In light of having covered almost every single therapeutic peptide in existence, I am continuing my new venture of organizing each one for its intended use.
This week, I want to focus entirely on the best peptides for weight loss.
These peptides are extraordinary in their effect on fat loss as they have decades of scientific evidence backing their safety and efficacy.
We may be at the start of transitioning away from the summer season but you can change your physique whenever you want.
No New Year’s Resolution or magic date on the calendar is necessary.
I’ve experimented with all the fat loss peptides in existence and used them on my private coaching clients.
After almost two decades of gathering results, I’m ready to present the 8 best fat-burning peptides in existence.
Let’s get right into it!
What are Peptides?
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of the best fat-burning peptides in existence, let’s very quickly review what peptides are.
If you read my previous article on nootropic peptides, you already know what peptides are.
To recap, peptides are chains of amino acids that are no longer than 50 amino acids in length.
These chains can be linear in shape, but they can naturally fold into far more complex structures.
You can find them everywhere — in your body, created in a lab, and in the foods you eat.
It’s unclear exactly how many peptides in total exist within our body, but rough estimates say there are several thousands of them.
I won’t bother you with the complexity behind these molecules, but this scientific review is a great read into what they are and how they work in the human body.
A peptide synthetically created or naturally produced by the body with the intention of accelerating some aspect of fat breakdown, inhibiting some aspect of fat production and/or increasing adherence to a dietary regimen via behavior modification.
How Do Peptides Work?
Without giving you a university-level education on Peptides 101, I’ll tell you how peptides work as quickly as I can.
Simply put, peptides are the driving biological force behind every single thing that happens in your body:
“In the human body, peptides are found in every cell and tissue and perform a wide range of essential functions. Maintenance of appropriate concentration and activity levels of peptides is necessary to achieve homeostasis and maintain health.
The function that a peptide carries out is dependent on the types of amino acids involved in the chain and their sequence, as well as the specific shape of the peptide. Peptides often act as hormones and thus constitute biologic messengers carrying information from one tissue through the blood to another.”
It’s not so easy to categorize peptides because you can do so on the basis of where they come from or the function they perform in your body.
I also won’t go deep into exactly how peptides exert their action, but 99 times out of 100 it involves the peptide binding to a receptor on the surface of a targeted cell:
“Because peptides’ structure can be similar to those of some hormones and messaging compounds in the body, they can engage with and activate several receptors throughout the body, thereby influencing a variety of bodily processes”
“Specific peptides may also help boost the release of hormones known to stimulate muscle growth, body fat loss, and exercise performance and recovery”
If you want to dive deeper into the inner workings of how peptides specifically work in the context of regulating your fat tissue, read this article.
And if you’re really ambitious, check out this review of how peptides are being investigated as the next generation of therapeutic agents.
What is Peptide Therapy for Weight Loss?
Peptide therapy for weight loss can be defined as the use of one or more peptides that target one or more of the following mechanisms directly/indirectly impacting fat loss:
- Boosting stimulation and/or production of human growth hormone
- Stimulating lipolysis (i.e. the breakdown of fat)
- Inhibiting lipogenesis (i.e. the production of fat)
- Accelerating your base rate of metabolism
- Suppressing appetite
- Increasing energy levels (since caloric restriction tends to deprive people of energy needed to get through the day)
- Reducing hunger cravings
- Lowering bodily inflammation
- Improving efficiency of food digestion
Whether your body produces an adequate or inadequate amount of naturally-produced peptides, using the best peptides for weight loss will provide your body with more of want it needs to break down and eliminate fat.
That’s really all there is to it.
However, using these fat-burning peptides comes with an extremely important warning:
DO NOT use these peptides as magic pills that replace essential healthy lifestyle habits for long-lasting and sustainable fat loss.
Yes, you will still have to engage in regular cardio and ego-free weight training involving positive muscular failure several times a week.
Yes, you need 8 hours of uninterrupted deep sleep every single night.
Yes, you need to eat clean and follow a diet designed for fat loss.
These are non-negotiables and using the world’s best peptides for weight loss changes nothing.
As long as you remember this one thing I keep repeating until my face turns blue, you’ll get exactly what you want out of these fat loss peptides.
If you’re unsure of where to start with fat loss or exactly what to do, my FREE ultimate guide has you covered.
What are the Best Peptides for Weight Loss?
You’ll be surprised to find my list of the best peptides for weight loss doesn’t span dozens of individual compounds.
I’m a firm believer in selectively choosing only the ones that deliver the most bang for the buck.
