The Real Reason Creatine May Affect Your Weight
Diet & NutritionNutrients & Supplements

Can Creatine Supplements Cause Weight Gain?

Can Creatine Supplements Cause Weight Gain?
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Published on February 2, 2026
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Note: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not approve supplements for safety or effectiveness before being sold or marketed. Talk to a healthcare professional about whether a supplement is the right fit for your individual health, and about any potential drug interactions or safety concerns.

You’ve started supplementing with creatine — a compound that supplies energy to your muscles — in the hopes of experiencing its potential benefits, such as boosting athletic performance, improving strength, and enhancing muscle growth.

 But if you’ve noticed the number on the scale start to inch upward slightly, it’s not necessarily a cause for concern.
Sports medicine and nutrition experts regard creatine as effective for increasing muscle strength and safe for most healthy adults to use short-term with minimal side effects when taken at recommended doses. That said, clinical trials have reported weight gain as a main initial side effect of creatine supplements.

Any extra pounds you gain are usually due to an increase in muscle mass and some initial water retention, not an increase in actual body fat. Creatine can affect people differently, so not everyone will gain weight.

 Here’s the scoop on why creatine may lead to weight gain in some people.

Why Creatine May Lead to Weight Gain

As Julia Zumpano, RD, at the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Human Nutrition in Cleveland explains, any creatine-prompted weight gain likely wouldn’t translate to an actual body fat increase. Typically, the extra weight is from short-term water retention or muscle growth. In one review of 16 randomized controlled trials out of Taiwan, authors reported that water retention resulted in muscle cell swelling, which stimulates the growth of muscle cells.

Water Retention

When creatine supplies the muscles with energy, it also increases the water content in muscle cells, resulting in short-term water retention within the muscle tissue.

 “Weight gain can be a side effect of taking creatine because creatine can pull more water into your muscles, keeping them more hydrated," says Zumpano. As a result, this water retention can look like a slight increase on the scale.

In some cases, it may be dependent on the dose you’re taking, says Michael Fredericson, MD, a sports medicine physiatrist and professor of orthopaedic surgery at Stanford University in Redwood City, California.

“If you're taking 3 grams (g) or 5 g of creatine per day — which is the recommended dose for general health — you probably won't see much in the way of weight gain,” Dr. Fredericson says. “But if you're taking higher doses like some of the bodybuilders do, the creatine can really trap water in the muscle.”

 Bodybuilders and other athletes often kick off their creatine supplementation with high doses during what’s known as a loading phase in hopes of achieving performance results faster. During the loading phase, athletes take a larger dose (typically 20 g per day) for a week before settling into a maintenance dose (3 to 5 g per day), Zumpano explains.

Muscle Mass

Creatine helps create adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule that gives us energy and can help athletic performance, explains Zumpano. She says creatine is most often used for muscle strength building and recovery.

Creatine supplements have an additive effect when you also engage in resistance training, according to a systematic review and meta-analysis from Korea. Combining creatine with strength training promotes the production of muscle protein, improving body composition (including lean muscle mass) and muscle strength.

Because muscle is denser than fat, increasing your muscle mass may also add pounds (depending on your body composition) and may explain your increase in body weight, particularly if you’re noticing the weight gain weeks after starting supplementation.

How Much Weight Gain to Expect

Different forms of creatine supplements are available, including creatine citrate, creatine ethyl ester, creatine malate, and creatine monohydrate. Most studies have used creatine monohydrate, so more is known about this formula than the others.

 Several studies have suggested that supplementing with creatine monohydrate in combination with a strength-training program can cause a weight gain of between 2.2 and 4.4 pounds (lb) within the first month.

While creatine weight gain doesn’t automatically occur for everyone, it may be more likely to happen if you start with a loading phase, taking 20 g per day for a week instead of the typical dose of 3 to 5 g.

“If you are concerned with weight gain, begin at a lower dose and increase to your goal [dose] slowly,” recommends Zumpano. “If weight gain occurs, it shouldn't be more than a few pounds.” She says to check with a healthcare provider if you find yourself gaining excessive weight — for example, more than 4.4 lb — or notice a continual weight increase after about a month of supplementing.

Keep in mind that building lean muscle mass and seeing an increase on the scale may be intentional for some people, like Fredericson, who typically takes a daily dose of 3 g of creatine. “For me, I want a little weight gain because it's hard for me to keep on weight,” Fredericson says. “One of the reasons I actually take creatine is to help maintain my weight, so it may not be a bad thing for everybody,” he notes.

