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There are moments in life when you realize you’ve drifted far from the person you thought you’d be. Maybe you’re sitting at your desk, staring at the work you’ve been grinding away at for years, or maybe you’re walking up a flight of stairs and you’re winded before you even reach the top. For me, it was both.
At 46 years old, I found myself sitting in front of my computer, feeling like I was drowning in my own body. I weighed 240 pounds, could barely climb a flight of stairs without gasping for air, and the worst part was that I didn’t recognize the man I had become. I was lethargic, unmotivated, and I felt like I had nothing left in the tank. How had I gotten here?
Like so many others, my journey from being fit to overweight and unhealthy didn’t happen overnight. It was a slow, steady decline over the course of years, and it started with a stressful life. I had always been in shape in my twenties and early thirties—hovering around 10% body fat, hitting the gym regularly, and feeling strong. But life has a way of getting in the way.
I got married, had kids, and suddenly, everything that was important to me—exercise, healthy eating, self-care—took a backseat. My focus shifted entirely to providing for my family, and the stress of a difficult marriage only made things worse. Every day, I was just trying to survive, to get through the next moment, the next task, the next obligation. And that’s when the weight started piling on.
The Slippery Slope: From Fit to 240 lbs
It wasn’t like I woke up one day and suddenly found myself weighing 240 pounds. No, it was gradual. It was a slow, almost imperceptible climb in weight—five pounds here, ten pounds there. Over time, I stopped caring about what I was eating. My meals were more about convenience and comfort than nutrition. I would snack mindlessly while working at my computer—cookies, chips, anything sugary. It was easy. Too easy.
The weight gain wasn’t the only thing I noticed. I started to feel the toll that my lifestyle was taking on me. My blood pressure skyrocketed, and my doctor warned me I was heading straight for type 2 diabetes. My testosterone levels—which had once been the marker of my strength and vitality—were now plummeting. I felt weak, unmotivated, and incapable of doing anything about it.
And then there was the lack of energy. I couldn’t even muster up the energy to play with my kids. I’d watch them run around, full of life and joy, and I’d just sit there, feeling like I was watching life pass me by. I wasn’t just physically stuck—I was mentally stuck.
Stuck in the Mud
This feeling of being stuck can only be described like being in a pit of mud. Imagine you’re waist-deep in mud, and every time you try to move, you just sink deeper. You’re not going anywhere fast, and it feels impossible to get out.
That’s how I felt. I had no momentum. None. I was at a complete standstill in my life. I wanted to move forward, to make changes, to get back to the man I once was, but I had no idea how to start. Every time I tried to make a change—whether it was going to the gym or changing my diet—I went too fast, and it only led to burnout and frustration. I kept thinking that if I just tried harder, pushed more, I’d snap back into shape like I was in my twenties. But that’s not how life works.
The harder I pushed, the more I sank. Just like in the mud, the more you thrash around, the deeper you go. And for a long time, I was thrashing, hoping I could dig myself out by sheer force of will. But I wasn’t making any progress.
The Wake-Up Call
One day, I had a moment of clarity. It wasn’t a dramatic epiphany, but rather a quiet realization. I looked at my kids, running around the yard, and I thought, “If I don’t change something, I’m not going to be around to see them grow up.” That hit me hard. The thought of missing out on their lives because I couldn’t take care of my own health was terrifying.
So, I decided to change. But this time, I knew I had to go about it differently. I couldn’t keep trying to sprint out of the mud. I had to take small steps. I had to inch my way forward, little by little, and build momentum. Because that’s what I was missing—momentum. I wasn’t just physically stuck; I was mentally stuck, emotionally stuck. The lack of progress was feeding into itself, making it harder and harder to even start.
Building Momentum: The First Small Steps
I had to start small. Really small. I knew I couldn’t go from 0 to 100 overnight. So, the first thing I tackled was my diet. I was eating constantly—snacking throughout the day on junk food, eating heavy meals without thinking about nutrition. I needed to find something simple, something that wouldn’t overwhelm me.
That’s when I discovered intermittent fasting. At first, the idea of skipping meals seemed daunting. But then I realized it wasn’t about skipping meals—it was about giving my body time to burn fat instead of constantly processing food. I started by pushing my first meal to 11 AM, then gradually moved it to 12 PM, and eventually, I wasn’t eating until 3 or 4 PM. I was creating a smaller eating window, and in doing so, I started to lose weight. It was a slow process, but I wasn’t trying to rush.
