Losing 25 pounds in 2.5 months might sound extreme, but my journey was the opposite of harsh or restrictive. I didn’t starve myself or live in the gym. My approach used two breakthrough peptie Retatrutide and Human Growth Hormone (HGH) which supported natural fat loss, muscle preservation, and overall metabolic health.

When a friend introduced me to Retatrutide, I was skeptical at first. I’d heard plenty of negative stories on TV about side effects, lawsuits, and disappointing results. Still, I wanted something that worked, that was sustainable and free of harsh side effects. Despite my hesitation, I decided to try it, realizing I had little to lose after years of struggling with traditional diet plans and exercise routines that I rarely managed to stick with.

My new approach focused on balance, not burnout, and my activity level became simple but consistent: plenty of walking and a bit of cardio.Retatrutide and HGH made that balance possible by addressing the real root causes of my stubborn weight that I beleive was a hormonal imbalance and insulin resistance. For the first time, I felt relief from the shame of late-night sugar cravings and the constant guilt of not being able to “just stop eating chocolate.” Letting go of calorie counting was mentality freeing. Truthfully, I’d never managed to follow that approach anyway, despite all my self-talk that I would.

What Is Retatrutide?

Retatrutide is an investigational drug developed as a triple agonist that activates GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon receptors. These receptors regulate appetite, glucose metabolism, and energy expenditure (Lilly, 2023).

In clinical trials, participants receiving Retatrutide achieved up to 24% body weight reduction over 48 weeks, with improvements in blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol (Jastreboff et al., 2023). Unlike older GLP-1 medications, Retatrutide helps preserve lean muscle mass while promoting fat oxidation, which supports a stronger, healthier body composition.

In my own experience, Retatrutide helped stabilize appetite, reduce cravings, and sustain energy levels throughout the day. It didn’t feel like “dieting”, it felt like my metabolism finally worked the way it should.

How Human Growth Hormone (HGH) Complements Retatrutide

While Retatrutide handled the metabolic side, Human Growth Hormone (HGH) supported recovery, body composition, and cellular repair. HGH naturally declines with age, but medically supervised replacement in adults with clinical deficiency can improve energy, fat metabolism, and sleep quality (Mayo Clinic, 2022).

When integrated, HGH can:

• Enhance lean muscle maintenance and recovery
• Improve sleep and mental clarity
• Support skin and connective tissue health

In my case, combining HGH with Retatrutide helped my body recover faster, maintain muscle tone, and feel rejuvenated overall.

Find a certified provider of Retatrutide and HGH

My 10-Week Results

After ten weeks:

• I lost 25 pounds of body fat.
• My blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels improved significantly.
• My sleep quality and mood improved dramatically.
• I felt stronger, more confident, and genuinely healthy.

This wasn’t a crash diet or a short-term fix and it is based on scientce rather that diet culture and aligned with my lifestyle, and for me that is very importnt.

Suggested Internal Links

• What Is GLP-1 Therapy and How It Works
• Understanding the Role of Hormones in Weight Loss
• Safe Medical Weight Management Programs Near You

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References

Eli Lilly and Company. (2023). Retatrutide: A triple agonist targeting GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon receptors. Retrieved from https://investor.lilly.com/news-releases

Jastreboff, A. M., Aronne, L. J., Ahmad, N. N., Wharton, S., Connery, L., Alves, B., & Kwon, S. (2023). Triple-hormone receptor agonist retatrutide in individuals with obesity: A randomized, double-blind, phase 2 trial. The New England Journal of Medicine, 389(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2303303

Mayo Clinic. (2022). Human Growth Hormone (HGH): Uses and side effects. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/in-depth/growth-hormone/art-20045735

In late 1980, the girl is hanging out with friends, playing cards around a rectangular two-level coffee table. There are bowls of half-eaten chips, cans of soda and hamburger wrappers. A feathered roach clip rests on the table beside an amber-coloured ashtray packed with burnt tobacco, cigarette butts, and roaches from the hashish and marijuana they have consumed. A thin haze of smoke fills the room, and the curtains are closed. The room walls are painted red; the sun’s reflection hits the curtains and turns black. Bob Seger sings a song about a lonesome highway, and there is counting: 15 for 2, 15, 4, pair for 6. The conversation is inattentive and limited to “It’s your crib” and “Pass me that.” Her mouth is dry, and she has the occasional bout of paranoia that is easily overcome. It’s 2 pm, and she is in her pyjamas. She feels dull and slow-moving; she is burned out. She needs eight to ten hours of sleep and an orange.

