CJC + Ipamorelin stacked with Retatrutide

happyboysteak

happyboysteak

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I've been on Retatrutide 2mg for about 6 weeks. Results have been solid, though not amazing. Diet and lifting are pretty dialed in; sleep isn't, but I'm working on it. Started at 25% BF 5 months ago and reduced a significant part of it without peptides, currently at 18%, aiming for 13-14%.

I added CJC-1295 (no DAC)/Ipamorelin 2 weeks ago to help retain muscle through a slight caloric deficit, taper: 50mcg → 150mcg, running 5 days on / 2 days off. Feeling better at the gym, higher energy, but appetite has increased. Last meal is usually 6-7pm, and I pin CJC/Ipa around 11:00-11:30pm.

My deficit's been running around ~250 cal, but it's been harder to keep this last week, possibly from the increased appetite the CJC/Ipa seems to be driving. Not sure the best way forward here, since I don't want to lose too much muscle.

Questions:

  1. Is this timing good, or should I move the CJC/Ipa dose to the morning?
  2. I was hoping for sleep benefits, but they haven't shown up, would different timing help?
  3. Should I move my last meal earlier?
  4. If body fat loss is still the priority, should I just drop the CJC/Ipa until I reach my BF% goal?
 
Some people blast it in the morning because it jacks up their sleep. Probably worth trying provided you are up and moving or go workout. Might make you sleepy if just vegging out on the couch.
 
1) I moved my doses to the morning to eat dinner with my family. I do find that i am eating more because of that. When I was doing my shots in the evening I was essentially “fasting” from 6pm until the 8am the next day. So definitely helped weight loss. My weight loss has since slowed up, however I am not gaining and I have more strength for my resistance training. Depending on what your goals are you can adjust your CJC/ipa doses accordingly.



2) So, one of the benefits of moving my CJC/IPA shots to the morning is having a high protein snack before bed. I read that during the night, especially early morning hours our sugar drops while on Reta and our body compensates with Coritsol which wakes us up. Have a high protein snack can help keep that cortisol lower and that has really worked for me! I don’t wake up at 3am anymore. It’s more like 5 am.

3) I don’t really have input here.

4) I think your theory here is pretty good. I have like 8 more pounds for my goal weight. So I’m ok with were I’m at and will rely on body recomp with my CJC/IPA the rest of the way. If you have a lot more to lose, I would just stay on the Reta and go high protein. I haven’t done this, but you could add Tirz or Cagri for appetite like I’ve seen some other forum members do here.
 
happyboysteak said:


I've been on Retatrutide 2mg for about 6 weeks. Results have been solid, though not amazing. Diet and lifting are pretty dialed in; sleep isn't, but I'm working on it. Started at 25% BF 5 months ago and reduced a significant part of it without peptides, currently at 18%, aiming for 13-14%.

I added CJC-1295 (no DAC)/Ipamorelin 2 weeks ago to help retain muscle through a slight caloric deficit, taper: 50mcg → 150mcg, running 5 days on / 2 days off. Feeling better at the gym, higher energy, but appetite has increased. Last meal is usually 6-7pm, and I pin CJC/Ipa around 11:00-11:30pm.

My deficit's been running around ~250 cal, but it's been harder to keep this last week, possibly from the increased appetite the CJC/Ipa seems to be driving. Not sure the best way forward here, since I don't want to lose too much muscle.

Questions:

  1. Is this timing good, or should I move the CJC/Ipa dose to the morning?
  2. I was hoping for sleep benefits, but they haven't shown up, would different timing help?
  3. Should I move my last meal earlier?
  4. If body fat loss is still the priority, should I just drop the CJC/Ipa until I reach my BF% goal?

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
A lot of folks lose the additional hunger after a few weeks from HGH or the precursors, so you could try to ride it out a bit. But I feel at your bfp, you aren’t going to notice the additional benefit of higher IGF as much as after you cut a bit more, so I could see an argument either way on keeping it in stack or not. Since it sounds like retaining muscle is most important to you, while getting to goal weight, your key is going to be staying at minus 250 calories while getting a lot of protein. It’s hard to maintain muscle on a cut without AAS and HGH or the like doesn’t retain muscle anything close to AAS. So from your goals, I would prioritize calorie intake personally.
 
