Stubborn Weight Loss, Confused by Peptide Recommendations

[sdwanuser]

Hey everyone. Long time reader, but don’t post all that often.

I’ve been on TRT for about five years and have experienced great results in quality of life. I have more energy, gained some muscle mass, improved sex drive. A nice improvement for someone with secondary hypogonadism.

One of the issues I’ve struggled to shake is reducing belly fat. I do CrossFit three times a week so I’m active. I’ve also done long periods of intermittent fasting, carb cutting, etc. I feel like I’ve really been intentional about watching my diet. In spite of this, I carry a beer gut along with muscles and lean everywhere else.

I met with my TRT provider and explained the issue. The RN recommended the following protocol:

• CJC-1295/Ipamorelin = total 875 mcg every night at bedtime
• OXANDROLONE (Anavar) 25 mg daily

I’m struggling to make a decision. Both of these items are pretty expensive on a monthly basis. I’m leaning towards the peptides because I’ve done more research around CJC-1295. Ben Greenfield also had a great podcast episode on that.

I’ve searched the forums here, but haven’t found a good thread that discusses CJC-1295/Ipamorelin alongside Oxandrolone. Has anyone used both of these products, either at separate times or part of the same protocol?

 

[Vince]

Ipamorelin Dosage Discussion

On recent labs, my doctor noted my IGF-1 was on the low end, 105ng/mL (range 88-246). He added 350 micrograms of ipamorelin per day to my current protocol, injected before bed every night. I've been trying to do a bit of research on ipamorelin, its efficacy and safety, but have come up short...

www.excelmale.com

 

[DorianGray]

Proper diet, in my opinion, is the best way to lose the beer gut. But, if it's substantial, it may take awhile, months perhaps. Dieting is not easy for most people that's for sure. Better to evaluate how effective your diet is if you have stuck to it for two solid years. People don't like to hear that, though. For a rapid boost, eliminate bread, pasta, cheese from diet completely and wheat. Eat Mediterranean diet and eat less.
Regarding the drugs, consider taking only the CJC+Ipa at first. Then evaluate. Also, that seems like a low dose for it though. Usual protocol is:
Content & Potency: 2000mcg/ml subcutaneous injection provided in a 2ml vial.
Suggested dosage: Inject 0.10ml subcutaneously 5 out of 7 nights of the week before bedtime on an empty stomach.

I just ordered some and will be following that.

 

[fifty]

I would be wary of adding both at once. Anavar is old school and works. I have no knowledge about CJC-1295/Ipamorelin.

 

[stx359]

I was in a similar situation as yourself. I don't know your age but I am a 50 year old Crossfitter. For my first year or so I was a three day a week guy as well as Crossfit can be pretty high volume on the shoulders and the weights get heavy as does the intensity. I remember being shocked at the warmups. They burn more calories than an entire workout in a traditional gym. That being said perhaps you should explore the idea of increasing your workout frequency. Probably because TRT allows me to recover more effectively I am at 6 days a week now - 100% intensity for three or four of those, and the last bit of belly fat is gone. When the shirts come off as they often do in Crossfit my physique fits right in with guys 20-30 years younger than I am and I am doing Rx weights under the time caps. Do you have any wiggle room in there to hit the gym more often?

 

[madman]

Hey everyone. Long time reader, but don’t post all that often.

I’ve been on TRT for about five years and have experienced great results in quality of life. I have more energy, gained some muscle mass, improved sex drive. A nice improvement for someone with secondary hypogonadism.

One of the issues I’ve struggled to shake is reducing belly fat. I do CrossFit three times a week so I’m active. I’ve also done long periods of intermittent fasting, carb cutting, etc. I feel like I’ve really been intentional about watching my diet. In spite of this, I carry a beer gut along with muscles and lean everywhere else.

I met with my TRT provider and explained the issue. The RN recommended the following protocol:

• CJC-1295/Ipamorelin = total 875 mcg every night at bedtime
• OXANDROLONE (Anavar) 25 mg daily

I’m struggling to make a decision. Both of these items are pretty expensive on a monthly basis. I’m leaning towards the peptides because I’ve done more research around CJC-1295. Ben Greenfield also had a great podcast episode on that.

I’ve searched the forums here, but haven’t found a good thread that discusses CJC-1295/Ipamorelin alongside Oxandrolone. Has anyone used both of these products, either at separate times or part of the same protocol?

