What happens if I don't take creatine for 2 weeks?
After two weeks, the muscle creatine content had decreased by 5%. So they where still up about 15% from start. After a full month without creatine, they were pretty much back to baseline. So, the wash-out period for creatine, if you've taken it regularly, is about a month.
If you choose to stop creatine (which there is no need to do, barring medical issues), you may notice a slight decrease in muscle fullness along with some decline in performance, strength, and stamina.
A secondary effect of creatine is increasing water retention, which sometimes makes your muscles look bigger. So stopping creatine may reverse the water retention and make it feel like your muscles are smaller, but you're not losing actual muscle tissue.
Nothing happens if you miss a dose of creatine, your body stores it so its fine if you miss a dose of creatine.
When you stop supplementing with creatine, your muscles will not hold as much water, making you lose weight, sometimes up to 5 to 7 pounds, in the first several days to a week after stopping creatine.
You'll notice a drop in energy levels and muscle weakness when you're stopping creatine intake. It could lead to not putting in as much effort in your strength training. The lack of proper strength training is what causes muscle loss, and not necessarily the absence of creatine levels itself.
Considering, that your hair loss/ hair thinning is due to intake of creatine, then after you stop taking it your hair would grow back. But, if creatine acted as a catalyst to your genetic condition, then your hair may not grow back without a regrowth treatment.
The most common Creatine cycle
A loading phase of 5-7 days of 20-30g per day, split into separate doses. A maintenance phase of 3-5g per day, lasting for 4-6 weeks. This is followed by a time of phase, lasting from 2 – 4 weeks, before considering starting another whole new cycle again.
You should pause your creatine supplementation for anywhere between 7 to 14 days (preferably 2 weeks), before beginning again to take creatine.
You do not need to load creatine every time you start taking it, but there may be benefits to doing so. Creatine will work just as well without loading, but it will take longer for you to see results from it. You can load creatine during just the first week of usage, or at the beginning of each week.
Is creatine Natty?
Yes. It is important to note that creatine is made in the body and occurs naturally in our diet.
We recommend using creatine continuously. The recommended daily dose is between 3 and 5 grams. Continuous creatine intake – on exercise and training days as well as training-free days – promotes increased performance and muscle-building.
You should never miss a full day. If you do, then double up the next day. If you miss more than 3 days, reload otherwise taking the daily maintenance dose will require a couple of weeks to get you back where you should have been to maximize benefit.
In summary, the current body of evidence does not indicate that creatine supplementation increases total testosterone, free testosterone, DHT or causes hair loss/baldness.
To cut straight to the chase: There is no definitive scientific evidence linking hair loss and creatine supplements. The converse of that is also true: There is no definitive scientific evidence that rules out hair loss as a potential side effect of creatine supplements.
Creatine supplementation enhances exercise performance, but most studies show that it has no effect on testosterone levels. If you are concerned about your testosterone, make sure you get enough sleep, exercise, calories, vitamin D, magnesium, and zinc.
Actual science has shown that there's no reason to cycle off creatine. While you take it, your body's own production of creatine will slow some, but it will continue to produce it, and your natural levels will return to normal if/when you do stop taking it.
It can take one to two weeks or a month for creatine to work. Creatine stores in your muscles must rise to the degree of muscle saturation before you can experience the effects of creatine supplementation.
To maximize creatine muscle stores quickly, a loading phase of 20 grams daily for 5–7 days is recommended, followed by a maintenance dose of 2–10 grams per day. Another approach is 3 grams daily for 28 days.
Either way, once you're in maintenance mode, you can occasionally skip creatine on an off day if you want. But, if you get your creatine from LADDER Pre-Workout, it's fine to make it a daily habit. "For optimal benefits, daily consumption [of Pre-Workout] is recommended," says Falcone.
What happens if you stop taking creatine consistently?
You'll notice a drop in energy levels and muscle weakness when you're stopping creatine intake. It could lead to not putting in as much effort in your strength training. The lack of proper strength training is what causes muscle loss, and not necessarily the absence of creatine levels itself.
If you miss more than 3 days, reload otherwise taking the daily maintenance dose will require a couple of weeks to get you back where you should have been to maximize benefit.
This means in total you have been supplementing with creatine for a total of 8 weeks. Then it is important to stop taking creatine. You should pause your creatine supplementation for anywhere between 7 to 14 days (preferably 2 weeks), before beginning again to take creatine.
The most common Creatine cycle
A loading phase of 5-7 days of 20-30g per day, split into separate doses. A maintenance phase of 3-5g per day, lasting for 4-6 weeks. This is followed by a time of phase, lasting from 2 – 4 weeks, before considering starting another whole new cycle again.
If you want to take a break from creatine or stop altogether, by all means. If you're training hard enough, it's likely you won't see many drastic changes as far as loss of strength is concerned. However, if you want to stop due to supposed water retention that causes weight gain, we'd suggest you rethink it.