Anyone take creatine?

[BLASIUS]

I started using 3g daily 3 months ago, mixing it in my breakfast greek yoghurt, in the last 3 months my weight is stable (I am using reta 5mg every 5 days) but my lean mass has increased about 2 Kg. I think that creatine has doing its job in addition to the crossfit traing.

 

[CharmanderInDisguise]

5g of monohydrate every morning with a shot of water. I figure any extra beyond that will come from my food. It's been helping with recovery time on lift days and not feeling as sore on the following days.

 

[LabRatts]

Have you noticed you feel better?

What time of day do you take it?

What do you take it for?

I bought some to keep muscles and body hydrated while on my Reta journey. Losing weight pretty fast and want to make sure my body is hydrated and fed. Took some last night.

Just curious what other people think about it and best time to take and its effects.

about 15 gms daily with a 75gm protein shake. You do you and figure out how it best fits into your life with your system and how your system copes with it as far as stomach issues, etc.
Been using it for 25 plus years, btw. Only in the last year or so did I go over the 5-6 gms daily mark however.

 

[TwinSuns]

I take 10mg a day. Don’t think I really notice a difference either in my weightlifting or my cardio. I guess I just hope it’s doing something at this point.

Take it with my preworkout generally in the mornings.

 

[birdwhacker]

How do you take it? It is supposed to be tasteless, but I didn't like it in my tea/coffee.

I know I probably shouldn't but I prefer to take creatine gummies. 10g a day, 5g in the morning and 5g at night.

Anyone taking HCL creatine? I couldn't handle the monohydrate, even in gummy version.

Creatine monohydrate is absolutely vile, no shame if you can't take it. Someone else recommended creapure, that sounds heavenly. I also heard that nutricost is better at dissolving than some brands, bulksupplements was like drinking sand for me.

Creatine HCL capsules are great if you can afford it and want to run capsules. The powder is quite vile. If you're made of money, I would suggest creatine monohydrate mixed into a specialized drink on workout or sleepless days (creatine is AMAZING after a sleepless night) and creatine HCL capsules daily to hit your 1-2g per day dose.

Yep, everyday. 5 grams in post workout shake, 10 grams if I slept like shit the previous night. As well will take 5 grams at breakfast if not working out.

^^^ Creatine after a sleepless night is AMAZING

It certainly adds water weight to muscle which is quickly lost when you stop. Make sure you nailing your electrolytes if on GLP as well

I'm a broken record when it comes to this shit. Electrolytes are as simple as potassium and table salt. All the other bullshit and expensive powders are unnecessary. Sodium cancels out potassium. I eat a ton of sodium, so I take 1g of potassium every morning and salt water later if i sweated a lot. Just look up electrolyte powder on amazon and find the cheapest one that has 600-1000mg of potassium. Take less if you eat less salt.

Even if you don't have potassium, a glass of table salt water in the morning is a great way to hydrate.

Recently bumped up my dose to 15g to chase some of those elusive cognitive bumps. Almost all the salient points have been covered by most here.

I will add... reddit.com/r/creatine has some great resources!

 

[Turnus]

Started takin 5mg/day about a month ago. Had been losing about 2/lbs a week on Reta but as soon as I started taking creatine I stalled/put on a few lbs. That lasted for about 2 weeks or so and since I've continued the weight loss. I assume it was water weight as my muscles were getting "saturated" but had me frustrated for a bit

 

[Clavicular's Hammer]

Started takin 5mg/day about a month ago. Had been losing about 2/lbs a week on Reta but as soon as I started taking creatine I stalled/put on a few lbs. That lasted for about 2 weeks or so and since I've continued the weight loss. I assume it was water weight as my muscles were getting "saturated" but had me frustrated for a bit

I think you’re correct it was feeding your muscles and brain much needed water

Slowed the scale but will be beneficial long term

At least as far as the info out there shows

 

[aquis]

I've been taking 5mg for a couple of years in the AM. After reading this thread thinking of bumping it up to 5mg before morning workout and 5mg after.

 

[woundcarping]

Started takin 5mg/day about a month ago. Had been losing about 2/lbs a week on Reta but as soon as I started taking creatine I stalled/put on a few lbs. That lasted for about 2 weeks or so and since I've continued the weight loss. I assume it was water weight as my muscles were getting "saturated" but had me frustrated for a bit

That was my experience on the scale, but DEXA didn't reflect a meaningful change to my lean mass before/after. Had a DEXA the morning of 4/30, started creatine that evening, had my next DEXA on 6/3 showing a .3lb difference. I wouldn't have thought the water weight moving would have been transient like it was when I started TRT back in January.

I loaded at 20g/day for ~10 days and have been cruising at 10g/day. Weight loss since starting creatine has definitely been "weird" compared to my baseline.

 

[PAPoots]

Yes, it's a bit more weight on the scale, but who cares... We're trying to lose fat here, not weight.
IMHO the water weight keeps you from looking 'deflated'.

I love the swole look I get after working out when I take the creatine regularly. The looks stays long after the blood pump is gone.

And the fuller look is way better than looking dehydrated and feeling tired. It isn't like it is the 6+ pounds you would retain with Tesa.

When I am hyper focused on getting my daily protein, taking 5mg of creatine in every protein shake, and taking the NAD+ and MOTS-c, my PRs go up fast. It isn't easy when you are taking appetite suppressants. I have to set timers to remind me to eat and drink.

 

[PAPoots]

I've been taking 5mg for a couple of years in the AM. After reading this thread thinking of bumping it up to 5mg before morning workout and 5mg after.

I'll sometimes add 5mg to my Hyde pre-workout, then another 5mg in my post workout protein shake. Then sometimes another 5 in my collagen drink. I like to spread it out so I don't get any of the side effects of nausea.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

I use fight milk. It's got 100% real crowtein. Which i think is better than creatine but not sure.