Creatine for Weight Loss: Does It Help You Lose Fat?

Does creatine help you lose weight?

Not directly, and it is worth being honest about that up front. Creatine is not a fat burner, a metabolism booster, or an appetite suppressant. If you take creatine and change nothing else, you will not lose weight. You may even see the scale tick up slightly. That is not a failure of the supplement, it is just creatine doing exactly what it is supposed to do, which has nothing to do with fat.

Here is the more useful framing. Most people who say they want to "lose weight" actually want to lose fat while keeping or building muscle, which is called body recomposition. Creatine is genuinely helpful for that goal, not because it melts fat, but because it lets you train harder and hold onto lean tissue while you diet. The ISSN position stand frames creatine as a training and performance aid, full stop (Kreider et al., 2017). Read it that way and everything else in this article makes sense.

The reason the "does creatine help you lose weight" question is so common is that creatine is everywhere in fitness, and fitness and weight loss get lumped together in people's minds. But the supplement that helps you squat more and the supplement that would help you lose fat are not the same thing, and creatine is firmly the former. Keeping those two goals separate in your head is the first step to using it well.

Does creatine burn fat?

No. There is no mechanism by which creatine directly oxidizes or removes body fat. It does not raise your metabolic rate in any meaningful fat-burning way, and it is not a thermogenic. Searches like "does creatine burn fat" usually come from people who saw creatine in a fitness context and assumed it belonged in the same bucket as fat burners. It does not.

What creatine does is upstream of fat loss, not the fat loss itself. By helping you lift a little heavier and recover a little better, it supports the training that builds calorie-burning muscle over time. That is an indirect, slow contribution to a leaner body, not a fat-burning effect you will feel or see this week. If a product promises creatine "burns fat," that is marketing outrunning the science.

There is a slow, indirect angle worth naming. Every pound of muscle you build and keep raises your resting energy needs a little, so a more muscular body tends to burn somewhat more calories at rest. Creatine contributes to that only by helping you build and retain the muscle in the first place, over months, through training. That is a real but gradual effect on your body, not a fat-burning property of the powder itself.

Why does creatine make the scale go up at first?

This is the single biggest source of confusion, so let us settle it with a picture.

Creatine is stored in your muscles, and it is osmotically active, which means it pulls water in alongside it. When you start supplementing, your muscles draw in extra water and that registers as 1 to 2 lb on the scale, sometimes a touch more during a loading phase (Hultman et al., 1996, Journal of Applied Physiology, PubMed). It happens in the first one to two weeks and then plateaus.

The crucial point: this water sits inside your muscle cells, not under your skin. It is not the puffy, soft water retention people associate with bloating, and it is absolutely not fat. The ISSN's misconceptions paper addresses this head-on, noting creatine does not increase fat mass and that early changes reflect water and lean tissue (Antonio et al., 2021, PubMed). If you only judge creatine by the scale in week one, you will draw exactly the wrong conclusion.

The size of the bump depends partly on how you start. A loading phase of about 20 g per day saturates muscle fast and brings the water shift on within days, which can look alarming if you are watching the scale during a diet. Skip loading, take 3 to 5 g daily, and the same small water gain arrives so gradually you may not notice it. Either way the endpoint is identical, and either way it is water, not fat. See loading vs maintenance dosing for the trade-offs.

Is creatine weight gain fat, water, or muscle?

Water first, then muscle, never fat. In the opening days the gain is almost entirely intracellular water. Over the following weeks, if you are training, some of the added weight becomes actual muscle tissue. None of it is body fat, because creatine contains no calories that get stored as fat and has no fat-building pathway.

Imaging studies make this concrete. When researchers used MRI, CT, and ultrasound rather than a bathroom scale, they measured real increases in muscle thickness with creatine plus training, not just water weight. And the strength gains seen across dozens of trials would be impossible if the added mass were only water, since water does not lift barbells. We unpack the scale question fully in creatine and weight gain and creatine bloating.

A simple way to keep it straight: fat is stored energy, and creatine provides no energy your body can store as fat. Water is a temporary passenger that comes and goes with your creatine stores. Muscle is the slow, real change that only happens if you train. Three different things, and only the scale lumps them into one number. Learn to separate them and the early gain stops being scary.

