Anyone ever start Creatine while in the middle of a cut? Did it stall the weight scale for a while?

colors_fade
colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
edited November 20 in Health and Weight Loss
I've been cutting since beginning of March. From March to May 18th I lost 14 lbs.

Beginning of June I read about how creatine can help on a cut (muscles retain water, gain volume, you can lift more, hence help with maintaining the lean muscle mass). I've been lifting for almost two years, so I felt like it was a pretty solid idea (and even guys like James Fell suggest it's a solid strategy to use creatine on a cut).

So beginning of June I started using creatine, one scoop per day. I've been more vigilant with my diet in that time, and have added walking and some HIIT training back into my daily routine to help with the calorie deficit. Past couple of weeks have been awesome for calorie deficit.

However, since start of the month I'm only down 1 lb. on the scale (and haven't updated that on MFP yet).

I'm thinking it's reasonable to conclude that the creatine is probably working by now (I started on June 2nd) and during this time there's been a gradual climb in water retention due to it, while possibly simultaneously still losing fat due to the cut calories. Logic suggests, to me anyway, that's what's happening. But seeing the scale barely budge for the past 3-4 weeks has been a bit discouraging, especially with recent focus on diet and walking.

Curious if anyone else has ever added creatine during a cut and seen a similar effect?

On the plus side, I hit a squat PR of 340 yesterday which got me to 1,000 lbs. combined on bench/squat/deadlift...

Replies

  • Ironmaiden4life
    Ironmaiden4life Posts: 422 Member
    edited June 2015
    What form of creatine are you using? Monohydrate is well known for noticeable side effects including bloating and gastric disturbance. I prefer HCl which unlike mono doesn't require a pre-load and typically people see less side effects.

    Also remember the longer you've been dieting the harder it is due to metabolic adaptation to keep the scale weight going down. Are you tracking your progress using other methods - pictures, tape measurments etc? are these changing?

    Creatine is a fantastic supplement and will not effect your cut over and above the bloating.

    And congrats on the PR!
  • eric_sg61
    eric_sg61 Posts: 2,925 Member
    Ironmaiden4life wrote: »
    What form of creatine are you using? Monohydrate is well known for noticeable side effects including bloating and gastric disturbance. I prefer HCl which unlike mono doesn't require a pre-load and typically people see less side effects.

    Also remember the longer you've been dieting the harder it is due to metabolic adaptation to keep the scale weight going down. Are you tracking your progress using other methods - pictures, tape measurments etc? are these changing?

    Creatine is a fantastic supplement and will not effect your cut over and above the bloating.

    And congrats on the PR!

    Because most people don't let it FULLY dissolve before drinking it
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    The product I'm currently taking is a mix of mono and others. I let it fully dissolve in about 20 oz. of water before consuming. I only noticed gastric disturbance on the first day taking it.

    As for other progress methods: I have never tape measured, so no starting point there, and I don't often take pictures of myself. I had my body fat done with calipers three weeks ago, and will have it redone by the same person in another 9 weeks, so that's my metric for right now.
    Ironmaiden4life wrote: »
    And congrats on the PR!

    Thanks!

  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
    Good info about Creatine here as well as editor's thoughts on dosage and Creatine variants.

    http://examine.com/supplements/Creatine
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
    Bloating, at least in terms of gaining water weight, is going to happen on any form of creatine. When you put a chemical gradient in your body (high concentrations of creatine phosphate in your muscle cells), nature abhors a vacuum, and tries to balance out by the water volume increasing.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    senecarr wrote: »
    Bloating, at least in terms of gaining water weight, is going to happen on any form of creatine. When you put a chemical gradient in your body (high concentrations of creatine phosphate in your muscle cells), nature abhors a vacuum, and tries to balance out by the water volume increasing.

    Well, yeah. That's kind of the point, no? To bloat your muscle fibers with water; increase size of the muscle, thus increasing strength, allowing you to lift more, thus hopefully preserving more lean muscle mass while on a cut.

