spare muscle anyway.

WryMarble33archiveAug 2
↳ replying to @SteadyThistle36 (opening post)

I'm 71 and in solid health, stacking several peptides. For this topic I'm already at goal weight but still using Retatrutide for metabolic and appetite control. Just finished twelve weeks of GH secretagogues: 2 mg Tesamorelin plus 200 mcg Ipamorelin fasted in the morning and 200 mcg CJC-1295 no DAC plus 200 mcg Ipamorelin fasted at night, seven days a week. Nutrition is tight, lifting is heavy, sleep is above average. The secretagogue run gave noticeable recomp around the waist and neck that others commented on without prompting. Mild edema showed up in week twelve so I ended the cycle. No injection-site reactions from the Tesamorelin. After two weeks off sleep was poor but improved in week three. Training feels harder during the washout and I'm looking forward to restarting after six weeks off.

SteadyThistle36archiveAug 6

Thanks everyone. I moved the dose to morning this week and plan to taper off the blend because it's also causing edema and joint pain I had issues with before. This week I was at 200 mcg each five days a week but tomorrow I'll drop to 100 mcg each and check how I feel. No problem stopping completely since sleep benefits never showed up. Hoping a lower dose might still let my body adapt and deliver some upside. Getting IGF levels checked again soon; they were a bit low last month around 138. Probably switching to Tirzepatide because cardio capacity has tanked and that makes daily movement tough even though appetite control and weight loss were fine. Still working on sleep; DSIP helped some but hasn't fixed the underlying problem.

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