Does Creatine Make You Gain Weight?

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Weight? | Legion

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Written by Michael Matthews

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Creatine is a top-tier exercise complement confirmed to spice up train efficiency, muscle progress, and restoration.

Regardless of its recognition and advantages, many keep away from it as a result of they’re involved it’ll make them achieve weight.

Is that this fear warranted?

Does creatine make you achieve weight?

And in that case, how a lot weight does creatine make you achieve?

Get evidence-based solutions to those questions and extra on this article.

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound comprising the amino acids L-arginine, glycine, and methionine.

Your physique produces creatine naturally and absorbs and shops it from meals like purple meat, eggs, and fish.

Athletes and gym-goers additionally typically complement with creatine as a result of it has quite a few muscle-building and performance-enhancing advantages.

How Does Creatine Work?

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is probably the most primary unit of cellular energy. When muscle cells use ATP, they break up it into smaller molecules, and after they’re completed, they “reassemble” the fragments again into ATP for reuse.

The extra ATP your cells can store and the sooner your physique can regenerate this supply of vitality, the extra “work” it might do.

Creatine donates a molecule to an ATP “precursor” referred to as adenosine diphosphate (ADP), which expedites ATP manufacturing, enabling your physique to replenish its ATP retailer extra quickly.

That’s why supplementing with creatine helps you achieve muscle and strength sooner, improves anaerobic endurance, enhances muscle recovery, and boosts train efficiency.

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Weight?

Folks typically affiliate creatine with weight achieve, discouraging some from utilizing it. Supplementing with creatine could enhance your weight slightly, however not in a manner that sabotages your physique composition or health targets.

Let’s take a look at some widespread questions individuals have about creatine and weight achieve:

Does creatine make you achieve water weight?
Does creatine make you achieve stomach fats?
Does creatine make you achieve muscle?

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Water Weight?

Gaining water weight is a typical aspect impact of taking creatine, particularly in the event you begin with a “loading” section.

Loading creatine entails taking a excessive dose for the primary 5-to-7 days of supplementation—normally 20 grams day by day as a substitute of 3-to-5 grams. This technique is well-liked as a result of it accelerates creatine accumulation in your muscle tissue, permitting you to reap its advantages sooner.

Nevertheless, as a result of it might increase preliminary water weight achieve and trigger abdomen discomfort, some skip a loading section and take 3-to-5 grams day by day as a substitute.

Forgoing a loading section could imply it’s a must to wait barely longer to expertise creatine’s performance-enhancing advantages, however it helps you keep away from undesirable unintended effects and doesn’t impression its long-term effectiveness.

Creatine causes water weight achieve as a result of it’s an osmotic substance, that means it attracts in water. When your muscle creatine ranges rise, your muscle tissue maintain extra water, which quickly will increase your physique weight.

For probably the most half, this further water stays within the muscle tissue, giving them a fuller look with out making you are feeling bloated.

Notably, the water weight achieve from creatine shouldn’t be the identical as gaining fats. It has no damaging impression in your general well being or physique composition, so that you shouldn’t view it negatively. It could additionally expedite the muscle-building course of, serving to you construct muscle sooner.

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Stomach Fats?

Creatine doesn’t make you achieve stomach fats.

Whereas some gym-goers assume that the burden they achieve when taking creatine is fats, a number of long- and short-term studies present in any other case.

As an illustration, a study by the College of British Columbia confirmed that girls who took creatine whereas following a 4-week HIIT program gained no fats. Equally, researchers at Nova Southeastern College discovered that male bodybuilders taking 5 grams of creatine per day gained no fats over 4 weeks.

Some research even hints that creatine could lower physique fats. Nevertheless, since research on this space are typically hit and miss, it’s sensible to interpret these outcomes cautiously.

Given what we learn about what drives fats accumulation, it’s clear that creatine isn’t guilty for fats achieve.

As I clarify in my health books for women and men, Bigger Leaner Stronger or Thinner Leaner Stronger, the one strategy to achieve fats is to persistently devour extra energy than your physique burns. Whereas a scoop of creatine could include a couple of energy, it will by no means be sufficient to make you achieve vital stomach fats.

Thus, in the event you achieve stomach fats whereas supplementing with creatine, it’s extra reflective of your general food plan than the complement itself.

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Muscle?

Creatine helps you gain muscle by:

In different phrases, creatine allows you to prepare more durable for longer, boosts restoration, and enhances your physique’s “muscle-building equipment,” serving to you achieve extra muscle and power over time.

