Chris Powell

Hey, what’s up, friends? It’s me, Chris Powell, and I am back again with the one and only Brittany Meeker.

And we are talking all things peptides again. Brittany, thanks so much for being on with me today.

Brittany Meeker

This is so fun. Episode two, right?

We are still kind of scratching the surface, getting a little bit more knowledge. It’s exciting.

Chris Powell

We are. And you said it, we were scratching the surface.

I think we covered some pretty awesome information last time as we started to dig into what peptides are.

We talked about the different “telephone numbers.” If you missed that episode, go back. Brittany did a brilliant job of explaining the idea of peptides, what they are, and how they function differently in our body.

I’m excited for today because we’re going to go into a little bit more depth.

Not to make this episode about me, but I’ve been on my own personal peptide journey. I stood on the sidelines and researched for years. I wasn’t quite sure, and I was waiting for human trials on a lot of them, even though a handful are FDA approved.

Then I injured myself.

That’s when I said, “You know what? I’m going to take the leap.”

I’d seen enough to make an educated decision for myself, and I’ve also been fortunate enough to have conversations with individuals like you who know all things peptides.

After taking myself through that process, I made the choice to start using them for myself.

I’m 48, and I’m recovering like I’m 25 again. My recovery, my strength, my sleep, everything is improving.

I know this is all observational, but I can’t deny what I’m feeling.

That’s my personal story. Now I want to talk about what this could look like for everyone else out there.

Shall we dive in?

Brittany Meeker

Let’s dive in.

Health is a huge foundation of care and outcomes.

Think about when we’re in our twenties. Genetics are pretty good. Hormones are pretty optimized.

But do we necessarily have diet, lifestyle, inflammation management, and all of these good things dialed in at that age? Probably not.

Our twenties can be a little chaotic. Drinking, pulling all-nighters, fast food, maybe going to college. There are a lot of different things going on.

As we get older biologically, our environment can actually become more set up for success if we’re doing the work.

You’re a beautiful example of that.

You’re lifting weights. You’re tracking food. You’re practicing mindfulness. You’re lowering inflammatory pathways throughout the body.

Then you sprinkle in some peptides.

You’re setting yourself up for success.

It’s not necessarily a coincidence that what you’re doing every day, combined with peptides, is going to have you feeling different compared with someone in their twenties who isn’t doing half of those things.

It really comes down to optimizing your health and then looking at how peptides may help optimize health outcomes as well.

There’s a good synergy there.

Chris Powell

I’m right there with you.

It’s about building those foundational pillars of wellness first and then using the tools available to us to accelerate those results.

I’m feeling it. I feel great.

I have to, because I’ve got kids who are getting older and they’re pushing me. I’ve got to keep up with them.

Let’s dive into how the body works.

As we start to age, our body stops making a lot of different things and starts making more things like gray hairs and hairs coming out of my ears.

These changes aren’t always favorable.

Can you explain what the body quietly starts making less of over time, and where we tend to feel it first?

It’s different for men and women, so this could be a long answer.

Brittany Meeker

It’s so different.

Obviously, your thirties and forties are still so young, but that internal factory gets a little quieter. It becomes progressively more “on strike,” if you will.

If we look at three major pieces, one is growth hormone.

That’s your body’s master tissue-signaling and recovery system, and it naturally starts dwindling.

Then there’s NAD, which is like the cellular charge for your mitochondria. That’s not as optimized as it was before.

Then there are sex hormones, which are essential building blocks for men and women.

So the factory isn’t as productive as it used to be.

I always tell people: if you’re waking up like a zombie even though you got eight hours of sleep, or you work out and you’re sore for days, or your midsection becomes really stubborn and isn’t changing, these can be signs that the factory is getting quieter.

Those building blocks aren’t being produced the way they once were, and your body keeps score.

Those symptoms can be something worth discussing with your provider.

As we get older, those outcomes just aren’t as productive as they were.

Men and women both naturally make peptides, but hormone optimization can be an essential piece of this as well.

That’s something that can be evaluated differently for men and women.

Chris Powell

I’m glad you brought that up because I was going to ask where peptides come into play and where hormones come into play when you’re having a conversation with a medical provider.

They can both be valuable tools for different things.

Brittany Meeker

It’s really based on the patient’s goal.

I feel like anyone in their thirties and older can benefit from having a hormone panel done.