As you know diet/training is key.

Look into supplementing with L-carnitine 1-3 grams/day as it will definitely enhance fat loss and has many other beneficial effects on overall health.

L-Carnitine burns body fat, boosts recovery, reduces muscle soreness and protects the heart

Top 10 Reasons to Use Carnitine

I would look into pursuing the peptide route first and although oxandrolone will have a greater effect on losing adipose tissue alongside improvements in muscle/strength gain at such dose (15-25 mg/day) higher-end dose being more effective it is not an AAS you want to use/stay on long-term because of the negative effects it can have on lipids/liver health due to it being a c-17 alpha-alkylated oral.

The original prescribing guidelines for oxandrolone called wherein the range of (2.5-20 mg/day) and (5-10 mg/day) was the most commonly prescribed for therapeutic purposes.

The dose you are talking about 25 mg/day would be considered muscle performance/enhancement doses which are usually (15-25 mg/day) and the higher dose of 25 mg/day would be more common/effective for such purposes.

Definitely not a dose you want to use long-term and 6-8 weeks would be sensible.

In studies using 20 mg/daily, it has been shown to lower HDL (30%) along with a minor negative effect on liver enzymes.

It has also been shown to be less harsh on liver markers when compared to the more powerful c-17 alpha-alkylated orals such as methandrostenolone (Dianabol), methyltestosterone (Android), fluoxymesterone (Halotestin), oxymetholone (Anadrol).

The degree to which one would experience such effects would come down to the dose/duration/type of AAS used.

Again keep in mind the overall effectiveness of such protocol would come down not only to the dose used but more importantly following the proper diet/training protocol.

If you choose to try oxandrolone I would stick to 15-25mg/daily for 8 weeks maximum and no need to combine with peptides as oxandrolone alone can be very effective.

Keep an eye on blood work lipids/liver markers.

 

[Rock H. Johnson]

Proper diet, in my opinion, is the best way to lose the beer gut. But, if it's substantial, it may take awhile, months perhaps. Dieting is not easy for most people that's for sure. Better to evaluate how effective your diet is if you have stuck to it for two solid years. People don't like to hear that, though. For a rapid boost, eliminate bread, pasta, cheese from diet completely and wheat. Eat Mediterranean diet and eat less.
Regarding the drugs, consider taking only the CJC+Ipa at first. Then evaluate. Also, that seems like a low dose for it though. Usual protocol is:
Content & Potency: 2000mcg/ml subcutaneous injection provided in a 2ml vial.
Suggested dosage: Inject 0.10ml subcutaneously 5 out of 7 nights of the week before bedtime on an empty stomach.

I just ordered some and will be following that.

I do not want to be dickish but:
Regarding the drugs, consider taking only the CJC+Ipa at first. Then evaluate. Also, that seems like a low dose for it though. Usual protocol is:
Content & Potency: 2000mcg/ml subcutaneous injection provided in a 2ml vial.
Suggested dosage: Inject 0.10ml subcutaneously 5 out of 7 nights of the week before bedtime on an empty stomach.

0.10ml x 2000mcg/ml = 200mcg

OP:
I met with my TRT provider and explained the issue. The RN recommended the following protocol:

• CJC-1295/Ipamorelin = total 875 mcg every night at bedtime
• OXANDROLONE (Anavar) 25 mg daily

Maybe I am missing something but your 200mcg is a bit more then 4x lower then his 875mcg a night. (which is even in the CJC/Ipa combi a bit too high, probably)

 

[DorianGray]

I do not want to be dickish but:
Regarding the drugs, consider taking only the CJC+Ipa at first. Then evaluate. Also, that seems like a low dose for it though. Usual protocol is:
Content & Potency: 2000mcg/ml subcutaneous injection provided in a 2ml vial.
Suggested dosage: Inject 0.10ml subcutaneously 5 out of 7 nights of the week before bedtime on an empty stomach.

0.10ml x 2000mcg/ml = 200mcg

OP:
I met with my TRT provider and explained the issue. The RN recommended the following protocol:

• CJC-1295/Ipamorelin = total 875 mcg every night at bedtime
• OXANDROLONE (Anavar) 25 mg daily

Maybe I am missing something but your 200mcg is a bit more then 4x lower then his 875mcg a night. (which is even in the CJC/Ipa combi a bit too high, probably)

No, you are right, Rock. That decimal point got away from me. Thanks for catching that.
DG