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Hey there,
I'm in the middle of my weights programme (training 3 times a week), and have been using some "reflex instant whey" protein shake after my workouts (and in the morning) in order to help the muscle toning/building process. Now, baring in mind, overnight I essentially altered my diet about 3 weeks ago, increasing my water intake from very low to about 5 pints a day and eating quite a high protein diet. But, about 3 weeks into my diet change, I started to feel constantly quite thirsty, and no matter how much I drank the thirst never used to completely subside, causing frequent trips to the bathroom. (this is before taking creatine). I then got slightly concerned that I may have diabetes type 1 (although there is no family history, and I am a bit of a anxious character), so I went to the doctor and both my blood sugar levels and the urine glucose test + ketone test were normal. I was told that my constant thirst is due to my increased water intake and thus my body is adapting to the increased water demand...any thoughts on this? ( I was also told that If I was diabetic, I would be waking up constantly in the night taking trips to the bathroom and drinking about 3-4 pints of water after waking up)
So with this in mind, I started to take creatine (have been in the "loading phase" for 3 days now), and am just wondering if the feeling of constantly being thirsty is normal for creatine, and does it eventually stop after taking it, because I dont want to be thirsty for ever.

I'm hoping someone could shed some light of this because I am rather anxious

Thanks

CoZ

As far as ive witnessed, it wont lol. Two friends are on a full regime workout and have been for about a year and they still drink constantly and go the toilet constantly. Irratating when were online but eh. Just wait till you start farting Bloody hell i kick them outside nowdays.

I've been on and off of exercise for the last couple of years due to being a student and having work distract me, but now that I've finished I've gotten back into a routine of exercising at the gym and using weights.

It used to be the case that I'd really thirst for a drink and I don't use supplements. I signed up to the gym a week ago and have been using sports drinks instead of water or fruit drinks and I must say, I feel more hydrated. I've been using Lucazade Lite all week, but yesterday I gave 'Neuro Sport' a try, these guys seem to have different drinks tailored for optimal performance in different tasks.

http://www.drinkneuro.com/ (I know they sell them in Tescos)

It's possible the thirst with the creatine is that your body needs to hydrate itself more and sports drinks specialise in hydrating your body quickly.

As for your body reacting to the higher in take of water you've introduced into your diet, I have been told the same thing.



However, I'd be interested in knowing more about creatine and muscle building, after all, once I start paying for my full membership next Thursday, I intend on building a proper routine for: losing weight, getting fitter and building muscle tissue - the gym will give me consultation sessions, but of course, I'd be interested in seeing what your opinion is as you have your own routine.

Cheers.

Cheers for the answers guys.

@Seppuku Arts: Long Post Alert!
A Creatine or Creatine monohydrate supplement as it's known simply draws water to your muscles increasing their size drastically and thus allowing you to lift heavier weights or train harder. The effect from the harder training will further increase your muscle size for when you come off the creatine. However,points to know:
*Because of the way creatine works (basically robbing your body of water), you have to drastically increase your water intake to avoid de-hydration which can lead to muscle cramping etc. Some suggest you drink upwards to a gallon (although I drink about 5 pints) of water a day when on creatine' especially during the loading phase.

*Creatine has been proven as a perfectly safe supplement to take, backed by years of scientific research (although the long term effects of creatine are unknown due to the "newness" of the supplement); however, no harm to the kidneys or liver etc was detected in a study of 9 volunteers who took creatine for a period of 1 year.

*As already mentioned, dehydration is a side-effect, and apparently constant/frequent thirst is an issue of creatine.

The Loading Phase
This is a period of 5 days - 1 week where you take 20g of creatine daily (4x 5g servings spread out through the day) in order to saturate your muscles with creatine. However, it is not a requirement that you load, although it gives you faster results.

The Maintenance Phase
After your 5 day - 1 week loading phase, you simply take 5g of creatine daily to keep your muscles saturated. If you don't wish to load, then you simply start with this phase.

Cycling Creatine
This is basically a fancy way of saying you simply have 8 weeks of using creatine, then a month of not using it (this is allow the body to repair which again hints at the doubt concerning long term use), although many users don't cycle and have not developed problems

How to take it
Drop your 5g serving into a glass of water/orange juice/protein shake and drink quickly. (Creatine is not stable in liquid form, and slowly turns to creatinine. This is also a reason why you should drink lots of water, because excess amounts of creatinine puts strain upon your kidneys)

Is it worth taking?
I'm going to speak from my short amount of personal ecperience here and say no. I have been on creatine for about 3 days, and yes I have noticed a rather drastic increase in the size of my muscles and strength. However, I dont think the even worse constant thirst is worth it, coupled with the niggling doubt in the back of my mind about could long term use of this supplement cause problems in later life. Sure, your muscles get bigger and you feel great, but when you really look at it, I don't think it's worth the "bloating" feeling from having to drink so much water, or the constant thirst (not to mention the doubts). This also goes for many supplements such as protein shakes, considering since I started the supplements, I encounted the problems mentioned in the first post, which to some like myself can prove a fairly frightening experience. Don't be pulled towards supplements due to the advantages of large gains like I was. Sure you get slightly bigger, but the side effects and anxiety isn't worth it (as such I am stopping all supplements from today). Train hard and natural, combined with a good diet and you will get bettter, longer lasting results.

CoZ

In which, I'll probably avoid it. Essentially I want to build my muscles to increase my metabolism, to give me more strength and as part of keeping healthy, so I suppose the natural solution is the healthiest and of course, no point risking it if we don't know the long-term effects anyway. Short-cuts in weight-loss are stupid, so it's no surprise that short-cuts in muscle-build are also stupid.

You're thirstier now so you think you have diabetes? I still can't think of how you reached that conclusion. Exercise and a change in diet probably has a lot to do with it.

