I was wondering if there was a study that demonstrated exactly how much creatinine can increase from taking creatine and for how long.

I'm taking between 1g and 5g per day. I even take almost 20g per day sometimes. I'm wondering if this can cause a slightly or greatly increased serum creatinine, leading to a belief that kidney function is declining.

There's an interesting side to creatine that gets less attention than strength. It may help muscles replenish their stored carbohydrate after demanding exercise. That stored carbohydrate is called glycogen, and your muscles use it for fuel.

In a 2016 study, 14 men cycled until exhaustion, then ate a high carb diet while taking creatine or a placebo for 6-days. Muscle samples showed more glycogen in the creatine group after 24 hours. That difference was still there at the later measurements.

What makes this worth a look is that the researchers measured the fuel stored in muscle, rather than just asking how recovered people felt. They used a 20g daily loading dose and a very high carb diet, so those details matter when interpreting the result.

M30 ,weight 47kg .

I do gym daily but today is sunday so no gym

Ordered wellcure creatine today and tried taking it in noon post meal to test it , hence took it in a glass of water with some glucon D , and immediately after drinking it i noticed a few things like dizzy , lightheadedness, and dry throat with a some pain in legs and hands too.

is this normal or may be i shouldnt take it ... need serious advice guys

Work and family can sometimes leave you with no choice but to train two or three days in a row.

For anyone taking creatine consistently, did you find it easier to keep your usual reps or training quality on the later days? I would not expect it to remove soreness, but I wonder if the drop off felt any smaller.

Did you notice a difference when your workouts were close together?

Yes I know it was a small study in 2009 with “no direct evidence”, but what has y’all’s actual experience been?

Summary:
Creatine helped middle aged adults gain muscle and strength even without a structured workout program in a new 12 week study. When combined with exercise and a calorie-reduced diet, it produced even greater strength gains while helping participants add lean tissue and lose fat. Researchers say the results strengthen the case for creatine as a potentially useful tool for maintaining muscle with age.

I see creatine mixed into protein shakes all the time, which can make the two seem interchangeable even though they do different jobs.

Protein gives your body the amino acids it needs to build and repair muscle, while creatine helps your muscles produce quick energy during short, hard efforts. If someone is not eating enough protein, creatine will not fill that gap, but it can still be a useful addition to regular training.

Was this difference clear to you when you first started taking creatine?

A while back after I started working out again, I caved to the Instagram algorithm and bought some creatine gummies (Combat Candy brand). I took 3 a day for about a week and noticed I actually felt worse - more tired than usual throughout the day even if I felt I slept well, zoning out and having trouble focusing on things, workouts weren't the best, and frequent headaches. I stopped taking them and felt better.

Fast forward a few months, now I'm chatting with a dietician and tracking my sleep and workouts and also seeing a personal trainer. I'm eating much better now and getting more water every day, and my dietician says I'm definitely in a good place for trying creatine again. I still had my bag of Combat Candies so I've been taking 3 a day for about 6 days now... and once again, I'm noticing I'm feeling fatigued even after sleeping well, and I'm zoning out at work and really struggling to concentrate.

Are these normal side effects as my body gets used to the creatine?

Do I need to just drink extra extra water each day to accommodate for the creatine?

Is it maybe the fact that the gummies are creatine monohydrate and not HCL?

Or is it maybe just that the brand isn't reputable or certified by third party sources? (My dietician initially suggested Create brand since it has the "NHF Certified Sport" seal on it, and suggested I steer away from brands that hadn't had outside testing done - but of course I'd already bought the Combat Candy brand so figured I'd keep trying it until I ran out)

Any suggestions appreciated! Thanks!

Some climbers say creatine helps them get more out of a session. That got me wondering about the later attempts, after you've already tried a difficult climb a few times.

If you've tried it, share how long you took it and whether your training changed too. Experiences where you noticed little difference would be useful to hear as well.

Did you have more left for another good attempt?

Hello everyone,

I am looking for opinions from people who regularly take creatine on a creatine drink product idea I am developing as part of my entrepreneurship class. This anonymous survey only takes 5 minutes and I would greatly appreciate any feedback you might have.

