Creatine and fat

[mattjf]

Hey everyone,

I am currently working on fat loss and read a few posts about creatine being good to take while cutting. I have noticed my strength is down at the gym since I have started cutting, so I am now trying my first creatine cycle. I picked ON's Pre-Load Creatine Complex because it was the best buy in the store. I feel it's working for me at least. I have noticed quite a bit more energy in the gym. I was at a plateau on bench press and I broke through it yesterday. Anyway, the sugar in this Pre-Load complex is 33g per serving. Taking 3 to 4 servings a day. I am going to drop down to 1 serving a day soon. I have only been on it for 2 days now. I feel my stomach has gotten bigger. Almost like I'm more fat now than I used to be. I know 99-132g of sugar is a TON, but I've had this much in the past and never felt fat like this. Is this the sugar doing it? Or is it water retention? Does creatine make you retain water in fat? Thanks.

-Matt

[benman2002]

How many g's of creatin per serving??....the water retention can make you look like you have added a layer of fat but it is just water under the skin...i know when i am on creatin i look less defined than normal

im guessing your are loading if you are taking4 servings a day...imo loading is just a waist of creatin and $$$....33 gs of sugar should be fine ...make sure you take it soon after working out

[B.A.]

CREATINE AND FAT

Background
It is common knowledge that creatine causes weight gain. The reason for this gain in weight seems to involve several distinct processes. Early phases of body mass increase involve the retention of water into skeletal muscle. Later phase of mass increase may involve the accretion of new muscle proteins.

Early Stages of Muscle Growth: Water Weight
Creatine monohydrate causes water to be retained in the body compartments where it is located. For this reason our muscles swell (with water) following creatine use. This process has been termed muscle "volumizing" in the scientific literature. This is a relatively fast process and can account for as much as 1-3 kilograms (~2-7 pounds) of added water weight after just a few days of loading. This increase in weight is much too fast to be attributed to the addition of new muscle proteins. Finally, since the faster we pack in creatine, the faster we'll gain water weight, muscle volumizing will be most pronounced during the loading phase.

After about a month of stopping creatine our muscle creatine stores return to normal and so should our body weight. In other words, we'll lose muscle water as our creatine levels return to their previously low values.

We'll also notice a drop in our energy levels. This is because creatine enhances our physical performance by increasing the amount of energy available to our muscles.

Later Stages of Muscle Growth: New Protein Production
There is some indication that the acquisition of new muscle proteins also increases following creatine supplementation. This effect might be related to the greater work capacity afforded by creatine. In other words, we'll build more muscle since we'll be able to train harder.

Alternatively, muscle volumizing itself might stimulate the production of new muscle proteins. In this instance muscle swelling might falsely signal to the cell that it is growing. The muscle cell might then respond by increasing the production of new muscle proteins. The likelihood of this later possibility is currently being debated in the scientific press.

Any increase in muscle proteins as a result of prolonged creatine use should persist after stopping supplementation. These gains, however, will be relatively small in comparison to the initial rise in body weight attributed to water retention.

Lean Muscle Mass
The combined effects of increased muscle hydration and stimulated protein synthesis will increase our amount of lean muscle. In other words, the amount of protein and water contained within our muscles will increase relative to fat. You might have heard this fact being boosted in the popular press.

Fat is Fat and Muscle is Muscle and Never the Twain Shall Meet
It has often been rumored that a person's muscle turns to fat after stopping creatine. There is no more truth in this happening than there is in an apple turning into a banana? They are simply two different entities. Nevertheless, muscle can be replaced by fat given the wrong set of circumstances.

As mentioned above, after stopping creatine you'll lose some size due to loss of muscle water. You'll also experience a drop in energy level because of the slow degradation of surplus creatine stored within our muscles; remember that creatine is an energy source.

There's only one way you'll gain fat. That is if you reduce your energy expenditure dramatically, or stop working our altogether, while not adjusting your caloric intake. Under these circumstances the excess amounts of calories (food) you consume will be stored as fat.

Take Home
You will lose some size and strength after stopping creatine. This is unavoidable. The lost size, however, results from loss of water and not muscle tissue. The decrease in energy results from less creatine in our muscles. The only way that you will gain fat is if you consume more calories than you burn after stopping creatine.

Therefore, after stopping creatine for a prolonged period, be sure to maintain your exercise intensity, or alternatively, reduce caloric intake.

- B.A.

[B.A.]

Creatine and Fat Loss

Background
Obviously, creatine finds its way into skeletal muscle after being ingested. But, how is this process actually accomplished?

From the blood stream creatine is transported into skeletal muscle via the action of transporter molecules distributed along the muscle surface. These are the molecular doors that allow creatine into muscle cells. Our physiological status determines how well these molecular doors work at letting in creatine. For example, the amount of sodium outside the muscle cell, the extramuscular sodium, regulates the activity of these transporter molecules. In this respect, an elevation of extramuscular sodium promotes creatine entry via these transporters.

