Creatine Dosage Calculator
Find your optimal creatine dose based on your body weight. Includes both maintenance and loading phase recommendations based on ISSN guidelines, the most evidence-based source on creatine supplementation.
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How Creatine Dosing Works
Creatine is stored in your muscles as phosphocreatine, which your body uses to regenerate ATP during short, intense efforts like heavy lifting or sprinting. The goal of creatine supplementation is to keep your muscle creatine stores fully saturated.
Research supports a maintenance dose of approximately 0.03g per kilogram of body weight per day, which falls within the standard 3–5g recommendation for most adults. Larger individuals may need to be closer to the 5g end to fully saturate their greater muscle mass.
Loading vs. No Loading
The loading protocol saturates muscle creatine stores rapidly. The standard approach is 20g/day (split into 4 doses of 5g) for 5–7 days. After loading, you drop to a maintenance dose to keep stores full.
Without loading, taking 3–5g daily will reach full saturation in about 3–4 weeks. The performance benefits are identical regardless of which approach you use; loading just gets you there faster.
One practical consideration: large loading doses (5g at once) can cause GI discomfort in some individuals. If this happens, skip loading and use the standard maintenance dose from day one.
What to Expect from Creatine
- Week 1–2 (loading) or Week 1–4 (maintenance): 1–2 kg of water weight gain from intracellular water retention. This is normal and expected.
- Week 3–6: Noticeable improvements in strength and power output, particularly in the 1–10 rep range. You may be able to add 1–2 more reps or add a small amount of weight.
- Long-term: Consistent creatine use supports lean mass gain over months of training by enabling higher training volumes and faster recovery.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much creatine should I take per day?
The standard maintenance dose is 3–5g of creatine monohydrate per day. For more precise dosing, research supports 0.03g per kilogram of body weight daily. This calculator calibrates your dose to your specific body weight within the 3–5g range.
Do I need to do a creatine loading phase?
Loading is optional. A loading phase (20g/day split into 4 doses for 5–7 days) saturates your muscles faster and you'll see effects in about a week. Without loading, you'll reach the same saturation point after 3–4 weeks of 3–5g/day. The end result is identical; loading just gets you there faster.
When should I take creatine?
Timing matters less than consistency. Some research suggests post-workout timing may have a slight advantage due to improved muscle insulin sensitivity, but the effect is small. The most important thing is taking it daily. Missing one day won't matter, but consistent daily intake is key for maintaining saturated muscle stores.
Is creatine safe?
Yes. Creatine monohydrate is the most thoroughly researched dietary supplement in sports science. Long-term studies of up to 5 years have found no adverse health effects in healthy individuals. It is considered safe by the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the American College of Sports Medicine, and major health authorities.
Which type of creatine should I use?
Creatine monohydrate. Despite marketing claims, no other form of creatine (ethyl ester, HCl, buffered creatine) has demonstrated superior efficacy to monohydrate in well-controlled studies. Monohydrate is also the cheapest form, typically $0.02–0.05 per gram.
Will creatine make me gain weight?
Yes, expect 1–2 kg (2–4 lbs) of water weight, typically within the first 1–2 weeks. This is not fat gain. Creatine draws water into muscle cells (intracellular water), which is actually part of what makes muscles look fuller and perform better. This water weight stays while you're on creatine.