What You Can Do to Avoid (or Minimize) Weight Gain With Creatine

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula for preventing creatine-associated weight gain, there are some general tips that experts recommend to help optimize the supplement’s possible benefits — with minimal unintended side effects.

  • Prioritize hydration. Mild dehydration can occur as creatine draws water into your muscle cells. Fredericson recommends staying well-hydrated while taking this supplement, which will also help balance water retention.

  • Consider carbohydrate intake. The body stores carbohydrates as glycogen (a source of backup fuel), which also increases water retention. You might be able to decrease this extra water storage by cutting down on carbs, but be aware that this may reduce how much creatine you absorb because carbohydrates can enhance creatine absorption.

  • Limit excess sodium. Sodium attracts water, so by limiting the amount of salt you consume to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) per day, you can decrease water retention.

  • Prioritize resistance training. “If you're taking creatine to build lean muscle mass, then you really want to make sure you're doing your resistance training at least a couple times a week,” says Fredericson. This promotes the loss of excess water weight through sweating, and as a bonus, some research also suggests that combining resistance training with supplements yields better athletic improvements than creatine alone.

  • Skip the loading phase. Fredericson says that although some professional athletes tout high starting doses of creatine supplements, be mindful that those larger 20 g loading doses can be excessive for the average person and can increase water retention. Smaller doses of 3 to 5 g may be just as effective.

  • Check with your healthcare provider. Anytime you’re considering adding a supplement like creatine to your routine, it’s a good idea to consult with a clinician about potential side effects, as well as interactions with other medications you’re taking. This may be particularly important if you have kidney disease, both Zumpano and Fredericson note, though standard doses of creatine don’t harm kidney function in healthy people. People with kidney disease, or at high risk for it, should avoid creatine or use it only under medical supervision.

Above all, Fredericson recommends keeping your individual health goals in mind. “When people ask ‘which supplements should I take,’ particularly as they’re getting older, creatine is the one supplement I think is really worthwhile for supporting the maintenance of lean body mass,” he says. But be sure to speak with your doctor first to ensure it’s right for you.

The Takeaway

  • Creatine, a well-researched supplement that may improve muscle strength and exercise performance, is considered to be safe and effective for most healthy people, though weight gain is one of its potential side effects.
  • Creatine supplements may increase water retention in muscles, leading to a temporary weight gain in the first month you begin supplementation. After the first month, creatine supplements may also increase body weight by creating more lean muscle mass, depending on your body composition.
  • To minimize weight gain, experts recommend skipping high loading doses, staying hydrated, limiting sodium and possibly carbohydrates in your diet, and engaging in resistance workouts regularly.
  • Before you start supplementing with creatine, talk to your healthcare team to discuss potential benefits and risks specific to your health, including possible drug interactions.
EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance. National Institutes of Health. March 22, 2021.
  2. Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance. National Institutes of Health. April 1, 2024.
  3. Creatine Monohydrate: Dietary Supplement for Performance. Operation Supplement Safety. April 7, 2025.
  4. Wu S-H et al. Creatine Supplementation for Muscle Growth: A Scoping Review of Randomized Clinical Trials From 2012 to 2021. Nutrients. March 16, 2022.
  5. Choi M et al. Does the Combination of Resistance Training and a Nutritional Intervention Have a Synergic Effect on Muscle Mass, Strength, and Physical Function in Older Adults? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. BMC Geriatrics. November 12, 2021.
  6. Artese A. Does Resistance Training Make You Gain Weight? American Council on Exercise. August 12, 2020.
  7. Patient Safety: Strength in Scoops: A Primer in Creatine, Protein Powder, and Pre-workout Supplementation. UConn School of Pharmacy.
  8. McCallum K. What Is Water Weight? And Should You Be Trying to Lose It? Houston Methodist. July 28, 2025.
  9. Cave K. How to Lose Water Weight Effectively. National Academy of Sports Medicine.
  10. Sodium In Your Diet. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. March 5, 2024.
  11. Is the Creatine Loading Phase Worth Doing it? Cleveland Clinic. November 5, 2024.
  12. Naeini EK et al. Effect of Creatine Supplementation on Kidney Function: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. BMC Nephrology. November 6, 2025.
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