One thing I hear a lot from patients is, “I feel like something is off. I got my labs drawn, but they’re within the normal range, so it must not be an issue. But I’m still having X, Y, and Z symptoms.”

As we get older, things decline.

You may still fit within a reference range because that range is based on age and what’s expected within that value.

There are two pieces to this.

Yes, getting your hormones looked at can be valuable because hormones are major building blocks within your system.

Peptides can then potentially help fuel things further, assuming you’re also doing the work and other areas of the system are optimized.

The starting point is figuring out what the patient’s goal is. What do they want to improve?

Which one is best? They can both be great.

Which one do you do first? That depends on the biggest priority.

I could help someone optimize a peptide plan, but maybe they’re having hot flashes. In that case, there may be something else we need to address.

Once you start addressing those goals, it can become this beautiful outcome where everything begins working together.

Chris Powell

That totally makes sense.

You mentioned a few different things, and it really does depend on the symptoms the patient is experiencing, where they want to go, and what they want to optimize.

“Optimize” is such a big word nowadays. Optimize how we feel, optimize for longevity, optimize all these different things.

Speaking of those different things, it seems like some of the hottest words in the peptide world right now are recovery, energy, and sleep.

Which peptides seem to be the most popular in those categories?

Brittany Meeker

If we bundle them into buckets, you have peptides like Sermorelin and Ipamorelin working around growth hormone.

You’re essentially signaling the pituitary gland and trying to get things more optimized.

That can have a big impact on sleep. Deep sleep, vivid dreams, not waking up in the middle of the night, waking up before your alarm clock, or not hitting that huge 3 p.m. dip.

It can help with those deep-sleep pathways.

Then you have something like CJC, which pairs really well with another peptide. You’re creating these natural pulses that can support deep sleep, and body composition may change further down the road.

For energy, there’s NAD. We’re talking about fuel to the cell. It can help with brain fog, energy, and stamina.

That can be particularly relevant when we’re dealing with hormonal shifts, cortisol, and everything we face throughout our day-to-day lives.

For recovery, there’s BPC-157.

You’re looking at things like blood flow and recovery. TB-500 can be a good wingman for that because it helps with cellular migration.

There are so many different types and different ways they can be used together.

There are also many different categories of what peptides may do.

The biggest goal is identifying the right “key,” unlocking it, and helping with the desired outcome.

Those outcomes can take days, weeks, or months to fully see.

One thing I like about growth hormone peptides is that improvements in sleep can sometimes be noticed within the first night or first few days.

Chris Powell

That’s phenomenal.

I was going to ask what realistic timelines look like and whether they’re different depending on the peptide.

If someone is taking BPC-157 for inflammation or an injury, how long might it take before they start seeing improvement?

Or if they’re taking something for sleep, how long might that take?

You mentioned some really popular peptides like BPC-157 and the “-morelins.”

Can we break a couple of those apart and talk about what a realistic timeline might look like?

Brittany Meeker

It definitely depends on the peptide.

With growth hormone peptides, things like feeling more rested when you wake up and not having that midday crash may start becoming noticeable within the first month.

I’m very conservative with timelines.

If you give a patient a specific date or week and they don’t reach that milestone, they can get discouraged.

We’re also dealing with lifestyle, metabolic syndromes, insulin resistance, and what that patient’s day-to-day life looks like.

But in the ideal scenario, within that first month you may notice better recovery, better sleep, and more energy with things like Sermorelin and Ipamorelin.

For things like muscle growth, skin elasticity, or changes in body composition, I’d look more at the 60-to-90-day timeframe.

Everyone is completely different, but I generally think you have to give it around three months to see the fuller outcome.

The first month is when things are getting going.

The second and third months are where you may start seeing more physical changes.

NAD is a little more straightforward. Some people notice changes in energy and brain fog within about 24 hours.

With the “-morelins” and growth hormone peptides, the first week may be where you begin noticing better sleep and getting through that 3 p.m. slump more easily.

Chris Powell

How about the recovery peptides?

BPC-157, TB-500, KPV. These are getting a lot of attention right now.

People are taking them for recovery.

Observationally, and based on what we’re seeing in studies, how long does it seem to take before people notice improvements in recovery?

Brittany Meeker

It depends on the injury.

If we’re talking about something like a knee injury, maybe you hurt your knee, you don’t want surgery, or you overtrained and you’ve got a race coming up.

If you start something like BPC or KPV, within the first week you may notice less pain and less inflammation.

