Body Recomposition (GLP-1 + GH axis + Mitochondrial)

Fat loss

Components

Retatrutide (or Semaglutide)Moderate evidence TesamorelinStrong evidence IpamorelinLimited evidence MOTS-cModerate evidence GHK-CuModerate evidence

Rationale

The leading 'modern recomp' pattern: an incretin (retatrutide) drives the fat-loss engine, the GH axis pair (tesamorelin + ipamorelin) is aimed at lean-mass preservation and visceral-fat targeting, MOTS-c adds the exercise-capacity/mitochondrial angle, and GHK-Cu covers skin quality during rapid weight change. Each component addresses a distinct failure mode of aggressive dieting.

Evidence level

Only the incretin component has strong human evidence. Tesamorelin's visceral-fat RCTs were run in HIV lipodystrophy, not dieters. Ipamorelin, MOTS-c and GHK-Cu add mechanistic diversity but trial-grade human outcome data for the combination is zero — no recomp stack has ever been formally studied.

Caution

Compounding risk is the whole point of the critique: retatrutide is investigational (no approved supply), stacking two GHRH-pathway agents (tesamorelin + ipamorelin) muddles IGF-1 monitoring, and rapid weight loss plus GH-axis stimulation is an unmonitored metabolic experiment. The evidence-graded version of this goal is: incretin + resistance training + protein.