What does the research say about creatine and body composition?

This is where creatine actually helps a physique goal, and the evidence is deep.

A 2024 meta-analysis by Desai and colleagues found that creatine combined with resistance training increased lean body mass by roughly 1.1 kg and reduced fat mass by about 0.7 kg more than training alone (Desai et al., 2024, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, PubMed). A large 2024 dose-response review pooling 143 studies reached the same conclusion, that creatine improves body composition primarily when paired with training (Pashayee-Khamene et al., 2024, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, PubMed). An earlier classic meta-analysis by Branch reported the same direction, more lean mass and improved high-intensity performance (Branch, 2003, PubMed).

Notice the consistent theme: the body-composition benefit shows up with resistance training, not from creatine alone. Take creatine and sit on the couch and your body composition will not change. Take it and train, and you tilt the lean-to-fat ratio in your favor.

It is also worth being precise about the size of these effects. A kilogram of lean mass and half a kilogram of fat over a training block is a meaningful nudge, not a dramatic transformation. Creatine is an edge, a few extra percent on top of good training and diet, which is exactly how you should think about nearly every legitimate supplement. The big levers are still your calories, your protein, and your effort in the gym.

Creatine + resistance training vs training alone: pooled meta-analysis results

Body composition outcome	Effect vs training alone	Evidence base
Lean body mass	+1.14 kg gained	Desai 2024 meta-analysis
Body fat percentage	−0.88% (statistically significant)	Desai 2024 meta-analysis
Body fat mass	−0.73 kg lost	Desai 2024 meta-analysis
Fat-free mass	+1.39 kg gained	2025 dose-response meta (61 trials)
Direct fat burning	None — no mechanism	ISSN position stand 2021

Can creatine help you lose fat if you train?

Yes, indirectly, and this is the honest version of "creatine for weight loss." Several meta-analyses report small but real reductions in fat mass and body fat percentage when creatine is added to resistance training. In adults over 50, a meta-analysis found a greater drop in body fat percentage with creatine plus training versus training alone (Forbes et al., 2019, Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, PubMed), and a 2023 analysis reached similar conclusions on fat mass (Candow et al., 2023, Nutrients, PubMed).

The mechanism is not mysterious. More creatine means better training capacity, which means more muscle stimulus and more muscle retained, and muscle is metabolically active tissue. Over months, a leaner, more muscular body composition is the result. The fat reduction is modest and it is downstream of the training creatine enables, not a direct effect. Helpful, real, but not magic.

It helps to see the hierarchy clearly. The calorie deficit is the engine of fat loss, full stop. Protein and resistance training protect your muscle while that deficit runs. Creatine sits one layer further out, supporting the training and the muscle, which is valuable but supporting, not central. Get the order right and you stop expecting creatine to do a job that belongs to your diet.

Is creatine good during a cut or calorie deficit?

This is arguably creatine's best weight-related use case. When you eat in a calorie deficit to lose fat, your body is also at risk of burning muscle for energy, especially if protein or training intensity slips. Losing muscle is the worst outcome of a diet, because it lowers your metabolism and leaves you smaller but not leaner.

Creatine helps guard against that. By supporting strength and training output even when calories are low, it helps you keep lifting heavy, which is the strongest signal telling your body to hold onto muscle. So during a cut, creatine's job is muscle preservation, not fat loss. You still need the deficit and the protein. Creatine just helps make sure that what you lose is fat and not hard-earned muscle. For programming, see supplement stacks for muscle and when to take creatine.

Think of the deficit as a stress on your body, and muscle as something that stress can erode if you are not careful. The two strongest protectors are eating enough protein and continuing to train with real intensity. Creatine reinforces the second one by keeping your strength up when low calories would otherwise sap it. A lifter who keeps hitting hard sets sends a loud "keep this muscle" signal, and creatine helps keep those sets strong deeper into a diet.

How much weight will I gain on creatine?

For most people, about 1 to 2 lb of water in the first one to two weeks, then a plateau. If you do a loading phase with around 20 g per day, you might see the upper end of that range faster. Skip loading and take 3 to 5 g daily, and the same small shift arrives more gradually and less noticeably.