Between two and four weeks, within that first month, you may notice improvements in mobility.

Obviously, you also want to take it lighter, avoid overtraining, and be mindful of what you’re doing while working out.

Within that first month, you may have more mobility and possibly begin training again.

The structural piece is more in that second month, around eight weeks in.

Again, I’m being conservative with those timelines.

Depending on the injury and the provider, there are also different approaches to how these therapies are used.

Chris Powell

For myself, I definitely push it in the gym.

I love doing squats. I don’t miss leg day.

For years, after heavy squats or a heavy leg day, my knees would ache.

I’d hobble around for four or five days. Even standing up or sitting down, I’d have to brace myself because of the aching.

I started using BPC-157, TB-500, and KPV around the knee, and my pain was gone in two days.

I was back training again.

Previously, I’d have to take four or five days. Now I could be back hitting legs again in two or three days.

I can’t deny what I experienced. It’s really impressive to see what it can do.

Brittany Meeker

It’s definitely promising.

And I think that’s a good response for your lifestyle and your physical activity.

You’re hitting your macros. You’re getting protein to help with healing. You have all of those pieces in place.

That’s a phenomenal outcome.

But that’s not going to be the case for everybody.

If someone hears, “Chris was lifting again three days later,” I don’t want them to get discouraged if that isn’t their experience.

We are all different.

Our pathways, responses, energy, and healing are different.

But in your case, it made that much of a difference.

And that says a lot about the potential of these peptides.

Chris Powell

The moral of the story is that my pillars of wellness remained the same.

The variable that changed was introducing peptides for my recovery, and my recovery was faster.

I’m glad you brought up the fact that not everyone is going to sleep like me, move like me, or eat like me.

I’ve spent a lot of years establishing routines that really support a wellness lifestyle.

I started this podcast saying I wasn’t going to make it about me, and I keep pulling it back to myself.

Brittany Meeker

I think you have a very strong voice and you’re representing something that says, “Hey, I’m here. I’ve been down this path.”

People like to hear that from someone they trust and see as a friend.

I think it’s beautiful that you’re bringing your story to the forefront because not everyone has that story.

Your building blocks and pillars of health are what amplify your health outcomes.

That’s part of why these peptides have done amazing things for you.

They can potentially do great things for other people too, but everyone responds differently.

If you give someone a peptide and they say, “I’m not feeling a difference in a week,” that’s why I’m conservative with timelines.

If there’s a timeline and it isn’t met, people get discouraged.

If we’re fighting insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, or oxidative stress, the peptide may be trying to unlock a key in the cell, but that system may be sluggish.

If a patient isn’t eating enough protein, they’re in a high-stress job, they aren’t tracking their food, or they barely move their body, the peptide may still be doing something, but it doesn’t necessarily have all the building blocks it needs for the fullest possible outcome.

Your experience shows what may be possible when those building blocks are there.

Chris Powell

That’s where my excitement comes from.

I’ve been doing many of the same things for decades, so seeing and feeling the difference gives me a taste of what may be possible in the future.

But I love that you keep coming back to the foundational pillars.

If those aren’t in place, you may not get the outcome you’re looking for.

Brittany Meeker

Or you may not get the full outcome.

Maybe you’re sleeping better, but you’re not losing weight. Or maybe you have more energy, but other things aren’t changing.

It always comes down to lifestyle and what all of those pieces look like.

As patients begin to feel better, get labs done, look at their hormones, thyroid, and other factors, it starts to come together.

It takes one piece at a time.

Time is on our side.

These peptides can do phenomenal things, but the more work you do, the better work they can potentially do.

It’s a two-sided process.

Chris Powell

Beautifully put.

The more work you put into it, the better they can work for you.

You see patients across the whole spectrum of wellness and health. People are dealing with different conditions and different ailments.

How do you build a plan for an individual?

How do you identify where they are now, where they want to go, and how you might be able to support them?

Brittany Meeker

Patients tell you what they need. It’s about listening.

Usually, I hear what they’re looking for within the first 15 or 20 seconds.

I always ask my patient, “Is there anything you feel you could share with me in this moment that may help me help you more?”

One or two sentences later, I’ve usually gathered some of the most important information.

As a provider, I want to help you from head to toe, all at once.

But ideally, that’s not always the best approach. The body sometimes needs time to rebalance.

I listen to what the patient’s priority is.

If that priority is weight loss, let’s start with weight loss.

