What an enthusiastic and motivating response! Thank you!!!
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Physionic just released this video on visceral fat reduction.
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I’m really hoping for some serious midsection fat reduction starting like NOW. As a formerly thin woman, now on hrt in midlife, I truly did not expect this challenge. I’ve been on rapa for about 9 weeks.
Are there any rapa users who can share their inspirational stories of regaining a waist if they let theirs go?
Or if you have any other tips and tricks, I am all ears.
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Allow me to introduce you to @Agetron
He is all the inspiration you need.
My only personal tip and trick is to be WFPB because you can eat a significant volume of food without ever thinking about it. It’s not that you can’t gain weight, but it is a lot harder to do.
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Oh my, my mind translated WFPB to mean, “Well Fed Prior to Bed”, and knew that wasn’t quite right. Lol, wishful thinking! I just looked it up and Whole Foods, Plant Based, makes more sense!!!
I actually was a prolific morning green tea/matcha drinker for 15 years, and stopped 6 months ago. It’s exciting to think that returning to this habit may help. Also, your words have inspired me to actually log my food intake since I might be surprised at what I am actually eating.
Yes, his story is inspirational, and I will gladly take all inspiration. However, I have to give extra points for stories from post-menopausal women because I am now a believer that this state is a unique one.
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Hahaha thanks Beth!
For me it was at the 3 month mark (week 14-ish) that the visceral… tummy fat slowly started to melt off… a pound … then another one in a few days… finally about 15 pounds in a month 20 pounds by month two.
Actually the amount of weight loss was initially scary on this new medication. But, muscle and tone remained. Once the visceral fat was purged… tummy fat… I stopped losing weight.
Rapamycin protects needed areas… rids you of just the excess. Using a DEXA scan… all visceral fat gone.
For 3 months… nothing seemed out of the ordinary except arthritis pain stopped… and dysphagia (choking) stopped all at that 3 month mark. No clue or symptoms that this weight drop was about to start. It just clicked on.
Now I am hungry constantly… and eat non-stop. No weight gains. Weird.
Hang in there.
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Four months on rapamycin reduced my visceral fat. It has not come back in the two years I have been off it.
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Well fed prior to bed!!! Love that so much!
If you are going to try logging your food, I’ll suggest you check out Cronometer.com. Use the free version. It’s a great tool many nutritionists use. I use it every blue moon to check out my macros and protein intake to make sure I’m on track.
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Just IMO, if your main target is visceral fat reduction, I’d go with a GLP med (semaglutide or tirzepatide, for instance) over rapamycin. There’s much more human data with fat loss from GLP meds. Also, with GLP meds you get reduced LDL cholesterol and increased insulin sensitivity, whereas rapamycin can elevate LDL and reduce insulin sensitivity. We also have data showing GLP meds decrease risk of heart attack, stroke, fatty liver disease, possibly dementia and more, whereas the data for rapamycin is much more speculative and uncertain, with nearly all studies being done either in animals or with daily use in organ transplant patients as opposed to one dose every 7-14 days.
I’m not saying rapamycin is inferior across the board, just that when it comes to fat reduction, we have a LOT more hard data with GLP meds.
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I’m post menopausal and also feel it’s a bit of a special situation. We generally need a little less energy but still need adequate nutrients.
I took 3 nutrition courses in 2023 after starting rapa because I felt I owed it to myself to improve my eating habits if I wanted to be in this for the long haul so to speak. My goal wasn’t to lose weight necessarily (although it is for most people) but to transition off an animal foods based keto diet which was causing visceral fat gain. I learned how different Macro-nutrients were impacting my blood glucose which was quite enlightening. I also drastically improved my micronutrient intake. I think both of those go a long way toward feeling my best, having the energy to workout and just generally enjoy life more. I was already on rapa for 6 months so it hard to separate out which had the biggest impact but regardless I’m glad to have both in my life. I’m still using the things I learned about myself during the courses and think for me personally finding a way of eating that works for my body is really important at this stage. My body no longer seems to be as forgiving of a poor diet. I’m definitely pleased to be at my high school graduation weight at age 55. I realized when it was all said and done I basically eat according to the American Heart Association guidelines hahaha!
I second the cronometer recommendation. If you’re interested in the micronutrient content of foods be sure to use the NCCDB or USDA entries to get the most accurate data.
