Creatine and bloating?

rennerkyler

I would like to start creatine, but I heard it makes you bloated and I was wondering how much weight does it make you hold?

Retroguy2000

Bloating isn't the right way to describe it.

Creatine pulls more water into the muscles, leading to them maybe feeling a bit fuller. You might add about 3 pounds, but it's not fat gain.

Btw, you don't need to load it with multiple servings per day. You can do that if you want to, but if you just take a regular 5mg daily at any time, after a month you'll have the same amount in your system compared to loading it. You'll probably have less water retention without the loading too.

AnnPT77

A little water retention, maybe, as Retro said.

Honestly, I didn't notice any weight gain or anything I'd call "bloating" when I started . . . and I did do a higher loading dose at the start (which I later learned was unnecessary, so listen to that nice Mr. Retro. 😉). If there was any scale effect, it didn't stand out from my usual day-to-day fluctuations.

nossmf

There are two types of creatine: creatine monohydrate and creating HCl. The monohydrate has existed longer and has more scientific testing showing it's safe and effective, while the HCl is new to the scene. I've tried both, and in my experience the monohydrate caused more water retention than the HCl version did.