Some target the breakdown of fat directly while others lower your appetite and make refusing the temptation of junk food infinitely easier.
No more delays — here is the list as promised.
Ipamorelin
Ipamorelin was one of the very first peptides I’ve ever used, and also one of the few worthy enough to get a mention in both The TOT Bible and Living A Fully Optimized Life.
The video below is my quick 5-minute summary of why it receives such an honorable mention:
Ipamorelin is known as a GHRP (growth hormone releasing peptide), which means it produces a pulse that mimics how and when your body naturally releases growth hormone.
It does so via increased signaling to the pituitary gland and inhibition of a hormone called somatostatin that “tells” your body to lower output of growth hormone.
Not only this, but it ONLY targets growth hormone without affecting other bodily hormones or cortisol production (which lowers the rate of fat breakdown).
You also don’t see increased production of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin, which helps keep hunger at bay while fasting.
Other secondary fat loss benefits include deeper sleep, improved muscle growth, and slight cognition-enhancing effects.
Ipamorelin is recommended as the best “introductory” peptide to fat loss if you are brand-new to using peptides for cutting… or if increased growth hormone production is what you’re specifically after.
Tesofensine
Tesofensine is not technically a peptide, but it is the hottest new fat loss drug on the market and I would be doing it a massive dis-service by not including it here.
To summarize, it is a triple monoamine reuptake inhibitor that was designed as a new class of antidepressants and first emerged as a failed drug candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
But by mere accident, a major side effect of this drug in clinical trials was significant weight loss without additional exercise or dietary interventions.
I’ll summarize its mechanism of action in 3 sentences:
- It stops dopamine reuptake, which reduces the feeling of mental cravings
- It stops serotonin reuptake, which reduces the PHYSICAL need of hunger
- It stops noradrenaline reuptake, which increase your basal metabolic rate
Sure, Tesofensine induces twice the amount of weight loss compared to existing anti-obesity medications in head-on clinical trials (and keeps it off).
But it also increases BDNF production for greater cognition, and this is on top of the fat loss effects I described in Tesofensine’s mechanism of action.
And did I mention it comes in a tablet you only have to take once a day in the morning?
Tesofensine is the all-in-one fat-destroying compound that is the closest thing to a “Holy Grail Of Fat Loss”. If you only have access to ONE compound for fat loss, you’d be an idiot not to choose Tesofensine.
<NOTE> Limitless Life Nootropics will have this for sale soon. Stay Tuned for a Massive Initial Promotion from Me.
Tesamorelin
Tesamorelin, unlike its relative Ipamorelin, is known as a GHRH (growth hormone releasing hormone).
GHRHs work by stimulating your brain’s pituitary gland to increase the production and secretion of human growth hormone.
(If this seems confusing, just keep Ben Greenfield’s axiom in mind: “GHRP’s release a pulse of growth hormone, and then the GHRH’s release and amplify this pulse.”)
The bad news is that it is a prescription medication meant to treat lipodystrophy in HIV patients, an abnormal distribution of body fat where the fat selectively accumulates in select parts of the body.
The good news is Tesamorelin stimulates GHRH receptors just as well as the GHRH naturally produced by your body, but without inducing insulin resistance or affecting the production of bodily hormones… just like Ipamorelin!
Thanks to bodybuilders and their willingness to experiment with anything that gives them a competitive edge, we know Tesamorelin directly leads to abs.
How?
Out of all the fat loss peptides, it’s the only one that specifically targets visceral fat around the abdominal area — the closest we’ve ever come to spot fat reduction.
Secondary benefits include enhanced cognition, slight muscle gain, and lower triglyceride readings.
If you are one of the lucky few individuals who gets their hands on Tesamorelin, it’s your best choice for specifically getting rid of stubborn body fat in your trunk region.
AOD-9604
AOD-9604 peptide is a synthetic modification of a very specific region within human growth hormone that is solely responsible for accelerating the metabolism of fat.
Surprisingly, it’s even better than growth hormone itself at inhibiting fat production and promoting fat breakdown.
And thanks to its lack of interaction with growth hormone receptors, you don’t have insulin resistance… but you also don’t have muscle growth stimulation.
Despite an excellent safety profile in humans, clinical trials did not show a meaningful difference in weight loss compared to placebo.
Yet numerous biohackers have taken it upon themselves to experiment with AOD9604 and swear by its fat loss effects.
That includes yours truly, especially when used in combination with another peptide (more on that later).
Long story short, AOD9604 is your go-to fat loss peptide if your sole intentions are to increase fat metabolism and inhibit fat production.