This is temporary water, not a trend. It does not keep climbing, and it reverses if you stop taking creatine. Crucially, none of it is fat, so it has no bearing on whether you are getting leaner. If you are tracking a fat-loss diet, expect this small one-time bump, then judge progress by the mirror, measurements, and how your clothes fit rather than the scale alone.

A practical tip for dieters: start creatine and then give the scale a couple of weeks before reading too much into the trend. Better yet, track a weekly average rather than daily readings, since day-to-day weight swings from food, salt, and water dwarf any real fat change anyway. Waist measurements and progress photos tell a truer story than a single morning number.

Will creatine ruin my cut or make me look bloated?

No, and this fear is based on a misunderstanding of where the water goes. Creatine draws water into muscle cells (intracellular), which tends to make muscles look slightly fuller, not softer. The bloated, smooth look people dread comes from water held under the skin (subcutaneous), which is a different compartment driven mostly by sodium, carbs, and hormones, not creatine.

If anything, many lifters feel they look better on creatine because fuller muscles read as more defined. So you can absolutely run creatine through a cut, a photoshoot prep, or a lean-out phase without fear of looking watery. The intracellular water is working for you, not against you.

Should women take creatine for weight loss or toning?

Women often avoid creatine out of a fear of "bulking up" or gaining weight, and that fear is misplaced. Women generally do not gain large amounts of mass from creatine, partly due to hormonal differences, and the same recomposition logic applies, support training, preserve lean mass, lose fat from the deficit. A 2021 lifespan review argued women may have specific reasons to supplement across different life stages (Smith-Ryan et al., 2021, Nutrients, PubMed).

"Toning" is just recomposition by another name: a bit more muscle, a bit less fat. Creatine supports exactly that when paired with resistance training. The small early water gain is the same as in men and is not fat. For the full picture, see creatine for women and creatine side effects.

One more reassurance for women worried about the scale: the lean-mass gains documented in women tend to be smaller than in men, on the order of half a kilogram with training, which is firm, metabolically useful tissue, not bulk. You are far more likely to end up looking toned and feeling stronger than to "get big," which is genuinely hard to do and does not happen by accident from a creatine scoop.

How should you take creatine while trying to lose fat?

Keep it simple. Take 3 to 5 g of creatine monohydrate per day, every day, including rest days, since the goal is keeping your muscles saturated, not timing it around workouts. You do not need to cycle it, and you do not need to load unless you are impatient for the water shift.

Timing barely matters for fat loss, so take it whenever you will remember, with or without food. Pair it with adequate protein (the real muscle-preserving nutrient in a cut), resistance training, and your calorie deficit. Stay hydrated, since creatine pulls water into muscle. That is the whole protocol. The detailed routine lives in how to use creatine and loading vs maintenance dosing.

To put it in a single picture, a sensible fat-loss setup looks like this: a moderate calorie deficit, protein around the higher end of recommendations to protect muscle, two to four resistance-training sessions a week, and 3 to 5 g of creatine taken daily without fuss. Notice creatine is one small line in that plan, not the headline. That is the correct weight it should carry. Get the deficit, protein, and training right, and creatine quietly makes the training half work a little better.

Does creatine cause belly fat or visceral fat?

No. Creatine has no pathway to create or store fat anywhere, including the belly. It contains no usable calories that get converted to fat. Any midsection change while taking creatine comes from diet and overall energy balance, not the supplement. If your waist is growing, the cause is a calorie surplus, not creatine.

The opposite is closer to true: by supporting the training that builds metabolically active muscle, creatine is a small ally against fat gain over time, never a cause of it (Antonio et al., 2021, PubMed).

Visceral fat specifically, the deeper fat around your organs, responds to the same levers as all fat: overall energy balance, activity, sleep, and stress. The most protective habit on that list is regular resistance training, which creatine supports. So the honest chain is creatine to better training to a leaner body over time, never creatine to belly fat.

Creatine vs fat burners: what's the difference?

They are not the same category, and conflating them is the root of most "creatine for weight loss" confusion. Fat burners are marketed to increase calorie expenditure or suppress appetite, usually via stimulants like caffeine, and their real-world fat-loss effects are typically small and short-lived. Creatine does none of that. It is not a stimulant, it does not touch appetite, and it does not raise calorie burn in any direct way.

