What the scale will do
Creatine pulls water into your muscles with it, so the scale goes up while your stores fill, and then it stops. Put in your weight from before your first scoop to see your band, day by day.
What your result means
Inside the band means the gain looks like creatine water. It goes into your muscles with the creatine and stops when your stores are full, about day 7 when loading and day 28 on 3 to 5 g a day.
Above the band means something besides creatine is moving the scale. Food, salt, a late dinner and the day-to-day swing of a scale add up fast, so one morning tells you little.
Below the band, or no change, is common on 3 to 5 g a day. It doesn't mean creatine isn't working, since the scale was never the test.
What to do next
- Weigh the same way each week, first thing in the morning, and compare weekly averages, not single days.
- Watch your waist on a cut. Water can hide two to four weeks of fat loss on the scale, and a tape measure doesn't count it. bodyfat.guide's fat or muscle calculator sorts out a gain.
- Judge creatine by a test, not the scale. Prove it worked compares week eight with day one.
What the trials found
| Trial | Protocol | What the scale and the water did |
|---|---|---|
| Powers 2003, 32 lifters | 25 g a day for 7 days, then 5 g | +0.75 kg at day 7, +1.31 kg at day 28. Body water +1.37 L in week one, +2.04 L by day 28 |
| Deminice 2016, 13 soccer players | 0.3 g per kg for 7 days | +1.0 kg, body water +2.3 L |
| Rawson 2011, 20 adults | About 2.3 g a day for 6 weeks | No change in weight or body water |
| Antonio 2021 review | 20 g a day for 5 to 7 days | "Typically" 1 to 3 kg, mostly water |
Where the water goes
Creatine pulls water in with it, mostly into muscle. The 2003 trial that measured both found the split between water inside and outside cells stayed the same. A liter of water weighs a kilo, which is why the scale and the body water move together.
On a cut
A kilo of creatine water can hide two to four weeks of fat loss on the scale. Your waist and your weekly average keep telling the truth. That's arithmetic, not a trial: 2.2 lb of water against a loss of 0.5 to 1 lb a week.
The band
The band is ours, built from the trials above: loading adds 1% to 3% of body weight by day 7 and then levels off, and 3 to 5 g a day adds 0% to 2% spread over 28 days, then levels off. It stops because your stores are full, about 6 days in when loading and 28 days on 3 to 5 g (Hultman 1996).
5 sources
- Antonio J and others, Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation, JISSN, 2021pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Powers ME and others, Creatine supplementation increases total body water without altering fluid distribution, J Athl Train, 2003pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Deminice R and others, Creatine supplementation increases total body water in soccer players, Int J Sports Med, 2016pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Rawson ES and others, Low-dose creatine supplementation enhances fatigue resistance in the absence of weight gain, Nutrition, 2011pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Hultman E and others, Muscle creatine loading in men, J Appl Physiol, 1996pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