The beauty of intermittent fasting is that it’s more than just eating less—it’s about when you eat. By restricting your eating window, your body has more time to enter a state of fat burning. When you’re fasting, your body depletes its glucose stores, and it starts to burn fat for energy instead. This process, known as fat oxidation, is where the real magic happens for weight loss.
But the real key here was when I combined intermittent fasting with exercise. When you work out in a fasted state, your body is already in fat-burning mode, so it taps into stored fat more quickly. For me, this meant that even doing something as simple as walking before my first meal of the day led to significant fat loss. By the time I broke my fast in the afternoon, my body had already been burning through fat stores.
Walking Before Running
Once I had control over my eating, I knew I needed to start moving. But again, I couldn’t just jump into intense workouts like I used to in my twenties. I had to start small. So, I started walking. I wasn’t aiming for anything big—I just wanted to get outside and walk around the neighborhood.
At first, I aimed for 5,000 steps a day, pushing my newborn in a stroller. Slowly, I worked my way up to 10,000 steps a day. And let me tell you, those steps made a difference. Not just physically, but mentally. Walking gave me time to clear my head, to think, to reconnect with myself.
Walking wasn’t just about burning calories—it was about getting my body to move again. And once I started moving, I started to build that elusive momentum. The more I walked, the better I felt. And the better I felt, the more I wanted to keep going.
Reintroducing Exercise: Small Steps
Eventually, as I began to lose weight and feel more confident in my ability to move, I started to reintroduce exercise. But I didn’t go all-in right away. That had been my mistake in the past. Instead, I found a personal trainer who worked with me to create a routine that fit my needs and my limitations.
We started with strength training, focusing on compound movements that worked multiple muscle groups at once. These were exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses—but we did them at a pace that was manageable for me. No more trying to lift heavy right off the bat. It was about form, about building strength slowly but surely.
The Role of Testosterone
Around this time, I also started looking into my testosterone levels. At 46, they were incredibly low—no surprise, given the stress, weight gain, and lack of exercise. Testosterone is a key hormone for men, responsible for muscle growth, energy levels, and motivation. Without it, I felt like I had no drive, no push to keep going.
For a while, I considered testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). And to be honest, I did go on it for a short period—about a year. It made a big difference. I felt stronger, more energized, and more like myself. But after a year, I wanted to see if I could get my testosterone levels up naturally. So, I stopped TRT and focused on diet, exercise, and supplementation.
To my surprise, I was able to boost my testosterone naturally. And I’ll write another post soon that dives deeper into how I did this, but for now, just know that it’s possible. You don’t have to rely on external sources if you can build the right foundation through lifestyle changes.
The Game Changer: Peptides
Now, we come to what I consider the final piece of the puzzle—peptides. After doing everything I could to regain control of my life—changing my diet, walking, working with a trainer, improving my sleep—it wasn’t until I discovered peptides that I felt like I had unlocked the final key to building momentum.
Peptides are essentially chains of amino acids that signal your body to do very specific things—like increase growth hormone, promote fat loss, or help with muscle recovery. When I started learning more about them, I realized these could be the missing link. My body needed a push to regenerate, to recover from years of neglect, and that’s exactly what peptides helped me do.
CJC-1295 with Ipamorelin: Rebuilding Muscle and Boosting Recovery
One of the first peptides I started using was CJC-1295 with Ipamorelin. These two peptides work together to naturally boost your body’s production of growth hormone (GH). As we age, our GH levels decline, which is one of the reasons why it’s harder to build muscle and lose fat as we get older.
CJC-1295 is a growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) that tells your pituitary gland to release more growth hormone. Meanwhile, Ipamorelin is a growth hormone-releasing peptide (GHRP) that works alongside CJC-1295 to stimulate GH release.
Together, they allowed me to start rebuilding lean muscle while continuing to burn fat. This was important because, at 53, the last thing I wanted to do was lose the muscle I had started gaining through strength training. And the best part? It helped me recover faster. After a workout, I wasn’t as sore, and I could get back to training quicker.