Semaglutide
Semaglutide is a synthetic modification of a hormone peptide known as GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1).
It’s effectively the same molecule with a few minor adjustments:
“The only differences are two amino-acid substitutions at positions 8 and 34, where alanine and lysine are replaced by 2-aminoisobutyric acid and arginine, respectively. Amino-acid substitution at position 8 prevents chemical breakdown by dipeptidyl peptidase-4.
In addition, the lysine at position 26 is in its derivative form (acylated with stearic diacid). Acylation with a spacer and C-18 fatty diacid chain increases the drug’s binding to blood protein (albumin), which enables longer presence in the blood circulation”
This makes Semaglutide a GLP-1 receptor agonist, which is a technical way of saying the following:
“Semaglutide is part of a class of medications called GLP-1 receptor agonists, or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists. It increases insulin secretion, which is good for diabetes. But at higher doses, it acts on centers in the brain and suppresses appetite… What this medicine does is help patients adhere to a reduced-calorie diet”
Semaglutide is one of the best peptides for cutting because it directly addresses the negative behavior of over-eating and kills your appetite.
Due to its dramatic weight loss seen in clinical trials spanning 2 years that make it almost as good as bariatric surgery, the FDA approved it in June 2021 “for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or overweight with at least one weight-related condition”.
The first chronic weight management drug approved since 2014… it was and still is a serious head-turner.
Having used this myself, I can attest to how free of hunger I felt when I was on Semaglutide.
And it’s also a once-a-week injection, so you’ll have a very hard time NOT adhering to its dosing protocol.
Semaglutide, if you can get it via prescription or other means, will keep your hunger at bay like nothing else currently available on the market.
MOTS-C
MOTS-C is a naturally-occurring peptide in your body produced by the mitochondria in your cells.
It didn’t receive much attention until several studies in obese mice showed it was able to replicate the positive health benefits of exercising… without actually exercising!
The mechanism of a fat-burning peptide like MOTS-C is quite complicated and involves a lot of downstream biochemical cascade reactions, but just know it helps reduce fat accumulation.
MOTS-C can also improve insulin sensitivity, increase fat breakdown, boost your energy levels, and even enhance mitochondrial health.
Out of all the peptides to lose weight I’ve featured up until this point, MOTS-C is the most experimental.
You’ll have to take it in the morning to avoid disrupting your sleep schedule.
Additionally, I noticed it doesn’t have as much of an effect in people who are already lean and strong.
Use MOTS-C if you are willing to toy around with a fat loss peptide that doesn’t have the reputation and scientific backing possessed by the other peptides featured in this article.
5-Amino 1MQ
5-Amino 1MQ is the very last of the fat-burning peptides on this list, but it is not the least significant.
It’s a synthetic analog of a chemical called methylquinolinium (MQ) and was designed when scientists were looking for a NNMT (nicotinamide N-methyltransferase) inhibitor.
Without getting into the technical details, the NNMT enzyme slow down the metabolism of fat cells… making it a viable target for anti-obesity medications.
But restoration of fat burning and fat breakdown are just some of the things 5-Amino 1MQ can do.
This wonder peptide can also improve neuromuscular function and increase your ability to maximally contract your muscle fibers through the same mechanism of NNMT inhibition.
Having used it myself, I was able to put on 10 pounds of lean muscle in six weeks without changing my diet and training regimen or using other therapeutic peptides.
On top of delayed muscle soreness after intense high-volume workouts, it has the added bonus of lowering cellular senescence.
So what we have in effect is a “body recomposition peptide” that aids in both maximal fat loss AND maximal muscle preservation.
5-Amino 1MQ is the go-to peptide for maintaining and increasing muscle mass regardless of whether you are eating in a deficit, maintenance, or a surplus.
Best Peptide Stack for Fat Loss
There are an endless amount of ways you can combine peptides for fat loss to create a synergistic effect where the results are multiple-fold.
But not all combinations are created equally and some of them may be downright counter-productive, especially when you try to use 3+ of them at the same time for no logically sound reason.
So from my own first-hand experience and those of my private coaching clients, the best peptide stack for fat loss goes to Tesofensine + Semaglutide and AOD9604.
The photo below of me on Monday July 25th 2022 is worth a thousand words alone:
A veiny six-pack and sub-10% body fat at the young age of 51 years old without loss of libido or hunger cravings!
Tesofensine acts as the metabolic uncoupler, BDNF stimulator also providing an increase in energy.
