Introduction

I’ve been working in the field of functional medicine and functional nutrition for years now and my team and I have supported thousands of people in their healing journeys. 

Yet, despite being one of the best in India, I ended up gaining weight between 2022- 2025. I went from a very stable 60 kgs that I had maintained for many years to a whopping 80.2 kgs and not because I didn’t know what to eat or which supplements to take, but because life was pushing me to grow and the stress of that process was so high that I went back to my oldest coping mechanism which if you haven’t guessed it already, was emotional eating. 

Everytime I felt tired, betrayed, hurt, afraid, uncertain, abandoned, rejected, disliked, hated, victimized, powerless, sick to the core of my existence, lonely, friendless,sad, lost; every time I felt any of these difficult emotions- I turned to food for grounding. Now, mind you, I wasn’t even eating nasty junk food, but since I was eating to drown emotions and not for real nutritional hunger the weight started piling up. 

In those three years I learned more about myself than I had in my entire life. I delved deep into my mind, my emotions, my shadow self, my triggers, my nervous system and through it all connected deeply with my Soul. I learnt how to become more resilient through each challenge and emerge stronger and stronger all the while running iThrive and making sure we continued to grow and progress in the right direction

While this strength, resilience and growth was a really great outcome, the emotional eating- what began as an exception now had become a pattern and despite all the mental, emotional, spiritual work I did, I couldn’t get a grip on being able to reset that pattern. The food noise just overwhelmed me.

‍Read more about food noise here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10674813/ 

That’s when I began looking for solutions beyond what I knew in Functional Medicine and Mind-body medicine. GLP’s seemed interesting but I was skeptical because of the reported side effects. So I decided to study them deeply and once I understood the science in detail it turned out GLP agonists indeed do turn off the food noise and help a person get control over their eating habits. 

 I compared different GLP agonists like Semaglutide (Ozempic), Tirzepatide (Munjaro), and Retatrutide. I went through molecular pathways, clinical outcomes, long-term studies, and safety data.

Retatrutide stood out because it worked on three pathways at once:

• GLP-1 (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) Pathway: Primarily reduces appetite and slows gastric emptying, which helps patients feel full for longer periods and decreases overall calorie intake.
• GIP (Glucose-Dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide) Pathway: Enhances insulin secretion in response to meals, improves glucose homeostasis, and may help modulate fat storage and energy utilization in adipose tissue.
• Glucagon (GCG) Pathway: Distinguishes retatrutide from earlier medications like Ozempic (GLP-1 only) and Munjaro (GLP-1/GIP). This pathway increases energy expenditure (calorie burning) and promotes the breakdown of stored fat for fuel.
  
  

Of all the GLP agonists, the data seemed strongest for Retatrutide- minimal side effects, great at improving body composition with many additional benefits including improving insulin sensitivity when paired with a good nutrition and exercise plan and it seemed like a really great option. 

The Retatrutide clinical trial: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2301972 

My Step-by-Step Journey

Even before I started Retatrutide, I planned how I would be meeting my macro and micro nutrients if I was going to end up with a reduced appetite. I did my blood tests, created a really great nutrition plan with a calorie deficit while consuming about 1.5 gms protein/kg body weight and ensured all my micronutrient needs would be met either through food or supplements. Once that was done, I began my research with Retatrutide on 30th Aug 2025. Within 24 hrs of injecting it, all thoughts of food just died down and all I could focus on was eating as per my protocol. 

Breakfast was always 3 eggs,  a protein shake mid-morning, and ate around 200-250 grams of meat (mutton/ chicken/ fish/ prawns) with a salad for lunch. My supplement stack included B-Vitamins, Magnesium, Zinc, Vit D, CoQ10.

I made sure I was weight training and lifting heavy weights thrice a week. In addition to this, I had to ensure I was drinking enough water to prevent dehydration.

Other than this, I continued the habits I had built over the last 3 years such as  meditation, breathwork, red light therapy, grounding, and sunlight exposure. These helped my system from a quantum biology perspective. These also allowed me to deal with everyday stressors, stabilise my nervous system and helped in rewiring my brain

The Results

It’s been 4 months now, and I’ve lost around 16 kgs of which 14 kgs has been fat and water weight and about 2 kgs has been muscle (see table below). Anyone who has worked on massive weight loss would know that ratio is quite phenomenal. I also ran my labs and there’s a dramatic improvement in insulin sensitivity. Visceral fat dropped down, so did body age. 

Conclusion

I still have 4 more kgs to lose before I start tapering my dosage down. However, what everyone reading this should understand is that Retatrutide did not magically do the weight loss for me. It allowed me to stick to my nutrition plan, exercise routine and overall regenerative lifestyle and that is the only way to work with peptides.  When used with proper guidance, peptides can be a safe and effective tool for people who feel stuck despite trying everything to lose weight. If you want to explore this approach, you can book a consultation with Mugdha with us and understand what will work best for your body.