Maybe you’ve had a total hysterectomy. Maybe your adrenals are shot because you’re in a high-stress corporate job. Maybe you’re on the couch every night and indulging in alcohol.

Those can all be big pieces.

We could try to tackle everything at once, but if what you came in for is weight loss, let’s start there.

Let’s get the body lowering inflammation and work on the factors surrounding insulin resistance, assuming that’s relevant.

It’s about listening to the patient and understanding what they would like to address first.

When you do that, trust is built.

The priority is addressed.

They begin to feel better because you’re addressing their goal.

Then you build from there based on what the patient wants.

Labs can be a useful reference point. A lot of us respond well to visual metrics and seeing trends.

But when you ask how I build a plan, it starts with listening to the patient.

I always tell people, “I’m not a gatekeeper. I’m here to advocate for you and your safety.”

Peptides, hormones, adrenals, all of this can get very complex.

It is not, “Here’s what everyone starts with, and we go from there.”

Everybody is different.

For example, if someone isn’t using the restroom regularly and their gut health is very poor, you can’t necessarily just hit the gas on something. There can be pathways that need attention first.

With peptides, it comes back to: What is your priority? What are you looking to improve?

A lot of patients have already done research or have a friend saying, “This treatment is amazing.”

It’s really about meeting them where they are and building from there.

Chris Powell

I like the idea of a phased approach.

It makes sense rather than throwing the entire kitchen sink at someone.

It makes sense physically, but also from a mental and emotional health perspective because it builds trust.

You can focus on the immediate priority and then take them by the hand and say, “We can optimize from here. Where else do we want to go? What else do we want to improve?”

Brittany Meeker

I’ll never forget a female patient who came to me and said, “I’m in my forties. I feel like I’m going through perimenopause. I went to my doctor, and she gave me an antidepressant.”

She felt like she hadn’t been heard.

She was asking for support and asking to be evaluated. She wanted to understand why she was feeling these symptoms.

That’s why trust matters.

Are you hearing what I’m saying?

If I came here because I want to lose weight, and you’re immediately telling me I need to go on hormone replacement therapy, are you actually hearing me?

That’s why I start by asking, “Is there anything you want to share with me that can help us navigate this together?”

Because we are in this together.

It’s not me prescribing something at you.

It’s me next to you, helping you, guiding you, making sure we’re doing it safely, and helping manage what you want to accomplish.

That’s the beautiful thing.

There are so many treatments out there.

It’s not simply a question of whether I can help you. It’s how we do it, what your priority is, and what that process looks like.

It comes down to the relationship between the patient and the provider.

Chris Powell

That’s why you’re number one on Trustpilot when it comes to client satisfaction.

Anyone listening, do your research. Look up Thrivelab and you’ll see the reviews.

It’s beautiful to see people saying, “I felt heard and seen,” or, “I feel like she’s my teammate in this process.”

Everything you’re saying resonates.

That’s a really beautiful thing.

Brittany Meeker

What’s crazy is those reviews aren’t paid for.

Sometimes they almost seem fake when you read them, but they’re real reviews.

People get the option to leave a review.

And let’s be honest, I even need to get better at taking the time when someone sends me a link to leave one.

But then I think, if someone reads this, can I help somebody else?

If someone is curious, unsure, and trying to decide whether they trust this, reviews can give them the courage to have an appointment and get the support they need.

To everybody who takes the time to write reviews, thank you.

It builds trust for the next person.

And if peptides are one of the things they’re interested in, that’s something that can be discussed too.

Chris Powell

This has been another amazing conversation, my friend.

Thank you for the clarification and for diving into some of the specific peptides, the timelines, the results people may expect, and some of the mechanisms behind how they work.

I really appreciate your time.

Brittany Meeker

Of course.

I’m going to break down more of them and share timelines and details so listeners can digest a little bit more.

These episodes go by quickly, but if people are curious, we’ll definitely keep reviewing it.

Chris Powell

Amazing.

For everyone listening right now, if you’re curious about peptides and whether they might be right for you, I highly advise having a conversation with a provider.

You can have that conversation by going to thrivelab.health and scheduling an appointment.

You can explore whether peptides may be right for you.

Some peptides have FDA approval, while others do not, so I can’t stress this enough: please do your research and have those conversations.

Again, check out thrivelab.health or click the link below.

You can talk with a provider like Brittany and explore whether peptides might be right for you.

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