Creatine belongs in the performance and recovery category, alongside things like protein and proper training. Its contribution to a leaner body is structural, through the muscle you build and keep, not metabolic in the fat-burner sense. So if you are choosing between "a fat burner" and "creatine" for losing fat, you are comparing two different things, and honestly, neither replaces a calorie deficit. See how to pick a creatine for what actually matters in a product.

Does creatine affect appetite or metabolism?

Not meaningfully. Creatine is not an appetite suppressant, so it will not curb hunger or help you eat less, and it is not a metabolism booster in the thermogenic sense. It does not change your resting metabolic rate by any amount you could diet around. Anyone selling creatine on an appetite or metabolism angle is stretching.

The only metabolic link is the slow, indirect one already covered: more muscle over time means a slightly higher resting energy requirement. That is a months-long, training-driven effect, and it is small. For day-to-day fat loss, your calorie intake and activity matter enormously more than any metabolic nudge creatine could provide.

Will I lose the creatine weight when I stop taking it?

Yes, the water portion. If you stop creatine, your muscles gradually release the extra water they were holding, and the scale typically drops by that same 1 to 2 lb over a couple of weeks. That is just the water reversing, not fat loss, and not something to celebrate or worry about.

The muscle you built while training on creatine does not vanish when you stop, as long as you keep training and eating enough to maintain it. So stopping creatine makes the scale read a little lower without making you any leaner, while quietly removing a useful training aid. For most people there is no good reason to cycle off. See is creatine safe for why long-term daily use is fine.

This is also why you should not panic-stop creatine right before a weigh-in or an event and read the small scale drop as progress. It is the same water leaving, and it tells you nothing about your fat. If anything, you have temporarily removed a training aid for a cosmetic scale change that does not reflect a leaner body. Consistency beats scale games every time.

Common myths about creatine and weight

A handful of myths drive most of the confusion.

• "Creatine makes you fat." No. It cannot create body fat. Early weight is water in muscle (Antonio et al., 2021).
• "Creatine is a weight-loss supplement." No. It does not burn fat or suppress appetite. It supports training and lean mass.
• "The water weight means it is not working." Backwards. Water uptake is a sign your muscles are saturating, which is exactly what you want.
• "Women will bulk up and gain weight." No. Large mass gains are uncommon, and the effect is recomposition, not bulk (Smith-Ryan et al., 2021).
• "You should stop creatine to cut." Usually wrong. Keeping it on helps preserve muscle while you diet, which improves the quality of your weight loss.
• "Creatine slows fat loss." No. It has no effect on your calorie balance, which is what governs fat loss. It only changes water and, with training, muscle.
• "More creatine means more fat loss." No. Above 3 to 5 g daily there is no extra body-composition benefit. Bigger doses just mean more cost and more early water.

Who is creatine actually good for, if not weight loss?

Almost anyone who trains. Creatine is one of the most proven supplements for strength and power (Lanhers et al., 2015, 2017, PubMed; PubMed), lean-mass gains, recovery, and even cognition. If your goal is to get stronger, build muscle, hold muscle through a diet, or simply support healthy aging, creatine delivers.

If your only goal is a smaller number on the scale with no interest in training, creatine is the wrong tool, and frankly so is most of the supplement aisle. Fat loss comes from a sustained calorie deficit. Creatine becomes valuable the moment training and muscle preservation enter the picture, which for most people pursuing lasting fat loss, they should.

That last point is the quiet reframe worth sitting with. The most durable fat loss is not just a lower scale weight, it is a body with more muscle and less fat that holds its results because the muscle keeps your metabolism and strength up. Approached that way, creatine stops looking like a weight-loss disappointment and starts looking like what it is, a tool that makes the training half of fat loss work better.

Why YourHealthier Creatine Hydration Powder for a cut

Our Creatine Hydration Powder is a good fit for a fat-loss phase for two reasons. First, it delivers a full, verified 5 g of creatine monohydrate per serving, third-party tested, so you actually get the muscle-supporting dose the research used. Second, we built it with added electrolytes and no sugar, which suits a cut, you stay hydrated to support that intracellular water without adding calories.

