Why Does Creatine Make Me Pee So Much? (4 Creatine-Peeing Facts)

“Why is it that taking creatine makes me urinate frequently?” is a question often asked about supplements.

Creatine is probably the most popular workout supplement there is.

In fact, it often seems like anyone who lifts also takes creatine.

However, you may have noticed that your urge to pee has significantly increased since you’ve started taking creatine.

So, what exactly is going on here?

Allow me to reveal all.

Why Does Creatine Make Me Pee So Much?

There are various reasons why creatine makes you pee so much. Firstly, you should be drinking more water when you supplement with creatine. So, it could just be that your body hasn’t adapted to the additional water you’re consuming. You’ll also find that creatine levels have an upper limit, so “extra” creatine is converted into the waste product creatinine, which is excreted from the body through urination. So, if you’re taking more than the recommended 5g of creatine per day you’ll also be producing more waste product, which will need to be excreted.

1. You’re Drinking More Water

The most obvious reason that you’re peeing so much is that you’ve increased your water intake.

I’m sure you’re aware that when supplementing with creatine it’s important to drink more water than you usually would.

Basically, creatine will draw water into the muscles, which in turn means that your body and vital organs have less water available to function to the best of their abilities.

So, it makes perfect sense to drink more water than you did when you weren’t taking creatine.

This is also why many people complain about feeling sick, tired, or bloated whenever they take creatine.

In effect, you’re actually feeling dehydrated simply because creatine is drawing water from various parts of the body and using it for its own purposes.

Therefore, it makes perfect sense to top up your water reserves, which should stop you feeling these various side effects.

With that being said, it can typically take a while for some of us to get used to drinking more water.

In essence, your body simply isn’t used to you drinking so much water and so you find that you’re peeing more often.

This can unfortunately lead to you peeing every 20-30 minutes at certain stages of the day.

This is nothing more than a minor inconvenience and won’t cause you any harm.

Plus, the vast majority of the time your body will eventually adapt to you drinking more water.

And this means that you should return to a more regular peeing pattern.

Trust me, you’d rather be peeing a lot more because of creatine, as opposed to feeling unwell and lethargic due to not drinking enough water.

2. Your Creatine Levels Are Capped

The simple process of how creatine works inside the body will explain why you need to pee so much.

The most basic form of energy in the body’s cells is adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

However, the body can only store so much ATP at any one time.

When you take creatine this will increase the body’s stores of phosphocreatine.

Then phosphocreatine is used to produce more ATP.

And it is this additional source of ATP through creatine supplementation that provides you with energy during intense exercise.

However, the amount of ATP that the body can hold is capped, and so is the amount of creatine.

Therefore, if you’re supplementing with creatine you may in effect have “too much” inside your body.

The body will then metabolise creatine to form creatinine, which is the waste product of creatine.

And this waste is eventually flushed out of your system through the kidneys and your urinary system.

Something else to consider is that water isn’t actually drawn towards the muscles per se during supplementation.

Water is in fact drawn towards creatine.

However, the simple fact that creatine makes its way towards the muscle cells means that water in the body will follow suit.

But, creatine will also typically move throughout your body, as well as into your small intestine.

And of course, where creatine goes, water soon follows.

So, you will have more water in your small intestine when supplementing with creatine, which usually means that you’ll have to pee even more than usual.

3. How Much Creatine Are You Taking?

The amount of creatine you’re taking could also have an impact on how much you pee.

In truth, I think many people tend to overdo it when it comes to creatine supplementation.

Firstly, I honestly believe that you don’t really require a loading phase with creatine.

In essence, this is a ploy by the manufacturers to get you to use more creatine, and therefore purchase more creatine.

The whole point in taking creatine is for your muscles to become saturated with creatine.

However, this will occur whether you have a loading phase or not.

In reality, it’ll probably take an extra week or two for the muscles to become saturated with creatine without a loading phase.

Additionally, there really is no need to take more than the recommended dose of 5g per day.

In fact, depending on your overall size, you could probably enjoy the benefits of creatine from as little as 3-4g a day.

It’s definitely NOT a case of more is better when it comes to creatine.

But still, I know of many people who simply overdo it on the creatine.

If you think about it, excessive creatine consumption will produce more waste product, i.e. creatinine.

And the more creatinine there is in your system, the more you’ll need to pee in order to excrete it from the body.

So, if you feel that you are potentially peeing much more than you should be then perhaps it’s time to dial down your creatine dose.

How Much Creatine Should You Take? (And Why?)

4. A Sign of Health Issues

Let’s face facts, peeing is actually a good thing, and even more so if your urine is clear the majority of the time.

However, peeing too much could also be a sign of underlying health issues.

Firstly, I’m not going to blame any potential health problems on creatine.

Creatine is one the safest and most well-researched supplements in the marketplace.

For all the bad stuff you may have heard about creatine, I am willing to bet that this comes down to poor creatine practices.

By this I mean that you could be suffering with creatine side effects because you’re not drinking enough water, you’re consuming too much creatine, etc.

However, if you have everything under control, and it’s been a few months, but you’re still peeing excessively, this could mean something untoward.

Rather than trying to self-diagnose I would suggest that you speak to your Doctor.

This is especially true if you find that your excess peeing has been going on for quite a while now.

I’m not looking to scare you, but there could be a variety of reasons for having to pee so much.

This could be a case of bladder or kidney problems.

Then again, it may point to a urinary tract infection, and even prediabetes or diabetes.

Plus, it could even be something more sinister.

So, if you find that your excess peeing has been going on a little too long then it’s probably time to book a GP appointment.

Final Thoughts

So, I hope you understand that there could be any number of reasons why creatine makes you pee so much.

The most obvious of these is that you should be drinking more water when supplementing with creatine.

Additionally, as the body will only store so much creatine at any one time, it will metabolise and produce the waste product creatinine.

Creatinine then needs to be excreted from the body through urination.

You should also be wary of exactly how much creatine you’re consuming.

The more creatine you take, the more waste product you will eventually produce, which needs to be excreted from the body through urination.

Finally, if your excessive peeing has been going on for a long time it’s a good idea to speak to a medical professional, even just to rule out something untoward.

So, I’ve covered “excessive peeing”, but here’s another creatine-related issue that I’ve written about, more specifically why creatine causes some people to fart.