I have heard Creatine is effective, but there must be a reason why many formulas these days make a big note on their labels about mentioning they don't use Creatine in their supplements.

I wouldn't trust drugs; only take them if you absolutely need to. Doctors love to give drugs out but the truth is most drugs we don't really know how they work or what their effect is. I have heard so many bad encounters so I avoid them altogether unless essential.

Or it's a marketing gimmick

You should ask your doctor these things. We're just not in the know here.

IMO, from experience, if you are only working out 3 times a week, you are wasting your money on supplements. Just try to watch you diet, upping your protien intake before and after work outs and drinking a lot of water.

Also, have a couple cups of coffee before work out, this is a moderate energy boost and also helps to expand your veins by temparaily raising your blood pressure to ensure blood flow. Afterwards eat you a small handfull of Harbo brand gummy bears to get rid of that wiped out feeling. It is not a full on sugar rush, the sugar used by Harbo in their plain gummy products (by plain I mean regular and not the sour or anything with a coating on them) is quickly absorbed by your body and is easily processed without it "sticking" to your waste.

I am not a physician, but if you want to talk serious work out regiments, you can email me. I love working out, it makes me feel like a monster lol

Lucozade not gummy bears.

My friend went through a cycle or two of creatine and it definitely helped build his muscle mass and he felt good. He drank a ton of water anyway and still does, so I don't think it affected him that much.

@Seppuku, I wouldn't give up on supplements, I'm doing HCG right now (yes, the pregnant women hormone--the stuff I used is synthesized though), and it's awesome. It has the potential to be abused like a stupid lose-weight-quick gimmick, but if you follow the proper routine you get good results. I'm on day 24 of a 30-day cycle, and I've lost 32 pounds.

HCG itself doesn't help you lose weight, it merely encourages weight loss in the right places (gut, chest, neck fat, etc.) without leaving you looking gaunt. It also prevents your body from going into "survival mode" where it will try to store as much as it can in fat.

When on HCG you can't eat any carbohydrates, starch, sugary foods (light sugar is okay like in fruits and veggies like onions), or fatty oils. You eat 500 calories a day (300 meat, 120 fruit, 80 vegetable). You're not supposed to exercise because of the low caloric intake, rather just let your body naturally start burning fat for the energy it needs, with HCG helping to point it in the right direction. I take a small dosage of an appetite suppressant to help keep up energy and prevent hunger pains. Not everyone needs it though.

After 30 days of taking the injections or oral supplements (injections FTW, they're more manly ), you begin a 3-week maintenance period in which you gradually increase the amount of calories you eat daily. You're still limited as to what you can eat, but after the first few days you can have a small amount of dairy, then a couple weeks later some starches, then sugar, and finally after the 3-weeks you can have carbohydrates.

The goal is to have this diet change your appetite and your body's metabolism. Once you begin the 3-week maintenance, you can start some light workouts, and by the end of it if you maintain a good diet and workout routine, any amount of weight you regain will be minimal. My parents have done it, and even after screwing up on their diet a couple of times (like visiting me in NY and having some brick oven pizza), they only regained 8 or so pounds out of the 30ish pounds they lost.

My meals usually consist of a grilled chicken breast, a serving of vegetables like spinach, asparagus, or grilled onions, and a serving of apples or strawberries. You can even have a wee bit of steak.

Aside from a desire for pizza, I'm feeling and looking great. My asthma's improved, and (partially thanks to the appetite suppressant) I haven't had any problems with my energy levels throughout the day. I do pee a lot, but that's because you're burning a lot of fat throughout the day, and the waste has to go somewhere. I never drank that much water, so I increased how much I drank daily when I started, and I think that helped increase my pounds per day ratio.

Ah, I actually prefer my method of weightloss at the moment - I lost 3kg last week. I also lost 1 stone in the last year without attempting any weightloss...naturally, that's a slow method, because at 16-stone it'd take me 4 years to get down to 12.

What I've done is cut out junk from my diet and in the evening where I'd normally snack, I eat a piece of fruit instead (banana, apple, grapes) or just ignore it and it has been working for the last few weeks. I lack the cravings for food - I get hungry, but it doesn't bother me nowhere near as much as it used to...though my gym recommends that instead of eating 3 meals a day that I eat when I'm hungry, in smaller amounts, but of course, I'd rather the 3 meals due to convenience.

Now that I've signed up to the gym, I'm working out a plan to stimulate weightloss and muscle gain, as I'm paying my start-up fee today, I'll get 5 sessions with the gym instructors where they'll be going through my targets and sussing out exactly how I'll get the most out of my visits to the gym, the fifth session will have my plan recorded and sorted out on their digital key system, where I'm able to watch and record my progress.

I'm in the mind that I'd rather get into a routine I enjoy and one I know I can sustain, but also it's more natural. As for your meals, well, you've got my favourite fruit and veg there. I've been eating more broccoli and other veg as well, I only found recently that I actually like the stuff. Asparagus is like, so awesome - we've got some growing in the back garden. Cravings for pizza, I was always a pizza hater until last year, so really, I need to catch up for all those lost years, though I do fancy pizza right now thanks to you.

So in terms of weight-loss, I've decided to avoid supplements, but in terms of muscle gain, I might just go for the protein-shakes, my friend who trains as a boxer, scrawny as hell, has been drinking them and going to the gym for the past year and has managed to build more muscle, he's still featherweight, but he looks a lot better. (Not in the gay way, although he is one of my 19* )

But either way, I'll just take whatever recommendations my gym gives me, although a couple of people in their magazine did a trial some of the supplements and found they work, but I'm happy eating healthily rather than reducing my calorie intake to only 500 per day.

Cheers.

*Refers to the 19 guys I've hit on.