To be clear about what it is and is not: this is not a fat-loss product, and we will never sell it as one. It is a creatine that supports your training and helps you protect muscle while your diet does the fat loss. Used that way, it is one of the few supplements genuinely worth your money during a cut.

Support your training through a cut. Shop Creatine Hydration Powder →

What the research doesn't settle

A couple of honest caveats. Most creatine body-composition research is male-dominated, so the fat-mass and lean-mass numbers in women rest on fewer studies and tend to run smaller (Forbes et al., 2019; Smith-Ryan et al., 2021). The female picture is improving but is not as settled as the male one.

There is also ongoing debate about how much of the early "lean mass" increase is genuine muscle versus water, especially in short studies, a limitation the meta-analysts themselves flag. None of this changes the practical takeaway, that creatine is a training aid and not a fat burner, but it is worth knowing the fat-reduction numbers are modest and the women's data is thinner.

What's new in creatine and body composition research (2024 to 2026)?

The recent literature has only sharpened the same message. The 2024 Desai meta-analysis and the 143-study Pashayee-Khamene dose-response review both reinforced that creatine improves body composition through training, not as a standalone weight-loss agent. In 2025, the ISSN published a Part II follow-up to its common-questions paper, continuing to address creatine misconceptions including those around weight and water (Antonio et al., 2025, Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, PubMed). The consensus is stable: creatine is a recomposition and performance aid, and it never was a diet pill.

If anything, the trend in the science is toward creatine's broader value, strength, lean mass, healthy aging, cognition, which only underlines that judging it purely by your scale weight misses most of the point. The 2024 to 2026 research has not turned creatine into a weight-loss product, and it never will, because that was never how the molecule works. For the wider benefit picture, see creatine benefits.

Putting it together: the bottom line

Here is the whole thing in a few sentences. Creatine will not make you lose weight, and it may add a pound or two of water at first, which is muscle water, not fat. It does not burn fat and it is not a diet pill. What it does is support your training and help you build and keep lean muscle, so when you pair it with a calorie deficit and resistance training, more of what you lose is fat and more of your muscle survives the cut.

So judge creatine by the right yardstick. If you want recomposition, a leaner, stronger body, a clean creatine monohydrate at 3 to 5 g a day is a smart addition. If you want the scale to drop with no training and no diet change, no supplement, creatine included, will do that for you.

The most useful mindset shift is to stop asking creatine to do your diet's job. Set your calories for fat loss, eat enough protein, train hard, and let creatine quietly support the training and protect the muscle. Do that for a few months and you will likely end up leaner, stronger, and more defined, even if the scale moved less than you expected, because you traded some fat for muscle. That trade, not a falling number, is what people actually want when they say they want to lose weight.

Watch: does creatine actually help weight loss?

A Myprotein nutritionist walks through the same conclusion the research supports: creatine is not a fat burner, but it protects lean muscle and supports the training that actually drives fat loss. If you are chasing a lower body-fat percentage rather than just a lower number on the scale, that distinction is the whole point.

References

1. Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al. (2017). "International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 14:18. PubMed
2. Antonio J, Candow DG, Forbes SC, et al. (2021). "Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?" Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 18:13. PubMed
3. Antonio J, Brown AF, Candow DG, et al. (2025). "Part II. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 22. PubMed
4. Desai I, Pandit A, Smith-Ryan AE, et al. (2024). "The effect of creatine supplementation on resistance training-based changes to body composition: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 38(10), 1813-1821. PubMed
5. Pashayee-Khamene F, et al. (2024). "Creatine supplementation protocols with or without training interventions on body composition: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 21. PubMed
6. Forbes SC, Candow DG, Krentz JR, et al. (2019). "Changes in fat mass following creatine supplementation and resistance training in adults 50 years of age and older: a meta-analysis." Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 4(3), 62. PubMed
7. Candow DG, et al. (2023). "Resistance exercise and creatine supplementation on fat mass in adults." Nutrients, 15(20). PubMed
8. Branch JD. (2003). "Effect of creatine supplementation on body composition and performance: a meta-analysis." International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 13(2), 198-226. PubMed
9. Lanhers C, et al. (2015). "Creatine supplementation and lower limb strength performance: a systematic review and meta-analyses." Sports Medicine, 45(9), 1285-1294. PubMed
10. Lanhers C, et al. (2017). "Creatine supplementation and upper limb strength performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Sports Medicine, 47(1), 163-173. PubMed
11. Hultman E, Soderlund K, Timmons JA, et al. (1996). "Muscle creatine loading in men." Journal of Applied Physiology, 81(1), 232-237. PubMed
12. Smith-Ryan AE, Cabre HE, Eckerson JM, Candow DG. (2021). "Creatine supplementation in women's health: a lifespan perspective." Nutrients, 13(3), 877. PubMed

