Peptide Codes Forum

so ive been running MK-677 on and off (mostly on tbh) for about 14 months now and figured id drop some actual real talk instead of the usual hype garbage you see posted everywhere

sourced mine from two different vendors over this period. first batch was from peptide sciences which was solid, second batch grabbed from amino asylum when PS was backordered. both seemed legit based on results but ill get to that

DOSING - started at 25mg ed before bed. this is pretty standard and works well for the hunger suppression and sleep quality boost. after about 3 months bumped to 30mg but honestly didnt notice much difference so dropped back to 25mg. some guys swear by splitting the dose but i never saw a point personally

THE GOOD STUFF
- sleep quality is insane. like genuinely the best sleep ive had since i was a teenager. deep sleep is noticeably better
- recovery between sessions went up significantly, DOMS basically disappeared
- hair and skin looking better, not gonna lie
- pumps in the gym are solid
- GH pulse is real, bloods confirmed IGF-1 went from 187 to 312 after 8 weeks

THE BAD (and this is where ppl dont wanna be honest)
- hunger is NO JOKE. like i gained probably 12lbs in the first 3 months and not all muscle lol. if ur cutting this is gonna be a fight every single day
- water retention hit me hard around month 2. fingers and ankles looked puffy, had to drop sodium
- the lethargy is real for the first few weeks, felt like a zombie some mornings
- borderline insulin resistance concerns. my fasting glucose crept up from 88 to 102 over the course. nothing crazy but definitely worth monitoring. this is the one that actually worried me and i started running berberine alongside it
- cost adds up over long term use

HONEST OPINION
its not a magic bullet and the hunger sides will absolutely wreck ur diet if ur not disciplined. for bulking or body recomp its pretty interesting but the glucose thing needs to be watched closely. im taking a 2 month break currently to let everything normalize before deciding if i run it again

anyone else run bloodwork on long term use? curious what others saw with the glucose numbers specifically

gainz_peptide_bro wrote:borderline insulin resistance concerns. my fasting glucose crept up from 88 to 102 over the course. nothing crazy but definitely worth monitoring. this is the one that actually worried me and i started running berberine alongside it

I want to address something here because I have seen several people in this thread and others dismiss this particular point, and I think that is a mistake. Your instinct to take the glucose elevation seriously was the correct one, and I will stand behind that assessment firmly.

The mechanism is well understood. MK-677 (ibutamoren), as a ghrelin receptor agonist, promotes growth hormone secretion through a pathway that is functionally distinct from endogenous pulsatile release. The sustained elevation in GH and consequently IGF-1 creates a state of relative insulin resistance through counter-regulatory hormonal activity. This is not a speculative concern — the phase II clinical trials on MK-677 conducted by Merck in the late 1990s and early 2000s explicitly identified elevated fasting glucose and reduced insulin sensitivity as dose-dependent adverse effects. The Nass et al. 2008 paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine is worth reading if you have not done so. The study population was elderly patients, granted, but the mechanistic findings translate.

A shift from 88 mg/dL to 102 mg/dL fasting glucose puts you at the upper boundary of what the ADA classifies as impaired fasting glucose, which is 100 to 125 mg/dL. That is not trivial over a 14 month window.

The berberine addition was a reasonable intervention. The literature on berberine as an AMPK activator with insulin-sensitizing properties is reasonably robust at this point. Metformin gets compared to it frequently in the literature, though I would not overstate the equivalence. Some researchers in this space also use alpha-lipoic acid as an adjunct for similar reasons.

My position, which some here will disagree with I am sure, is that running a compound with documented effects on glucose homeostasis for 14 consecutive months without quarterly fasting insulin and HbA1c monitoring is not a defensible research protocol. Fasting glucose alone is an incomplete picture. I would strongly encourage getting a HOMA-IR calculation done before you consider resuming. The formula requires only fasting insulin and fasting glucose and gives you a far cleaner picture of insulin resistance status than glucose in isolation.

Your sleep quality and IGF-1 elevation results are consistent with what the literature would predict, and your IGF-1 response of 187 to 312 ng/mL is within a range that makes physiological sense at 25mg dosing. I am not here to argue against the compound categorically. But the metabolic monitoring piece is non-negotiable in my view, and I will not soften that position regardless of how many people in these threads wave off the glucose numbers as insignificant.

dr_peptide_research wrote:The berberine addition was a reasonable intervention. The literature on berberine as an AMPK activator with insulin-sensitizing properties is reasonably robust at this point. Metformin gets compared to it frequently in the literature, though I would not overstate the equivalence.

Good post overall but I'm going to push back on one thing. You're citing Nass 2008 like it's directly applicable here and it's not, at least not cleanly. That study used 25mg in adults aged 60-81 with existing functional decline. Extrapolating the glucose findings to a healthy younger male in a caloric surplus is a stretch. The direction of the effect is the same, sure, but the magnitude matters and that population was starting from a very different metabolic baseline.

