I have a new Friend - Retatrutide - Week 1 - Day 7
The Weight Came Off. The Loose Skin Stayed.
August 24th, 2026 — Monday
Weight: 151.3 pounds
I Survived Rochester
I am actually very happy with that number because I just spent four days in Rochester, which normally would have been the perfect setup for gaining weight: traveling, restaurants, food around constantly, a different schedule, and none of my normal routine. Somehow, I came home at 151.3 pounds, so thank you, retatrutide.
Something Is Different
The biggest difference wasn't that food suddenly became disgusting or that I couldn't eat. If food was sitting in front of me, I still ate it, but when food wasn't around, something very strange happened: I didn't go looking for it. I didn't miss it, I didn't think about what I could eat next, and I simply felt full.
Today, back at work, my little coffee candies were the perfect example. Normally I would eat four or five without even thinking about it, but today I ate two and was finished. I didn't have to lecture myself or exercise heroic self-control; I simply didn't particularly want another one. That may sound insignificant, but to me it isn't, because the real difference wasn't the calories—it was that the argument inside my head never started.
Then I Looked in the Mirror
And that brought me to a very different discovery: Oh no. Creepy skin. My upper arms looked like the skin was hanging off them, and once again I wondered how I could possibly be this active and still have loose skin, folds and cellulite. I walk, kayak, swim and strength-train, and I've been around this weight for almost a year, so perhaps waiting for my skin to magically shrink-wrap itself around me isn't going to work.
It Isn't Just Fat
What I'm looking at isn't simply fat. It's a combination of remaining subcutaneous fat, loose skin, cellulite and the amount of muscle underneath it, and those things don't respond in the same way. I can lose fat and build muscle, but loose skin may not disappear simply because I exercise more.
In fact, if retatrutide helps me lose another 15 or 20 pounds, some of that loose skin may become even more obvious because there will be less fat underneath filling it.
Apparently weight loss comes with plot twists.
My Goal Is Changing
For years, the objective was simply MAKE THE NUMBER GO DOWN, but now I want to lose fat, protect muscle, build muscle and change my body composition. I still want to reach my goal weight, but I don't want to arrive there simply as a smaller version of the same body. I want stronger arms and legs, more muscle and enough protein and nutrition that appetite suppression doesn't quietly take muscle along with the fat.
Maybe that is the real lesson I'm beginning to learn: weight loss and rebuilding my body are not the same project.
Today's Retatrutide Observation
The scale hasn't done anything spectacular yet, but my brain has. Food can still tempt me when it's directly in front of me, but what seems to be disappearing is the urge to seek it out, and that may turn out to be far more important than I expected.
Maybe the next stage isn't about fighting myself harder; maybe it's finally having enough silence around food that I can work on everything else.
151.3 pounds. Same body. Different experiment.
I have a new Friend - Retatrutide - Week 1 - Day 1
Retatrutide - Meeting My New Friend
August 19, 2026 — Wednesday | Week 1
Weight: 152.6 lbs
Status: Officially Retatrutide-Official™
Yesterday, after my catastrophic overindulging the days before (RIP to my dignity), I finally injected myself with retatrutide.
Then I made the tactical error of eating Thai food—rice, curry, chicken—and my stomach staged a full protest that lasted until morning. Enter: Pedialyte, a walk, some kayaking, and strength training, because apparently I cope with nausea by triathlon-ing my way through it. No food all morning. And then—miracle of miracles—the nausea packed up and left.
Overall? I feel good. Was I hoping to see a bigger change on the scale? Sure. But the real headline is this:
The food noise is GONE.
It’s currently 12:30 p.m., and I have zero interest in eating. I hope it stays that way, because I remember the same feeling with Zepbound—until eventually Zepbound seemed to lose some of its magic for me.
Shake for lunch. Real food tonight.
So far, so good.
Now for the important reality check: retatrutide is still investigational and not FDA-approved. What I’m using is not an FDA-approved Lilly product, which means there are uncertainties around what is actually in these products, their purity, potency, and safety.
As a scientist with a PhD, I’ve looked at the clinical-trial data, and the science fascinates me. But reading promising clinical data and taking an investigational product outside a clinical trial are two very different things.
So this is my experiment and my experience—not a recommendation for anyone else to follow me.
New friend acquired.