Should I Take Creatine if I'm Trying to Lose Weight?

Yes, but expect the scale to rise 2–4 pounds initially from water retention—not fat. Creatine pulls water into muscle, increasing lean weight while fat continues dropping in a caloric deficit. A 2021 study (PMID: 33557850) found it helped preserve lean muscle during calorie restriction, keeping metabolic rate higher. Judge progress by how clothes fit, not the scale early on.

Does Creatine Make Your Face Fat?

Creatine does not cause facial fat gain. Some users notice mild facial puffiness in the first 1–2 weeks—this is subcutaneous water retention, not fat. Creatine raises total body water by 1–2 liters, a small portion reaching extracellular spaces. It usually resolves within 2–3 weeks. Reducing sodium or switching from loading to 3–5 g/day minimizes puffiness.

Does Creatine Help Grow Glutes?

Creatine helps grow all trained muscle groups by enabling higher training intensity, not by targeting specific muscles. If your program includes progressive overload on hip-dominant exercises (hip thrusts, squats, deadlifts), creatine supports greater volume and faster glute growth. A meta-analysis (PMID: 14636102) showed users gained 1–2 kg more lean mass overall.

Does Creatine Help Heal Tendons?

Limited direct evidence exists. Creatine's ATP-regeneration mechanism does not directly apply to tendon tissue, which has low metabolic activity. A 2019 in vitro study found creatine enhanced collagen synthesis in tendon cells, suggesting a possible repair mechanism. No human trial has tested it for tendon healing. For injuries, use controlled loading, collagen peptides with vitamin C, and physical therapy.

Does Creatine Help Sore Muscles?

Creatine may modestly reduce soreness by supporting faster recovery. A 2004 study (PMID: 15142029) found it reduced markers of exercise-induced muscle damage (creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase) after exhaustive exercise. The mechanism: more phosphocreatine speeds ATP regeneration during repair. But creatine is not an anti-inflammatory or pain reliever—it will not reduce soreness acutely like ibuprofen. Its contribution is metabolic and cumulative.

Does Creatine Help with Joint Pain?

Creatine is not an anti-inflammatory or joint supplement, but it may help indirectly. Stronger muscles from creatine-enhanced training better stabilize joints and absorb force. A 2016 study found creatine reduced cartilage-degradation biomarkers in knee osteoarthritis patients doing resistance training. For joints directly, glucosamine, collagen, omega-3s, and physical therapy have stronger evidence.

Does Creatine Help with Blood Flow?

Creatine does not directly act as a vasodilator or improve blood flow. However, a 2011 study (PMID: 21249385) found creatine reduced arterial stiffness in young adults, which indirectly supports vascular function. Creatine also supports NO (nitric oxide) precursor availability in some contexts. For direct blood flow improvement, citrulline or beetroot extract have stronger evidence than creatine.

This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Creatine is a dietary supplement and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is not a weight-loss product. Consult your healthcare provider before starting any supplement. YourHealthier manufactures and sells creatine products discussed here.

Frequently asked questions

Creatine and Weight: The Honest Answer

Metric	Value
Burns fat?	No, not a fat burner
Causes fat gain?	No, adds zero body fat
Early scale bump	1 to 2 lb water in muscle
With training	+~1.1 kg lean, -~0.5-0.7 kg fat
Best use	Preserve muscle in a deficit
What drives fat loss	Calorie deficit, not creatine
Source: YourHealthier

Chart: Creatine in a fat-loss phase. Not a fat burner; protects muscle in a deficit; scale may rise from water; deficit drives fat loss. Source: Antonio 2024.