Week 2
Research has found that some people might experience an initial mild weight gain, around one to two per cent of total body mass. This is the only consistently reported side effect from creatine supplements.
“This isn’t body fat; it’s due to water being stored in muscle cells and it’s temporary,” says Hobson. It’s more common in people who take a higher dose in the first week, known as the ‘loading phase’. After this, a daily three to five grams maintenance dose is less likely to cause bloating.
I didn’t notice any increase in weight during my first two weeks of taking it. In fact, my friend commented that I was looking ‘ripped’. I don’t want to look ripped – but my torso and arms seemed more shapely and my glutes looked as though they’d grown. My fiancé was quick to point this out.
Week 3
I was really firing on all cylinders in week three. At the gym, I was jumping up onto a 90 centimetre box with ease and comfortably lifting heavy weights without feeling exhausted.
“Creatine tends to be most beneficial when exercise involves repeated high-intensity efforts,” Hobson explains. “It may help to maintain power across sets in the gym, recover more quickly between bouts of intense exercise and support improvements in strength over time.”
My mind was also fully focused on work. Could this have been linked to the supplement? A 2003 human trial was the first to show that taking creatine can improve cognitive performance, particularly in vegetarians, as creatine-rich foods are animal based.
Another interesting research review, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, found that people supplementing with creatine showed an improvement in memory, as well as slightly faster reaction/attention time and slightly faster information processing speed.
It may be wishful thinking that three weeks of creatine is giving me more brain power. It may have had more to do with the sunshine that week.