Is creatine loading necessary?

[johnsmithcel]

I bought a preworkout with 3g creatine. Do I really need to take 20g a day for the first few days or is that enough?

 

[crosshold]

no but it will take longer to get saturated

 

[softlysoftly]

no loading just saturates you faster than the normal 5g a day
and the end of the month it won't matter between the guy who loaded vs the guy who took 5g a day

 

[Gandy]

You don't need creatine supplements in the first place if you eat a balanced diet (which means also eating meat).

If you eat 400g of beef, chicken or fish daily (which is not that hard - that's 1/8th of what huge IFBB pros eat) you will get 4 grams of creatine from that alone.

Then you have a variety of cheeses that have up to 2,5g of creatine per 100g.

What foods have Creatine? • Bench-Press.net

Want to know what foods have creatine? Read our full report for our best creatine food sources for both meat-eaters and vegetarians.

www.bench-press.net

There is no need to buy creatine powder if you are eating protein rich natural foods.

 

[johnsmithcel]

You don't need creatine supplements in the first place if you eat a balanced diet (which means also eating meat).

If you eat 400g of beef, chicken or meat daily (which is not that hard - that's 1/8th of what huge IFBB pros eat) you will get 4 grams of creatine from that alone.

Then you have a variety of cheeses that have up to 2,5g of creatine per 100g.

What foods have Creatine? • Bench-Press.net

Want to know what foods have creatine? Read our full report for our best creatine food sources for both meat-eaters and vegetarians.

www.bench-press.net

There is no need to buy creatine powder if you are eating protein rich natural foods.

It’s like saying you don’t need protein powder. sure, but it makes life easier.

 

[Gandy]

It’s like saying you don’t need protein powder. sure, but it makes life easier.

It does for bodybuilders who are on a vegan diet.

If you want to get 5 grams of creatine daily but you are already eating 300-400g of meat and 100g of cheese daily, you are getting that amount without any supplementation.

I do agree it's much easier to just chug protein powders instead of cooking real meat.
Then add creatine powder to it.

I certainly don't have energy to meal prep 7 days a week. Protein shakes and powders are instant and take no effort

 

[softlysoftly]

You don't need creatine supplements in the first place if you eat a balanced diet (which means also eating meat).

If you eat 400g of beef, chicken or fish daily (which is not that hard - that's 1/8th of what huge IFBB pros eat) you will get 4 grams of creatine from that alone.

Then you have a variety of cheeses that have up to 2,5g of creatine per 100g.

What foods have Creatine? • Bench-Press.net

Want to know what foods have creatine? Read our full report for our best creatine food sources for both meat-eaters and vegetarians.

www.bench-press.net

There is no need to buy creatine powder if you are eating protein rich natural foods.

There is about 22.5mmol creatine per kg of meat. Unless my stoichiometry is rusty, that equates to about 2.95g/kg, but 50% of that is converted to creatinine during cooking and thus is a waste product rather than a valuable bioactive compound. That means the actual creatine content is around ~1.5g creatine/kg cooked beef. To achieve 5g of creatine per day would require approximate consumption of approximately 3.4kg (7lbs) of cooked beef per day. I guess some Carnivores might get that, but at 3.4kg, even your leanest top sirloin is about 165 kcal/100g, and therefore at MINIMUM, you’d be eating ~5600 calories per day from beef to hit 5g of creatine. This is kind of like the “peanut butter sandwich has as much protein as 3 oz of steak or 3 eggs” statement from The Game Changers film. Sure, you can get 20g of protein from a peanut butter sandwich, but you’re going to get significantly MORE calories than if you ate a typical protein source.

It’s like saying you don’t need protein powder. sure, but it makes life easier.

Trust me getting optimal creatine intake consistently from diet alone is a pain just get creatine monohydrate you can get a big bucket that can last half a year for under $50

 

[johnsmithcel]

There is about 22.5mmol creatine per kg of meat. Unless my stoichiometry is rusty, that equates to about 2.95g/kg, but 50% of that is converted to creatinine during cooking and thus is a waste product rather than a valuable bioactive compound. That means the actual creatine content is around ~1.5g creatine/kg cooked beef. To achieve 5g of creatine per day would require approximate consumption of approximately 3.4kg (7lbs) of cooked beef per day. I guess some Carnivores might get that, but at 3.4kg, even your leanest top sirloin is about 165 kcal/100g, and therefore at MINIMUM, you’d be eating ~5600 calories per day from beef to hit 5g of creatine. This is kind of like the “peanut butter sandwich has as much protein as 3 oz of steak or 3 eggs” statement from The Game Changers film. Sure, you can get 20g of protein from a peanut butter sandwich, but you’re going to get significantly MORE calories than if you ate a typical protein source.

Trust me getting optimal creatine intake consistently from diet alone is a pain just get creatine monohydrate you can get a big bucket that can last half a year for under $50

Do you know if 3g creatine, 4 times a week will cause facial bloating?

 

[softlysoftly]

Do you know if 3g creatine, 4 times a week will cause facial bloating?

No, creatine hydrates muscle cells. When muscle cells are like hydrated a few things happen, the most notable being an increase in protein synthesis. Plus, when your muscles hold more water, they look bigger and more pumped up.

 

[johnsmithcel]

No, creatine hydrates muscle cells. When muscle cells are like hydrated a few things happen, the most notable being an increase in protein synthesis. Plus, when your muscles hold more water, they look bigger and more pumped up.

Thanks. So is 3g, 4 times a week enough or should I do more ideally?

 

[softlysoftly]

Thanks. So is 3g, 4 times a week enough or should I do more ideally?

just do 5g a day

 

[Deleted member 22354]

Thanks. So is 3g, 4 times a week enough or should I do more ideally?

Just take a scoop 3-5g depending on diet a day, its not that hard. Just look for the quality, creapure (no matter what brand, any brand that has creapure on it is made by the same producer) is the best you can get on the market.