How Long Does it Take to Lose Creatine Water Weight? (Solved!)

So, you want to know how long to lose creatine water weight.

As fantastic a supplement as creatine is, many of us tend to worry about the inevitable happening.

Okay, I’ll admit that this isn’t the case for everyone, but the vast majority of people tend to put on water weight through creatine supplementation.

Plus, for all the potential good that creatine does, I know what it’s like to take a break in the name of having a less puffy and bloated-looking body.

So, allow me to explain how long it takes to lose creatine water weight, and a few other important creatine facts you should know.

How Long to Lose Creatine Water Weight?

How long it takes to lose creatine water weight will vary from person-to-person. However, most people will typically lose the vast majority of any creatine water weight gain within the first 5-7 days after stopping. That being said, it may take others up to 2-3 weeks. Creatine levels will typically start to deplete after 14 days, whereas it will generally take 4-6 weeks for creatine to completely leave your system.

Does Creatine Put on Water Weight?

I think most of us are typically wary about potential water weight gain when it comes to supplementing with creatine.

However, in truth, not everyone will experience water weight gain.

In fact, it is estimated that approximately 25% of people who try creatine will be non-responders.

Basically, creatine has absolutely no effect on them.

This generally means that creatine phosphate will not eventually be used to create adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the body’s primary source of energy.

In other words, that extra rep, or that extra set, that most people experience through creatine supplementation, is not available to 25% of people.

That being said, those who do respond well to creatine are more likely to put on water weight.

Creatine’s main role (apart from working in tandem with ATP to provide energy) in the body is to draw water into the muscles.

This typically gives your muscles a bigger and fuller look.

However, this is simply because you are “retaining” water in the muscles.

Now, don’t get me wrong, there are those who respond well to creatine, but never actually put on any water weight.

This is why it’s important to realise that we’re all different, and therefore we may also react to creatine differently.

But, once more, in the main, most people will experience some water retention, which leads to weight gain, when they supplement with creatine.

Again, this will depend on the individual, as well as how much creatine they’re taking, but most people will gain around 2-5 lbs in water weight.

How Much Water Weight Will I Lose After Stopping Creatine?

It stands to reason that the amount of water weight you lose when you stop taking creatine should be equal to what you gained through supplementation.

So, once you stop taking creatine you’ll find that your muscles are unlikely to hold as much water as they were when you were taking creatine.

Therefore, if you’ve gained the standard 2-5 lbs in water weight while taking creatine, it’s likely you’ll lose the same amount of weight once you come off it.

That being said, this is the ideal opportunity to check if everything else in your fitness lifestyle is going well, especially your nutrition.

I think many people feel it’s inevitable that they’re going to gain weight when taking creatine.

And unfortunately, this attitude can carry over into their diet and nutrition.

It’s almost a case of, “Well, I’m going to put on weight anyway, I want to gain muscle, so I may as well just eat everything in sight”.

So, more often than not, any weight gain, especially body fat, may not be down to creatine, but rather an inconsistent diet.

Therefore, if you find that things haven’t changed for you weight-wise once you stop taking creatine, then you’ll need to take a closer look at your diet.

How Long Does it Take to Flush Creatine Out of Your System?

Your body will generally produce around 1-2 grams of creatine a day naturally.

So, whether you’re taking creatine supplements or not, your body automatically produces creatine.

However, this can dramatically vary once more from person-to-person.

As an example, someone following a vegan diet will have much less creatine in their body than someone who lives off steak on a daily basis.

It is estimated that there is approximately 1.4-2.3 grams of creatine per 1-2 lbs of steak.

So, as I say, we all have some creatine in our body, some more than others.

However, when it comes to supplementing creatine, the level of creatine in your muscles will start to deplete around 2 weeks after you’ve stopped taking it.

Then by around the 4-6 week mark the creatine should be completely flushed out your muscles.

This means that after this period your body will be back to producing its baseline amount of creatine.

I Took Creatine For 30 Days

Will I Look Leaner if I Stop Taking Creatine?

As I’ve mentioned, as a creatine responder, it’s likely that you will gain water weight.

Basically, your muscles are flooded with water, which not only leads to you gaining weight, but it will also make your muscles look bigger and fuller.

So, once you stop taking creatine you’ll start to lose the water that has been stored in your muscle cells.

This typically makes your muscles look flatter and smaller.

Furthermore, for most people this will mean that they generally lose around 2-5 lbs in water weight.

Then again, depending on your starting weight and how much creatine you took, your water weight loss could be even greater.

In fact, I have quite often heard of people who have lost 6-10 lbs in water weight over the period of a few weeks.

Now, whether you’ll look leaner if you stop taking creatine will depend on how much muscle mass you had to begin with.

Unfortunately, for some people, if their muscles look smaller and flatter after they stop taking creatine, they actually end up looking fatter.

In reality, the more muscle mass you have, the better chance you have of looking leaner.

That being said, for most of us, this loss of water weight will typically have you looking leaner within a couple of weeks of stopping creatine.

Final Thoughts

So, I hope you understand that the length of time it takes to lose creatine water weight will vary from person-to-person.

In fact, as 25% of people are generally creatine non-responders, they may never have put on any weight in the first place.

Furthermore, it’s likely that these people probably didn’t feel as though creatine had any impact on them.

However, for the rest of us, creatine stores typically start to deplete after 2 weeks.

And by this time, most people will have lost any water weight gain through creatine supplementation.

Creatine will be completely out of your system within 4-6 weeks after you stop taking it.