A week off creatine: muscle melting or less hiccups?

You won’t notice much of a difference if you stop taking creatine for a week. Your body and muscles will usually become saturated with creatine after about 3 weeks of supplementation at approximately 5g per day. It also takes up to 3 weeks for these creatine stores to leave the body after you stop using it. So, realistically, if you stop taking creatine for just a week, your muscles will still have enough stores. Additionally, don’t forget that creatine is naturally produced in muscle cells and is found in many food sources.

One week is not that long

I will categorically state that if you stop taking creatine for a week it will not make any difference.

In fact, if you “feel” like your energy levels or exercise suffer during your rest week, it’s probably a placebo effect.

The whole point of taking it is to flood the muscles with creatine, which in turn helps the muscles produce energy.

This can of course lead to better strength and increased muscle mass.

However, it usually takes about 3 weeks of adding 5g per day to load the muscles with creatine.

This also explains why there is a loading phase, it basically allows you to get there faster.

So the goal is to flood your muscles with creatine and then go back to taking a maintenance dose of 3-5g per day.

Now, the very fact that your muscles are flooded with creatine, which means that their stores cannot be depleted overnight.

In fact, your creatine stores won’t actually begin to be depleted until at least 2 weeks after you stop taking it.

For most lifters who have been taking the recommended dosage, it will take up to 3 weeks for the creatine stores to completely leave the body.

Also, depending on how much you took, it could take up to 4-6 weeks.

In other words, not taking creatine for a week will be very little.

You should also remember that muscles naturally produce a base level of 1-2g of creatine per day.

In addition, many foods, especially red meat and fish, have high levels of creatine, meaning you can naturally “top up” through your diet.

Don’t believe the hype about creatine

You will often hear that if you stop taking creatine for a day or two, let alone a week, it will have an effect on you.

Some will say that you will lose some weight, which is mostly water weight, as the muscles become less saturated.

There are also those who claim that their strength has decreased in the few days since they stopped taking creatine.

And there are even people who will tell you that they lose size and muscle within a week.

As I mentioned above, if your muscles are saturated with creatine supplementation, it will take at least 2 weeks before any form of creatine depletion begins to occur.

So if someone notices immediate differences, it is again either a placebo effect, or simply that their muscles were not saturated with creatine.

That said, it’s ridiculous to claim that you’ve lost size or strength within a few days.

In fact, as I’m sure you realize, your gains are actually made outside of the gym while you’re recovering.

So your muscles repair and get bigger and stronger again when you’re not exercising.

“Holiday Effect”

This also explains why you can often return from vacation in better shape than when you left.

You knew you were going on vacation and so your training level increased in anticipation.

In fact, you were close to overtraining.

Then you spend a week or two eating, drinking, relaxing, and maybe hitting the hotel gym no more than a few times a week.

And yet somehow you look fantastic.

So anyone who says that stopping creatine for a few days or a week has seriously affected size and strength is talking nonsense.

I will even go so far as to say that the companies that manufacture and sell creatine will specifically tell you not to miss a single day.

To me this is nothing more than marketing hype just to keep you buying and taking more creatine.

Don’t believe the ads.

Should you cycle creatine?

You’ll read so much confusing and conflicting information about creatine that it’s enough to put you off taking it altogether.

And sorry if I’m just adding to your troubles.

There will be people who swear again cycling creatineand those who believe there is nothing wrong with taking it permanently.

In truth, I think it comes down to personal choice as well as how well your body responds to creatine.

You’ll often hear that you should load up on creatine for a week, take it for another 7-10 weeks as maintenance, and then take a week or two off.

The reason for this is that your body will usually adapt to the supplementation, so it’s a good idea to reset everything internally and then go back to taking creatine again.

Then there are people who will tell you that there is no need for a creatine cycle.

Well, in reality, there’s no need to stop taking creatine completely (because you’ll still be replacing it in some way).

This would involve taking a higher dose, say 10g, for about 4-5 days before returning to maintenance levels again.

In fact, your body has adapted, so you raise the levels to literally confuse the body.

I’ve always preferred the creatine cycle, but that’s just me.

What happens if you stop taking creatine completely?

Deciding to stop supplementing with creatine brings about a series of physiological changes, especially if your body previously responded positively to it.

It is estimated that up to 30% of people are “creatine non-responders”, ie. creatine has no effect on them.

So if you’re one of the 30% of people, then stopping creatine supplementation won’t make any difference.

Initially, one of the most noticeable effects is the reduction of water retention within the muscle cells.

Creatine has the ability to increase the absorption of water in the muscles, contributing to their fuller appearance and a slight increase in weight.

When you stop taking the supplements, this effect is reversed, leading to a decrease in muscle volume and possibly a less reduction in overall weight due to water loss.

In addition to immediate changes in vision and weight, stopping creatine can affect your performance, especially in activities that require quick bursts of energy or high-intensity exertion.

Creatine plays a key role in the rapid recovery of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the primary energy carrier in cells, which is especially important during short, intense physical activities.

Without the extra boost from supplementation, you may notice a slight decline in your ability to maintain peak performance levels, affecting your strength, power output, and recovery rate between workouts.

🚫 Stop taking creatine? What to expect 🚫
People who do not respond to creatine	Up to 30% of people see no effect from creatine, so stopping has no effect.
It’s time to deplete your creatine supply	3-6 weeks for most individuals.
Immediate effects	Loss of water weight and muscle fullness.
Long-term effects	Possible reduction in strength and power, which affects performance in the gym.
Brought to you mybodyweightexercises.com 💪

Your body will eventually adjust

However, the human body is remarkably adaptable.

Over a period that usually lasts three to six weeks, your body will adjust to the absence of additional creatine.

The body’s natural synthesis of creatine, along with dietary sources, will begin to compensate, although not to the levels achieved with supplementation.

This adaptation phase varies among individuals, but eventually leads to stabilization of performance metrics and physical abilities to pre-supplementation levels.

It is also worth noting that the effects of discontinuing creatine are not permanent.

If you decide to reintroduce creatine into your regimen, previous benefits such as increased muscle water retention, improved high-intensity performance, and faster recovery may return.

This reversible nature emphasizes both the effectiveness of creatine as a supplement and the body’s ability to adapt to dietary changes.

So while discontinuing creatine supplementation will likely lead to some noticeable changes, especially for those who initially responded well to creatine, these adjustments are part of the natural process as the body returns to its baseline state.

Understanding these changes can help manage expectations and maintain a balanced approach to fitness and supplementation strategy.

Final thoughts

So, I hope you have a better idea of ​​what happens when you stop taking creatine for a week.

True, very little.

It takes at least 2 weeks for creatine stores to begin to be depleted, and up to 3 weeks (4-6 weeks in some cases) for creatine to completely leave the body.

There are many marketing advertisements that claim that you should not miss a single day of creatine supplementation.

However, once the muscles are saturated, you have nothing to worry about for a while.

I recently discussed another popular question when it comes to supplements, namely, is it ok to take creatine without protein.