What Happens After Stopping Creatine

Learn exactly what happens when you stop taking creatine. If you're wondering what happens to your muscles on creatine and what happens when you stop using creatine watch this video. You'll discover if quitting creatine causes muscle loss and strength losses. You'll also learn the best ways to avoid any side effects.

Creatine can help make you bigger stronger and faster but what happens when you stop?  Do you lose all that mass, strength, and gains or are there steps you can take to actually retain your results? Will your body naturally continue to produce creatine at the same levels that it was before you started using it or will natural creatine production become suppressed from supplementing with it for a certain amount weeks or months. And will there be any potential health consequences, so how will your organs, your cells, and your body react after stopping creatine. I'm going to answer all of these questions and more in today's video as we take a deep dive inside your body to find out what exactly will happen.
 
Now one of the first things that people will complain about after cutting out creatine supplementation is that their muscles look flat. Looking flat refers to muscles that appear less full, less pumped, and less defined than usual. This is due to one of the most immediate effects of stopping creatine supplementation which is a decrease in muscle water content. You see creatine increases intracellular water retention, which is the accumulation of water within your cells, specifically, here we're talking about muscle cells. This water retention makes your muscles look fuller and larger.

The issue is when you stop taking creatine, this water is gradually lost, leading to a slight decrease in muscle volume. So yes your muscles will look less full and less pumped however, it’s important to realize that this is not actual muscle loss but rather it's just water weight that you're losing. This effect will usually be more noticeable in individuals who have been taking creatine for an extended period of time at least 4 to 6 weeks or longer. So that the visual change can be discouraging, because you might feel like you're right back to where you were before you took the creatine, but it’s essential to understand that the actual muscle mass that you gained is still there, it's just the water retention that's gone. 
So obviously another thing that is going to happen is that you'll lose a small amount of weight on the scale. Usually, this will range from 1 to 3 pounds of water weight lost in the first week after stopping, but it can go up higher all the way up to 5 to 7 pounds. The amount of water weight you lose depends on how long you've been using creatine, and how much water your body typically retains which is influenced by other factors such as how much water you drink daily and how much you usually sweat. 
Now after stopping creatine your muscle creatine stores don't just rapidly drop to 0. First of all your body naturally produces creatine in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas by synthesizing it from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine.

On top of that the average person consumes about 1 to 2 grams of creatine per day from food primarily from animal-based sources like red meat, chicken, and fish. This is still much less than the amount of creatine you'll be taking in while supplementing, but this is why it's a gradual process usually taking anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks for your muscles to return to baseline creatine levels. One of the downsides of returning to baseline is that you're likely to experience a slight reduction in strength and power output. This is because creatine helps regenerate ATP which is crucial for high-intensity, short-duration activities. Adenosine Triphosphate provides a lot of energy, but your body can only store a very small amount, just enough for a few seconds of intense activity. Creatine helps regenerate ATP faster, allowing for improved performance in short bursts of activity, such as weightlifting or sprinting. When you stop taking creatine, your body’s ability to quickly replenish ATP goes down, leading to a potential decrease in strength and power output. This reduction won't be noticeable in your day-to-day activities, but you might notice it during more intense activities. Most likely you'll experience more fatigue during your lifts when coming off of creatine because the ATP regeneration that creatine provides helps reduce both physical and mental fatigue. So for example, if you normally lift 225 pounds on the bench press for 9 reps while taking creatine, you might drop to 7 or 8 reps after stopping. So the change should be small and over time, as your body readjusts to lower creatine levels, your performance levels should stabilize, at a slightly lower level than when you were supplementing.

[Sasoke]

Here are the takeaways for those who can't spend 10 mins on this video :
💧 Stopping creatine use results in a decrease in muscle water content, making muscles appear less full.
📉 There is typically a small weight loss, mainly due to water weight, when discontinuing creatine.
🏋️‍♂️ Creatine naturally occurs in the body and is also found in animal-based foods, but at lower levels than supplements.
⏳ It takes about 4 to 6 weeks for muscle creatine levels to return to baseline after stopping supplementation.
🔋 Creatine helps in ATP regeneration, which is vital for high-intensity activities; a reduction in creatine can lead to decreased strength and power.
🏋️‍♀️ To retain muscle gains, it's important to continue intense workouts and maintain a proper diet even after stopping creatine.
🧠 Creatine has been shown to enhance cognitive function, particularly in tasks requiring short-term memory and quick thinking.
🏥 Long-term use and cessation of creatine are considered safe, with no significant impact on kidney or liver health.

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Have a great day<3

[zenithquestor]

If you are seeing this I want you to succeed with your exercise and to achieve everything you want

[Studiovette]

I am one of those who doesn't benefit from creatine but i still take it for the new studies that show it helps brain function etc.

[PoopsieSquirtle]

No way you just posted this, im literally going through this right now and have no idea how much my procrastinating coukd be screwing ne

[JourneyofGrowth]

Great video! Finally understand the changes that happen after stopping creatine. This information is really helpful for adjusting my training routine!

[rounaksubramanian]

Wo this is a very amazing and awesome video bro telling about this topic of what happen after stopping creatine and keep it up and keep up the great work as always and take care
Keep smiling always

[riquepr]

Dude, thank you very much for this info. I was heading that way.

[tony.]

I stopped taking it and also cut out protein shakes. 💯 natural and eating very clean. I honestly feel better now, but I did notice my fullness has decreased, but im still strong and lean.

[JunkAccumulator]

There has been one research (so low reliability) but creatine had been shown to be bad for your eyes if you’re not fully hydrated.

[beastoftalvar]

Thank you for providing us with these useful videos for fitness related content.❤

[earlebarker]

The water weight loss is the same with DBOL but your gains are much more noticeable

[erikswe]

I stopped it and felt much better actually - felt like testosterone was boosted because less was converted to shitty DHT. Muscle endurance was a bit weaker for a week though - but then it normalised and just felt overall better

[farzam]

It's an amazing supplement. Just caused hair loss in me (evidently doesn't affect everyone)

[ayaanansari]

Yes it happened with me
This is very informative video

[dheath]

I was hoping he would answer the real question, if you take creatine long term and then stop, can your body produce or synthetise creatine from food itself, like before the long term use, or does it lose its ability as been said before?

[Airick]

I take creatine HCL not monohydrate. Yes, I know it’s not a pre workout supplement but I mostly just use creatine HCL for energy instead of pre workout supplements since creatine produces energy giving you less rest time between sets. But if I have enough energy before the gym then I’ll take Creatine HCL with my isolate protein after the gym. I’m not trying to get really big, not trying to become The Hulk. So I’m not worrying to much about building ha lot of muscle but if I do I won’t complain. I did gain 4.5 pounds in muscle in 4 months though and I don’t eat too much…..also my body fat went down to 4.3%.

[antdogg]

This makes me want to NEVER stop taking creatine. 💪🏽

[Fx_ZA]

I'm new to this ... What advice would you give me?

[CherryMakesGameplays]

Bro uses so much of Bollywood movies scenes

[elijahpenberthy]

Does the atp decrease from the supplied levels given by the creatine? Or do they drop below your baseline level before taking creatine in the first place?

I suppose what I’m saying is, do your natural atp levels drop below average after ending creatine.