Proof of creatine’s effectiveness on this regard comes from a 2022 review of 35 randomized managed trials. The outcomes confirmed that supplementing with creatine elevated muscle mass no matter age, intercourse, or the kind of train you do, although it’s particularly potent in the event you mix it with power coaching.

Different research reveals that even older adults who don’t raise weights may even see a slight enhance in muscle mass when taking creatine. It received’t flip them into bodybuilders, however it could assist them retain muscle as they age, growing their independence and making day-to-day actions simpler.

How A lot Weight Does Creatine Make You Achieve?

The quantity of weight you achieve whereas taking creatine is determined by how you are taking it, your intercourse, and your coaching routine.

Loading creatine could result in you gaining 2-to-5 kilos through the first week, primarily due to elevated water retention in your muscle tissue. You shouldn’t fear about this water weight achieve, nonetheless, because it’s sometimes non permanent, doesn’t have an effect on your well being, and will increase muscle achieve.

Males have a tendency to achieve extra weight after they start taking creatine than ladies. On common, males can gain about 3.2 kilos, whereas ladies would possibly achieve round 0.6 kilos. This distinction is principally as a result of males normally have extra muscle than ladies, so their muscle tissue maintain extra water.

In the event you mix creatine with power coaching, you possibly can expect to achieve 2-to-4 kilos of muscle within the first 4-to-12 weeks. Regardless of growing scale weight, muscle is a boon for well-being, boosting power, athletic efficiency, and several markers of general well being.

What to Do if You Achieve Weight Whereas Taking Creatine

You don’t must do something particular in the event you achieve weight whereas taking creatine. Any enhance in weight is usually brought on by a rise in water weight, not fats, and tends to be innocent, non permanent, and helpful for muscle achieve.

One of the simplest ways to keep away from creatine weight achieve is to skip the loading section. Whereas loading creatine could show you how to get outcomes sooner, you possibly can obtain related long-term positive aspects by supplementing with 3-to-5 grams day by day over an prolonged interval.

Different Creatine Aspect Results

Supplementing with creatine is usually protected, even when taking giant day by day doses (30 grams per day) for a number of years.

Opposite to what some say, there’s no proof it causes pimples, complications, or high blood pressure. Furthermore, it doesn’t disturb sleep, nearly definitely doesn’t cause hair loss, and offered you may have wholesome kidneys, it won’t harm kidney well being, both.

What’s the Finest Creatine Complement?

Analysis reveals that creatine of any sort improves your athletic efficiency in quite a few methods.

Nevertheless, no sort of creatine is as well-studied, protected, cost-effective, and dependable as creatine monohydrate.

For a pure supply of micronized creatine monohydrate that additionally consists of two different components to reinforce muscle progress and enhance restoration, strive Recharge.

(In the event you aren’t certain if Recharge is best for you or if one other complement would possibly higher suit your funds, circumstances, and targets, then take the Legion Supplement Finder Quiz! In lower than a minute, it’ll inform you precisely what dietary supplements are best for you. Click here to check it out.

+ Scientific References

Legion Featured Writer

Mike Matthews

Mike Matthews is the founding father of Legion in addition to the writer of a number of award-winning fitness books, together with Greater Leaner Stronger, Muscle for Life, and The Shredded Chef.

His easy and science-based method to constructing muscle, dropping fats, and getting wholesome has bought over one million books and helped 1000’s of individuals construct their greatest our bodies ever, and his work has been featured in lots of well-liked retailers together with Esquire, Males’s Well being, Elle, Girls’s Well being, Muscle & Energy, and extra, in addition to on FOX and ABC.

Yow will discover Mike on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.

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Many firms use delivery and dealing with charges to extend their revenue margins, however right here at Legion, we hate income, so our delivery is free!

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Meaning you possibly can say “sure” now and determine later. You actually don’t have anything to lose.

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Many firms use delivery and dealing with charges to extend their revenue margins, however right here at Legion, we hate income, so our delivery is free!

Okay, so we do dig on income, however we additionally go in for joyful prospects, and free delivery works like gangbusters. So, in the event you’re exterior the USA, your order ships free when it’s over $199.

Additionally, in the event you don’t completely love our stuff for no matter motive, we don’t request you ship it to a PO field within the Gobi Desert by service pigeon.

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What Is Creatine?

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How Does Creatine Work?

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Weight?

Does Creatine Make You Achieve Water Weight?

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