Creatine Question
 

I've been doing research on creatine lately and I think I'm safe with this, but still want some more opinions.

I've been on a program to lose fat, a serious amount, and I wanted to incorporate some weight lifting in. I still have some left to lose and was wondering if creatine is OK to take. I want to increase lean muscle mass in some areas, bulk up in others, etc. But overall I'm really concerned on maintaining fat burn while gaining the lean muscle.

I read that taking it had some benefits for fat loss, and of course gaining more muscle helps the process. Whats your opinion? Thanks.

I would say ur safe taking it if u want a lil more info heres a website i quickly looked up w/ creatine info as well as a few other things
http://www.t-www.nation.com/readTopi...0#bottombottom

While cutting I wouldn't go over 5 grams of creatine if any at all. It works by pulling some water into your muscles sometimes causing bloat. If you are trying to cut, it might hide some of your results. If anything, just try cee.

go ahead, its particularly useful if your dieting and want to maintain strength.
the water retention from creatine was a side effect, but companies spun it around and marketed it.

I'm on creatine year around.

Yung Wun: Great sig

dr x do you still cycle if your on it all year long?

I actualy had a conversation with a guy up and GnC who told me that he had read that the body couldnt process more than 5g of creatine a day,now if this is true I Dk anyone else heard of this...

I take creatine 2 btw...

for a lot of people, 5g is enough per day. any more is wasted and processed through the kidneys.

However, when you take a lot of the creatine supplements, a lot of the creatine turns into creatinine before it gets to the muscles. Creatinine is useless (and a bit toxic from what I've read). So when a product says it contains 5g per serving, your body might not be absorbing that amount.

That is why a "loading" phase is recommended by some. The idea is to saturate the muscles w/ the creatine, so they are always "full". Afterwards, only "maintenance" is needed, that is just replenishing what is lost.

The "suggested" dosages are in loading, 20g via three or four doses a day and for maintenence, 8-10g a day through two or three doses.

I tend to disagree about that 5 g per day dosage.
Here is What david Tolson had to say.

I completely agree with you. With regular creatine, I take 5 grams preworkout, 10 grams postworkout. I also agree that the body can only hold so much creatine, but anyone who takes 5 grams a day is pissing away his money.

Hmmm
 

I've read all the science on creatine myself, but I gotta go with how my body personally reacts to it.

I can take 5 g's and it works, but if I take 10 or more per serving, I definately see more benifit. Particularly if I'm off of it for awhile. I like to take about 7-9 gm's per serving, usually twice a day. Once in the morning and once after I work out. Sometimes I'll take some before I work out. I'm constantly changing the way I take it to see whats best. I've been trying something different in the past two weeks.

I've been going 2 days on, one day off, two days on, one day off with my creatine, but I've been uping the dosage to 10 grams. I've gotta say, it's working awesome!!! It's like my loading stage, only ALL THE TIME!

So far so good, I'll keep posting how it goes.

Raven

Why are u doing the 2 day on 1 day off thing? Since creatine got a long ass half life it will work, but all I am saying is that u will get more benefits doing it everyday. For the past two years, I have been on, no side effects. :D

Hey
 

Hey apoc,

I'm just experimenting around to see if there is a better way to use it. I've found some wacky things over the past years that have worked for me and not for my friends so...it never hurts to try.

Like you said, it has a decent half life (Does anybody know how long creatine will stay in your body after you stop usage? I mean the supplement type, not the natural stuff of course) and so far...it seems that by taking it on and then off for a day, it feels like I'm loading all the time. I feel very strong and swollen. It's only been a short period of time, and it may all fall to shit, I don't know, but so far...so good! I just added some weight to my bench press two days ago, and I thought I had stagnated.

I'm not however, recommending anybody necessarily try it this way, it's hardly proven. I'm just messing around with it. It seems to me, that if I take my L-Glutamine daily and my creatine with a day off here and there, I'm getting better results so far.

Raven

Here is a quote something that I read from one of my favorite authors, that might be relevent to ur question raven.

Thanks
 

Hey man,

Thanks for the information. That pretty much answered my question.

:D

Raven

You are welcome brother, just dont show ur love by punching me on my face :D