The Effects of Creatine

[4X4]

Originally posted by Maritime Q-Scout+Aug 6 2005, 12:35 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Maritime Q-Scout @ Aug 6 2005, 12:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-arsenal@Aug 6 2005, 04:15 PM
But they will basically just say "Eat more, and you will put on weight".

actually... the last time I talked to my doctor (would have been a few years ago now) she said that won't help, my metabolism is too high. [/b][/quote]
How old are you? I teetered between average & underweight in my teenage years and growing up I was never big in the upper body area. Suddenly I hit 20, and I woke up 15 pounds heavier, and most of it was on my shoulders & chest. I didn't change my eating habits or work out any more than I had perviously, I guess my metabolism must have changed.

If you are young, you may be in store for the same thing. Beware though, I hit 25 & started developing a beer belly (ironic how the beer belly covers the 'six pack'). Now, I have to do sit ups to keep my belly in check. (not to mention less beer and no more eating after 8 or 9 pm unless its veggies or fruit)

So keep that in mind, skinny guys don't always stay so skinny.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally posted by 4X4+Aug 6 2005, 02:31 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (4X4 @ Aug 6 2005, 02:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

actually... the last time I talked to my doctor (would have been a few years ago now) she said that won't help, my metabolism is too high.

How old are you? I teetered between average & underweight in my teenage years and growing up I was never big in the upper body area. Suddenly I hit 20, and I woke up 15 pounds heavier, and most of it was on my shoulders & chest. I didn't change my eating habits or work out any more than I had perviously, I guess my metabolism must have changed.

If you are young, you may be in store for the same thing. Beware though, I hit 25 & started developing a beer belly (ironic how the beer belly covers the 'six pack'). Now, I have to do sit ups to keep my belly in check. (not to mention less beer and no more eating after 8 or 9 pm unless its veggies or fruit)

So keep that in mind, skinny guys don't always stay so skinny. [/b][/quote]
sit-ups don't kill the beer belly, you need aerobic exercise I hear. I've had this baby fat in my stomach since I was 12 and I've never been able to get rid of it.

It's frustrating because I too, like Maritime Q-Scout, feel like girls would rather go out with Jabba the Hutt than me (well, actually happened once) because I'm relatively thin and my shoulder's aren't broad per se but that's a bone structure problem I think.

I've been trying to gain weight as well but this whole time I'm afraid of adding to this fat in my stomach and not accomplishing anything really. I also have a super-fast metabolism and very small stomach capacity.

I wish I could say I was still in my teenage years but I'm 22.

[4X4]

Maybe its all the walking I do. Good. I can stop the damn sit ups.

[Reaper]

Have you tried taking a pound of butter, rolling it in powered sugar, giving it a batter & breading, freezing it overnight and then deep frying it in really hot oil for 60 seconds?

That should get you to throw on a pound or two.

I saw that on an "Ultra-Weight Gain" web site a few years ago and it blew my mind.

It's basically a recipe for deep fried ice cream but they subsititute butter for ice cream.

It sounds like a Homer Simpson recipe from the weight gain episode.

[Pagal4321]

Wow, I seem to be on the exact oppisite spectrum of this whole topic. But regardless I'll weigh in on the situation, no pun intended.
I know people who have been trying to gain weight for years, most of them never get anywhere. The one's who did gain weight were taking protein about everyday and working out PRETTY hardcore daily.
A continous process, similar to weight loss, just gotta keep it up constantly.

[4X4]

If you're 22 (Hack) & still not gaining weight (naturally) in the areas you want to, a workout regimen may be your only solution. Nobody I know has filled out in the upper body or the legs after that age. Not unless its with fat.


As for you Maritime, start carrying some energy bars in your car or backpack. Whenever you've got the time, chow one. Never skip breakfast. If you don't eat breakfast, start. You'll get used to it. Eat good dinners, and eat slowly so that you can cram as much food as possible in there. After you've finished gorging, relax for half an hour, then get up and do something.

I'm no fan of synthetic solutions, so IMO, forget the creatine & learn a good spaghetti sauce recipe. Don't forget the caesar salad & the garlic bread.

