Creatine while cutting?

I used creatine to bulk up, and my gains were explosive! I gained so much more weight than bulking w/o the supplement.

Anyways, I'm going to start cutting...should I use creatine while cutting?? What will it essentially "do" while I use it while cutting?

Also, if I can get away without using it while cutting then great, because my current financial situation is not the greatest.

Creatine on a plane, creatine on a train.
Creatine when I'm bulking, creatine when I'm sulking.
Creatine in my shakes, creatine when I bake.

Creatine ALWAYS!!

Oh, sorry.  That's just my philosophy.  I'm sure there will shortly follow a million posts about how "puffy" creatine makes you, and that you should lay off it for cutting, since you want to get everything as hard and "dry" as possible.

Personally, I rather enjoy the rapid recovery between workouts (and within a workout) that creatine and glutamine afford.  I wouldn't want to do anything that promises to deplete muscle gylcogen and creatine without a deliberate strategy for replacing it.

If you're concerned about the cell hydration issue, try CEE.  There's a lot of debate over whether it's as effective as monohydrate, but the theory is that an estherized compound shouldn't drag as much water into the cell with it as a water-soluble version of the same.

And what's this budget ballyhoo??  If you're paying more than $30 for a 5 to 6 month supply of it, you're being taken to the cleaners.

My home away from DBB

I wish I reacted so positively to creatine supplementation.  I really can't tell if it makes any difference at all.

When cutting carbs, some people don't take so much creatine, since ideally you'll be taking your creatine with simple sugars to get higher absorption from the insulin spike.  But I don't think sugars are absolutely necessary for reaping the benefits of creatine, so IMO you may as well keep taking it.

Creatine is $20 (give or take a few bucks) for 1kg.  That's about 10 to 20 cents a day.  Pretty cheap to maintain unless you're taking some expensive, hyped up, PWO product.

You can take it at all times, but if you want to use financial reasons to cycle off of it for awhile go ahead.  Just don't mistake that water loss and a good cutting result....it is just the creatine's benefits slipping away.

Liiiitle thread jack real quick...does creatine ever go bad? even if its been open for a while?

veggeep


Creatine on a plane, creatine on a train.
Creatine when I'm bulking, creatine when I'm sulking.
Creatine in my shakes, creatine when I bake.

Creatine ALWAYS!!

Oh, sorry.  That's just my philosophy.  I'm sure there will shortly follow a million posts about how "puffy" creatine makes you, and that you should lay off it for cutting, since you want to get everything as hard and "dry" as possible.

Personally, I rather enjoy the rapid recovery between workouts (and within a workout) that creatine and glutamine afford.  I wouldn't want to do anything that promises to deplete muscle gylcogen and creatine without a deliberate strategy for replacing it.

If you're concerned about the cell hydration issue, try CEE.  There's a lot of debate over whether it's as effective as monohydrate, but the theory is that an estherized compound shouldn't drag as much water into the cell with it as a water-soluble version of the same.

And what's this budget ballyhoo??  If you're paying more than $30 for a 5 to 6 month supply of it, you're being taken to the cleaners.

Yeah I guess it does have it's perks.

I don't want to get "dry and hard", I just want to lose all this fat I've packed up since bulking.

Also..where do you get your creatine from so cheaply?

Smartbody Nutrition

And no, DZL, Creatine is not perishable -at least, not as much as Whey protein.  I've noticed whey protein tends to get stale by the time I get to the bottom of a 5lb jug, but I've been using a container of creatine monohydrate for the past five months that I opened back in March 2008.

My home away from DBB

Costco and Wal-Mart are good places to start looking for cheap mono.

veggeep


Creatine on a plane, creatine on a train.
Creatine when I'm bulking, creatine when I'm sulking.
Creatine in my shakes, creatine when I bake.

Creatine ALWAYS!!

Oh, sorry.  That's just my philosophy.  I'm sure there will shortly follow a million posts about how "puffy" creatine makes you, and that you should lay off it for cutting, since you want to get everything as hard and "dry" as possible.

Personally, I rather enjoy the rapid recovery between workouts (and within a workout) that creatine and glutamine afford.  I wouldn't want to do anything that promises to deplete muscle gylcogen and creatine without a deliberate strategy for replacing it.

If you're concerned about the cell hydration issue, try CEE.  There's a lot of debate over whether it's as effective as monohydrate, but the theory is that an estherized compound shouldn't drag as much water into the cell with it as a water-soluble version of the same.

And what's this budget ballyhoo??  If you're paying more than $30 for a 5 to 6 month supply of it, you're being taken to the cleaners.

Dr. Seuss,
    How much creatine do you take a day?  I cut back a little thinking I was overdoing it and wasting $.  Looks like I'm getting about 6g a day.  Enough or not?

optimumhealth


Costco and Wal-Mart are good places to start looking for cheap mono.

O,
   You have found creatine at Costco?  I can't find it.

4 to 5 grams, or one rounded teaspoon a day is plenty.  I don't do a loading phase.  Ever.

I don't do one in my kitchen
Cuz wasting creatine ain't that bitchin'
It's not that I consider it scary,
It's just that it's not necessary

My home away from DBB

veggeep


4 to 5 grams, or one rounded teaspoon a day is plenty.  I don't do a loading phase.  Ever.

I don't do one in my kitchen
Cuz wasting creatine ain't that bitchin'
It's not that I consider it scary,
It's just that it's not necessary

Oh, okay, so I'm good.  I envisioned a creatine IV drip going or something.  ;)
 
edit:  just read the rap poem.  Lol!  :)  Pretty good for a white guy!

Just don't ask me to beat-box.

My home away from DBB

veggeep


Just don't ask me to beat-box.

You mean like that a$$ on American Idol a couple years ago.  I thought he way overplayed that hand.

Always use the monohydrate form.

''If one is after quick results one never learns an art.''

Erich Fromm

canadian site
http://www.costco.ca/Common/Search.aspx?whse=BCCA&topnav=&search=creatine&N=0&Ntt=creatine&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-CA
USA Costco seems void of creatine, but Sam's Club sell this online:
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=378701

O,
   Thx!  I may start buying the mono powder alone.  I buy it mixed in fruit punch now but wonder whether I'm paying too much.

GNC has a 2.2 lbs with 161 servings of mono for $29.99, each serving 5 grams.   I turns my stomach so I went with a pill form Amp 189 which is more expensive but I digest it much easier.  But if you want cheap creatine mono that's the way to go and if you are a gold card member you can get 10-20% off the first week of the month.

Height 5' 8" Weight  200 lbs Body Fat 16%
Bench 315-Squat 365-Dead 405
Chest-46"/Bicep-16.5"/Waist-37"...UGGH
Thigh-24.5"/Calves 16"

    

MHB,
   Thx!  I'll give it a go!
   Where've you been?  How's the training?