THE STACK
Guides worth trusting
I’m on peptides and TRT myself, so I write the plain-English guides I wish I’d had — the math and the tracking, made simple. Quick reads, just the numbers.
Frontload is on the App Store & Google Play
Dose tracking, blood-level charts, and an AI coach grounded in your own data.
I'm on Growth Hormone and Afraid of Insulin Resistance. I Was Tracking the Wrong Blood Marker.
I'm on growth hormone, which quietly pushes insulin resistance, so I watched my fasting glucose like a hawk and told a guy on Reddit to do the same. Then I checked my own answer. Fasting glucose is a late marker. Here is what fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and HbA1c each actually catch, which one moves first, and the dose-timing quirk that was throwing my morning numbers off.
Is FLGR-242 Legit? The Follistatin Hype vs What the Studies Actually Show
FLGR-242 is hyped as a follistatin muscle peptide. The mechanism is real, but there is zero human data on the product and the studies everyone cites are gene therapy, not a peptide. My honest read.
Retatrutide Ran My Resting Heart Rate From 51 to 69. Here’s What’s Actually Going On.
I started retatrutide last November at a resting heart rate around 51. As I titrated the dose up, my watch showed it climb month after month, topping out at 69, eighteen beats above where I started. I felt it most sitting still and at night. Here is what actually raises it, whether it is dangerous, whether it comes back down, and the four things that helped me.
I Tried to Lower My Estradiol Without an Aromatase Inhibitor for Two Months. It Went Up.
Two months ago I promised a follow-up if the lifestyle levers did nothing. They did nothing. I ran three injections a week, more cardio, more fiber, got to 13.8 percent body fat, and my estradiol went from 66 to 74 on the same trough draw. My testosterone even dipped. Here is why it went up anyway, and why I am lowering my dose in November instead of opening the anastrozole.
Why 200mg of NAD+ Felt Like a Panic Attack
NAD+ is one of the rare things I inject where you actually feel something, and at 200mg what I felt was a low-level panic attack: flushing, chest tightness, a dread I couldn’t talk myself out of. So I stopped and went looking for the mechanism, whether it’s dangerous, and whether injected NAD+ does anything at all. The mechanism turned out to be better than the evidence.
Why the Blood Level Graph Doesn't Match How You Feel on a GLP-1
When I started retatrutide, I watched the blood level chart constantly. Almost a year in, I look at it way less, and that’s because of what it taught me. Those curves are population estimates, not a readout of your body. Here’s how mine is actually built, why your appetite doesn’t follow the line, and how to use it as a ruler instead of an oracle.
KPV Peptide: What the Research Actually Shows
An FDA advisory committee just voted to let compounding pharmacies prepare KPV, and the vote is being read as an approval it is not. I bought a vial before I understood it, so I read the actual research: a genuinely interesting mechanism, a mouse-and-cell evidence base, and zero human trials.
Bacteriostatic Water: What the 0.9% Actually Is, and How Much of It You Inject
Bacteriostatic water is sterile water plus 0.9% benzyl alcohol, a preservative with a genuinely dark history in neonatal ICUs and a trivially small footprint at peptide volumes. I ran the per-dose arithmetic against the real regulatory thresholds, because the forums argue about brands instead.
Flying With Peptides: What TSA Actually Says
For a short trip I just leave mine at home, which is the option nobody in these threads mentions. For everything else I went and read TSA’s actual pages: gel packs can be melted, labels aren’t required, and you can refuse the X-ray. TSA also contradicts itself on the one rule that matters most.
Reconstituted Peptides: How Long They Actually Stay Good in the Fridge
Every answer I found said three to four weeks, so I went looking for the source. It exists — it’s a USP beyond-use date for preserved multi-dose vials, and it’s measuring the water, not the peptide. Two clocks run on a mixed vial: one has been studied, and for research peptides the other never has.
My Estradiol Came Back at 75. The Anastrozole Is Still in the Drawer.
My estradiol hit 75 on TRT and my first thought was gynecomastia. My prescriber offered two options: take an aromatase inhibitor or lower my dose. The anastrozole is still in the drawer, unopened — because those are two tools in the toolkit, not the only two. Here’s what I’m trying first, and the draw at the end of August that tells me if it worked.
Is More Testosterone Actually Better?
I’m four months into 150mg a week, it’s working, and I have everything I’d need to take more. Then my bloodwork made me ask the question under the whole plan: is more actually better? More does build more muscle — but on a flattening per-milligram curve while estradiol, hematocrit, and the risks that never show on a blood panel keep climbing.
What Growth Hormone Actually Does, and Why the Trials and the Gym Disagree
I chose growth hormone over tesamorelin and CJC-1295, gave my reasoning on Reddit, then checked it and found it was backwards. What I found next was stranger: the trials measured strength and size, while the people using it were reporting recovery and connective tissue. Forty years of carefully answering the wrong question.