It’s 2020, and the girl is sitting in an office in an 80-year-old heritage house. The room smells of antiseptic with undertones of artificial fragrance contained in soaps and cleaners. The room lacks balance with a mix of contemporary office meets IKEA dining. The pine chest and rocking chair in the corner have belonged to her for 32 years. A plush pink couch rests awkwardly against a stained-glass window. It doesn’t fit because it is rounded. The desk is laminate-rich brown with two computer monitors; the computer is pinging, the phone is ringing, and another one is buzzing; there is a continuous flow of crucial information. A surgical mask covering her dry, itchy face smells off, so she carefully replaces it while avoiding contamination.

If one were to look closely at her eyes, they would notice she is frantic. If they listened to her talk, they would hear she was having difficulty formulating a thought. Physical anxiety hits her at the slightest stressors, and she can’t escape the constant worrying. She listens to an endless loop of stories in her head, becoming paranoid as she fights back tears. She is mentally and emotionally exhausted and wonders if she has gone crazy. She is burned out. And without ten hours of sleep and a couple of 15-minute naps a day, she fears her body will eventually end up lying still anyway – in her bed, a hospital, or the morgue.

Burnout is real.

It is not a problem related to life management but an occupational syndrome caused by chronic stress (stress=pressure/resilience). Stress and pressure are often mistakenly used interchangeably but are very different. Stress is the internal response to external factors, and pressure is the external force of external factors. Stress is the body’s response to pressure caused by situations or life events. Pressure is the tension felt during moments perceived as uncertain and important. Pressure is not developed by stress; however, due to pressure, stress will develop.

Stress occurs when the point is reached where pressure has increased to the degree that resilience is damaged. Resilience is the ability to bounce back when experiencing stress. Pressure, stress, challenge and change are unavoidable; therefore, individuals need resilience to avoid being affected in pressure situations. Thus, resilience is central to well-being and is necessary to prevent burnout.

Generations at Work

Gen-Xes are the middle child, stuck in a time warp between Baby Boomers and millennials with very different life experiences and lifestyles; therefore, communication is often challenging. The generation gap includes different opinions, skills, values, attitudes, and beliefs. Millennials’ comfort with technology contradicts Gen-X and Boomer’s comfort with direct personal communication. The lack of desire to engage in verbal conversations could be exasperating for the older generation, especially at work. Boomers may adapt to changes slower but have valuable experience to pass down. They tend to be more loyal to their organization, whereas millennials are dedicated to what they’re working on.

For the first time in modern history, we have a multi-generational workforce, with employees spanning five generations simultaneously: Gen Z and millennials (the new generation), Gen X and Baby Boomers, and some members of the Traditional generation (the older generation).

What you say and how you say it is essential when communicating with today’s workers, and precautions must be taken with words used in person or electronically. Gen-Xes are blunt and direct, talking in short sound bites that can be misconstrued as aggressive and rude.

Advancing beliefs and practices have led to a cultural shift in leadership. The new generation of workers believes everyone is equal; they want to feel heard, be provided opportunities to give and receive regular feedback and be given opportunities for autonomy and creativity. Today’s generation of workers looks at leadership like a reverse pyramid. The workers make up the majority of the pyramid (millennials make up 33.2% of the workforce in Canada), and the leaders are at the bottom, or the base of the reverse pyramid. The boss supports the workers so they can work at their best.

The older generations look at the leadership of a team from a hierarchical structure with the boss on the top and the workers on the bottom. We are often driven by a need for authority, autonomy, and job security and have loyalty toward our work and supervisor. We believe in a power structure and a boss that symbolizes authority.

Generational upbringing and struggles define work ethic, goals, and job performance. There is a significant difference in how each generation expects to experience job satisfaction. For example, the older generation of workers tend to expect strict 9-to-5 office hours, and the new generation of workers insist on work-life balance, including teleconferencing, flexible work hours, and opportunities to relax. Today’s workers want a purposeful career with company-backed learning opportunities. The older generation of workers believe that nothing is free. They believe a corner office with a view is an achievement; the new workers don’t care as long as they have a laptop and unlimited Wi-Fi.

