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My first 4‑week run with the Apollo stack – dosing tweaks and what I felt

Posted by amber75 in Weight Loss & Metabolic - 14 points, 4 comments.

I started the Apollo stack about a month ago, mostly because I wanted a more aggressive approach than semaglutide alone. My protocol was semaglutide 0.5 mg weekly, 5‑Amino‑1MQ 80 mg twice a day, MOTS‑c 10 mg three times a week and tesamorelin 2 mg every morning. I kept a spreadsheet for weight, waist, HRV and nightly sleep score.

In the first week I felt mild nausea after the semaglutide injection, but it settled after I took a small piece of ginger. My appetite dropped by roughly 30 % according to my own rating (10 = very hungry, 1 = not at all). I also noticed a slight dip in my morning HRV – maybe the GI upset – but by day 5 HRV was back to baseline.

By week 3 my weight was down 2.8 kg and waist 3 cm, while my sleep score improved from 78 to 84. I did add a light resistance workout twice a week to avoid the muscle loss warning I read about. No injection site reactions, just a tiny bruise that faded in two days.

I’m still titrating the 5‑Amino‑1MQ up to 100 mg twice daily next week because I think the energy levels plateaued. Anyone else see similar early trends or have tips on timing the MOTS‑c injections? No, just curious.

Comments

  • andre621: For me the MOTS‑c feels a bit smoother when I split it between morning and early evening rather than all in one block. I’ve noticed a small dip in afternoon energy if I take the third dose too close to bedtime. Have you tried moving the Tuesday/Thursday shot to late afternoon instead of morning? Also, with 5‑Amino‑1MQ I found a slight boost when I pair the larger dose with a protein‑rich snack to help any gut upset. Just my own feel, could be placebo. Curious if anyone else tracks post‑workout
  • amber75: I have not tried splitting the MOTS-c doses yet, but it makes sense to avoid that afternoon energy dip you mentioned. Fwiw, my energy has stayed more or less stable (though maybe a bit low on Tuesdays). I will try moving the Tuesday and Thursday shots to the late afternoon. Regarding the 5-Amino-1MQ, I did not have much gut upset, but adding protein could help my recovery. My post-workout HRV usually drops by 10 to 15 points, right?
  • sofia_ketogen: For what it is worth, I moved my third MOTS‑c dose to around 17:00 after a light walk and the afternoon dip I’d been seeing pretty much vanished – HRV stayed flat and I felt steadier through the evening. I also pair the 5‑Amino‑1MQ split with a whey shake; my gut stays quiet and post‑gym HRV hasn’t dropped noticeably.
  • amber75: Thanks for the tip, that timing change makes sense. I tried moving my third MOTS‑c to late afternoon once and noticed a small bump in my evening HRV, but I gave up after a couple of days because my schedule got messy. I’ll give the 17:00 slot a proper try this week and pair the 5‑Amino‑1MQ with a whey shake as you do – my gut has been a little touchy after the morning dose. Let’s see if the afternoon dip disappears.

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