In this instructional video, Dr. Ashley Frazee outlines a clinician‑focused, step‑by‑step roadmap for newcomers to peptide therapy. She begins by diagnosing the common problem: people buy many peptides without guidance, leading to wasted money and unclear results. Using a fictional patient, "Joe," she demonstrates how to prioritize a single health goal—typically weight loss—before moving on to energy, recovery, repair, inflammation, and cosmetic concerns. For each step she recommends specific peptide classes, explains their mechanisms (e.g., retatrutide for appetite control, MOTS‑c for mitochondrial biogenesis, SS‑31 as a mitochondrial stabilizer, BPC‑157/TB‑500 for tissue repair, KPV for anti‑inflammation, GHK‑Cu for skin and hair remodeling) and offers practical stacking and sequencing advice, emphasizing that only one growth‑hormone‑releasing peptide should be used at a time. She also discusses injection site strategy, safety disclaimers, and the importance of tracking protocols, recommending the Vital app for dosing schedules and outcome monitoring. The video concludes with a brief mention of advanced peptides (thymosin alpha‑1, semax, dihexa, solenque) and an invitation to her Peptide Mastery course for prescribers. Throughout, Dr. Frazee maintains a conversational, supportive tone, positioning herself as a knowledgeable clinician guiding viewers toward evidence‑based, personalized peptide use.
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Most people are wasting hundreds of dollars on peptides, and I don't think it's because they're buying the wrong ones. I think they're buying them in the wrong order and doing it without guidance. If you've tried researching peptides, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You type best peptides into Google and suddenly you're staring at compounds that sound like Wi-Fi passwords. BPC-157, GHK-Cu, TB-500, SS-31. And everybody says they're amazing, but nobody tells you where to start. So you buy 10 peptides, use them for 2 weeks, and quit because you have no idea if any of them are actually doing anything. But here's the problem. Peptides aren't magic. They're biological instructions. And instructions only work if the thing receiving them is ready to listen. I mean, imagine trying to install brand new software onto a computer with a dead battery. So today I'm going to show you exactly how I think through peptides as a physician. Not my favorite peptides, my roadmap. And by the end of this video, you'll know where peptides like BPC-157, SS31, MOTS-c, GHK copper, and others actually fit. And maybe more importantly, where they don't. And a quick disclaimer here, I am a doctor on YouTube, but I am not your doctor. This is not medical advice, and I'm definitely not telling you to go buy research peptides off of the internet. This is simply a framework I use to think through peptide science and biology, especially when somebody who's never thought about peptides comes to me for it. Now here's what we're going to do. I'm going to pretend that you are Joe Schmo, and Joe has the same complaints that I hear from people almost every day. He's tired, he's overweight, his joints hurt, his recovery stinks, and his skin and hair aren't what they used to be. Sound familiar? So Here's my first rule. Pick one thing to fix first. Just one. So is it weight loss or energy, sleep and recovery, repair, skin? Okay, so Joe is tired, but Joe is also overweight. So where do we start? And honestly, you could make a case for either one, but if somebody has a significant amount of weight to lose, that's usually where I begin because fixing that very often improves like 5 other problems all at the same time. In fact, I had a patient come in to me recently who already had a plan. He wanted to lose weight and he was interested in peptides, and he said to me, I'm thinking retatrutide, tesamorelin, and MOTS-c. And I thought about it for a second and I just nodded. I actually thought it was a really good plan. See, retatrutide helps control appetite, it can quiet down food noise, it increases the calories you burn at rest, and it can even help calm down an overactive gut. But then you could add tesamorelin, assuming you've talked to your doctor about whether growth hormone stimulation is appropriate for you. It gives us another way to target fat, and especially visceral and liver fat. And some people notice improvements in deep sleep and recovery as well because it's a growth hormone releasing hormone mimetic. And then there's MOTS-c, which I think is one of the coolest peptides we have. Yes, it can help with weight loss, but I think of it more as a mitochondrial peptide first because it encourages your body to make more mitochondria and it improves insulin sensitivity. So while Joe is losing weight today, we're also setting him up to have more energy, hopefully later. But Joe isn't done yet. He's lighter now, he's healthier, but he might still be exhausted. So