Semaglutide acts as the appetite-suppressant here, and I can promise you will NEVER feel hungry.
I’ve done +24 hour fasts on Semaglutide and still had to force-feed food when normally I would be ravenously starving.
AOD9604 acts as the fat mobilizer, breaking down visceral body fat as well as human growth hormone without the laundry list of potential side effects (insulin resistance, reduction of natural growth hormone production, etc.).
Effectively, this peptide cycle for fat loss solves the two biggest roadblocks people face when dieting down to a lower body fat percentage.
But be warned: This is NOT a quick-fix for beginners and the best results are seen in people who are muscular and are already starting this peptide stack fairly lean.
In fact, I would go as far as to argue that any peptide stack targeted at body fat removal is for advanced trainees only.
Notable runner-ups for the best peptide stack for fat loss include the following two combinations below:
- Ipamorelin + Tesamorelin
- Ipamorelin + CJC-1295 without DAC
My deep-dive article on human growth hormone goes into more detail about proper dosages and timing for both stacks.
<NOTE> If you can legally procure pharmaceutical Human Growth Hormone (Genotropin from Pfizer or Norditropin from Nordisk in a real multi iu pen), I’d replace it for AOD.
(NOTE: CJC-1295 without DAC is technically the 8th peptide for fat loss but I do not recommend using it on its own for that purpose)
They still work incredibly well as fat loss peptide combinations, but I ultimately pick Semaglutide and AOD9604.
Not only is this fat loss stack far more effective for the sole purpose of stubborn body fat removal, but both compounds are much easier to get and the cost won’t blow out your bank account.
Best Peptide for Female Fat Loss
For the ladies reading this article, the single best peptide for female fat loss is undoubtedly Ipamorelin.
I explain why in the video below:
This is not to say the other fat loss peptides mentioned in this article won’t work for women — they certainly will.
It has been my personal experience in working with female clients at the highest echelons of fitness competition that Ipamorelin just “works” exceptionally well.
Peptide clinics and anonymous biohackers agree with my observations, although they also recommend using Ipamorelin in combination with CJC-1295 without DAC.
(I personally just prefer to use Ipamorelin alone in women as they don’t really need any other peptides to lose weight and stubborn fat assuming their lifestyle is on point).
A 200-300 mcg injection of Ipamorelin immediately before bed will provide incredible fat loss, deeper sleep cycles, and improved skin elasticity for women who use the peptide for 3 months.
Of course, you want your cycles to last no longer than 8-10 weeks and an equal amount of time should be spent on your “off” cycle.
And if you still don’t believe me, the photos of my 50 year old wife Monica from our current Mexican Vacation (July 28th today) need no further convincing:
Peptides for Weight Loss: Commonly Asked Questions
Whether you’re brand-new to fat loss peptides or have years under your belt as a seasoned peptides veteran, you probably have some questions about adding them to your toolbox of thermogenic agents.
I want to briefly answer some of the most common inquiries I receive in fully transparency so you aren’t misguided into believing marketing hype and false claims.
What is the Best Peptide Cycle for Fat Loss?
In my personal experience and based on the most up-to-date intel, Tesofensine + the Semaglutide + AOD9604 stack remains at the very top as the best peptide cycle for fat loss.
The combination of metabolic uncoupling + appetite suppression and increased metabolism are simply unparalleled and no other stack provides both weight loss benefits the way these agents and peptides do.
As I mentioned earlier in this article, there are other peptide stacks for weight loss you can experiment with (Tesamorelin + Ipamorelin OR Ipamorelin + CJC-1295 without DAC).
Unless something changes in the near future, you already have your answer.
How Much Weight Can You Lose with Peptide Therapy?
If you’re using peptides to lose weight, the rule of individuality still remains in full effect.
This is my fancy-pants way of saying “it depends”.
- What body fat percentage are you starting at?
- What is your current level of physical activity like?
- Are you sleeping 8 hours every day uninterrupted?
- Do you eat a clean diet of whole unprocessed foods?
- Are you performing resistance training intelligently at least 3-4x/week with the intention of building or maintaining muscle?
- Do you do any cardio to supplement your resistance training?
- Are you suffering from any lifestyle diseases such as diabetes or chronic inflammation?
My recommendation is to focus on YOUR fat loss progress and ignore what’s happening in everybody else’s world.
When it comes to fat burning peptides, it’s reasonable to expect obese/overweight people will lose fat faster as they have a lot of extra fluff to get rid of.