The combination of rapa and eating well has been a winner for me.
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This is probably true, but I get the feeling that right now in the USA, given the overwhelming popularity of GLP1s, they are perhaps a lot harder to get. Perhaps my impression is mistaken.
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annodately I have 3 people in my cycle who all had reduced visceral fat. Only one is on GLP1s.
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Yes, I don’t think I would meet any criteria for a glp1 med. I am all in on green tea and rapa, and will post my subjective results as I progress.
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Very true that access to branded GLPs is limited, but as of now, you can still get them via online telehealth providers and compounding pharmacies. For those who just need to trim some fat rather than lose 100+ pounds, a small dose goes a long way.
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If you can’t get your visceral fat down close to zero via traditional dieting and nutrition strategies, it seems GLP1s are a good option:
The effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists on visceral fat and liver ectopic fat in an adult population with or without diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Conclusions
LP-1 RAs significantly reduce visceral- and liver fat content in adults.
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More specifically, glucagon receptor agonists have had some great success in reducing visceral fat. Retatrutide, being a triple receptor agonist is first in class in reducing liver fat:
So are mazdutide and survodutide which are both dual GLP1 and GCGR receptor agonists. Note that these were designed for diabetics that are "skinny fat ", where the amount they need to lose is relatively small, but a lot of it is visceral
I linked to the phase 3 data on mazdutide here :
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Hmmmm… this just clicked in my mind from another post I just read on a study on benefits of rapamycin and metformin compared to calorie restriction.
Metformin reduces glucose intolerance caused by rapamycin treatment in genetically heterogeneous female mice Metformin reduces glucose intolerance caused by rapamycin treatment in genetically heterogeneous female mice | Aging
** Body weight and composition
In male mice, the four groups did not differ in weight through 3 months of treatment. After 9 months of treatment, eRapa males weighed significantly less than all other groups including eRapa+Met mice suggesting that metformin abolishes this effect of rapamycin.
My body has never tolerated metformin. I tried in combo with rapamycin when I first started rapamycin. Diarrhea and fatigue… couldn’t do it. So, I stopped early on… yet after 3 months of just rapamycin…my visceral fat started vanishing… starting at the 3 month mark. By 6 months I had lost about 20 pounds. My physician and I were pleasantly surprised.
Could this help explain my huge success… while others aren’t seeing it… are they on metformin and getting a blunting of the rapamycin benefits on fat? Worth noting.
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Well, the ITP seems to indicate some additive effect on life extension of combining rapamycin with metformin. However, metformin did nothing for my glucose control, and from reading the literature, impact on exercise and so on, I’m not a fan of metformin. So I’ve been looking for a similar synergy, but with a less dirty drug, and fortunately ITP obliged with canagliflozin. I’m hoping it’s a general class effect with all SGLT2i - I’m gambling that empagliflozin will be similarly synergistic, so now I’m on that train. It would be great if the ITP folks ran a rapa+empa study, but we’ll see. In any case, empagliflozin is a much cleaner drug with proven benefits beyond glucose control, so I’m happy to add it to my stack, and it doesn’t seem to impact my exercise that I can tell. Meanwhile I find rapa very beneficial for my exercise capacity and speed of recovery - I feel like I did when I was exercising in my 30’s!
Are you on any SGLT2i? If an SGLT2i can get similar synergistic benefits with rapa, but NOT abolish the slimming effect of rapa, you might have a win win there. Who knows? But you seem to be doing extremely well on your rapa regimen so far, so good on you.
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Nope… not on SGLT2i.
My visceral fat reduction and slimming results past 5 years are rapamycin and TRT.
However, more recently HGH, past 5 months. HGH seems to be picking up whatever rapamycin and TRT has missed. That little pubic bump above my Johnson… 
completely flat since HGH.
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Fantastic! I’ve been thinking about TRT more and more recently, as my testosterone is not great (measured 444 ng/dL at age 66), but before I take anything I like to do a deep dive in the literature and that takes awhile (I tend to get far down rabbit holes, lol). I’m not consciously experiencing effects of low test, but Matt Kaeberlein stresses the importance of getting your hormones up to snuff as you age and is a huge fan of TRT and on it himself. Since I’m 67 now, and no plans for any kids, lol, I would think it’s an interesting direction for potential healthspan optimization for me…, but first, research (endless🙄)…
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