now let's fix that. So step 2, let's focus on Joe's energy or reversing his fatigue. So Joe's lost some weight, he's moving around better, maybe he's even sleeping a little bit better, but he still wakes up every morning feeling like somebody forgot to plug him in overnight. And when I hear that, I immediately go to 2 places, mitochondria and sleep. So let's start with mitochondria. One of my very favorite peptides here is SS31, and I've got an entire video on it because I think it's one of the most underrated, misunderstood peptides out there. SS31 isn't really a mitochondrial booster like a lot of people think it is. It's a mitochondrial stabilizer. I think of it like repairing the engine before asking it to produce more horsepower. Now remember that Joe was already taking MOTS-c. A lot of people think that you should take those 2 peptides together, SS31 and MOTS-c. That's a reasonable thing to do as long as you don't have any allergic reactions to either, which I've seen with either. So just think of it as SS31 repairing the engines and MOTS-c saying, okay, great, let's build a few more now. Because MOTS-c encourages your body to make more mitochondria while improving insulin sensitivity and metabolic flexibility according to the research. Now let's say Joe comes back a month later and says, Doc, my energy is definitely better, but I'm still not recovering from workouts, and I'd love to put on some muscle. Great. Now we're talking about growth hormone signaling, and this is where I'd pick one growth hormone-releasing hormone peptide, not 2. I see a lot of people asking questions about stacking tesamorelin with CJC-1295 all the time, and I just don't think that's necessary. They're both growth hormone-releasing hormone peptides, so pick One. Maybe it's tesamorelin if visceral fat is your biggest goal. Maybe it's serramorelin if sleep and recovery are a bigger priority. But everybody's a little bit different and respond to these peptides differently. It's definitely worth a conversation with your doctor to decide which one would be best for you. Then if you're training hard and you're trying to build muscle or recover better, this is definitely a chance to add in something like ipamorelin because it works through a different pathway to release more growth hormone and you can utilize it to release growth growth hormone essentially whenever you want as long as you're fasted, whereas the Sermorelin, Tesamorelin, CJC-1295 growth hormone-releasing hormone peptides need to— well, should be taken at night before bed. Okay, so at this point Joe's lost some weight, his mitochondria and his energy are better, he is sleeping and recovering better, and now it's time to improve the things that are hurting him. So let's focus on repair. But before we start fixing Joe's joints and all those aches and pains, I want to take about 60 seconds to thank today's sponsor because it's actually something I think fits very well with everything we've been talking about. So one of the biggest mistakes I see people make with peptides isn't necessarily choosing the wrong peptide, it's losing track of what they're actually taking. And again, I'm not encouraging you to buy a 10-pack of peptides from your neighborhood peptide retailer, but even when you're working with a doctor, sometimes it's a lot to remember. And if you're spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on peptides, the last thing you want to do is take the wrong dose or run your protocol incorrectly. Not only can it hurt your results, but it can waste a lot of money and potentially put your health at risk. I mean, you've got injections on different days, different dosing schedules, things constantly changing over time, and then 3 months later you can't even remember what actually worked. So that's exactly why I like this app called Vital. It's an app designed specifically for people using peptides and other health optimization therapies. You can organize your protocols, track your injections, monitor your body weight, your sleep, energy, your labs, and actually see how things are changing over time instead of trying to rely on your memory. Vital lets you plug in your peptides and automatically calculates things like dosing, and the app builds a personalized schedule so you can track every dose. The easiest way to do that is by having everything tracked in one place. Hit the link in my description and use my promo code to get 3 days free, whether you're using 1 peptide or 9. And I know you're doing that. Having everything in one place just makes the whole process a lot easier. And thanks to Vital for sponsoring this video. All right, back to Joe. Joe's metabolism is improving, his energy is coming back, but every time he plays pickleball, his knee still reminds him that he's not 25 anymore. So step 4, repair the things that still hurt. Now people ask me all the time, couldn't I have started these back in step 1 while I was trying to