Leaner people will obviously see a slower rate of fat loss, and to an appreciable degree this is necessary in order to maximally preserve as much muscle mass as possible.
Outside of that one observation, you can expect to lose weight faster than you normally would if you weren’t using peptides at all.
<NOTE> PEPTIDES ARE NOT A MAGIC BULLET. If you are fat, inflamed and unconditioned from a training perspective, Peptides will do very little for you until you control for the other issues.
How Fast Do You Lose Weight with Peptide Injections?
When you use peptides for dropping body fat, it’s important to maintain realistic expectations.
I would estimate that some of the mental effects such as appetite suppression, deeper sleep and increased energy will kick in as early as the first 3 weeks of consistently using the peptides.
If we’re talking about noticeable weight loss and fat loss results, give it a minimum of 90 days.
6 months would be the longest timeframe I would suggest to really see a life-changing physique transformation that involves a 10% reduction in body fat.
But as always, we are N of 1 and results are entirely dependent upon the individual.
Adherence to diet and training, adequate sleep, and genetic profile will also be major factors in the speed of your fat loss.
The more fully optimized you already are and the leaner you are when you start off, the faster and more apparent your fat loss will be.
TL;DR — Using the best fat burning peptides will speed up weight loss compared to not using them at all, but the fundamentals of time and dedication still apply.
Do Peptides Burn Belly Fat?
Not every single peptide in existence will burn unwanted fat — some do and some don’t, which is precisely why I am writing this article.
There are some multi-functional peptides that happen to have weight loss as a secondary benefit, but they are not necessarily the best tools for the job.
If you want to use peptides to lose weight, you must select the ones where the PRIMARY benefit is fat loss.
They will do so through one or more of the mechanisms I described earlier in the article (growth hormone stimulation, boosted metabolism, lipid breakdown, etc.).
But again, and I really do have to say this multiple times, fat-burning peptides are an ADDITION to a well-designed fat loss regimen and not a replacement of the regimen.
Don’t expect to look like a magazine model if you’re injecting Tesamorelin while eating Dorito chips and downing Mountain Dew like there’s no tomorrow.
Are There Any Side Effects to Peptides for Weight Loss?
The life-changing benefit of using peptides to lose weight is you do not have to worry about side effects except in extremely rare circumstances.
They have consistently shown an excellent safety profile in human clinical trials, are very well-tolerated by people who are in both excellent and poor health, and show no pause for concern.
But minor side effects of injectable peptides for weight loss do exist and it’s important to know what to expect.
Don’t be surprised if you happen to experience one of the following:
- Redness, swelling, pain and/or itching at the site of injection
- Water retention
- Slight difficulty falling asleep
- Headache
- Increased blood pressure
- Dry mouth
- Diarrhea
No need to panic… these side effects are rare yet extremely easy to address.
There are a few time-tested ways to prevent them:
- Make sure you are starting low with your initial dose and slowly increasing it to the point where you get the desired effect without over-dosing (more is not always better)
- Increase frequency of use while lowering the dose (unless one of the fat loss peptides specifically operates on weekly dosing)
- Stop using it altogether for a short period of time
Just use common sense and you’ll be perfectly fine.
Summing Up the Best Weight Loss Peptides
You now have full access to the 8 best peptides for weight loss in the world and all of the intel in existence for each one.
Each of them are highly beneficial for fat loss in their own unique way and some of them work even better when used together.
Sure, fat loss still remains a highly complicated topic for scientists who want to fully understand and explain every technical intricacy.
But the basics for you and I have remained unchanged for the past 100 years.
Before you embark on using the best fat-burning peptides ever created and discovered, I need you to do two quick favors for me…
1) Make sure you source your peptides from a vetted source.
My personal choice is Limitless Life Nootropics due to their commitment to the highest levels of purity and potency in all the fat loss peptides they sell.
Use code JAY15 at the checkout cart for 15% off!
2) If you are absolutely brand-spanking new to the world of therapeutic peptides, get educated before start using them.
Please download my Top 10 Mistakes People Make When Starting Therapeutic Peptides FREE PDF ASAP!
It will shave years off you screwing up your progress and get you on the right track from Day 1.
Plus… if you stick around and read the FREE email sequence, you’ll also get access to my Therapeutic Peptides Course at 50% OFF.
Just my way of contributing to humanity in an age where so much yet so little is understood about these Golden Age compounds.
As always…
Raise Your Vibration To Optimize Your Love Creation!
PS – If you want even MORE high-level peptides intel beyond what’s featured in my widely shared articles, join The Fully Optimized Health Private Membership Group.
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