Is Sermorelin or Tesamorelin Better for Losing Fat?

Tesamorelin is the one of the two with trial evidence for losing fat. In adults with HIV and excess belly fat, it cut the deep fat around the organs by about 11% in six months. It did not lower BMI, and its FDA label says it is not for weight loss. Sermorelin has never been tested against tesamorelin and has no trial showing fat loss. It raises your own growth hormone within normal range, and a review lists lean mass as its proposed use. Neither peptide is a scale-mover.

Has anyone compared sermorelin and tesamorelin for fat loss?

No. No study in the research compares the two directly, so nobody can fairly call one better for fat loss. What exists is separate evidence for each.

Both copy GHRH (growth hormone-releasing hormone). That is the brain hormone that tells your pituitary gland to release growth hormone. Sermorelin and tesamorelin both act on the GHRH receptor, so they work on the same switch.

Growth hormone released this way comes in natural pulses. It builds tissue and breaks down fat, according to the tesamorelin label. That is why people look at these peptides for body shape.

Both are injected under the skin once a day. The tesamorelin label sets a dose of 1.28 mg injected once daily, and the sermorelin studies gave it nightly.

How much belly fat does tesamorelin really lose?

Tesamorelin shrinks deep belly fat, but not the soft fat you can pinch. A six-month trial of tesamorelin enrolled 404 adults with HIV and excess belly fat. Visceral fat (the deep fat around the organs) dropped 10.9% on tesamorelin, compared with 0.6% on placebo. People who stayed on it for 12 months lost about 18%.

The loss stayed in the deep belly. Trunk fat, waist size and waist-to-hip ratio improved. The fat under the skin of the belly and limbs did not change. People also said their belly bothered them less.

Pooled across five trials, tesamorelin took about 1.6 cm off the waist and added about 1.4 kg of lean mass. It made no significant change to BMI or to fat under the skin.

The results faded fast once people stopped. In that first trial, people who switched to placebo after six months quickly lost their visceral fat improvement.

These were not studies of women like you. In one of the label's main trials, participants averaged 48 years old, 84% were men, and all had HIV. The FDA label approves tesamorelin for reducing excess belly fat in adults with HIV-related lipodystrophy, a change in where the body stores fat. The label also says it is not indicated for weight loss.

What does sermorelin do for fat and body shape?

Sermorelin raises your own growth hormone, and its proposed use is lean mass. No trial has shown that it takes fat off.

A 2019 review covers studies that show this:

• 10 women and 9 men aged 55 to 71: They took sermorelin nightly for 16 weeks, and their growth hormone rose compared with placebo.
• 11 men aged 64 to 76: They took 2 mg nightly for six weeks. Their average growth hormone over 12 hours almost doubled without going above the normal range. They also improved on two of six strength tests and on an ab crunch test.

The review lists lean mass gain as sermorelin's proposed use. It also says the clinical data on growth hormone-releasing peptides are still thin, so you would be choosing it on early findings.

In one study, sermorelin did not change body weight. The researchers did not check whether fat lost and muscle gained cancelled each other out on the scale.

Sermorelin is prescribed through compounding pharmacies, which make the medicine to order for you. Our clinical team can prescribe sermorelin if it fits your goal.

Which one has more side effects?

Tesamorelin carries more warnings. Here is what the label and the review report for each.

Ask your clinical team what to watch for.

What do they cost, and which one fits my goal?

The sermorelin prices come from six US telehealth providers, and the tesamorelin price comes from one. They are listed to compare costs only:

• Compounded sermorelin: Ongoing totals ran from $120 a month to $229 per 4 weeks.
• Compounded tesamorelin: It is advertised online from $179 a month, at 0.6 mg injected 5 days a week. That schedule is different from the label's 1.28 mg once daily.

If you want the scale to drop: Neither peptide is built for that. If you want the number to go down and your jeans to fit again, ask your clinical team about a GLP-1 plan instead. Hot or Nothing's weight plans include semaglutide and tirzepatide.

If you want help with lean mass: Sermorelin works with your body's own growth hormone, and it is the option our clinical team can prescribe. Your clinical team decides whether it fits.

Take the quiz to tell our clinical team whether you want the scale to move or your shape to change. They can then see whether sermorelin or a GLP-1 plan fits your goal.