Reta/Glucagon doesn’t protect muscle

[ResearchCat]

I assume by now that people have seen the research coming out that shows retatrutude does not protect muscle and that research subjects lose as much muscle using Reta as they do with Sema or Tirz.

I find this interesting because most of the people I know who are researching it have gained muscle on Reta. That being said, they are also peptide researchers who are lifting, eating tons of protein, and probably pee $500 worth of supplements a month. I wonder if this is one of those things where is might protect muscle, but you have to do more than just take reta.

(I started a new topic bc I didn’t see this mentioned anywhere.

[vpeptides]

I don't think there is anything that beats regular exercise / resistance training, or that it makes sense to take anything for this purpose (except adequate protein amount). In almost a year on Tirz and Reta I only gained muscles, exercising 4 times a week.

[afkar7]

Since starting with Reta two and a half months ago I've lost, according to my Hume body pod, four pounds of lean muscle mass. I've lost seven pounds of body fat mass. I have also been on CJC 1295/Ipam during that time. I work out five days a week. Three lift days with to cardio/functional fitness. What I have experienced is that I am stronger now as I have been over the past 30 years. I'll soon be 63 and I'm 5'8" 158 lbs. Last week I deadlifted 320lb, back squat 200 and benched 210. Goals are 350, 225, 225 the latter two being as much as I have ever done with those. I never worked on DL's.

Now I have not been as good with my protein intake as I should be doing. Hoping to get that straight. Not sure what all of these might mean but I feel like Reta has not really been the drawback as I first thought it might be when it comes to losing any muscle and it hurting my strength. I know, two different things though. Not sure how long I'll stay on Reta and might stop after my current supply and try to bulk back up to see how that goes.

Anyway, just wanted to share my experience.

[emkay]

I think it's just one of those group biases. It's popular in gym circuits, so when lifters are using it as part of their stack with anabolics or whatever else it's assumed to be muscle sparing. Also a confounding thing can be tirz causing more lethargy and appetite suppression and folks in general riding those side effects to starvation and not exercising as much. I've lifted religiously for probably 15 years now to try to preserve bone mass, and even my microdose tirz can leave me drained and make protein (let's be real, all food) sound absolutely repulsive. The weeks I tried reta I was able to eat a lot more, but had no benefits for my RA which is my main reason for being on a GLP in the first place.

[quicksilver80]

I think nothing will spare muscle as long as youre starving yourself. Seen some writing about epicatechin, tmg, and hmb all helping with muscle sparing or growth. As for peptides you could look into gh secreteagouges to spare some while in harder deficits provided you keep your proteins high. But ultimately like mentioned above. resistance training and cardio helps me personally find balance. Everything counts in small ammounts though.