Retatrutide: the one that took food off my mind

This is the weight-loss peptide I still use today, here in Thailand. It’s one of the three I’m running right now. Below is what it did for me, what I was told before I started, and the questions people ask me most. You won’t find doses here. That’s a conversation for a doctor, not for a web page.

Why I tried it

The reason is the ordinary one. As I got older, fat crept on, and it stopped coming off when I made an effort.

I’d also tried every generation of this class of drug as each one came out. That’s the rule I work by: we don’t offer anything we haven’t tried on ourselves first. So when this one arrived, I wasn’t comparing it with nothing. I was comparing it with everything that came before.

The explanation I was given

The explanation I was given is that the older drugs in this family work on one signal, or two. This one works on three at once. GLP-1 turns hunger down and slows digestion. GIP helps the body handle fat and sugar. Glucagon raises how much energy the body uses, even at rest. I won’t go further than that, because the biology isn’t mine to explain.

I was also told two things that belong in the same sentence. In the trials so far, people lost more weight on it than on the drugs before it. And it is still being studied.

What actually happened

Week one: the hunger went. It didn’t make me feel sick. It felt as if I’d simply forgotten a meal. Food stopped being something I thought about all day.

After that: my shape started to change, more slowly.

On my blood tests: this is the change I care about more. I get my blood checked regularly. As the fat came off, my blood sugar, my blood fats, my liver numbers and my blood pressure all improved. That’s my body, measured on my own tests. It isn’t a promise about yours.

What nobody told me

What I aimed for wasn’t the most I could take. It was the point where food stopped running my day, but I could still sit down to dinner with friends and enjoy it. The explanation I was given is that if you’re so full you can’t eat, or food starts to put you off, you’ve gone past that point. The idea is the lowest amount that still does the job, not the highest amount you can stand.

The other surprise was what didn’t happen. I’ve had no side effects from it at all. But “I was fine” is not the same sentence as “you’ll be fine,” and the list further down is there for that reason.

Where I am now

I used it until I got where I wanted to be, then stepped down to a maintenance dose. I’m still on it, and my weight has held. It sits alongside Tesamorelin and Epithalon. For me that’s the limit: two or three at a time, never twelve.

Lifting weights has stayed in the whole time. For me, that part isn’t optional.

Questions people ask me

Does the weight come back when you stop?

I can’t answer from experience, because I haven’t stopped. I stepped down to maintenance and my weight stayed where it was.

What I was told is that it shouldn’t be stopped suddenly. It should be brought down in steps, together with the doctor, because stopping dead is when appetite, and then weight, tend to come back. How fast you step down depends on the person and on how long they’ve been on it.

How is it different from the older weight-loss injections?

I’ve used each generation, so this is a comparison and not a guess. The older ones could feel like morning sickness. This one felt like forgetting about food. The explanation I was given for the difference is the one above: three signals instead of one or two.

Will my face go hollow? Will I lose muscle?

What I’ve seen is that most of what scares people isn’t specific to the drug. It comes from losing weight too fast, by any method. Skin doesn’t shrink as quickly as fat disappears. The explanation I was given is that when you eat far too little, too quickly, the body takes muscle as well as fat. That’s why I lift, and why I prefer steady to dramatic. I wrote the full story in The pen isn’t the point.

Can I just buy the powder and mix it myself?

I mix my own. Every vial I’ve used was powder that I mixed myself before injecting. What I don’t do is use a vial I can’t check. What’s actually in it? What’s the water? Did anything get in during production? Did it stay cold the whole way? None of those are questions about the drug. They’re questions about whoever handed you the vial. That’s where I landed. I’m not telling you where to land.

The list I was given before I started

This is what has to be on the table before anyone starts, as it was explained to me.

Who it isn’t for

Anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, or of MEN2, a rare inherited condition. Related drugs list this because of thyroid tumours seen in rodent studies, and the trials of this one excluded these people.
Anyone who has had pancreatitis.
People with type 1 diabetes, or with anything that makes severe low blood sugar likely.
Anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding. Safety hasn’t been established, as with any drug still being studied.
Anyone under 18. The trials were in adults only.

Not an automatic no, but raised first

Severe gut disease, since it can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation.
Gallbladder disease.
Insulin, or sulfonylureas such as glipizide, gliclazide or glimepiride, because both lower blood sugar.
Heart conditions, since some people in the trials had changes in heart rate.
Medicines that affect how the gut moves, and warfarin.

Other medicines

The explanation I was given is that it slows how fast the stomach empties, so some pills get absorbed differently. The ones named to me were the birth control pill, especially around starting and stepping up; thyroid hormone (levothyroxine); and medicines where a small change in absorption matters, such as warfarin or digoxin.

Side effects reported in the trials

Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation, stomach discomfort or bloating, less appetite, tiredness, and headaches. I was told most are mild to moderate, show up in the first weeks, and ease for many people as the body adjusts. I had none of them. That’s one person.

Where this comes from

Jastreboff AM, et al. Triple–Hormone-Receptor Agonist Retatrutide for Obesity — A Phase 2 Trial. New England Journal of Medicine, 2023.
Sanyal AJ, et al. Retatrutide in patients with NAFLD: a randomized phase 2 trial. 2024.
Heise T, et al. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of retatrutide. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2023.
Urva S, et al. Retatrutide delays gastric emptying. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2023.
Deravi M, et al. Review of potential interaction concerns via delayed gastric emptying, 2024.
Shankar A, et al. GLP-1 receptor agonists and delayed gastric emptying, 2024.

The pen made the hard part easier. The lifting and the pace were still mine.

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I’m George. Thirty years in business, then ten years trying this whole field on myself before offering it to anyone else.

This is where I write down what I use, what I stopped using, and what I’d never do again. More about me →

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