Creatine While Cutting

Right now I’m 250 with about 18%BF, looking to get down to about 10%. Is it smart to use creatine while cutting? Will it help maintain muscle mass while cutting, or will it slow my success due to added water weight?

Any help would be appreciated.

BBC

Depends on what you mean by success. It won’t hinder fat loss in any way, and will probably help by allowing you to work harder in the gym while on less calories (if that’s your plan).

Some people do experience a little bloating, though, so if that bothers you/happens to you you may want to discontinue use for a while. At 18% bodyfat, though, I wouldn’t think it’d be a concern for quite a while as the tiny bit of water is no big deal.

-Dan

IMHO, unless you are preparing for a show and are < 6% any water retention is minimal and not very noticable

For your goals I would suggest something like Kre-Alkalyn.

You’ll get better benefits from it than monohydrate and you don’t have to mess around with your insulin levels to get optimum absorption.

When you take away the sugar and carbs, you’re also eliminating unnecessary cals.

[quote]GathCity wrote:
You’ll get better benefits from it than monohydrate and you don’t have to mess around with your insulin levels to get optimum absorption.[/quote]

Most people don’t need to spike insulin to benefit from creatine monohydrate. If it’s a concern, just take it with a post-workout drink/meal.

The whole creatine delivery system issue was developed mainly as a marketing strategy, not because the majority of people need such a thing.

[quote]GathCity wrote:
For your goals I would suggest something like Kre-Alkalyn.

You’ll get better benefits from it than monohydrate and you don’t have to mess around with your insulin levels to get optimum absorption.[/quote]

Please back this up (good luck trying). Monohydrate works just as well as any of the other wacky formulations they’re trying out.

-Dan

[quote]buffalokilla wrote:

Please back this up (good luck trying). Monohydrate works just as well as any of the other wacky formulations they’re trying out.

-Dan

[/quote]

I’m just skaking my head. This is the kind of ignorance about Creatine that I’ve mentioned on other threads.

[quote]GathCity wrote:
buffalokilla wrote:

Please back this up (good luck trying). Monohydrate works just as well as any of the other wacky formulations they’re trying out.

-Dan

I’m just skaking my head. This is the kind of ignorance about Creatine that I’ve mentioned on other threads.
[/quote]

Spoken like a true supplement salesman.

[quote]GathCity wrote:
buffalokilla wrote:

Please back this up (good luck trying). Monohydrate works just as well as any of the other wacky formulations they’re trying out.

-Dan

I’m just skaking my head. This is the kind of ignorance about Creatine that I’ve mentioned on other threads.

[/quote]

Don’t skake your head, back it up! I’m curious to see whether or not there actually IS evidence to support better absorption from other kinds of creatine, other than the companies’ claims to their product.

[quote]ChrisKing wrote:

Most people don’t need to spike insulin to benefit from creatine monohydrate. If it’s a concern, just take it with a post-workout drink/meal.[/quote]

I agree people will BENEFIT from Creatine without spiking blood-sugar levels, however, I said to get “optimum absorbtion”.

I do agree that marketing took the creatine delivery concept to a whole new (probably unnecessary) level. But the ideas came from research and experience.

I’ve said it before. There are just too many downsides to supplementing with Creatine Monohydrate as far as absorption, its breakdown into creatinine, and your body’s down regulation of it’s own production - to name a small few.

There’s better stuff out there boys. Read about it!

[quote]Cartman8675 wrote:

Don’t skake your head, back it up! I’m curious to see whether or not there actually IS evidence to support better absorption from other kinds of creatine, other than the companies’ claims to their product.[/quote]

Of course there is. Do your own research. I’m not here to sell, promote, or encourage the use of one product over the next.

I just offered a suggestion.

Learn what Creatine is, what processes take place to create it, what functions it has within the body.

It should be pretty easy to determine which methods are best.

[quote]TDog305 wrote:
IMHO, unless you are preparing for a show and are < 6% any water retention is minimal and not very noticable[/quote]

FWIW, creatine has always given me a solid 10 lbs of water retention, and makes my face noticably puffy, even at 15% bf.

But, yeah, it probably won’t make any difference either way regarding fat loss.

From Kre-Alkalyn.com “Even though scientist Jeff Golini originally discovered the Nitric Oxide amplifying agent AKG (Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate) over 11 years ago, his most profound achievement was inventing Kre-Alkalyn: the world’s first and only creatine that doesn’t convert to creatinine before reaching muscle.” …excellent

“While measuring each product’s reaction to fluid in 15-second intervals using NIR analysis, Jeff made a shocking discovery. Even the creatine serums and liquids had virtually no creatine left because the creatine content had all been converted to creatinine!”

“Then it happened - he ‘cracked the creatine code’. All his testing finally revealed the exact reason why creatine is so unstable and converts to creatinine in liquids: the problem all along was creatine’s low pH level!”

From another site: “Work presented by Professor Roger Harris way back in 1999 at a meeting in Milan [3] gave some great insights into creatine metabolism but more than that unequivocal scientific PROOF that creatine is highly stable in low pH environments.” [3] Harris, R.C. (1999) Effects and safety of dietary and supplementary creatine. International Congress Creatine: From Basic Science to Clinical Application: Milan.

Also from the same study: “at lower pH’s as found in the gut (pH <3) maximum loss by day 100 is only in the order of only 40%” So if you were to put 12.5 grams of creatine in a high acidic environment for 100 days you would still have a normal dose (5g).

With regard to the initial poster, creatine will likely help you with your goals and you can get regular creatine monohydrate for about $5 a lb. if you look around.

I found these two T-Nation articles to be a great resource for info on creatine:

The Creatine Controversy

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=768093

The Naked Truth: Dangerous Creatine

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459369

Hope they help!

IMO creatine is MORE beneficial when cutting then not. That excess water the excess stores and energy it gives etc is CRUCIAL when dieting and just may mean saving a few lbs of lbm.

Id use just regular ole monohydrate.