My 12-Week CJC-1295/Ipamorelin Cycle: Real Bloodwork, Real Results

This is a 12-week field report. Not a meta-analysis, not a sales page, not “here’s what the studies say.” This is what happened when I ran CJC-1295 (no-DAC) plus Ipamorelin for three months at my house in Pattaya, with bloodwork at week zero, week six, and week twelve.

If you want the comparison piece on which peptide does what, I already wrote that: CJC-1295 vs Ipamorelin. This piece is the cycle log.

The protocol I ran

• CJC-1295 (no-DAC, mod GRF 1-29): 100 mcg subcutaneous, three times daily — morning, post-training, and pre-bed.
• Ipamorelin: 100 mcg subcutaneous, same three timings, drawn into the same syringe as the CJC.
• Total daily dose: 300 mcg CJC + 300 mcg Ipamorelin.
• Injection site: rotating subcutaneous abdomen sites, 29g insulin syringe.
• Reconstitution: bacteriostatic water, refrigerated, used within 30 days of mixing.
• Duration: 12 weeks, no breaks.

Background context: I’m 53. I’m on a managed testosterone protocol (TRT-range, not blast). I sleep 7–8 hours. I train 4–5 days a week. I was already lean — about 12–13% body fat at the start of the cycle. I did not change my diet meaningfully during the 12 weeks. I did not change my training.

Baseline bloodwork (week 0)

• IGF-1: 168 ng/mL (reference range 53–331 for my age, age-adjusted “middle” is roughly 145–175)
• Fasting glucose: 88 mg/dL
• HbA1c: 5.2%
• Fasting insulin: 4.2 µIU/mL
• Total testosterone: 947 ng/dL
• Estradiol (sensitive): 28 pg/mL
• Total cholesterol: 184 mg/dL
• HDL: 56, LDL: 109, triglycerides: 78
• ALT: 24, AST: 22

Week 6 bloodwork

• IGF-1: 241 ng/mL (+43% over baseline)
• Fasting glucose: 94 mg/dL (+6)
• HbA1c: 5.3%
• Fasting insulin: 5.1 µIU/mL
• Total testosterone: 932 ng/dL (unchanged within noise)
• Estradiol: 30 pg/mL
• Total cholesterol: 179
• HDL: 58, LDL: 102, triglycerides: 72
• ALT: 26, AST: 23

Week 12 bloodwork

• IGF-1: 277 ng/mL (+65% over baseline)
• Fasting glucose: 96 mg/dL
• HbA1c: 5.4%
• Fasting insulin: 5.6 µIU/mL
• Total testosterone: 951 ng/dL
• Estradiol: 31 pg/mL
• Total cholesterol: 177
• HDL: 60, LDL: 99, triglycerides: 68
• ALT: 25, AST: 24

What the numbers say

IGF-1 went from 168 to 277 — a 65% increase. That’s the marker we care about for GH peptide efficacy, because GH itself is too pulsatile to measure reliably on a single blood draw. The IGF-1 response is consistent with what the published literature predicts for this dose of CJC/Ipamorelin three times daily.

Fasting glucose drifted up by 8 mg/dL. That’s expected — GH and its downstream IGF-1 effects on lipolysis and counter-regulation will mildly worsen insulin sensitivity. HbA1c moved from 5.2 to 5.4. Still well within healthy range. Worth tracking, not worth panicking about.

Fasting insulin crept up — 4.2 to 5.6 µIU/mL. Same story as glucose: mild loss of insulin sensitivity, easy to manage with diet and not stacking GH peptides with insulin or other glucose-disposal agents.

Liver enzymes were stable. Lipids were stable or slightly improved. Test and E2 unchanged — which matters, because some growth peptides shift the HPG axis. CJC/Ipamorelin at this dose did not.

Subjective changes (the stuff bloodwork doesn’t measure)

Sleep: Real and noticeable. By week two, my Oura deep sleep numbers were up 30–40% versus my 60-day baseline before starting the cycle. This is consistent with what most users report. The pre-bed Ipamorelin dose is doing real work here.

Body composition: Subtle. I lost about 1.5 lb of fat over 12 weeks at zero calorie change, by DEXA. Gained about 1 lb of lean mass. So a 2.5-lb recomposition swing, which is meaningful but unspectacular. GH peptides are not magic body comp drugs.

Recovery: Noticeable from week 4 onward. The chronic shoulder ache I get from heavy pressing was about 30% less by week 8. Whether that’s GH-mediated or placebo I can’t fully separate, but it’s been a consistent observation across multiple cycles for me. (See also: my TB-500 cycle log for a more aggressive recovery protocol.)

Skin: Better. Hydration up, fine line texture improved. Not GHK-Cu-level skin changes, but real. (See: GHK-Cu protocol for hair and skin.)

Hunger: Slightly increased on the morning Ipamorelin dose. Ipamorelin is a ghrelin-receptor mimetic — it activates the same hunger-signaling pathway as the body’s own ghrelin. If you’re trying to cut while running this stack, the morning dose works against you a little. I’d run it post-training on a cut, not pre-meal.

Side effects worth reporting

• Tingling / numbness: first two weeks, mild, in fingertips. Common. Resolved.
• Water retention: 2–3 lb of scale weight in the first week, plateaued, did not progress.
• Carpal tunnel symptoms: none at this dose. Above 200 mcg/injection, this becomes a real issue for some people.
• Injection-site reactions: minor redness at the start, resolved by week 3 once I dialed in the rotation.

Cost reality check

Running 300 mcg CJC + 300 mcg Ipamorelin three times daily means you’re going through roughly 30 mg of combined peptide per month. At reasonable research-chemical pricing, that’s $200–$300/month. At pharmacy-grade compounded pricing, you can multiply that by 4–8x. This is not a cheap protocol.

The honest cost-benefit question: is a 65% IGF-1 bump, modestly better sleep, modestly better recovery, and a 2.5-lb recomp over 12 weeks worth $250–$2000/month to you? For a competitive bodybuilder or someone fighting age-related GH decline, yes. For a 25-year-old looking for shortcuts to gains, no — your endogenous GH is fine, fix your sleep and your training first.

What I’d do differently next time

1. Drop the post-training dose. The triple-daily protocol works, but the post-training dose contributed least and added most cost. Twice daily (AM + pre-bed) probably captures 80% of the effect at 67% of the cost.
2. Run a 2-week deload at week 8. The IGF-1 bump plateaued. A short break might restore sensitivity and let me push higher in the back half.
3. Pair with creatine monohydrate. I was on creatine the whole cycle. Skipping it during one of these cycles would isolate the GH-only effect on strength better. (My take on creatine: see the dozens of recent creatine analyses.)
4. Track sleep with more rigor. Oura is fine, but a 14-day pre-cycle wash-in of identical sleep timing would have made the data cleaner.

Bottom line

CJC-1295/Ipamorelin at 300/300 µg three times daily for 12 weeks did exactly what the published literature predicts: a 50–70% IGF-1 bump, meaningful sleep improvement, modest recovery and body composition benefits, and minor metabolic cost in the form of slight insulin resistance. No surprises. No magic. Bloodwork stayed clean.

It is a useful tool. It is not a substitute for training, sleep, and managed hormones — those things are 90% of the picture. The peptide is the last 10%, and the last 10% matters a lot when you’re 50+ and trying to hold ground against the calendar.

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