Is Creatine helpful in losing fat? Should I take Creatine while trying to lose belly fat? The answer is complicated. Creatine may not help you in the short term but might be beneficial in the long term. Let’s understand this better.
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While you are in your cutting down cycle, you must be wondering whether you should or not take Creatine? As we know, Creatine adds more energy to the body to help you indulge in intense workout sessions.
Creatine is not responsible for weight gain or loss. So while you are trying to get rid of belly fat or want to shed extra pounds, Creatine is not the right supplement for you. Creatine does not have any link with body fat and won’t help you burn fat or know why to read this guide.
Let’s explore this a bit more:
- How does Creatine work, and what are its actual applications
- Can you take Creatine while losing weight?
- How does Creatine fit into your weight loss regime?
How Does Creatine Work?
Creatine is one of the safest and most powerful supplements that increase performance in the gym. Taking Creatine is common among bodybuilders and athletes to build muscle gain and boost the energy level in the gym.
Creatine works to promote overall health and athletic performance. It gives muscles more energy and increases satellite cell signaling for long-term muscle growth and faster recovery after a workout.
Unfortunately, Creatine is not a weight loss supplement. It does not work for you to lose weight because there is no thermogenic property in Creatine. Creatine works only to increase muscle weight by increasing water retention; it neither increases nor reduces fat.
What Is Creatine Use for, if Not Fat Loss?
Here is a list of proven benefits of taking creatine supplement:
# Creatine Increases Body Mass
Creatine supplementation is known best to increase body mass; it draws water into muscle cells to gain muscle mass. This benefit of Creatine helps to increase body weight. When it is combined with resistance training, it has shown great results in muscle strength and growth.
# Boosts Athletic performance
Creatine enhances exercise performance in high-intensity tasks. This is useful in promoting strength and endurance. It is proven to be effective in improving athletic performance.
# Aids in Faster Recovery Post Workout
Muscle soreness and injuries are common issues post-workout. Creatine is effective in lowering muscle damage and boosting recovery after a workout.
# Improve Bone Density
Low bone density can lead to fractures during your workout. Creatine controls the risk of fractures and osteoporosis.
Can You Take Creatine While Losing Weight?
No, Creatine will end up increasing weight.
Creatine is not an ideal supplement for losing weight. Creatine is effective in adding volume to muscle cells, allowing them to hold more water. When there is more water in muscle cells, it actually works to increase weight.
Creatine is perfect for people who are looking to build muscle mass and become bulkier. If a person is bulky or overweight, you would probably want a supplement that helps you lose weight; in such a scenario, Creatine is not the right option. The case is the same for both men and women.
Why Is It Not Advisable To Use Creatine While Dieting?
No, if your intent is to lose weight, then Creatine will only make things worse for you.
As already explained above, Creatine intake is associated with water retention, which leads to a gain of 3 to 5 lbs of weight. When you are trying to lose weight, you know every pound is important and counts; therefore, Creatine will not be a good option for you.
Benefits of Creatine While Cutting
When you intake creatine supplements, it helps you increase lean muscle mass while providing strength and energy.
When it is about the cutting cycle, Creatine is beneficial in supporting and protecting your muscles from bringing water into muscles which further preserves muscle fiber from damage.
As we know, drinking plenty of water is important in the cutting cycle, which helps in protecting muscles from the breakdown of muscle cells due to dehydration.
According to studies, a few weeks of intense training and creatine supplementation will improve the body’s fat percentage, muscle strength, and power.
Which Type of Creatine Can I Use On a Diet?
The biggest drawback of consuming Creating in a diet is it helps to draw water into cells, which causes bloating and water retention. This is something that a bodybuilder wants for their body and exactly the opposite of what you want.
Because of this extra water retention, if you continue to take Creatine to lose weight, you may notice puffier muscles and an increase in weight. But it is important to note that this water retention is not a fat gain.
To get around this, many experts recommend avoiding taking Creatine monohydrate; instead, choose a type of Creatine that has a better absorption rate. Creatine Ethyl and Micronized Creatine are ideal for this.
When Should I Take Creatine During a Diet?
Experts advise you to take a creatine supplement immediately after your workout along with a little bit of simple sugar as the sugar will spike the insulin that helps to shuttle more Creatine into the muscles. This means more levels of Creatine will be used instead of resulting in bloating or water retention.
Many people’s bodies react negatively to Creatine, come what may. They will start to experience bloating almost immediately. So that is why most people don’t find creatine supplements to be a good idea during weight loss.
Can Creatine Help in Fat Loss?
In the short term, no. In the long term, yes, definitely.
It is important to burn calories more than you consume to burn belly fat or lose overall fat. Usually, fat loss is made when you strict your calorie intake and increase your physical activities.
We usually think weight is only about cardio exercises, but it also requires weight lifting to burn calories. When you lift weights three times a week and perform cardio exercises, it allows you to boost your metabolism.
Taking Creatine can be beneficial because it helps you get better performance with more strength and power during weight training. You can do more reps and sets of powerful training exercises by taking Creatine.
Creatine has great benefits for resistance training and helps you to improve the aesthetics of your body while cutting. Even for the short term, such a supplement is effective in increasing daily energy expenditure further helps you to stay in a calorie deficit, which is important when it comes to losing weight.
Which Exercises Will Help You With Fat Loss?
When you are training yourself with weight in the body, it is important to train for the entire body to lose weight. Go for multiple exercises that target every muscle of your body, like squats, bench pressing, pulldowns, and more.
Start with lightweight and gradually add more weights for weight lifting. Training this way will help you take complete advantage of creatine supplementation. And on opposite days, indulge in cardio exercises to lose weight.
Answers to Common Questions About Creatine and Belly Fat
# Can I take a creatine supplement to lose belly fat?
Creatine helps to boost your athletic performance by increasing your muscle strength; however, it will not help you to lose weight in the short term. Over time, however, it can burn calories when you combine weight lifting with cardio exercises.
# Can Creatine help me to burn fat?
Not exactly, but when you combine Creatine with proper weight lifting and cardio exercises, it will, over time, help you to burn extra fat from the body.
A Few Final Words
Creatine is known to help build muscles; it will not help you to burn fat immediately. Instead, it bulks your muscles with more water, which gives you puffier muscles and leads to weight gain.
However, over time Creatine will help you push yourself harder and faster in your high-intensity exercises, giving you a boost of energy that will eventually help you to lose your fat.
So when you think about losing belly fat with Creatine, it is a long-term play but definitely not a short-term one. We hope we have been able to answer this question conclusively, but if we missed something, please remind us in the comments section below, and we will answer you as quickly as we can.