If you are not getting any sleep benefits from it, dropping it until you reach your goal makes a lot of sense since better sleep is a big part of how it helps preserve muscle anyway.
 
happyboysteak said:


I've been on Retatrutide 2mg for about 6 weeks. Results have been solid, though not amazing. Diet and lifting are pretty dialed in; sleep isn't, but I'm working on it. Started at 25% BF 5 months ago and reduced a significant part of it without peptides, currently at 18%, aiming for 13-14%.

I added CJC-1295 (no DAC)/Ipamorelin 2 weeks ago to help retain muscle through a slight caloric deficit, taper: 50mcg → 150mcg, running 5 days on / 2 days off. Feeling better at the gym, higher energy, but appetite has increased. Last meal is usually 6-7pm, and I pin CJC/Ipa around 11:00-11:30pm.

My deficit's been running around ~250 cal, but it's been harder to keep this last week, possibly from the increased appetite the CJC/Ipa seems to be driving. Not sure the best way forward here, since I don't want to lose too much muscle.

Questions:

  1. Is this timing good, or should I move the CJC/Ipa dose to the morning?
  2. I was hoping for sleep benefits, but they haven't shown up, would different timing help?
  3. Should I move my last meal earlier?
  4. If body fat loss is still the priority, should I just drop the CJC/Ipa until I reach my BF% goal?

Click to expand...
Click to expand...
71yo, very good health.

I'm stacking several peptides, but WRT this post, I am at goal weight but still taking retatrutide for metabolic benefits and appetite control. I just finished 12 weeks of gh secretagogues. 7 days/week 2mg Tesamorelin + 200mcg Ipamorelin AM fasting & fasted, and 200 mcg CJC-1295 nodac + 200mcg Ipamorelin PM fasting.

Lifestyle stack: very good nutrition (vegan), lifting heavy, above average sleep.

WRT GH secretagogues... Wow. Incredible impacts. Very noticeable body recomp at waist and neck. Others noticed the changes without being prompted.

Very mild edema in week 12 reminded me it was time to cycle. No sign of tesamorelin antibody ISR, but I would not expect that at 12 weeks. Downstream pathway adaption and systemic adaption are likely to subtle to notice.

I am starting week 3 into washout and cannot wait to complete 6 week washout so I can restart GH protocol.

Washout highlights other positive GH impacts to this stack. Week 1 & 2 sleep was awful. Week 3 is better. That hints there was some systemic adaption at 12 weeks, but not conclusive. The gym is harder, recovery after gym is noticeable slower and more achy.

Other washout change was significant change in appetite. I had to drop my retatrutide dose from 3mg to 2mg due to decreased appetite. I will probably decide I need to titrate up when I restart GH secretagogues.

Another unexplained change was statistically significant increase in resting heart rate of 6-8 bpm on gh secretagogues, as tracked during sleep. By week 2 of washout RHR during sleep has returned to 52 BPM baseline. I had attributed increased RHR to retatrutide, but it dropped to baseline before I dropped my retatrutide dose. I will track this more closely on my next cycle.

With no elevated cancer risks, I don't see any reason to stop cycling these 12 weeks / 6 weeks for the benefits. I might decide to switch some day to replace expensive Tesamorelin with less expensive CJC-1295 nodac in the mornings.

I will try to get IGF-1 blood work at the end of my next 12 week cycle.
 
Thanks guys! I switched to the morning this week and I'm definitely going to taper off of the cjc/ipa since this has additionally have been causing me some edema and joint pain, I've struggled with joint pain in the past due to injuries and I don't want to exacerbate that.

This week I was at 200mg each, 5 times a week, but tomorrow I'll likely back down to 100mg each and see how I feel in the next couple of days, but I have no issues with stopping now, I'm not getting the sleep benefits, which I was really looking towards, but I do have the hope that my body can adapt to a lower dose and get some of the benefits.

I am also getting my IGF checked again in a few weeks, it was slightly on the lower side about a month ago ~138.

Additionally, I will most likely switch to tirzepatide since my cardio has become awful, I don't feel too bad elsewhere, my appetite was supressed ok and I was losing weight appropriately, but the reduced cardio fitness makes it really hard to do physical activities.

I will keep prioritizing sleep, I've tried DSIP and it helped but I haven't been able to fix this once and for all 🙂
 
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