More or Less · Topics · Episode #159
Sam's Peptide Update: Two Cocktails, One Great Knee, and Some Ass Jokes
Clip from the full recording, 55:06–57:59 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube
Three weeks into unapproved peptides, Sam reports his chronically bad knee is recovering from running faster than he's ever experienced — while Brit and Sam debate the most gender-inclusive way to actually inject the stuff.
Sam gives the real peptide update: three weeks in, so still early, but there’s one concrete signal. He’d stopped running because of a persistently tweaky knee, restarted three weeks ago, and — after accidentally ending up hiking down a genuinely steep ski slope in Vermont — noticed his knee recovering far faster than his decades of prior experience with ramping up mileage would predict. He’s cautious about attribution (it wasn’t explicitly the goal), but given how consistently his body has reacted to this kind of training before, he’s inclined to credit the peptides.
Jess uses the moment to clarify the regulatory reality for listeners: peptides are not FDA-approved (unlike GLP-1s, which are), and Sam could go the approved-GLP-1 route but hasn’t. She explains the basic mechanism — peptides are protein fragments that the stomach would otherwise destroy or block from absorbing, which is why they have to be injected rather than swallowed (and why, per Sam, Jennifer Aniston’s collagen peptide products are useless marketing). That detail detonates into the segment’s most chaotic stretch: Brit wonders aloud whether women could get better results inserting peptides vaginally, given female anatomy’s absorption advantages; Sam counters that sticking them elsewhere is simpler and, in his words, more gender inclusive. Jess wraps with a reminder that none of this constitutes medical advice.
Key points
- Sam is three weeks into a peptide regimen ("two cocktails") and cautious about over-attributing results this early.
- Concrete signal: his chronically tweaky knee recovered unusually fast after resuming running and an accidental steep-slope hike in Vermont.
- Jess clarifies peptides are not FDA-approved, unlike GLP-1s, which are — Sam has chosen the unapproved route.
- Mechanism: peptides are protein fragments destroyed by stomach acid, so they must be injected rather than swallowed — which is why oral collagen-peptide products (per Sam, name-checking Jennifer Aniston's) don't work.
- Brit raises whether vaginal insertion would improve absorption for women given anatomical differences; Sam counters with his own (cruder) alternative.
- Jess closes with a standard disclaimer: none of this is medical advice.
Where they landed
Quotes
“Peptides, peptides are great. I'm only like three weeks in, so who knows?”— Sam
“My knee is so good, and I feel like I'm recovering so quickly from these runs — I actually kind of think it is the peptides.”— Sam
“Could women insert them vaginally? And it would be better. I feel like the vaginal wall — okay, I'm gonna research.”— Brit
“You can also stick things up your ass — I feel like that's more gender inclusive.”— Sam
Suggested tweets
Three weeks into peptides, Sam Lessin's knee is recovering from running faster than decades of prior experience predicted. Correlation or causation?
Tweet this →Brit Morin, mid-peptide-corner: "Could women insert them vaginally? I feel like the vaginal wall — okay, I'm gonna research."
Tweet this →Why can't you just eat a peptide? Jess Lessin explains why Sam injects instead — and why, per Sam, the Jennifer Aniston collagen ones are bullshit
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #159 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify