Dosing Protocols for Peptides

Where these numbers come from

This page reports dosing protocols based on available evidence and user experience, labeled by source. For most of these peptides, no human dose-finding study exists. Nothing here is a recommendation.

General Dosing Principles

What community guides say about titration

Community guides describe a "start low, go slow" approach: beginning at the lowest dose and titrating up based on response, allowing 2-4 weeks between increases and watching for side effects at each level. That's a forum convention, not a tested protocol. The tesamorelin labels set one fixed daily dose.

Individual Variation

Factors forum guides list as affecting optimal dose:

• Body weight and composition
• Age and metabolic rate
• Receptor sensitivity
• Previous peptide use
• Concurrent medications
• Health status

Of these, only body weight has been used in trials, as mcg/kg doses. Blood markers users report tracking (IGF-1 and fasting glucose) are covered in our overview of monitoring protocols.

Growth Hormone Releasing Peptides (GHRPs)

GHRP-2

Dose (user and vendor guides): 100-300 mcg, 1-3x daily, for 8-16 weeks. Timing (user reports): upon waking, post-workout, before bed; untested. Notes: Approved in Japan only as a single 100 mcg IV test for GH deficiency. Human studies report it stimulates appetite and may increase cortisol and prolactin.

GHRP-6

Dose (user reports and vendor guidance): 100-300 mcg, 1-3x daily, for 8-12 weeks. Notes: Users describe significant hunger stimulation, the strongest hunger effect of the GHRPs. No trial has tested the empty-stomach timing they describe.

Ipamorelin

Timing (user reports): mainly before bed; some add doses upon waking. Notes: Community guides call it the cleanest GHRP: minimal appetite and cortisol effects. In the Phase 2 trial, which missed its primary endpoint, the ipamorelin group had more low potassium and high blood sugar than placebo.

Hexarelin

Notes: Rapid desensitization is a common user report, and community guides limit it to 4-8 weeks. In the trial, the GH response recovered within 4 weeks of stopping. Community schedules are covered in cycling strategies for bodybuilders.

Growth Hormone Releasing Hormones (GHRHs)

CJC-1295 (with DAC)

Notes: In the trials, one dose kept GH and IGF-1 raised for 1-2 weeks. Community guides pair it with a GHRP for a pulse.

CJC-1295 (no DAC) / Mod GRF 1-29

Dose (user reports): 100-300 mcg once at bedtime with ipamorelin. Notes: It has a short half-life. Community guides say to always use it with a GHRP for best results, but no controlled human trial of the combination has been published.

Sermorelin

Timing (user reports): before bed, which users say mimics the natural GH pulse. Notes: Formerly FDA-approved as Geref; marketing stopped in 2008, not for safety reasons. In the trial, nightly injections raised GH but didn't change IGF-1.

Recovery Peptides

BPC-157

Dose (user reports): 250-500 mcg, 1-2x daily, for 4-12 weeks (duration from vendor guidance).

Administration (user reports): subcutaneous, often near the injury; no human trial has compared injection sites. Notes: Some users take it orally for gut issues, based on rodent data. The human data are three small uncontrolled pilots, with no dose-finding. As of October 2026, WADA bans BPC-157 (S0); see our page on peptide rules in tested sports.

TB-500

Administration (user reports): subcutaneous or intramuscular. Notes: No human dose has been tested for the TB-500 fragment. The common claim that its systemic effects make injection site irrelevant has no human absorption data behind it. WADA bans it (S2.3).

Metabolic Peptides

Tesamorelin

Timing: The labels set no time of day (morning or evening) and no fasting rule. Notes: A prescription medicine, FDA-approved only for excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV-associated lipodystrophy, not for weight loss. The WR label says WR and SV aren't substitutable mg for mg.

MOTS-c

Timing (user reports): training days, some before workouts; untested. Notes: As of October 2026, no published study has given native MOTS-c to people. In adults with obesity and fatty liver, the analog CB4211 (25 mg daily for 4 weeks) lowered liver enzymes, but liver fat changed about as much as on placebo. In 2023 CohBar said the formulation wasn't suitable for further development and moved to dissolve. WADA prohibits MOTS-c (S4.4.1).

HGH Fragment 176-191

Forum guides list doses for fat loss, usually in fasted states (morning, before bed), often with a claim of no GH effects on glucose. We couldn't trace those figures or that claim to a study. The related AOD-9604 was tested by its sponsor at oral doses of 0.25-1 mg daily and produced no meaningful weight loss versus placebo.

What users report about combinations

The GH secretagogue stack, Mod GRF 1-29 with ipamorelin at bedtime, is close to universal in user reports, but no controlled trial has tested it. BPC-157 and TB-500 are often sold as a recovery stack, also without a combination study.

Handling and storage, as described on labels and by users

For approved products, the label is the source for handling. The tesamorelin labels describe subcutaneous administration into the abdomen with rotating injection sites. They differ on storage: the Egrifta WR label describes a mixed vial kept at room temperature for 7 days, while the Egrifta SV label says its mixed solution is used right away. We don't reproduce the reconstitution charts for bacteriostatic water that circulate in community guides. In August 2026, FDA warning letters to "research use only" peptide sellers listed bacteriostatic water among products treated as unapproved drugs.

What we still don't know

• Whether user-reported ranges for BPC-157, TB-500 and MOTS-c are effective or safe in people.
• Whether on/off cycling prevents the loss of GH response seen with daily hexarelin.
• How much individual response varies, and whether careful titration changes it.
• What research vials actually contain, which every user-reported figure takes on trust.