I Lost 23 Pounds on Retatrutide and Watched My Muscle Vanish. Here’s How to Keep Yours.
I lost 23 pounds on a GLP-1 and my strength went with it. A big share of that weight loss can be muscle — not because the drug wastes it, but because it kills the appetite you’d use to protect it. Here’s how I fought back: protein when you can’t eat, a slower deficit, lifting, and electrolytes done cheap.
I Went to a Men’s Health Clinic Just to See My Bloodwork. They Tried to Sell Me a $10,000-a-Year Plan.
I signed up just to see my hormone numbers. They ran my blood through their own narrow “optimal” ranges, turned one healthy panel into 46 “problems,” and pitched a supplement plan that runs $3,700–$16,000 a year. Here’s the model — and how to get the same bloodwork for a fraction.
What TRT Bloodwork Actually Costs: The Same Test, $10 to $116 (I Priced 9 Labs)
I priced the standard TRT lab markers across 9 direct-to-consumer labs. The exact same testosterone test ranges from $10.35 to $116 — an 11x spread — and the priciest version uses the less accurate method.
I Built an AI Coach. Here’s Why It Should Never Replace the Human in the Loop.
The founder of an AI-coaching app on why AI is a supplement to your doctor, coach, or trainer — never a replacement. What it’s great at, where only a human can help, and how to keep a real expert in your corner affordably.
Before You Buy Peptides: How to Read a COA, Spot a Scam, and Not Get Burned
The number one question is where to buy. The skill that matters is how to not get burned once you’re there — reading a Certificate of Analysis, spotting the fakes, and vetting a source. No vendors, no links.
CJC-1295 With DAC vs Without DAC: Why the Injection Schedule Is Completely Different
Same name, two different molecules. DAC binds albumin for a ~6–8 day half-life (weekly); no-DAC (Mod GRF 1-29) clears in ~30 minutes (daily). Why that one difference dictates the whole schedule.
BPC-157 vs TB-500: Why One Needs Daily Dosing and the Other Doesn't
The two "healing stack" peptides run on opposite schedules. The reason is the gap between blood half-life and tissue effect — and why they pair so well in one shot.
Nasal Peptide Sprays: The Actuation Math Nobody Explains
One pump is a fixed volume, not a fixed dose. The mcg-per-spray formula, worked examples, and why pump volume is the variable everyone forgets.
Testosterone Esters Compared: Propionate vs Cypionate vs Enanthate vs Undecanoate (Half-Life & Injection Frequency)
The ester only changes timing, not the testosterone — so "which is stronger" is a myth. What actually differs: half-life, injection frequency, and how much of each mg is hormone. The comparison table + curves.
Carrier Oils Explained: What Your Injectable TRT & Steroids Are Actually Dissolved In
MCT, grapeseed, cottonseed, castor, ethyl oleate — the oil your gear is suspended in drives PIP, crashing, and allergies. What each one is, why injections hurt, and how to tell what yours is.
Blended Peptide Vials: The Math for Dosing Multiple Compounds From One Syringe
A pre-made blend locks every compound at a fixed ratio, so one draw doses all of them at once. Here is the per-peptide concentration formula, worked examples, and a reference table.
Topi-Click Testosterone Cream: How Many mg Are In Each Click?
One click is not one dose — it is a fixed volume. The mg-per-click formula, worked examples for both dispenser sizes, and a reference table across common concentrations.
What Peptides Can You Mix in the Same Syringe? (Compatibility Chart + How to Do It)
Which reconstituted peptides can share one syringe, which to keep separate, and why — a color-coded compatibility chart plus the step-by-step, built from Frontload’s own knowledge base.
TRT Math: What mg/mL Actually Means (and How to Get Your Dose Right)
Concentration is a rate, not a total — and mixing that up is the single most common TRT arithmetic mistake. The formula, worked examples, and a reference table.
HGH Dosing: How to Convert IU to mg (and Back)
HGH vials list IU or mg — usually not both. The standard 1 mg = 3 IU conversion, worked examples, and a reference table.
TRT Injection Frequency: Daily vs EOD vs Weekly — What Your Blood Levels Actually Do
Same weekly dose, three different schedules. Here is what peak, trough, and swing actually look like on each one.
Peptide Reconstitution Math: Exactly How Much BAC Water to Add
The formula, a worked example, and a table of common vial/water combinations — so the concentration is right before you draw anything up.
Semaglutide vs Tirzepatide: Half-Life, Dosing Cadence, and What to Track
Both are once-weekly. The half-lives are not identical, and neither is what is worth logging week to week.
The Best TRT & Peptide Tracking Apps in 2026
An honest, ranked comparison — blood-level charting, lab parsing, AI grounding, and privacy — including where Frontload does and does not win.
How to Track Your TRT Bloodwork
Which markers matter, when to draw your labs, and why the trend over time beats a single result.