Man who's taken 5g of creatine every day for a year reveals what happened when he stopped for a month
Pierre Dalati, who spent a year taking 5g of creatine a day before trying a month off the supplement, has opened up about the impact it had on his body, including whether he had any 'withdrawals' and what happened to his overall muscle mass and recovery.
The YouTuber said that within the first six months of being on creatine, he gained five pounds of lean muscle mass, and then when he reduced his diet to try to slim down, he was able to maintain his new muscles.
While he recommended people stick to the suggested daily dose of 5g, Pierre advised that if someone took more, then they might notice more cognitive benefits, as the excess that didn't work on their muscles would go to their brain.
Nevertheless, he did say he experienced some cognitive benefits, so it seems he's one of the fortunate ones who doesn't seem to get some of the less appealing side effects of the supplement.
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The YouTuber went into detail about exactly what happened to him when he decided to take a month off from creatine.
'It's not like you'll suddenly shrink or lose your muscles overnight'
For those wondering whether the muscles you got thanks to creatine will shrivel up immediately, fear not.
Pierre explained that while 'your muscle stores slowly go back to the baseline after a few weeks', they weren't going to 'suddenly shrink' or disappear right away.
However, he did notice that his strength did reduce over time and he lost a 'fuller look' from his muscles, as well as a dip in his muscle recovery from exercising.
Pierre had said that when he was on creatine, he found he could do more reps before hitting a point of failure, and his recovery was better, so he noticed that without it for a month, he lost some of that ability.
On the bright side, he found that there were 'no withdrawals' or anything addictive about creatine.
"Throughout my whole year, I personally cycled off of it for a whole month just to see how it would affect me.
"And in reality, I was completely fine.
"But yes, I did notice that my strength went down a bit and also that cognitive boost that I was getting, I wasn't experiencing it as much, especially on the days where I wasn't sleeping as good."
Likewise, Pierre also delved into the changes he noticed in his body after starting creatine.
'You actually start noticing results after two to four weeks'
Pierre explained that he was seeing results after the first couple of weeks. He said: "You actually start noticing results after two to four weeks because that's when your muscle creatine gets saturated, meaning your muscles absorbed all the creatine they can.
"And then what I noticed after the first two to four weeks instantly is better recovery, better muscle endurance.
"So, for example, with an exercise that I was able to do eight reps, I was now able to do 12 to 13 reps. Faster recovery, improved cognitive functions
"Even when I'm relaxed, and I'm not pumped up, my muscles just look big. They look good."
Joe Harker