How to Take Creatine To Help You Achieve Your Fitness Goals

Creatine is one of the few well-known fitness supplements on the market that have been well-studied and proven to work. If you’re unfamiliar with creatine, it’s naturally created in our bodies and helps our muscles produce energy when we exercise. It can be found in smaller quantities in animal-based foods like chicken, meat, pork and fish, but it's mostly consumed as a supplement. It’s popular among athletes wanting to improve their performance, gain muscle and earn strength and power. However, it’s not exclusive to athletes, because it provides other health benefits as well. 

If you’ve been working hard in the gym and are looking for ways to speed up your results, you may benefit from taking creatine. We spoke to a couple of experts to discuss the benefits of creatine and the best way to take it to get you closer to your goals. 

Creatine and its benefits

Although creatine is popular in the fitness space, it has other benefits that the average person can also take advantage of. For example, creatine can help with injury recovery, improve skeletal muscle and has been shown to have a positive impact on the brain. Jenna Stangland, a registered dietitian, specialist in sports dietetics and Momentous adviser says, “Most recently in research, it has been shown that a daily dose of creatine can increase brain creatine levels by 6%.” Part of this can be attributed to the increase of phosphocreatine in the brain when taking creatine, which can help reduce cognitive neurological diseases. Phosphocreatine is a substance created by our skeletal muscles that serves as a buffer to maintain an energy form created by the cells called adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Stangland adds that creatine may even have a positive effect on your mental health. “It was found that when there are smaller amounts of white matter creatine and phosphocreatine in the brain, more severe depressive episodes occur,” she said. Therefore, taking creatine can increase that white matter and, as a result, improve your mental state. Strangland says creatine has been shown to have an effect on mood by promoting brain energy levels, particularly for women. "Females have lower creatine stores within the brain -- about 70% to 80% -- compared to males, especially in the frontal lobe so this is an area where females especially benefit from taking creatine daily," she said. The frontal lobe of the brain is known to control mood, cognition, memory and emotion. Supplementing with creatine could positively impact this part of the brain.

How to choose a creatine supplement

As you can imagine, the supplement market is flooded with different products, many of which are questionable in nature. This is because the food and drug administration (FDA) doesn’t have the ability to regulate dietary supplements for effectiveness or safety. There are three different types of creatine that you’ll come across at your supplement shop: creatine monohydrate, creatine ethyl ester and creatine hydrochloride. Of the three, creatine monohydrate is the most popular version and has proven to help people achieve their fitness goals. 

Although creatine is a popular and well-known supplement, it’s still important to be cautious when picking one out. Chrissy Arsenault, head registered dietitian consultant at Trainer Academy, advises, “I recommend that consumers look for a brand that is reputable and third-party tested when picking a creatine.” Stangland says that the ingredients section should read only creatine monohydrate and there should not be any mention of other preservatives, additives, binders, etc. You’ll find creatine monohydrate either in powdered or capsule form, flavored or unflavored in the vitamin store, so you can pick based on your preference. 

How to take creatine to support your fitness goals

Another thing to look out for on a container of creatine is that one serving equals 5 grams. “In the serving size you want to see that one serving is a 5-gram scoop so you can adequately scoop the recommended dose,” Stangland said. How much you should take will also depend on your own goals. For example, if your goal is to build strength or muscle gain, Arsenault recommends taking at least 3 to 5 grams of creatine monohydrate a day. She adds, “for optimal absorption, aim for 20 grams divided into four daily intakes of 5 grams in combination with carbohydrate and protein.”

If weight loss is your main focus, you can follow the same guidelines as mentioned above. “Creatine can help preserve muscle mass during calorie restriction, but listen to your body as you know it best and adjust as needed,” she said. For example, some people may experience bloating, so they may want to decrease the dosage. On the other hand, if you don’t notice a difference in your “pump,” you may want to increase the dosage. 

In some cases, a common side effect is weight gain. However, the weight gain is caused by temporary water retention that eventually subsides. "In the early stages of creatine supplementation, there is a slight increase in total body water when the creatine stores in the muscle increase,” Stangland said, adding, “Studies have shown that this is not a long-term side effect and even after training with creatine for five to 10 weeks, the studies showed no increase in total body water.” The good news is this has only been shown short term or in the first few days of a loading phase of creatine at 20 grams per day. Stangland said that after those first days, the total body water returns to its normal state and hasn't shown any overall weight gain due to creatine supplementation. Be mindful to drink your recommended daily water intake when supplementing with creatine.

Who should avoid creatine

Even though creatine is a well-studied supplement and generally safe to take, if you don’t have any underlying conditions, there are people who should exercise caution before adding it to their diet. Arsenault advises that people with liver disease or edema should first speak to their doctor before taking creatine. “This is because creatine is naturally made in the kidneys and livers,” she said. Additionally, if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you should also consult your doctor before supplementing with it. 

How long to take creatine before you see results

As with any supplement, creatine is not going to work overnight. To see any actual changes Stangland recommends taking it for a minimum of four weeks. “This timeframe shows increases in creatine levels in the brain and/or increases in creatine levels in the muscle for improved strength and power,” she said. Keep in mind that you may already be getting some creatine in your diet since it’s a naturally occurring substance in animal protein such as red meat, chicken and seafood. However, Stangland points out that to get enough creatine from food one would need to eat 2 pounds of steak everyday or two and a half pounds of salmon to get an adequate amount of creatine intake.

If you don’t see any changes by taking creatine, you might be what is called: a non-responder. "One may be a non-responder due to their biological profile if they have high creatine levels prior to starting supplementation, lower than average fat-free mass and a lower proportion of type 2 muscle fibers,” Stangland said. In other circumstances where you may be a non-responder if you’ve been using creatine for too long, the creatine levels in your muscles no longer increase as much as they did in the beginning.

Other circumstances where you may be a non-responder is if your diet is already heavy in animal protein. "This means that they already get enough creatine for optimal performance and have a high baseline level," Arsenault said.

At the end of the day, Creatine is a supplement and shouldn’t be the only thing you focus on when working toward your fitness goals. Instead, treat it like a tool that you can use to help you achieve them. Ultimately, a healthy diet, a balanced lifestyle, sleeping adequately and exercising regularly will help you have long-term success, no matter what your goals may be.