[CaramonLS]

Have you tried asking your doctor about it? Because I think there are supplements or drugs which can help reduce your metabolism.

Again there are certain things they tell people who are really trying to lose weight to do - Eat breakfast, Eat often. Try not to do those things, instead try to have Larger meals and eat later in the day (of course you should really talk to a doctor/dietician).

[Jake]

Originally posted by oilers_fan@Aug 6 2005, 01:27 PM
I have not once read a study that suggested creatine is bad for you. I guess since you have this many relatives who are doctors, you must also have a wealth of studies to back up your case. Please supple them.

http://www.man-health-magazine-online.com/...e-research.html
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/refshelf/subs...le_Side_Effects

I have been specifically given a fitness program by two seperate people who have gone to school for this stuff (one in the USA, and one in Calgary) and both have included creatine. There is nothing out there that suggests creatine is bad for you.

Its ironic that you asked me which web site I was getting my info off of when your getting information from two web site that either sell or advertise for supplement companies. Do I need to explain to you how wrong that is?

The first link you listed (mans health) has three advertisments on that page for supplements. One actually has the title "Buy creatine supplements". One of the other links says gain 35 pounds of muscle in 12 weeks... which even with creatine is almost impossable without steriods.

The second link you listed isn't even a study! But it does actually prove several of my other points. Didn't you say my first post was completely wrong?

"it's potentially hazardous to the health to take very high doses of creatine for a prolonged period of time. Experts caution that extended high doses can lead to kidney and liver problems."

"Long-term use of high doses of creatine could potentially damage the kidneys. Don't take creatine if your kidney function is impaired."

You remind me of that Listerine commercial that says "studies" have proven that you don't need to floss if you use Listerine! The people doing the research are funded by, for example, Listerine. They blatantly ignore obvious flaws in their research! Dentists havn't bothered doing their own "study" to prove this wrong because they already know the answer. This is the same case with creatine, only doctors don't see the point.

[kermitology]

I'm in the same boat Jon, I'm 22 and for the longest time haven't been able to crack 135 lbs. In January I started going to the gym 4-5 times a week for about 4 months and managed to put on about 25 lbs.. unfortunately I've lost some of that since I haven't been able to go to the gym anymore now that I'm done school and have no job. I've lost 10 lbs in the last month and a half and I still work out a bit in my basement. You're not alone in this man.. All I've ever wanted was to be over 150 lbs. I'm 6'1" and I'm a skillet.. It's damn near impossible for me to keep weight on. You just keep at it, hit the gym as much as you can and eat small meals on a regular basis.

[Ozy_Flame]

Wow, and I thought I was having trouble putting on weight for these bony shoulders! I'm 6'0" and 160 lbs, adding almost 10 lbs this summer just forcing myself to eat 4-5 meals per day. I've spent countless dollars in the last four months just eating out, and getting everything in that i need (including pastas, chicken, steak, organic salads, you name it)...I have hyper-active metabolism too, but honestly Maritime, it's a blessing in disguise. I'd rather have to eat more to supplement myself than cut down, and be able to do physcial activities without breaking a sweat (much). Besides, the way I see it, if you're over 20 and you're not a virgin, then you must be doing something right! Jabba the Hutt or not, having a girl you lust for / love is more than enough to say that body image isn't the be all, end all.

[CaramonLS]

Originally posted by kermitology@Aug 6 2005, 09:37 PM
I'm in the same boat Jon, I'm 22 and for the longest time haven't been able to crack 135 lbs. In January I started going to the gym 4-5 times a week for about 4 months and managed to put on about 25 lbs.. unfortunately I've lost some of that since I haven't been able to go to the gym anymore now that I'm done school and have no job. I've lost 10 lbs in the last month and a half and I still work out a bit in my basement. You're not alone in this man.. All I've ever wanted was to be over 150 lbs. I'm 6'1" and I'm a skillet.. It's damn near impossible for me to keep weight on. You just keep at it, hit the gym as much as you can and eat small meals on a regular basis.

Dude thats the worst thing you can do!!

You can't keep eating small meals, thats exactly how people lose weight.