Retatrutide: Controlling Appetite While Preserving Muscle
Another huge turning point in my journey was learning about the different peptides available to help with weight loss. You’ve probably heard of Semaglutide—it’s become quite popular in the weight loss world lately, often marketed as Ozempic. But while it’s effective, it has some downsides that people often overlook.
Semaglutide is a medication that was originally developed to help manage type 2 diabetes. It works by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 (Glucagon-like Peptide-1), which regulates blood sugar levels and appetite. By slowing down the emptying of your stomach and helping you feel full longer, Semaglutide can make it easier to eat less and lose weight. It’s an injectable medication that you take once a week, and it has been shown to lead to significant weight loss.
So, why isn’t Semaglutide the perfect solution for everyone? The problem with Semaglutide is that while it helps you lose fat, it can also cause you to lose muscle—which is a big deal, especially as you get older. Muscle mass is crucial for metabolism, strength, and overall health. Losing muscle can slow down your metabolism, making it harder to keep the weight off in the long run.
That’s where Retatrutide comes in. Retatrutide is part of a new generation of peptides that offer similar benefits to Semaglutide but with fewer drawbacks. Like Semaglutide, Retatrutide helps control appetite by acting on GLP-1 receptors, but it goes a step further. Retatrutide also targets GIP (Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide) and glucagon receptors, which help your body use energy more efficiently and promote fat loss while preserving muscle mass.
This makes Retatrutide a much better option for someone like me—and possibly you—who wants to lose fat without losing the muscle they’ve worked hard to build. When I started using Retatrutide, I noticed a big difference. I was still able to shed fat effectively, but unlike Semaglutide, I didn’t feel like I was sacrificing my muscle mass to do it. Retatrutide allowed me to maintain the muscle I had built through strength training while continuing to lose weight.
Additionally, Retatrutide offers another important benefit: it helps regulate blood sugar levels, much like Semaglutide, which is critical for preventing type 2 diabetes. So, not only was it helping me lose weight, but it was also working behind the scenes to keep my overall metabolic health in check.
Tesofensine: The Boost I Needed to Keep Going
Lastly, I want to talk about Tesofensine. This is a peptide in pill form that works primarily as an appetite suppressant, but it also has an unexpected benefit—it’s a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. That means it helps improve your mood and motivation.
When you’re trying to lose weight, especially when you’ve been stuck in the same cycle for years, you’re not just fighting physical barriers—you’re fighting mental and emotional ones, too. Tesofensine helped me curb those nagging cravings, but more importantly, it gave me the mental clarity and motivation to stick to my routine.
There were times when I felt like I was going to fall back into old habits—times when the cravings got intense, or when I felt like I wasn’t seeing results fast enough. Tesofensine helped me stay on track. It wasn’t a crutch—it was a tool. And after using it for a while, I didn’t need it anymore. My momentum had taken over, and I was in control.
Momentum: The Key to Everything
Looking back, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that momentum is everything. When you’re stuck, when you’re bogged down by your past failures, when you can’t seem to get out of your own way, it’s not about trying to sprint out of the mud—it’s about moving inch by inch until you can start running.
The truth is, you don’t need to do everything at once. You don’t need to overhaul your entire life overnight. It’s about making small changes, building momentum, and letting that momentum carry you forward. For me, it started with intermittent fasting, then it was walking, then it was working with a trainer, then it was finding ways to boost my testosterone. And finally, peptides gave me that extra push I needed to solidify everything I had worked for.
Peptides aren’t a magic bullet, but they’re an incredible tool for building and maintaining momentum. They helped me regain my strength, build lean muscle, and control my appetite. But at the end of the day, it was the slow and steady progress that got me here. And if I can do it, so can you.
Where I Am Now and What’s Next
Today, at 53, I weigh 185 pounds, and my body fat is in the low teens. I feel stronger, healthier, and more motivated than I did in my twenties. But I’m not done yet. I’m still learning, still tweaking, and still moving forward.
I’ll be writing more about how I managed to naturally boost my testosterone levels, as well as diving deeper into my workout routine, diet, and how I structured my intermittent fasting. But for now, I want you to understand that the journey is possible. You can do it. You just need to start moving—even if it’s just an inch at a time.
Stay tuned for more updates and articles, and if you’re ready to explore peptides for yourself, you can check out the ones I’ve used below. They’re not the solution—they’re a tool. But sometimes, a tool is exactly what you need to get the ball rolling.
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