Hey everyone...I'm not sure if anyone in here can give me advice on this because I know taking creatine is predominantly a male thing.

I've starting hitting the weights again (first time seriously in a few years) and am considering taking creatine. I'm pretty sure there's no carbs in it, but it does increase water retention. Would taking such a supplement on Atkins be recommended? Is this one of those situations where I can take it as long as I don't worry about the scales and concentrate on waist size?

I searched the threads for the whole site, but there was nothing specific to low-carb dieting. I'll try Google while I'm waiting...thanks!!

go to jpfitness forum


i think you will find answers there

Creatine causes your ATP stores in your muscles to be increased which also means their size increases but this size is due to water. So your scale weight will go up. Essentially creatine will help you recover between sets a little better which will help you get a slightly better workout which means you can build your muscles slightly faster. When you stop taking creatine the water goes away and your muscles are slightly reduced in size but the additional muscle you built remains.

I really don't see the point of taking creatine in your situation where I assume you're trying to lose fat. It's not going to hurt you but it's not going to help you either and it will make you look fatter because the muscles you have will be slightly bigger due to the afforementioned effects.

Thanks for the info! I guess I have a double goal right now. I want to slim down and add muscle mass.

IMHO, I think you should focus on one aspect for now. Or at least, have one front runner and the other more to the side unless you are close to your final goal. If you're close to goal, then I think it would be fine.

I'm 9lbs from my goal on paper, but about 20lbs from where I'd like to be. I know that hypertrophy helps with fat loss and I know that muscle gain will offset scale movement. I also know that i won't gain muscle mass fast enough in the next few weeks to make that much of a difference. I was more concerned with the fact that Atkins is a diuretic and creatine causes the opposite. Does this somehow cause negative interactions?

I read somewhere that there is plenty of creatine in many of the foods we already eat on Atkins. Since I only started my resistance training program last week, I may wait a few weeks and see if taking creatine is even required. All through my teens and early twenties, I was able to make fast and substantial gains without the use of any supplements. I know that things will be slower now that I'm almost 39, but still possibly fast enough to get where I want to be in the months to come...