Creatine (also known as creatine monohydrate) is a popular and commonly used supplement for gym goers, athletes and even nootropic enthusiasts.
Does creatine make you gain weight?
The quick answer, the scales may increase but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have gained unwanted weight. Let’s take a deep dive into creatine, what it does and how it works.
Potential Creatine Benefits
- Increased physical performance
- Increased muscle mass
- Improved recovery
- Improved cognitive abilities
- Improved muscular hydration
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What is Creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring substance in the body that is mostly stored in muscle.
Creatine is able to recharge Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) by replacing the phosphate of Diphosphate (ADP), giving more energy and allow for higher intensity of physical output.
Creatine draws water to the muscles, creating an increase in weight due to the additional water retention. This may make the muscles look bigger and fuller.
What can creatine do?
Creatine can help to improve recovery, increase strength and improved performance in high intensity activity.
Creatine also helps to increase cognitive processes and studies suggest the potential to decrease cognitive decline in the elderly. Since there’s not that many studies on cognitive performance (rather than preventing and treating disorders or decline), is there also potential for cognitive improvement in healthy individuals from using creatine?
How do you take creatine?
A common amount is between 3g to 5g per day. Some people like to aim for full saturation of creatine by taking more for a short period of time, this is known as loading. If you are in it for the long term and looking to create life-long good habits, there is no need to load creatine.
Is creatine safe?
It is one of the most studied supplements that exist today and is termed as one of the safest supplements to use.
Do I need to cycle creatine?
While it was previously thought that creatine needed to be cycled, or the body would stop creating this substance naturally. Following further studies, this is not required to gain creatine saturation in the muscles.
Do I need to load creatine?
Loading creatine, by taking around 10 to 15g of creatine per day for around 2 weeks, will reach creatine saturation sooner. There is no need to load creatine though, creating good healthy habits will allow for full saturation, it will just take a little longer.
Potential issues with creatine use
- Liver and kidney damage
- Bloating
- Digestive discomfort
It is important to get bloodwork done reasonably regularly, to check abnormalities in general. Getting a full blood test (consult your doctor) may help keep a check on things like liver and kidney function. Check with your doctor on getting a test pre and post any dietary changes. Performance is great, but health is more important.