Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Andrew Lenau, ISSA CPT & Sports Nutritionist
FACT CHECKED
Results-driven supplements are great, but one of the biggest fears many lifters have is losing all their muscle gains once they stop taking them. Creatine, a beloved product in the strength and conditioning world, is one of those supplements.
It's great when you're taking it daily, but what happens when you stop? Are your results gone within a few weeks? Or, does your body hold on to the gains you made when taking creatine?
This article will discuss what happens when you stop taking creatine. In addition, we'll go over the benefits of creatine supplementation, proper dosing, and whether it's safe to take for long periods.
Table of Contents:
- What Happens When You Stop Taking Creatine?
- How To Minimize The Loss of Benefits When You Stop Supplementing
- What Does Creatine Supplementation Do?
- Benefits of Taking Creatine
- Can You Take Creatine Forever?
- Creatine Dosing Recommendations
- Mitigating Adverse Effects From Creatine
- FAQs
What Happens When You Stop Taking Creatine?
The simplest answer is that when you stop taking creatine, your creatine levels will gradually decrease, returning to the levels they were at before you began supplementing. This makes sense as you're no longer supplementing with creatine.
It's important to note that everyone will respond differently when they stop taking creatine. However, there are 5 things you can expect to happen when you stop taking this supplement.
The 5 things that happen when you stop taking creatine are:
- Your creatine levels drop.
- You may lose some muscular strength.
- You may lose muscle mass.
- You'll lose body weight (mainly water weight).
- It may affect your body's ability to naturally produce creatine.
Let's take a closer look at each.
1. Your Creatine Levels Drop.
The first thing that will happen is that your levels of creatine stored are going to drop down to the original levels they were pre-supplementation. It's important to note this will not happen overnight and will be much more gradual.
A study examining this found that after taking 5 grams of creatine for 10 weeks, participants' levels were still slightly increased after 4 weeks1.
2. Decreased Creatine Intake May Cause A Loss In Muscle Strength.
Because strength is driven by neurological factors, it's hard to say how much muscle you may lose or what it means for muscle weakness. In the study mentioned above, no strength was lost during the entire 4 weeks of no supplementation. This means we have no reason to believe the gains you made during your strength training program will disappear.
We'll discuss this more below in conjunction with loss of muscle.
3. It possibly Decreases Muscle Mass.
Similar to losing strength, it's hard to say if you will lose lean muscle mass. But, the muscle size will likely appear smaller due to losing the water weight gain. A loss in muscle tissue occurs for a few other reasons as well, including low-calorie diets and illness.
While you can lose muscle growth due to a decrease in training, this actually takes a very long time, assuming you're still training with intensity. The mechanisms to build muscle are much more difficult to achieve than just maintaining.
For example, this study found that resistance-trained individuals were able to maintain skeletal muscle and muscular strength for 32 weeks with training once per week2.
Based on this research, we don't believe you'll drop a substantial amount of lean muscle mass any time soon after quitting creatine supplementation. Keep training hard, and you should maintain your muscle gain. Don't forget to eat foods for muscle as well.
4. You'll lose Body Weight.
As mentioned, when you stop creatine supplementation, you're going to lose weight, but this will largely be in part due to a loss in water weight. When you take creatine monohydrate, higher amounts are stored in the muscles.
Due to their osmotic nature, they cause more water retention in the cells. So, what happens when you stop taking creatine? Your creatine levels drop along with water weight.
5. It Possibly Decreases Activation In Creatine Transport.
Excessive, continuous ingestion of creatine has been found to possibly have a negative effect on your creatine transport system, meaning that there is potential it can reduce natural creatine production. Well, not your creatine transport system specifically, but the study found this led to lower natural creatine production in rats.
Rats are commonly used in studies before humans, so that's not too uncommon and certainly not the study's fault. However, using these studies to extrapolate to humans is an issue. And we should note that this study specifically said that no harmful effects of any type, including lower activation of creatine transport systems, have been found in humans3.
How To Minimize Any Loss Of Benefits
You can minimize potential losses by continuing to lift weights after you've ceased creatine supplementation.
One study examined the effects of creatine cessation on older men, 83 years old4. Participants followed a training plan for 12 weeks while taking creatine, then following 12 weeks of training with 33% reduced volume.