Based on earlier studies showing that caffeine increases extramuscular sodium, it was proposed that caffeine should augment creatine transport into muscle cells and accentuate the benefits of creatine. Oddly, however, caffeine has the opposite effect than initially expected. Caffeine actually interferes with the enhancement of physical performance afforded by creatine. A possible explanation for this paradoxical finding is the topic of this month's newsletter.

The Study
A recent study specifically looked at the consequences of caffeine consumption on the physical benefit normally afforded by creatine supplementation. The study consisted of a cross over design, which simply means that the subjects were divided into either experimental (caffeine and creatine) or control (creatine alone) groups, tested after a week, switched of conditions and then retested.

Nine males participated in the study. Their ages ranged between 20 and 23 years. Initially both groups were given 0.5 grams of creatine/kilogram of body weight for six days. This amount is slightly greater than the typically prescribed loading dose. In addition, the experimental group was also given 0.005 grams of caffeine per kilogram of body weight on days 4, 5 and 6. Therefore, for the last three days of supplementation the experimental group consumed both creatine and caffeine. On the seventh day their physical performance was tested using knee extension torque measurements. This is one entire day after the last dose caffeine.

After a washout period of 3 weeks the groups were switched, such that the experimentals (caffeine and creatine) became controls (creatine alone) and visa versa. The experiment was repeated. In this respect the effect of caffeine could be compared within each individual.

The Result
Caffeine consumption negated the physical benefit observed in the creatine group. Surprisingly, the effect of caffeine was observed one entire day after the last dose. This finding was at first paradoxical, because caffeine, at least initially, was proposed to increased creatine absorption into skeletal muscle via its effect on extramuscular sodium.

The amount of caffeine used in this study is equivalent to 2-3 strong cups of coffee for an average sized male, or 350 mg of caffeine for a 70 kilogram (154 pound) male. One important detail might be that caffeine was administered in the form of capsules.

Interestingly, caffeine did not interfere with the rise in muscular phosphocreatine associated with creatine loading. Remember that phosphocreatine is the biologically active form of creatine found within cells. In other words, caffeine neither decreased (nor increased, as expected) creatine transport at the muscle surface. Its inhibitory effect was felt after creatine had entered and formed phophocreatine.

A Possible Resolution
Coordinated movement is the result of opposing muscle groups contracting and relaxing in unison. For example, when performing a curl our biceps (front of arm) contract into a ball, whereas our triceps (back of arm) relax and lengthen. On the downward movement, the triceps contract and the biceps relax.

Another example is sprinting. A sprinter initiates a stride by contracting the front muscles and relaxing the back muscles of one leg. To move forward, however, he must then quickly relax the front muscles and contract the back muscles of that leg, so that his other leg can shoot forward. Therefore, muscle relaxation is part of coordinated movement and thus speed.

Calcium is what causes muscles to either contract or relax. A muscle contracts when calcium is released from storage sites deep inside the muscle. In other words, free calcium is the signal that tells a muscle to contract. Likewise, our muscles relax when calcium is reabsorbed into these internal storage sites. However, the restorage of calcium is an energetically expensive process and in this manner muscle relaxation cost us energy. The energy that pays for muscle relaxation comes from phosphocreatine!

Dr. Hepel's group in Belgium has elegantly shown that phosphocreatine levels determine muscle relaxation rate. When our muscle phosphocreatine levels are high, as a result of supplementation, our muscles relax more rapidly. Conversely, when our phosphocreatine stores are low, muscle relaxation is slowed and our exercise performance drops.

Although caffeine doesn't alter phosphocreatine levels, caffeine may nevertheless retard muscle relaxation by altering muscle calcium levels. Interestingly, caffeine is known to release calcium form internal stores. As outlined previously, this would slow muscle relaxation and jeopardize exercise performance, despite caffeine's know stimulatory properties. Therefore, caffeine may negate creatine's benefit by liberating internal calcium and thereby slowing muscle relaxation time.

False Rumors
Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning that it increases the excretion of water from the body in the urine. There are rumors that caffeine counteracts creatine by interfering with muscle volumizing. This is simply a false rumor and assumes that water retention by skeletal muscle is the source of strength. Although increasing the girth (volume) of our muscles, volumizing per se has no proven effect on strength. This was the topic of a recent newsletter. View it here.

Take Home
If you pump up on caffeine prior to working out, while at the same time supplementing with creatine monohydrate to increase exercise performance, you could be wasting your time and money. Avoid this practice!

However, it must be mentioned that not all studies demonstrate an inhibitory effect of caffeine on the benefits afforded by creatine and may be a result of how creatine was administered, ie whether in liquid or tablet form.

- B.A.