There is no shortage of questions and misconceptions when it comes to creatine for women. For the most part, people are simply unaware of creatine female hormones. They fail to realize the vast potential of creatine supplementation in women and the implications of creatine for women’s fertility. Moreover, there is a well-known myth that creatine for women over 50 will lead to weight gain. Needless to say, this is a situation that needs to be remedied.
So, be sure to keep reading as we delve into creatine for women side effects. We’ll be looking at some of the major questions that need answers. This includes how creatine for women works and how it can help with your fitness goals. We’ll also touch on how you can use creatine for menopause.
What is Creatine Monohydrate?
Before we delve into the effects of creatine for women, we must first look at what creatine is and how it became the top supplement for optimizing results in the gym. It is worth mentioning that several medical studies have shown the effectiveness of creatine in terms of increasing muscle mass, enhancing strength, and improving performance.
Put simply, creatine helps your muscles work harder and longer. Its primary role is to help your muscles produce a high-energy molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) that acts as the fuel your muscles need. By helping replenish the fuel supply, in the form of ATP, creatine allows your muscles to sustain energy as you push through with your intense exercise regimen.
Now, it may come as a surprise, but creatine is a naturally occurring substance found in your muscle cells. This is affected by several factors such as your exercise routine, meat intake, muscle mass, and hormone levels. That said, you may be wondering, if it’s a naturally occurring substance, then why the need for supplements? The answer to this is simple: your body can only produce so much creatine at a given time.
This is why creatine supplements are popular among athletes and bodybuilders. By making use of creatine supplements, they can safely increase their creatine levels which, in turn, helps enhance their cell’s ability to create ATP.
What are the benefits of Creatine for women?
Now that you have a better idea of what creatine does, we can delve into the question of what creatine supplementation in women looks like. You are probably wondering what to expect when it comes to using creatine for women. After all, there are subtle differences between male and female physiology and body chemistry that need to be taken into account.
- Building Lean Muscle – If you are already living an active lifestyle, then the use of creatine should be a no-brainer at this point. It can help you build lean muscle as you engage in high-intensity training regimens.
- Improved Cognitive Skills – An unexpected creatine for women side effects is improved mental clarity and enhanced ability to focus. Remember, aside from your muscles, creatine is stored mainly in the brain. So, by enhancing your creatine levels, you also give your brain a huge boost.
- Alleviates the Effects of Aging – This is a crucial benefit of creatine for women over 50. Creatine for women does more than boosting your body’s ability to produce ATP. It also helps address some of the most common problems women have to deal with as they age. Specifically, it promotes healthy bones, improves your skeletal muscle mass, and prevents bone loss due to aging.
- Alleviates Menopausal Symptoms – There have been studies that show the benefits of creatine for menopause. With regular exercise and the right amount of creatine, you can address the loss of muscle mass that is associated with aging and menopause.
Will creatine make a woman gain weight?
Creatine for women often gets a bad rap. This is because of the widely circulated myth that creatine is primarily a bulking supplement — due in no small part to its overwhelming popularity in the bodybuilding community. To be clear: creatine will not make you gain weight (at least not in the way you probably imagine).
Put simply, creatine use will not increase your fat levels. It is completely free of any calories. However, there is the issue of water weight that you need to be aware of. Specifically, as creatine helps your cells produce more energy through ATP, it can also cause your muscles to start storing more water – causing what could easily be mistaken as weight gain.
However, water weight is all but insignificant and completely temporary in the grand scheme of your fitness goals. As you know, your muscles need to rebuild and strengthen themselves after engaging in high-intensity workouts. One of the creatine side effects (which is POSTIVE) is the increased water retention in the muscles. More water in the muscle is a good thing!!
This is not like the water weight women pick up during their cycle or the water weight that makes you feel bloated. More water in your muscles makes you look more toned and muscular. You won’t look like she-hulk, but you will be stronger and have more water in your muscles. There is no magic pill to make you turn into wonder woman, but creatine is a great legal, well researched supplement to help you reach your fitness goals.
When put in the right context, water weight can be seen as a good sign as you inch closer to your fitness goals. As stated earlier, one of the main benefits of creatine for women is that it aids in building lean muscles. This means that there is no bulking effect to speak of. Instead, you get to trim off that unwanted excess weight while building a stronger and leaner physique.
How Does Creatine Affect Women?
