Estimated Levels: what they show, and what they don't

Last updated 3 days ago

Estimated Levels is a model-based picture of how much of a medicine might be in your body over time, worked out from the doses you've logged. It is an estimate, not a measurement, and it must never be used to decide when or how much to take.

In the app, every chart carries this warning: "Educational estimate, not a measurement. Actual levels may differ substantially. This does not show effectiveness or safety. Never use it to start, stop, increase, decrease or time a dose."

What it is not

It isn't your blood level. Only a lab test can measure what's actually in your body.
It isn't a sign of effect or safety. A lower estimate doesn't mean a dose has worn off, or that it's safe to take another.
It isn't advice. Don't use it to start, stop, change or time a dose. Talk to your clinician about those decisions.

How the estimate is made

Peptimes takes the doses you've logged (amount and time) and combines them with published information about that medicine, mainly from its official prescribing information or studies:

How quickly it's absorbed: each dose rises to its highest point some time after you take it.
How quickly it's cleared: after that, the estimate falls by half every half-life.

The doses are added together. When doses come close together, the curve can climb higher than a single dose before it levels off. That's simply how the model adds overlapping doses. It doesn't tell you anything about safety or effect.

The chart's caption reads "Estimated amount in your body, in mg" (or mcg), and the legend says "Your recorded doses · model-based, not measured". Tap "About this estimate ›" under the chart for the full explanation. The "About This Estimate" sheet closes when you swipe it down from its top, or tap ✕.

Reading the chart

Its own time choice: above the chart, choose "2W" (the last 2 weeks, where it starts), "3M" (the last 3 months) or "All" (from your first dose). The time range at the top of Insights doesn't change this chart.
From your first dose: the chart never starts before the first dose you recorded.
"Now": a line marks the present moment, and a white dot marks the highest estimate so far. Above the chart, the readout shows the estimate at that moment ("Now · …", "≈ … mg estimated in your body").
After now, dashed: the chart goes on for 4 more days as a dashed line. It uses only the doses you've already recorded and assumes no future doses. Just after a dose, the dashed line can still rise before it falls, because the model counts that dose as still being absorbed. The legend reads "After now: your recorded doses only, no future doses assumed". The dashed line isn't a forecast and doesn't tell you when to take anything.
Another moment: touch or drag the chart to read an earlier time, up to now ("Touch or drag the chart to see another day"). The dashed part can't be read this way. Tap "Back to now" to return.
Nothing in that period: if you haven't recorded a dose in the chosen period, the card says "No recorded doses in this period". Choose "3M" or "All" to see earlier doses.

Which medicines are included?

Estimates are offered for:

Semaglutide
Tirzepatide
Dulaglutide
Liraglutide
Retatrutide

Retatrutide isn't approved, so its absorption hasn't been published. The note under its chart explains the assumptions used.

Every other compound you've logged is listed under the chart as "not offered yet". If none of the compounds you've logged is supported, the Estimated Levels card doesn't appear.

Why isn't one of my doses included?

If any dose of a medicine was logged in IU, Peptimes doesn't estimate that medicine at all, because it never converts IU to mg.

The notes under the chart tell you when doses are left out or placed differently:

for Semaglutide, only injections count: doses marked SubQ or IM, or, when no route was saved, doses with an injection site. Doses logged as "Oral", or with neither a route nor a site, are left out because they may be tablets;
doses recorded with a day but no time;
doses whose amount can't be read;
doses dated later than now.

If you didn't record the time you took a dose, Peptimes places it at its scheduled time and says so.

Liraglutide has a much shorter half-life than the others, so its chart has no "2W · 3M · All" choice. It shows the last 48 hours, then the next 12 as a dashed line, and its caption ends "· last 48 hours". Its note reads "Shown over 48 hours so you can see detail between recorded doses."

Why is it different from another app?

Apps use different models, published sources and assumptions, so their estimates differ. None of them measure your actual level.

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