Taking Retatrutide and Semaglutide Together For Weight Loss: Worth It?

Retatrutide and semaglutide are two popular weight-loss peptides. Both are backed by multiple clinical studies showing significant weight loss, but unfortunately, there aren’t any studies of a combined treatment.

We can assume that you’re likely to see greater weight loss from taking them together. However, you’re also likely to experience more side effects.

Ultimately, it depends on whether you’re willing to take on the additional risk. Keep reading for a full explanation and anecdotal reports from people who combined retatrutide with semaglutide.

How They Work

Retatrutide and semaglutide are both used for weight loss and diabetes, but they work a bit differently:

• Semaglutide:
  • Mimics a hormone called GLP-1, which helps control appetite.
  • Makes you feel fuller longer by slowing down digestion.
  • Helps the body release more insulin and lower blood sugar levels.
• Retatrutide:
  • Works on three different hormones: GLP-1 (like semaglutide), GIP, and glucagon.
  • Reduces appetite like semaglutide.
  • GIP helps the body release even more insulin and manage fat.
  • Glucagon increases fat burning by boosting your metabolism.

We can see that while semaglutide and retatrutide overlap with their GLP-1 effects, the latter also works on other receptors, which explains why it’s generally more effective for weight loss.

Why Combining Retatrutide and Semaglutide Can Be Risky

The main concern with stacking retatrutide and semaglutide is the increased risk of side effects. Since they both impact the GLP-1 pathway, that means the side effects you’d get from either can become more intense.

Both retatrutide and semaglutide are known to cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and other digestive issues, as they slow down gastric emptying and influence the body’s metabolism. Taking them together could amplify these side effects, making them difficult to tolerate.

GLP-1 agonists are also known to impact blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiovascular health, so adding extra strain on these systems might increase the risk of complications.

Most importantly, the combination of retatrutide and semaglutide hasn’t been studied, so we don’t know how serious the side effects could be.

Retatrutide is Much More Effective

Another fact to point out is that retatrutide is significantly more effective than semaglutide for weight loss. For example:

1. A 48-week study of high-dose (12 mg) retatrutide reported -24.2% average weight loss in overweight and obese adults.
2. Meanwhile, a 52-week (1-year) study of semaglutide (taken at the highest tolerable dose for each person) reported only -7.9% average weight loss.

In that sense, the risk of side effects may not be worth the slightly greater weight loss you might experience by combining retatrutide with semaglutide. Retatrutide’s triple-action effect already offers a comprehensive approach to weight loss by targeting multiple pathways.

Combining Retatrutide with Semaglutide: Anecdotal Reports

On paper, it doesn’t seem like taking retatrutide and semaglutide together is worth it. But reports from real people can offer some useful insight.

We found several such reports online:

1. One person noted that they used the two together at doses of 0.4 mg sema and 4 mg reta and continued to lose weight even after reaching their target goal. They also reported no serious side effects.
2. Another person took 0.25 mg sema and 4 mg reta, with weight loss and no significant side effects.
3. Another person said his wife took 6 mg reta with 2 mg sema and was consistently losing 2-3 lbs per week.
4. Another one said they took 3 mg sema and 5 mg reta without any side effects.

All users reported taking the two peptides on separate days to reduce the severity of gastrointestinal side effects. Of course, anecdotal reports are not as useful as study findings, and they’re also biased toward people who had positive results.

Also, it’s hard to say whether these people would see similar results if they removed semaglutide from their stack (while keeping retatrutide at the same or higher dose).

Still, these findings suggest that it’s possible to see good results, but you’ll need to test things yourself.  Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if the increased risks outweigh the benefits or not.

Combining Retatrutide with Semaglutide: Dosages

There’s no official dosage for taking retatrutide together with semaglutide. However, we know that:

• Semaglutide is typically started at 0.25 mg and raised to a standard dose of 2.4 mg once a week
• Retatrutide is typically started at 2 mg and raised to a maximum dose of 12 mg once a week
• People reporting about combining the two have used doses of 0.25-3 mg semaglutide and 2-12 mg retatrutide