Creatine

[Iamsuperman]

I'm an 18 year old vegetarian and considering taking creatine supplements.

I've read that creatine naturally comes from red meat and fish, so vegetarians will have significantly less creatine in their bodies. Apparently this is a bad thing as creatine improves brain function, muscle size, and energy with very little apparent downsides.

From what I've read you don't really need the loading phase, it just gives you muscular gains faster, so I'd probably skip that and spare any possible extra load it would put on my liver and kidneys and just take something like 5 grams or less and cycle off every once in a while.

Another note; the creatine supplement is made from completely vegetarian sources.

Opinions? Is 18 too early to be considering creatine supplements?

[DarkSociologist]

Creatine is also produced naturally in your body, which is why people think it is generally safe, so I'm not sure how much of a deficit a vegetarian would have compared to vegetarian.

Know that the most common type of creatine is creatine monohydrate, which is a molecule of creatine attached to a molecule of water. Because the creatine is attached to the water, the most initial gains in size that people typically get is caused by water retention (which also means you're going to need to drink additional water throughout the day to prevent damage to your kidneys).

As long as you remember to drink enough water, then it should be safe. Creatine is not a hormone, so it shouldn't mess you up as badly as if you were taking steroids.

Then again, I'm not a doctor, so you probably should ask one of those first.

[Erin Pavlina]

I just had a bunch of blood work done and my creatine was normal and I've been vegan for about 10 years.

[Spirittap]

I wouldn't take creatine again. I first took it when i was 16-17. I gained 25 pounds the first month and 10-15 the next two. The problem with the powder is it sits in your body for a long time, which has been said to cause problems. I also got stretch marks because of these gains.

I also took liquid form and it did nothin for me.

If you're looking for muscle gain, you can get it by working out with heavy weight, low reps, and a normal diet. At least that's how i gained without creatine. If you use creatine.... you can basically workout however you want.

[Iamsuperman]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

I just had a bunch of blood work done and my creatine was normal and I've been vegan for about 10 years.

I've read that the body naturally makes 50% of creatine and the other 50% normally comes from meat (in omniverious diets). I've also read that the body naturally stops makes creatine when it is supplemented in large amounts, but then it starts again when the supplements stop. I wonder if the body naturally makes more creatine in response to less dietary creatine.

[freshwala]

LOL its just creatine, its fine, best supplement to take in my opinion, as long as u eat and drink enough there is practically no downside, dont worry about ur age, i first took it when i was 16 but it was with protein as well, it will do u good and let u reach your full potential.
peace