Also nobody in these threads ever mentions that the glucose creep is partly confounded by the increased food intake from ghrelin agonism. You can't cleanly separate "MK-677 caused insulin resistance" from "MK-677 made me eat 600 extra calories a day for 14 months and that caused insulin resistance." Nobody controls for that. Not the studies, not the anecdotes.

The HOMA-IR recommendation is solid though. Should be table stakes for anyone running this long term and almost nobody does it.

gainz_peptide_bro wrote:my fasting glucose crept up from 88 to 102

Get the fasting insulin pulled. That number by itself tells you almost nothing useful.

GrumpyOldResearcher wrote:You can't cleanly separate "MK-677 caused insulin resistance" from "MK-677 made me eat 600 extra calories a day for 14 months and that caused insulin resistance." Nobody controls for that.

This is actually a really good point that gets glossed over constantly. The confounding variable of hyperphagia is massive here and I rarely see anyone acknowledge it.

To OP - solid writeup, glad you ran bloods. Here's what I'd add:

On the glucose/insulin question:
- Pull fasting insulin alongside glucose like GrumpyOld said. Non-negotiable before you restart.
- HOMA-IR is easy to calculate and gives you a real baseline. Do this first.
- Berberine was the right call. I'd keep it on any future run from week 1, don't wait for the numbers to creep.
- ALA is worth stacking with the berberine. Low cost, solid synergy for insulin sensitivity.

On the 2 month break:
That's reasonable. I'd extend to 12 weeks minimum personally. Let IGF-1 and fasting glucose both normalize before you pull bloods again, otherwise you're comparing apples to oranges.

One thing nobody mentioned yet: your IGF-1 response of 312 is good but check where you are in the reference range for your age. Some guys chase higher numbers and that's where the metabolic cost starts outweighing the benefit.

Overall your experience tracks with what I've seen running this stuff. The sleep and recovery benefits are real. The hunger management is the make or break for most people. You clearly approached this more seriously than 90% of the guys posting here so respect for that.

GrumpyOldResearcher wrote:You can't cleanly separate "MK-677 caused insulin resistance" from "MK-677 made me eat 600 extra calories a day for 14 months and that caused insulin resistance." Nobody controls for that.

Appreciate the point and it's valid, but I'd push back a little on how much weight you're putting on the confounding angle.

Here's my issue with leaning too hard on the hyperphagia explanation: the GH counter-regulatory mechanism on insulin sensitivity is well documented independent of caloric intake. Even in studies where calories were controlled, elevated GH creates competitive antagonism at insulin receptor signaling through IRS-1 pathway interference. The extra food intake definitely compounds the problem, nobody's arguing otherwise, but presenting it as the primary variable undersells the direct hormonal mechanism.

Practical takeaway for anyone reading this: the glucose concern is real whether you eat at maintenance or not. Controlling calories helps but it doesn't eliminate the issue.

GrumpyOldResearcher wrote:Get the fasting insulin pulled. That number by itself tells you almost nothing useful.

100% agree with this part. Fasting glucose alone is noise without the insulin context. HOMA-IR is the actual story.

To OP - good writeup. My additional take on the break protocol:

- 8 weeks is probably fine for letting glucose normalize but I'd run full metabolic panel including fasting insulin before you make the call to restart, not after an arbitrary time window
- The berberine from week 1 on any future run is the move, not reactive
- Consider whether 25mg is even necessary given your IGF-1 response. Some guys get equal benefit at 12.5-15mg with a cleaner metabolic profile

The compound works. Just don't let the enthusiasm for the good sides make you hand-wave the metabolic stuff.

okay I'm sorry but I have to jump in here because this whole thread has been very serious and science-y and I love it, truly, but nobody has acknowledged the absolutely unhinged mental journey that is trying to fall asleep on MK-677 while your brain is going "you should eat an entire rotisserie chicken right now" at like 11:30pm

like gainz_peptide_bro mentioned the hunger is no joke and I feel like that deserves its own support group honestly. just a weekly zoom call. "hi my name is bella and I stood in front of my fridge for 20 minutes at midnight debating whether greek yogurt counts as being disciplined"

gainz_peptide_bro wrote:the hunger is NO JOKE. like i gained probably 12lbs in the first 3 months and not all muscle lol

this is the most relatable thing I have ever read on this forum and I have been here a long time lol

anyway the actual reason I wanted to chime in is because somewhere in the depths of a Ben Greenfield episode (I think it was the one with Ari Whitten? or maybe it was the Huberman Lab adjacent one, they all blur together after a while honestly) someone described MK-677 hunger as "ghrelin cosplay" and I think about that literally every time this compound comes up now and I cannot stop

carry on with the very smart glucose discussion, you are all doing amazing