While getting ready for a bodybuilding competition, you may be debating whether or not to keep taking your supplements. Dietary calorie restriction is a frequent practise among fitness competitors and bodybuilders known as “cutting,” with the goal of appearing as slim as possible on competition day.
During the cutting period, many bodybuilders choose to supplement their diet with creatine. When you’re cutting, you take creatine a little differently than you do when you’re bulking. Before beginning to take creatine or any other dietary supplement, you should talk to your sports doctor and training coach.
Yes creatine is good for cutting. It brings water to your muscles and enhances your performance during workout.
Fire Up Your Vitality
Creatine is an amino acid that the body produces naturally and that can also be found in high-protein meals like meat and fish. When performing weightlifting and other forms of high-intensity exercise for brief periods of time, it aids in the body’s ability to produce energy.
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used as fuel by nearly every cell in the body, but mainly by exercising muscles, and creatine is a precursor to this energy molecule. Because of this, it is frequently used as a pre-workout supplement by those who want to increase their physical exertion during exercise. It might also help you gain muscle.
When Is It Safe to Start Taking Creatine?
Cutting Creatine
Although losing fat is the primary objective during the reducing phase, muscle loss is also common. According to fitness author Sean Nalewanyj, creatine’s ability to increase energy expenditure during caloric restriction makes it a useful tool for protecting muscle mass during weight loss. Taking creatine supplements can also boost your basal metabolic rate, or the amount of energy your body burns while at rest.
Keep from Bloating
While it is true that creatine helps grow muscle, some bodybuilders worry that it can make you look bloated if you use it during a cutting period. How much water your muscles absorb from creatine depends on how much creatine you ingest.
One to three grammes of creatine per day are recommended for adults by a study published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2017. When it comes to maintaining lean muscle mass, however, those with more muscle mass and who engage in high-intensity training often need five to ten grammes each day.
In contrast to the water retention that creatine can cause, the reduction in carbohydrate consumption that often occurs during a calorie deficit can actually cause the muscles to shed water and appear smaller. If you want to maintain the appearance of full muscles while cutting, creatine supplementation is a good idea.
Furthermore, Creatine Has These Advantages
Creatine has been shown to enhance energy levels, but it may also aid recovery from intense exercise by lowering inflammation and protecting muscle tissue.
Think About the Consequences
If you are healthy and have talked to your doctor about taking vitamins, then you should do so. Negative side effects, such as nausea, diarrhoea, or stomach distress, may occur in those who are new to creatine. These are usually minor and go away as you continue using the product.
Creatine may raise blood pressure, thus those who have hypertension or are at risk for it should discuss this with their doctor. Creatine may interfere with some medications, so be sure to tell your doctor about all the prescriptions you take.
When I’m trying to lose weight, is creatine a good idea?
There is a lot of misconceptions floating around about creatine and its use and/or effects in the body, despite all the benefits it provides.
Creatine may prevent fat loss or induce water retention, two of the most common myths.
- To far, there have been no studies that show creatine to have any effect on resting calorie expenditure or fat metabolism, meaning that it does not hinder your body’s capacity to use fat as fuel or lower your daily calorie expenditure.
- In addition, creatine aids muscular growth and enhances performance in exercise. When a muscle grows larger and stronger, it increases its ability to metabolise fat.
- In addition, maintaining muscle mass when dieting is a top priority. Creatine helps you keep your muscle mass while dieting since it boosts your performance in resistance exercise.
- There is some truth to the claim that creatine causes “water retention.”
- But there’s a catch: creatine actually makes you gain water weight in muscle rather than fat.
- Additionally, if you follow a creatine loading strategy and take in 20-25 mg of creatine every day, you will likely experience some bloating.
- Consuming 3–5 grammes of creatine daily will eliminate the gassiness you’re experiencing.
- Every single serving of 1UP Pure Rebuild contains 5 grammes of pure creatine. Our novel tri-creatine complex is just the beginning; Pure Rebuild also provides a full spectrum of essential amino acids and the full research-backed dose of betaine, a muscle-building nutrient that supports endogenous creatine production, as well as 5 grammes of glutamine to aid in recovery and immune function.
- In addition, a recent study indicated that using betaine supplements in addition to doing physical training could increase fat loss.
Takeaway
Creatine is efficient, well-tolerated, and safe to use.
It boosts metabolic rate, cellular water content, and lean body mass. You can continue taking creatine supplements during your cutting phase; there’s no need to wean off of them.
In fact, if youworkout harder while dieting, you might be able to maintain or even gain muscle mass!
Related: How Much Protein When Cutting