[Wookie]

Jake,

I had some kidney problems years ago, and had to see a nephrologist (kidney doctor for anyone who didn't know) at the foothills, he told me creatine wouldn't do anything bad to me. Talk to me in 20 years? Sure, but if that's our theory maybe you shouldn't be telling people to take more protein, because your kidneys also have a great deal to do with protein digestion and increased protein can lead to kidney stones and other kidney related difficulties.

to others,

I'd avoid taking some GNC health food store persons opinion on what's good for you or not. They're all due for a class action lawsuit for the shinguard they spew and sell to people. I remember going in to buy some creatine (I'll explain my use for it later) and having the guy try to tell me I should buy some Caffeine, Ephedrine, and Aspirin off of them and mix them to "get ripped"! NICE....

Another guy was telling people he got as big as he did taking protein supplements three times a day, and creatine, when he was a heavy steroid user.

Your run of the mill personal trainer at a WHC or some other gym is probably as helpful as they give away free memberships from these stores and love getting the business and sending it back..

If you want to take a supplement go ahead but make sure you read up about it, ask your doctor and only start it after you've been working out and eating well for an extended period of time..

That way you'll know if you can even maintain a healthy lifestyle before you waste money and health risks (whether there are or aren't) on sports supplements.

Creatine, I've taken it on and off for the last 7 years, sometimes I think it does something, sometimes I don't, I'm not sure if I will ever do it again because I'm as big as I want to be and don't want to gain weight as I don't exercise to be bigger, it just happens to be a side benefit (and I'm not big, just have some sort of build). The most recent times I've taken creatine was when I've felt I've been lazy and need to get a kick in the pants planning on hitting the pool, gym and rink 14 times in the next 15 days and it gives me a mental boost, gets me drinking a lot of water and the psychology of paying a bit of extra money seems to make the commitment factor increase.. I'd say for me it's all a placebo

Yet I still stand by my earlier comment that unless you know you can keep it up, don't waste your money on a six week workout/supplement binge if you're going to stop.

Also I'll throw in the "both my parents are doctors" comment to give myself some validity too LMAO...

[arsenal]

Originally posted by Jake@Aug 6 2005, 02:17 PM
"it's potentially hazardous to the health to take very high doses of creatine for a prolonged period of time. Experts caution that extended high doses can lead to kidney and liver problems."

"Long-term use of high doses of creatine could potentially damage the kidneys. Don't take creatine if your kidney function is impaired."

That just like every other warning out there.
I hope you noticed the high doses in there. It is just like everything else in the world. If you abuse it, it is going to bite you in the ass.

[kermitology]

Originally posted by CaramonLS+Aug 6 2005, 04:20 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (CaramonLS @ Aug 6 2005, 04:20 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-kermitology@Aug 6 2005, 09:37 PM
I'm in the same boat Jon, I'm 22 and for the longest time haven't been able to crack 135 lbs. In January I started going to the gym 4-5 times a week for about 4 months and managed to put on about 25 lbs.. unfortunately I've lost some of that since I haven't been able to go to the gym anymore now that I'm done school and have no job. I've lost 10 lbs in the last month and a half and I still work out a bit in my basement. You're not alone in this man.. All I've ever wanted was to be over 150 lbs. I'm 6'1" and I'm a skillet.. It's damn near impossible for me to keep weight on. You just keep at it, hit the gym as much as you can and eat small meals on a regular basis.

Dude thats the worst thing you can do!!

You can't keep eating small meals, thats exactly how people lose weight. [/b][/quote]
You mean to tell me that the advice of the Nutritionist that told me to do that was incorrect? Eating a lot of meals that are smaller is better for gaining muscle mass than eating one or two huge meals. Ask a nutritionist..

[CaramonLS]

Originally posted by kermitology+Aug 6 2005, 10:47 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (kermitology @ Aug 6 2005, 10:47 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Dude thats the worst thing you can do!!

You can't keep eating small meals, thats exactly how people lose weight.

You mean to tell me that the advice of the Nutritionist that told me to do that was incorrect? Eating a lot of meals that are smaller is better for gaining muscle mass than eating one or two huge meals. Ask a nutritionist.. [/b][/quote]
If you are still on your workout plan, yes its good. But if you stop, small meals = lose weight.