    Pretty sure I understand the concept of creatine.

    Just curious if the water-weight gain that happens is offsetting any fat loss and wondering what others had encountered.

    Like, suppose a person wasn't on a cut and just started taking creatine: how much water weight would a person expect to gain in the first three weeks?

    My scale hasn't moved (well, 1 lb.) in a month. That doesn't bother me IF the two things are cancelling each other out. If I'm actually gaining water mass in my muscles while simultaneously continuing to lose (mostly) fat, that's cool.

    But if that's not what's happening... kinda of annoying :)

  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
    Losing one pound in 18 days might have happened anyway. Stalls do occur. But since it's probably bloating, look at it this way: while you don't have the instant gratification, if you're in a calorie deficit, you're losing fat. You will eventually lose the water weight and see scale results. You're not messing up your progress.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    It definitely slowed down the weight loss for me when I started creatine.
  • nicoleromine
    nicoleromine Posts: 92 Member
    That was my experience. I was on a conservative cut, but I was losing a steady .5 lb/week. About 2 weeks about supplementing with creatine monohydrate (because its the cheapest and most researched) I noticed a 4 pound jump. The only changed variable was the creatine and my measurements did not change, so I'm assuming its water weight. For 5 weeks, my weight stagnated and then I had a sudden loss of 2 pounds followed by a continued steady loss. I'm very meticulous about tracking my food, workouts, and weight, and I can confidently say that I continued to lose fat during this time period - it was simply hidden by water retention and my body adjusting to creatine supplementation. Just my personal experience.
  • jaketaylor1391
    jaketaylor1391 Posts: 29 Member
    When i saw this i wasent going to comment because i thought someone would of said this by now, but when people refer to "i wanna lose weight" what they are actually saying is i wanna lower my bf% so i can look slimmer. You take two people same height, gender and weight (lets say 180) but one of the guys has a 20% bf while the other guy has a 10% bf, the guy with the 10% is gunna look slim and shredded. The point im making is that you have been lifting and dieting for a while so you are probably losing fat % but at the same time your gaining muscle mass from creatine, so since muscle weighs more than fat you are most likely gaining muscle while losing fat hence little weight change.
  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    nicoleromine wrote: »
    That was my experience. I was on a conservative cut, but I was losing a steady .5 lb/week. About 2 weeks about supplementing with creatine monohydrate (because its the cheapest and most researched) I noticed a 4 pound jump. The only changed variable was the creatine and my measurements did not change, so I'm assuming its water weight. For 5 weeks, my weight stagnated and then I had a sudden loss of 2 pounds followed by a continued steady loss. I'm very meticulous about tracking my food, workouts, and weight, and I can confidently say that I continued to lose fat during this time period - it was simply hidden by water retention and my body adjusting to creatine supplementation. Just my personal experience.

    This is exactly what I was soliciting. Thanks for posting. Very detailed breakdown.

    I'm guessing this is same thing happening to me. Appreciate it!

  • colors_fade
    colors_fade Posts: 464 Member
    jaketaylor1391 wrote: »
    When i saw this i wasent going to comment because i thought someone would of said this by now, but when people refer to "i wanna lose weight" what they are actually saying is i wanna lower my bf% so i can look slimmer.

    Precisely.

    This is, in fact, what I have posted on my profile.

    I don't care about the number on the scale; I have no idea what it will read when I reach my fat loss goals. I care only about body fat %.

    The thing is, the scale is a metric that can be utilized more frequently to measure progress. Body fat measurements shouldn't be taken weekly. I don't have my next one for 9 more weeks. The scale is a more useful in this regard.

    But when it stalls like this, and I'm still doing everything right (more in fact, walking now more than ever) it is a bit disconcerting. Hence soliciting experiences of others who have added creatine to their diet during a cut.

    It's funny; logically I know what is *probably* happening in my body (fat still burning, water retaining in muscles), but the lack of movement on the scale gives me doubt. And it shouldn't. Our minds are weird things...

    Thanks for the feedback folks.

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