The details of cross-generational issues and ageism in the workplace may change, but every generation has complaints. A flexing communication strategy can improve cross-generational communication and improve communication. Flexing, or the temporary adjusting of a preferred style to the most comfortable style of another person, improves the conveying of messages. A flexing strategy includes being open to differences in verbal, non-verbal, written and visual communication preferences.

Uncovering others’ styles improves communication and builds rapport. In the changing multi-generational workforce, there is a need to close communication gaps by providing a flexible work environment, meeting communication preferences, creating a culture of belonging, giving and receiving feedback, and offering autonomy. Recognizing diversity will benefit the entire organization.

Understanding the impact of leadership language, what we choose to say, and how we say it has an effect on an organization’s morale and performance. Flexing strategies recognize that communication styles, including blind spots, unfavourable behaviours, and communication strengths, are just as important as conveying clear, concise, courteous, and complete messages. Flexible and diverse communication will reduce anxiety, build stronger relationships, increase productivity and reduce wasted time.

Finally, acknowledging and addressing generational communication challenges creates happier, healthier, and more productive workplaces.

Thank you for visiting. The following “hello” bog is a small history of my work life and experience. Please visit the Welcome menu to learn more about my current professional roles.

I have worked for the past 45 years of my life (easy to guess my age now). My first job was at Beach Grove Stables when I was ten years old, shovelling horse manure, giving trail rides and then graduating to registering people for trail rides and collecting the funds for the rides. The position of money collector was a big promotion for a (then 12-year-old), and when I learned the correlation between hard work and money.

In my teens, I worked various jobs in the food service industry as a server and host, then landed a position as a coffee truck driver, selling and delivering food to hungry workers. I was very young when my entrepreneurial spirit was triggered, and I started my own business, eventually operating three trucks.

During my daily route, I was offered a sales position with Pacific Industrial Scale (Pacific), and in 1988, I started a career in Weights and Measures, where I would stay and grow with the company for 17 years.

Over the next two decades, we experienced many communication and technological advances from telex communication to several types of fax machines, one-way paging systems, cordless phones, car phones, and then large, clunky Motarolla cellular devices. In the early 90s, we got our first computer at Pacific that connected to email and “Mosaic,” which was described as a user-friendly way to surf the internet. At this time, I learned (self-taught) how to design and publish a website. Websites at this time were often deemed useless and a waste of time by the more senior staff. Nonetheless, I persevered in designing the Pacific website using a program called Microsft FrontPage.

My next role was as an account manager for building supplies. For several years I learned about the merchandising world and advertising and promotion, taking many courses to understand consumer behaviour and marketing.

In 2009, I was hired by a small recovery house to help develop the society where I am now the Executive Director. Westminster House Society went from 9 beds to 43 in under 13 years. My experience significantly contributed to the growth and success of the organization.   

I am now a strong advocate for women, diversity, and recovery. I sit as the operating treasurer and volunteer for Recovery Day Vancouver Society – and since 2012, the street festival and recovery celebration has grown from 100 people to 100,000 people and is now the largest Recovery event in North America.

Through the years, I have had many achievements, including being a mother, grandmother, athlete and student. I have recently graduated from University and obtained my Masters in Business Administration. I still play softball and am learning how to play soccer this year.

A poem by Susan Hogarth

As time passes I can still see your face that haunts me in my dreams where I embrace you and cry in your arms as I fear death. I wonder if your life is happy in the deep hole of isolation by the ocean.  It is the only change that stops me from reaching out to hear your cheeky voice telling me that everything will be ok. I am curious to know if the addictions that destroyed reality still exist in your mind. 

It feels like a lifetime ago that insanity took my cleverness and replaced it with delusions in the nights that became days.  I remember the beaches and the vessels where we hid from everyone, the ringing of the machines that swallowed my money, and those who slithered through my life and took my breath away. 

Sensibility now speaks through others who validate the miracle of my survival in the grand fight for life.  Sleep comes easily.  Chaos lives only when I create it through old behaviour that hides behind my insecurity.  I write, and I dream a dream of feeling your breath on my cheek while knowing that it will never be.

Water under the bridge of life, and if I look, I can see the life raft that you ride, and as it moves past, you smile up at me… and float on.

– Susan Hogarth, 2008