Reducing creatine's water retention?

[mfenske]

Hey all. What I want to know is that if I take a mild diuretic along with creatine will it reduce the bloating that I usually get. The reason I mention it is becuase I love what creatine does for my strength, but I hate the bloat that I get from it, especially in the abdominal and facial areas. I am guessing a diuretic would negate creatine's effects, but I hafta ask. Thanks. Mark

[FrkyBgStok]

yeah. kind of defeats the purpose.

[FmRommel]

On the money....

Thats why they say NEVER to take an ECA with creatine...contradicts themselves...


FM

[PTbyJason]

yeah, that's one of the reasons that creatine is so effective, I feel, is because it makes you hold some water. If you don't want that much bloat, just cut back on the creatine some. Go from 10 grams to 5 grams a day.

[LightWeightBaby]

creatine is water retention, you take away that and you are taking a white powder just for the fun of it.

[cb25]

I think there's more to creatine than water retention, although that's a big part of it. The problem is with diuretics, especially caffeine - you end up excreting most of the creatine that you're trying to take in. This is why it negates the purpose...not just because of reducing bloat.

[barbarian]

ok who informed you guys on this subject? cause your way of base, cafine and ephedra make you lose water from under the skin wich you dont want, not from inside the muscle, not if your drinking alot of water, and creatine only puts water into your mucles and not under the skin, so you can combine them both and have great results, increase defanition, and get a more pumped look, the only thing the creatine is gona hurt youon is when you blow your mucels ful of so much water it can smooth out cuts and rips from the swelling and not under the skin water retention, and as long as you take the creatine a few hours after the cafine/ephedra pills youl be fine on water uptake. your body isnt gona take the water under the skin and put it into your muscles, you have to drink the water that you want to go in them.

[cb25]

ok who informed you guys on this subject? cause your way of base, cafine and ephedra make you lose water from under the skin wich you dont want, not from inside the muscle, not if your drinking alot of water, and creatine only puts water into your mucles and not under the skin, so you can combine them both and have great results, increase defanition, and get a more pumped look, the only thing the creatine is gona hurt youon is when you blow your mucels ful of so much water it can smooth out cuts and rips from the swelling and not under the skin water retention, and as long as you take the creatine a few hours after the cafine/ephedra pills youl be fine on water uptake. your body isnt gona take the water under the skin and put it into your muscles, you have to drink the water that you want to go in them.

Actually, there's been a lot of evidence recently that taking creatine together with caffeine increases the amount of creatine that you excrete. It's not a matter of losing water from the same spots, it's a matter of not getting the benefit of creatine in the first place. I'll try to find some studies if i get the chance, but i think this is the general consensus.

Also, caffeine isn't specific for water loss just below the skin - it's a diuretic that acts on the body - it doesn't magically pull water from under skin, it increases excretion at the kidneys.

[focusedlifter]

Q: I heard that creatine and caffeine can be consumed at the same time. But an article I read claims caffeine inhibits the absorption of creatine into muscle tissue. Which is true?

A: There was a controversial research study published in 1996 in the Journal of Applied Physiology about creatine and caffeine; however, if you study that article closely, you'll find that caffeine had no effect on creatine uptake into muscle. A more recent study by Vanakoski, et al. in 1998 investigated the pharmacokinetics of caffeine and creatine, both alone and in combination. They reported when creatine was used alone or even in combination with caffeine that, "creatine was rapidly and efficiently absorbed, as reflected by plasma concentrations." Because researchers concluded that creatine was efficiently absorbed even when combined with caffeine, it does not appear from the results of this study that caffeine exerts a negative effect on the uptake of creatine into muscle tissue.

[cb25]

Hm...thanks for the post focused...i've always seen studies to the opposite but science is ever evolving, so i don't doubt that new stuff could be correct - do you have a reference for it? I'd like to look it up when i have the time (i don't doubt your source...just curious to read more myself )