As stated above, you won’t have to worry about excessive weight gain or muscle gain (bulking) when using creatine. This is primarily due to the differences in body chemistry between men and women. Specifically, our hormones.
Basic biology dictates that women have significantly lower testosterone. Keep in mind that creatine female hormones play a major role in how you build muscle mass. With lower testosterone levels, it is much harder for women using creatine supplements to start bulking up compared to women. Needless to say, the ability to build a lean muscle mass is one of the most important creatine for women side effects that you need to maximize.
It is also worth mentioning here that while there is no definitive study on the effects of creatine for women’s fertility, several clinical tests have shown that you can use creatine for menopause and aging. Specifically, creatine for women over 50 is crucial if they want to prevent osteoporosis or the loss of bone mass – a common problem among postmenopausal women.
Does Creatine for Women Make You Gain Belly Fat?
Most women point to their bellies as one of their most problematic areas. Most of us want to have the perfect set of abs and a strong core to go along with it. So, it only comes naturally that women would be concerned whether or not creatine for women can cause an increase in belly fat.
This concern is understandable. After all, having too much belly fat is a serious health concern. Aside from being unsightly, it can also increase your risk for developing chronic diseases later in life. This can include everything from Type 2 diabetes to heart disease. Too much belly fat even increases your chances of having a stroke.
That said, as stated earlier, the primary purpose of creatine is to help you build muscle. It also helps improve your metabolism and increases your ability to burn fat as fuel. So, to answer the question: creatine for women does not make you gain belly fat. On the contrary, it helps you get rid of it faster.
How Much Creatine Should Women Take?
Now that we have covered what creatine is and what it can do, it is time that we talk about dosage. After all, like with any other supplements, there is a science behind creatine for women that you shouldn’t ignore. However, there are different approaches that you need to be aware of.
For instance, according to medical studies, you can take 3 grams of creatine taken daily for 28 days to ensure that your muscles are well-saturated. Once you successfully saturate your muscles with creatine, you can start lowering your dose and still maintain high levels of creatine in your system.
Another common method of taking creatine supplements is called creatine loading. To do this, you will need to follow a week-long loading phase wherein you would consume 20 grams of creatine daily. After the loading phase, you can switch to lower doses yet still be able to enjoy high levels of creatine safely.
While it is still an expedient and safe method to follow, creatine loading may not be necessary for women, at the end of the day. This is because maintaining a daily 3-gram dose of creatine will also do the job effectively and efficiently.
Types of Creatine
You should note that creatine comes in several different forms. Listed below are some of the most popular types that you need to know:
- Creatine Monohydrate – This is the most commonly used form of creatine around. It is also the most-researched. This means that most of what we understand about creatine for women stems from this particular form of creatine. Needless to say, its safety and effectiveness are indisputable.
- Creatine Ethyl Ester – The information and medical literature surrounding creatine ethyl ester are conflicting, to say the least. Some claim its superiority over other forms of the supplement. However, some studies show that it does a worse job at increasing creatine levels and ATP production in muscles.
- Creatine Hydrochloride – This is another type of creatine that has generated significant hype and excitement among manufacturers and fitness buffs. Creatine hydrochloride, also known as HCl, is known for its supposed superior solubility in water. This means that you can use a lower dose and expect the same results. Sadly, all of this remains speculative as there are still no published studies on the effects of HCl in humans.
- Buffered Creatine – This particular type of creatine is an attempt to stabilize the chemical by mixing it with an alkaline. In theory, this would make the creatine more potent. However, the data remains inconclusive in this regard.
What is the Best Creatine for Women?
The list above is by no means an exhaustive one. However, you should also know that not all forms of creatine are made equal. If we were to recommend a specific type of creatine for women, then it simply has to be creatine monohydrate.
While the newer forms of creatine seem promising, creatine monohydrate remains the most-researched and the most well-understood of the bunch. The overwhelming scientific data and evidence show its effectiveness and efficiency. There is no doubt that it can help to increase your creatine levels and improving your overall performance.
While creatine is well researched, I have found that buffered creatine works well for me. It is what was referred to above as buffered creatine. Give it a try and send me an email at melinda@libifit.com and let me know what you think. I absolutely love it! Click on the link to grab some now.
There you have it. Everything you need to know about creatine for women. Be sure to remember all the things we’ve covered here so that you can start on you maximize this supplement on your fitness journey.
If you are interested in other supplements for weight loss and muscle building, check out this article.
Till next time ladies!!!