lose weight? Sure, you certainly can do that. There's really no reason not to. I just had to put these somewhere in the roadmap. So if you want a stepwise progression and you're somebody who likes to do things one step at a time so that you know what things are working, this is a great place where BPC-157 and TB-500 can come into play. And everybody has a different opinion on whether you should use these 2 peptides together, but this is a beginner roadmap, not a protocol master class. So let's just go ahead and give Joe the Wolverine blend. And if you want a simple way to remember these, just think of BPC-157 as a peptide that shines a spotlight on injured tissue. It improves blood flow to the area and basically tells your body, hey, don't forget to heal this right here, it still needs attention. And then TB-500 helps organize repair crews by encouraging cells to migrate into the area and rebuild what's damaged. They complement each other really well. And honestly, that's all you need to know as a beginner. One thing that confuses a lot of people is where to inject them. Well, these peptides are systemic. If your shoulder hurts, you don't necessarily have to inject your shoulder or your knee. You can if you want to, but once they're in your body, they're going to circulate and go where healing is needed. So I'm more of an advocate for putting them where blood flow is high, not necessarily in a foot or a knee. One quick reminder before we move on: don't fall into the trap of thinking that you need every peptide that I'm talking about today. Remember, we're Building Joe. We're not collecting Pokémon cards. Now maybe Joe tells me, Doc, my joints feel better, but I still have these weird inflammatory skin rashes. Okay, perfect. So now I'm thinking about KPV. Most people know it as a gut peptide, but I actually get more excited about its anti-inflammatory effects. So whether we're talking about inflammation from the skin, like histamine issues, or calming down an overactive immune response, I think KPV is one of those peptides that we're going to hear a lot more about over the next few years. So now Joe's moving well, his pain is under control, his inflammation has calmed down. And then one day he looks in the mirror, comes to me and says, doc, I need help with my hair, or I need better looking skin. Now here's where we start talking about GHK copper. And most people know GHK copper as the skin peptide, but I think that that undersells it. It's really a tissue remodeling peptide. According to research, it can improve collagen, it can improve skin. It can improve wound healing. It's even being shown to regenerate hair follicles. And if you've been paying attention, we just accidentally built a couple of peptide stacks here. So the Glow stack is BPC-157, TB-500, and GHK copper. And the Glow stack is all of those 3 plus KPV. Now after this point, we start getting into what I'd call the advanced peptides, like thymosin alpha-1 if we're talking immune function, epithelin if longevity is your thing. Semax or Dihexa if cognition and focus are something you want to improve. Solenque if you're looking for more of a calming anxiety neuropeptide. But should Joe start there? No, definitely not. So there you have it. If I woke up tomorrow and had no idea where to start, this is the video I'd watch and this is the roadmap that I'd follow. Could your roadmap look a little bit different? Yes, 100%. The point of this video was not to tell everyone to take the exact same peptides and follow this protocol to a T. It was just to show you kind of how I think about things. When I have a blank slate. Because once you understand why each peptide belongs where it does, you can stop chasing the trends on social media and you can start making decisions based on what's going on with your biology instead. So I hope that was helpful. But if you ever want to go deeper, or you're a prescriber and you're ready to start the journey of prescribing peptides, that's exactly why I created a course for it called Peptide Mastery. And inside this course, we don't just memorize peptides, or do case studies. We learn how to think through them. I cover over 30 of the most important peptides, the science behind them, what the research is showing, whether it's human cell or animal data. So just know that my goal isn't to create people who copy my protocols. My goal is to create people who understand peptide science well enough to think for themselves and have better conversations with their healthcare providers. And if that sounds like something you'd enjoy, there's a link to my course in the description. If you found this roadmap helpful, do me a favor, hit the like button, subscribe to my channel, and let me know in the comments. If you're Joe, where would your roadmap start? Weight loss, energy, recovery, skin and hair? I'm Dr. Ashley Frazee. If I wasn't a peptide nerd before, I'm definitely one now. I hope you have the best day.