[Wookie]

Originally posted by kermitology+Aug 6 2005, 04:47 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (kermitology @ Aug 6 2005, 04:47 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Dude thats the worst thing you can do!!

You can't keep eating small meals, thats exactly how people lose weight.

You mean to tell me that the advice of the Nutritionist that told me to do that was incorrect? Eating a lot of meals that are smaller is better for gaining muscle mass than eating one or two huge meals. Ask a nutritionist.. [/b][/quote]
I eat three meals a day because it's a pain in the ass otherwise, well i actually eat every four hours, and if I'm hungry after my 3rd meal I'll snack..

However the eating more smaller meals was originally for losing weight, it keeps your body in a constant state of burning energy, people often over eat since the "I'm full response" is delayed, thus if you have a smaller meal you'll still probably get the I'm not hungry response since most people overeat anyway, thus eating less and snaking less throughout the day because you've given your body more time to react to what you've eaten in smaller portions...

Here is the same crap from some web-page..
http://ezinearticles.com/?Eat-More-Often-t...Weight&id=50599

Now if you
1. believe all these things
2. can rationalize them in you head

How would the reverse be true?

I'm not really sure... I don't know if I believe any of it.. it's seems to appeal to my common sense, but... so do a lot of things when I do them lol..

I'm not saying it doesn't work for either method, just that people have been touting this regime for years as a way to lose weight.

One thing that must be differentiated though, losing weight, often goes hand in hand with gaining weight, muscle is built while fat is lost, any real exercise regime will do that often resulting in a net weight gain or loss or a status quo while still being beneficial to you.

Anyway, I still stand by my thinking that before you completely rearrange your life, eating and excersise plans you should see if you can maintain a generally healthier lifestyle first.

Start by going to the gym or getting some excersise and adjusting your eating a little. Then see how it works, if it suits you great if not tinker, until you've developed a overall more healthier lifestyle.. and one that you can maintain forever

[Wookie]

Ughh... my lame ass preaching is even starting to annoy me..

[Wookie]

Originally posted by kermitology+Aug 6 2005, 04:47 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (kermitology @ Aug 6 2005, 04:47 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Dude thats the worst thing you can do!!

You can't keep eating small meals, thats exactly how people lose weight.

You mean to tell me that the advice of the Nutritionist that told me to do that was incorrect? Eating a lot of meals that are smaller is better for gaining muscle mass than eating one or two huge meals. Ask a nutritionist.. [/b][/quote]
Did you get your engineering degree in a semester?

Would you trust your nutrition and health to a person that did the equivalent of one semester of school

http://www.csnn.ca/index.htm

I'm not saying that's who you saw, but the title "nutritionist" is pretty vague and can be easily attained

Kind of like taking advice from some tool who claims to be "Pre-med" or "Pre-law" yeah that means a lot

[FireFly]

I wish I had this problem... On the other hand, I'm doing fairly well with my weight loss program! Dump the ******* bf, and get happy! Works well!

[CaptainCrunch]

Just one mans position.

I've been weight training for about 20 years since I was 18, I'm not super ripped, but I'm not a blob, I'm about 6 feet, 255. Bench 275, arm curled up to 55 (until I tore a bicep a few week ago, etc etc. Except for a stupid experiment with Steroids when I was playing high school ball, I've gotten my results without the benefit of supplements except for vitamins. I eat 5 times a day and go through cycles where I eat an insane amount of proteins (lean chickens and fish especially)

The frustration point that causes a lot of people to just quit is that initially your results are huge, you can actually see pretty big changes in 6 week patterns, but every 6 weeks the results go down, so in the first 6 weeks you might increase your lift load by 25%, but then it shrinks after that.

I've read some horrible things about creatine, especially if you constantly use it, its like anything else where you need to give your body a break from it to purge it from your system.

Where I'm weak right now is on my aerobic type work outs and because of that my belly don't look as good as it did when I was 25.

the hard part for me right now, it that my injury has pretty much stopped me from any kind of lifting beyond a ludicrously light weight for another 4 weeks.