question about creatine water gains/loss

[fuse929]

Hey all. New to the forum, but long time Animal user.......been reading around and have come across lots of good stuff here.

I have a question for anyone who is in the know about the water retention/loss aspects of creatine use. Sorry to be long-winded, but I wanted to give a good description of my question.

I just finished off a 3 month bulking cycle, with the final month consisting of a Shock/Storm/Torrent stack. I took in about 100g of hydrolyzed & casien protein every day, along with a pretty healthy diet of 2000-2500 calories or so (not trying to become a beast) and made some pretty big gains in size/strength. I lifted 4x's a week staggering push/pull days, with no cardio.

After taking a week off from all supplements (except the protein and pak) while still lifting, I began cutting by incorporating cardio 3-4x's a week and using Animal Cuts. I still take the 100g protein, and have only cut my diet back by 500 calories or so (with no fast foot), but in the 8 days since starting Cuts I've already dropped 8 pounds. I'm 25 y/o 6 foot, 191 lbs, 22% body fat with a pretty muscular frame, so it seems dropping 8 pounds in a week may be a bit unhealthy.

My question is, could a majority of that weight be loss of water gained from the creatine? I haven't noticed a dramatic decrease in muscular size, but I have noticed my pants fitting much looser. I know creatine makes your body retain water, but I didn't realize it could potentially be pounds worth. Thanks for any input.

fuse

[Aggression]

Hey all. New to the forum, but long time Animal user.......been reading around and have come across lots of good stuff here.

I have a question for anyone who is in the know about the water retention/loss aspects of creatine use. Sorry to be long-winded, but I wanted to give a good description of my question.

I just finished off a 3 month bulking cycle, with the final month consisting of a Shock/Storm/Torrent stack. I took in about 100g of hydrolyzed & casien protein every day, along with a pretty healthy diet of 2000-2500 calories or so (not trying to become a beast) and made some pretty big gains in size/strength. I lifted 4x's a week staggering push/pull days, with no cardio.

After taking a week off from all supplements (except the protein and pak) while still lifting, I began cutting by incorporating cardio 3-4x's a week and using Animal Cuts. I still take the 100g protein, and have only cut my diet back by 500 calories or so (with no fast foot), but in the 8 days since starting Cuts I've already dropped 8 pounds. I'm 25 y/o 6 foot, 191 lbs, 22% body fat with a pretty muscular frame, so it seems dropping 8 pounds in a week may be a bit unhealthy.

My question is, could a majority of that weight be loss of water gained from the creatine? I haven't noticed a dramatic decrease in muscular size, but I have noticed my pants fitting much looser. I know creatine makes your body retain water, but I didn't realize it could potentially be pounds worth. Thanks for any input.

fuse

It can be a number of things, but I wouldn't worry about losing that much that quick. You will definitely lose some weight after going off the shock therapy/storm. You might have also lost a lost of water weight in general from cleaning up your diet quickly. If you go from a big time bulk, directly to a cutting cycle (with a cutting diet), you'll drop weight quickly. I dropped about the same amoutn of weight when I began cutting. I dropped 31lbs in 7 weeks. I had a pretty sloppy bulking program, so cleaning up the diet definitely flushed out a lot of the crap my body was holding. I woulnd't worry about it. You're not gonna drop 8 pounds every week.

[Aggression]

Also, you can still take shock therapy and storm during a cutting cycle. It won't hinder your muscles and overall look as much as many people think.

[Steelman69]

Hey all. New to the forum, but long time Animal user.......been reading around and have come across lots of good stuff here.

I have a question for anyone who is in the know about the water retention/loss aspects of creatine use. Sorry to be long-winded, but I wanted to give a good description of my question.

I just finished off a 3 month bulking cycle, with the final month consisting of a Shock/Storm/Torrent stack. I took in about 100g of hydrolyzed & casien protein every day, along with a pretty healthy diet of 2000-2500 calories or so (not trying to become a beast) and made some pretty big gains in size/strength. I lifted 4x's a week staggering push/pull days, with no cardio.

After taking a week off from all supplements (except the protein and pak) while still lifting, I began cutting by incorporating cardio 3-4x's a week and using Animal Cuts. I still take the 100g protein, and have only cut my diet back by 500 calories or so (with no fast foot), but in the 8 days since starting Cuts I've already dropped 8 pounds. I'm 25 y/o 6 foot, 191 lbs, 22% body fat with a pretty muscular frame, so it seems dropping 8 pounds in a week may be a bit unhealthy.

My question is, could a majority of that weight be loss of water gained from the creatine? I haven't noticed a dramatic decrease in muscular size, but I have noticed my pants fitting much looser. I know creatine makes your body retain water, but I didn't realize it could potentially be pounds worth. Thanks for any input.

fuse

How much water you hold onto from the creatine depends on your own body's chemistry. I have one question though, are you only eating 100g of protein a day? I took creatine for a good 12 weeks and then stopped only the creatine, kept up my same diet, no cardio at all and within 3 weeks I was down 17 pounds. Still strong and looked better. Oh yeah and I didn't feel all bloated and shit. Still I wonder about your protein. Peace.

[fuse929]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

Steelman: I take 100g of protein supplements a day (25g hydrolyzed immediately pre & post-workout, 25g casien between breakfast and lunch and another 25g casien right before bed), and probably get another 75-100g from food through out the day. I try to get 175-200 total grams a day.

[Steelman69]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

Steelman: I take 100g of protein supplements a day (25g hydrolyzed immediately pre & post-workout, 25g casien between breakfast and lunch and another 25g casien right before bed), and probably get another 75-100g from food through out the day. I try to get 175-200 total grams a day.

Now I understand bro. Whenever I cut I try as hard as possible to use the mirror as my guide and not the scales. However, I know it is damn hard not to step on the scales at some point just to see how things are going. Just keep up with that good clean diet and watch the changes take place. Peace.

[TheDarkHalf]

Also, you can still take shock therapy and storm during a cutting cycle. It won't hinder your muscles and overall look as much as many people think.

Just a friendly reminder that shock therapy does contain carbs, so if you are cutting and are using it make sure to fact that into your macros.