Does Creatine Make You Gain Weight?

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When you are going to the gym often, you usually have a goal in mind while you are there.

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Does Creatine Make You Gain Weight

For some, it’s to lose fat, for others it’s to maintain a healthy weight, and for others, it’s to bulk up and gain some extra muscle.

And one thing that all these goals have in common is that in order to track your progress, you’ll need to be stepping on the scales.

Now stepping on the scales and seeing a pretty steep rise from one day to another might be a little disappointing, perplexing, or exciting, depending on the goal that you’ve set for yourself. 

One of the reasons you may have seen this quick rise in weight could be due to creatine which is a supplement that is known for causing weight gain.

But weight gain isn’t synonymous with bad health, and this can sometimes be a good thing.

Throughout this article, we’ll go over just how much weight you may gain through creatine supplements, as well as what that means for your health and physique, and what to do about it. 

What Is Creatine?

First of all, let’s actually define what creatine is. It is a sports supplement that many gym-goers will take to allow them to effectively do more reps, heavier lifts, and just to generally boost their overall performance. 

Now it’s important to note that your body does produce some of its own creatine through amino acids arginine, methionine, and glycine.

However, naturally, you only produce around 1 gram yourself. Creatine can also be consumed through certain foods. A rare steak contains around 3g per pound. 

Creatine supplements are used to boost the amount of creatine in your body.

Creatine monohydrate is arguably one of the most popular and well-researched forms of supplement.

Through this method, the body receives around 3-5 grams a day and their muscles will retain a saturation level of creatine after about a month of taking the supplements. 

However, for those that don’t have the patience to wait this long, another popular choice is to opt for the loading phase where a massive 20-30g is consumed for around a week when the amount starts to be reduced. 

Creatine is so popular as a supplement due to the fact that it helps individuals gain more strength and muscle mass.

Simply put, it means that those who use the supplements can lift heavier weights more easily and gain muscle mass much quicker. 

Can Creatine Make You Gain Weight?

Can Creatine Make You Gain Weight

Yes. Creatine does have the potential to make you gain weight.

Studies have shown that there can be a really rapid increase in weight from creatine, and this is certainly true for those who use the loading phase. 

Several studies have confirmed that those who use creatine for at least a month are likely to gain at least an average of 2lbs and this can rise as high as 4lbs too. 

However, in most of these cases, the extra weight does not come from fat or muscle, but from water weight.

So this is good news for all those trying to lose weight, but for those who are trying to bulk up this news might be slightly disappointing. 

Does Creatine Make You Fat?

If you’ve been using creatine to make you stronger so you can try and lose weight more effectively, stepping on the scales and seeing the increase in weight might be a little disappointing. 

But don’t worry, creatine will not lead to any fat gain. Any weight that you do gain from creatine is almost certainly from water weight.

There are plenty of studies showing that while you may increase in water weight, creatine does not make you gain any extra fat. 

This is because creatine doesn’t have any usable calories within it that can affect your body’s ability to burn fat. 

Creatine And Water Retention Or Bloating

Creatine supplements often cause water weight gain due to the fact that they are osmotic.

What this basically means is that as creatine levels in your body increase, so does the amount of water. 

Creatine increases not only intracellular and extracellular water so this means that the levels of water both inside and outside of the cells increases.

Which of course is going to cause an increase in water weight and thus bloating. 

The good news for our gym bulkers though, is that water retention in cells will give off a more muscular or bigger appearance.

However, an increase in extracellular water retention may give a minor ‘bloated’ or ‘fat-gain’ appearance. 

What To Do If You Gain Wait From Creatine 

Keep in mind that gaining water weight from creatine literally just means that the supplement is doing its job.

So the best thing to do in this case is actually nothing.

Try not to get too concerned as if you persevere with your training and healthy eating habits, you will soon start to reap the benefits of the supplement. 

And in quite a few cases, this water weight will disappear on its own even with continued use of the supplement.

This is due to homeostasis where our bodies have the ability to balance themselves out. 

Final Thoughts

So the main takeaway here is that, yes, creatine will make you gain a little extra weight, but this is no major cause for concern given that it won’t add any fat gain.

Unfortunately, for the bulkers amongst us, it also won’t instantly make you gain muscle either. 

It will, however, help boost your performance while you’re at the gym, and will make gaining that extra muscle mass easier.

It also improves focus and improves your overall mental function too. 

Any weight that you do gain will only be water weight which does tend to settle itself over time. But the benefits, in my opinion, definitely outweigh the negatives.

If those extra few pounds do really start to bother you, you can always take a creatine break.

But in most cases the gain really won’t be all that noticeable anyway.

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Jenna Priestly
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