During the second 12 weeks, some men quit supplementing while the other group continued. Researchers discovered that no decrease in strength or loss of muscle mass was found in either group and there was a similar decrease in muscular endurance.
So, what happens when you stop taking creatine? The research seems to suggest that maintaining training is key and that maintaining muscle is much easier than gaining. Again, this was an older demographic so it may not be apples-to-apples, but the results seem to indicate that continuing training is key to minimizing the loss of benefits associated with taking creatine.
What Does Creatine Supplementation Do?
The majority of people's creatine levels are below their maximum levels. This can be the result of numerous factors, yet a person's diet often plays a large part.
Regardless, taking one of the best creatine supplements fills these creatine levels to 100% full. As a result, the body is able to better withstand strenuous exercise as well as perform more work.
People usually see rapid weight gain during the first month of supplementing, which equates to 1-2kg. After that, the weight gain becomes less drastic and evens out.
Learn more about this in our article: How Long Does Creatine Take To Work?
Benefits Of Taking Creatine Supplements
Taking a creatine supplement boosts your creatine levels. That's what happens physiologically, regardless of whether you're taking creatine pills or powder. Due to this modification of creatine levels, the body can perform at a higher level. It's this higher intensity that yields results.
A few of the common benefits of creatine supplementation include:
- Increased muscle hypertrophy and strength gains
- Improved body composition
- Better endurance
- An ability to generate a greater workload
Can You Take Creatine Supplements Forever?
Yes, research shows that the majority of people can take creatine supplements for a long time without suffering from negative effects. In fact, there have been numerous long-term studies ranging from 5 to 10 plus years that have looked at the safety of creatine5. Most of these have been done with creatine monohydrate and have concluded no serious long-term effects are associated with supplementation.
Further, creatine has been used in just about every population you can think of:
- Youth
- Elderly
- Adults
- Healthy
- Non-Healthy
- And so on...
Creatine supplementation has shown no ill effects in any of these groups.
A group that absolutely shouldn't be taking creatine long-term is those with kidney issues. And if you ever have any concerns with taking a supplement, always speak with your doctor first.
How Much Creatine Should You Take If You Don't Want To Stop?
If you decide that instead of stopping, you want to take creatine long-term, experts recommend taking small doses of creatine every day.
We spoke to Dr. Jose Antonio from ISSN and he suggested that as far as how to take creatine goes, simply take a smaller dose.
While 5 grams a day may work initially or for the short-term, it's too much and not needed if you plan to use it chronically. Therefore, Dr. Antonio suggests taking a lower dose of 3 grams, or possibly even lower for smaller individuals. Pair your smaller doses with an effective program, and we bet you'll be able to improve your muscular strength.
How To Mitigate Adverse Effects From Creatine
First, despite what some sources try to claim, there are very few adverse effects on individuals. You can learn more about this in our article: Is Creatine Bad For You?
That said, there are a few. The most commonly reported include:
- Gastrointestinal distress
- Water weight gain
- Creatine bloating
These are generally accompanied when individuals load with high doses. Even those who do experience negative effects report them subsiding once they begin a lower dose. If you're concerned about these effects, start with a lower dose to begin with, skipping the loading phase entirely. It may take longer to fill your levels but you won't feel bad.
FAQs
Lingering creatine questions? Let's answer them.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound stored in skeletal muscle in the form of creatine phosphate. Additionally, smaller amounts are found in the brain and testes.
Without supplementing with creatine, the average person will consume 1-2 grams of creatine daily, primarily found in red meat and fish6. In addition, another 1-2 grams of your own creatine is synthesized internally through the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine during natural creatine production.
Before supplementing, a person's natural creatine stores are around 100 to 120 mmol per kg of body weight, equating to their creatine levels being just 60-80% full.
How Does Creatine Work?
Creatine phosphate is used by the ATP-CP/Phophagen metabolic system to help resynthesize the high-energy compound ATP. Known as adenosine triphosphate (triphosphate= 3 phosphates), ATP is the body's "energy currency" and is used to supply energy for a host of reactions, processes, and muscle contractions.
During high-intensity activities such as lifting weights and HIIT workouts, the body requires ATP fast to fuel the muscles. To provide energy, ATP goes through a reaction in which one of its phosphate molecules breaks off. This creates energy along with another compound known as adenosine diphosphate (diphopshate= 2 phosphates).
