Have you tried Creatine?

it doesn't interact with protein synthesis or fat loss. it just pre-stocks your muscles with more of a compound that the muscles use during heavy exertion, such as lifting. what you do with that compound is up to you, but if you are working out some people report being able to work out 'harder' on creatine.

scale uptick is normal with it, though. i believe atp (the compound that creatine provides) needs water molecules for storage, so if you've got more atp going on in your muscles you'll have more water going on too.

as far as visceral fat . . . you're going to get piled on. my own experience was that my body probably took the first ten pounds i lost from storage 'under' my muscles, and then when that was lower it got to work on the remaining stuff between my muscles and skin. so for me, losing any weight meant that the 'visceral' fat seemed to go first. creatine wasn't directly related to any of it afaik.

You will see the scale go up and look a bit more bloated as the creatine will make you retain water.

AnvilHead wrote: »

mgalovic01 wrote: »

AnvilHead wrote: »

mgalovic01 wrote: »

I've heard an arm wrestler say creatine users have an increased risk of injury in the sport.

Probably a good thing the OP isn't an arm wrestler then, eh?

extrapolate

Thanks, but I'd prefer to go with the total absence of evidence in multitudes of clinical studies over "I've heard an arm wrestler say".

Creatine is widely considered the most effective legal supplement you can take for muscle development. All I was saying is be careful with how much you strain if you're on it since you could tear something. It inflates your muscles with water and creates for less muscle density.

So just to make sure I understand what I'm doing here, taking creatine is going to cause water retention, which is going to make me look bloated and weigh more. But in the long run, creatine is going to help me gain muscle mass, which in turn will burn more calories and cause me to lose fat. So if I'm looking at the long-term fitness goals of losing fat and gaining muscle, creatine is an effective supplement in attaining these goals. Correct?

canadianlbs wrote: »

the difference is pretty minor everywhere in your equation. creatine might add a couple of pounds via water, if you're a 'responder' it might give you a couple more reps before you gas out in your sets, doing a couple more reps might grow you a couple more muscle cells in the long term, and those cells might use up a couple more calories over the course of a day. don't get me wrong; i love the stuff. but it's just another small tool on the swiss army knife, not a magic bullet.

it's hard to assess what another person might think of as 'bloat' since some people like to look super-lean. but fwiw, the extra water goes into your actual muscles, not into the space between your muscles and skin. so it's kind of like an artificial pump that way, i guess. personally, i just take it because i'm more physically comfortable in my skin while i'm taking it, and that's worth a lot.

What he said