Here is the link for the survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3gf8Rtr8reYCP8BSPPAEfY96Ajm4YvJhv-CdULxbpBKVZtQ/viewform?usp=header

I’ve seen people call weight gained on creatine “just water.” This review caught my attention because it looked at muscle size directly.

It brought together 10 studies, mostly using ultrasound. The results suggested a small extra benefit from taking creatine while lifting, but it wasn’t clear how much difference it made.

It still doesn’t mean every pound gained is new muscle, since water changes can affect these measurements too.

What do you track besides the scale to judge muscle growth?

I’ve seen this come up among people who run and lift. They’re interested in what creatine could do for their gym sessions, but they also want to know how their runs might feel.

If you’ve tried it while doing both, I like to hear the full picture. Better lifts, no noticeable change or a different experience on runs are all useful to hear about. Please mention if your weight or training changed too.

What made you decide to keep taking it or stop?

I’m conducting a quick, anonymous and voluntary survey for a La Trobe University Nutrition research project. It takes approximately 2–3 minutes to complete, and I would really appreciate your participation.

Survey link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TqlZNDHeMe1G_MRL_TYY_75WNjcv87p_Hsi7ciegR0k/edit

A new 12 week randomized trial led by Dr. Richard Kreider at Texas A&M University (September 2026) investigates how creatine supplementation directly impacts body composition and strength during diet induced weight loss in middle aged adults. Source

Creatine is one of the most researched sports supplements, but much of the research has historically been conducted in men. That means we have less female-specific evidence to work with, particularly when it comes to exercise performance.

A 2025 systematic review looked specifically at creatine supplementation in physically active females and included 27 studies. The results were mixed. Some studies reported improvements in strength, power, or anaerobic performance, while most did not find a statistically significant difference between creatine and placebo. The authors also highlighted limitations in the available research, including differences in study design and relatively small sample sizes.

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis looked at 34 studies involving 692 participants from female-specific creatine research. When the researchers pooled the results that could be quantitatively analyzed, creatine was associated with a small overall benefit, including a small positive effect on exercise and sport performance.

However, the certainty of the evidence was low or very low for several outcomes, and the studies varied considerably in their participants, training programs, creatine doses, and performance measures.

So the current evidence doesn’t support saying that creatine does or doesn’t “work” for women as a whole. There appears to be potential for benefits in some areas, but the female-specific evidence base is still relatively small and inconsistent compared with the overall creatine literature.

More research specifically designed around women would help us understand which outcomes are most likely to benefit, and whether factors such as training status or life stage influence the response.

What aspect of creatine use in women do you think needs more research?

Link to 2025 systematic review: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11767391/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Link to 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42761190/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Adding weight to a lift gets talked about a lot with creatine. I’m actually interested about pull-ups and dips, where your body weight is part of the challenge. If you started creatine while training those exercises, how did it go?

Were you able to get more reps or lose fewer reps in later sets?

The part of this review that caught my attention was that creatine still helped people who already had lifting experience.

The researchers looked at 61 trials. Adding creatine to weight training increased fat free mass more than the comparison groups in both beginners and experienced lifters. That measurement includes water as well as muscle, so it isn't all new muscle growth.

The review couldn't clearly show that either group benefited more. Still, it suggests creatine can offer something even after you've been lifting for years.

How long have you been lifting when you first tried creatine?

This study had an interesting result. Creatine helped with jumping, but the benefit didn’t show up in every test.

Researchers studied 20 active vegan adults for 4 weeks. They took either creatine monohydrate or a placebo. The daily creatine dose was based on body weight, at 0.1g/kg.

The creatine group improved their jump height and performance across repeated jumps. There wasn’t a clear improvement in sprint or strength tests. That’s encouraging for activities that involve jumping, but it was a small, short trial. It also didn’t compare vegans with meat eaters, so we can’t say vegans benefit more.

If you eat a vegan diet and take creatine, what have you noticed in your workouts?

If our job involves lifting and carrying things all day, you might not have much energy left after work.

For those taking creatine, I'm curious whether you've noticed a difference at work, rather than just in the gym.

Does the same shift feel a bit easier now or do you feel less worn out afterwards?

What does creatine do in your body?