At this point, creatine phosphate is used to provide one of its phosphate groups to ADP, thus becoming another molecule of ATP.
What Is Creatine Loading?
The benefits of a creatine supplement do not occur until the creatine level begins to rise. While you can just take a small dose of 3 grams daily, this could take an entire month.
This is why when someone first starts taking creatine, it's recommended they follow a loading protocol. By doing so, they are able to get their stores full quickly and start reaping the benefits.
Most sports researchers will suggest a 5-7 day period in which a person takes 20-25 grams per day7. This can be broken up into smaller doses as well.
Does Taking Creatine Cause Weight Gain?
Yes, taking creatine causes weight gain, mainly due to having more muscle mass and retaining water. We talk about this in more detail in our article: Does Creatine Make You Gain Weight?
Does Taking Creatine Help With Fat Loss?
No, creatine does not help you lose fat. There are many great supplements available to help you burn fat, but creatine is not one of them - at least not directly. While fat loss and an improved body fat percentage usually accompany creatine ingestion, and we do recommend taking creatine while cutting, this is due to higher work output and diet.
Does Creatine Ingestion Cause Water Retention?
It initially causes water retention, but this is temporary. Creatine is an osmotic compound, meaning it draws water into cells. Being that 95% of creatine is stored in the muscle, creatine will draw water into the muscle cells.
The ISSN's stand on supplementation states that while you may gain water weight during creatine loading, in the long run this generally evens out to match the gain in body mass7.
It's important to note that water weight from creatine isn't necessarily a bad thing. Keep in mind that the muscle is 79% water anyway, so you want it to be hydrated.
Creatine Supplementation Vs. Anabolic Steroids: What's The Difference?
The effect of creatine supplementation is not the same as taking steroids. This includes the effects after stopping,
While creatine does help increase muscle size and muscle strength, it does so within your genetic potential. What this means is that you could increase your creatine naturally by dialing in your diet, eating the best foods before a workout and after a workout, and maximizing your potential.
However, steroids take your hormone levels waaaaay past normal. Therefore, when you stop, it's impossible to maintain your gain. This is assuming you trained past your natural ability. This is because instead of maximizing you're potential, you're increasing your potential.
What Happens When You Stop Taking Creatine? Parting Thoughts
Overall, if you stop taking creatine, you shouldn't notice any drastic changes, especially right away. You can lessen the effects of stopping creatine supplementation even further by continuing to train hard.
Your other option is to continue supplementing, but once you get your stores up, take a smaller dose of about 3 grams daily, for the long term. Remember, research shows that creatine supplementation is not only safe but hugely beneficial for your training.
Remaining creatine questions? Check out our articles on When's The Best Time to Take Creatine? and Does Creatine Expire?
Interested in finding a great creatine supplement? Check out the Best Creatine Supplements and the Best Creatine Supplements For Women.
References:
- Vandenberghe K, Goris M, Van Hecke P, Van Leemputte M, Vangerven L, Hespel P. Long-term creatine intake is beneficial to muscle performance during resistance training. Journal of Applied Physiology. 1997;83(6):2055-2063. doi:10.1152/jappl.1997.83.6.2055
- Powers ME, Arnold BL, Weltman AL, et al. Creatine Supplementation Increases Total Body Water Without Altering Fluid Distribution. Journal of athletic training. 2003;38(1):44-50. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC155510/
- Lourdes Guerrero-Ontiveros, M., Wallimann, T. Creatine supplementation in health and disease. Effects of chronic creatine ingestion in vivo: Down-regulation of the expression of creatine transporter isoforms in skeletal muscle. Mol Cell Biochem 184, 427–437 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006895414925
- Candow DG, Chilibeck PD, Chad KE, Chrusch MJ, Davison KS, Burke DG. Effect of Ceasing Creatine Supplementation while Maintaining Resistance Training in Older Men. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 2004;12(3):219-231. doi:10.1123/japa.12.3.219
- Brosnan ME, Brosnan JT. The role of dietary creatine. Amino Acids. 2016;48(8):1785-1791. doi:10.1007/s00726-016-2188-1
- Spiering BA, Mujika I, Sharp MA, Foulis SA. Maintaining Physical Performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 2021;Publish Ahead of Print. doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000003964
- Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2017;14(1). doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z
Garett Reid
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