For muscle building and enhancing athletic performance, creatine is probably the most effective, research-proven supplement that we'll ever saw until now. Once inside the muscle, creatine increases muscle cell volume and stimulates contractile protein production to provide better and faster results. Popular misconception among many weight lifters and other athletes is that creatine prevents fat loss if used regularly.

You can read opinions that for building muscle, creatine is a great supplement but if you want to get lean, creatine supplementation is something you don't want around you. There is no scientific evidence to support this. I will provide you with the scientific evidence that is relevant to creatine and fat loss so that you can make an informed decision based on facts.

Creatine contains zero calories, no fat and 0 carbohydrates. How can supplementation with creatine provide additional calories to the diet and impede fat loss? The actual reaility is that in an indirect way, creatine supplementation probably speeds fat loss!

Over 67 well-controlled studies have shown that longer term creatine supplementation (8-12 weeks) increases lean muscle mass with little or no change in fat mass. And the increase in lean mass will provide an increase in a person's metabolic rate that, in turn, burns more body fat. It is just due to influence of poor quality of bodybuilding magazines that over the time people start to think (and act) in compeatly wrong ways. It appears that the topic of creatine and fat loss has become a part of the bodybuilding folk-law for ignoramuses.

I'll give short comments just to show you how they manipulate with informations and make people think (buy) what they want. The findings from a one creatine study ( Huso, M.E., et al. Creatine supplementation influences substrate utilization at rest. J Appl Physiol. 2002). have been interpreted by many in the bodybuilding media to suggest that creatine supplementation somehow prevents fat loss.

The subjects in this study were not bodybuilders, they were active but physically untrained, college males. Untrained college men would not be nearly as disciplined or motivated as bodybuilders with regard to their eating, sleeping patterns or training intensity. They would not be accustomed to the rigorous, weekly training or having to report dietary details.

Based on my experience, unless the study participant is a highly motivated bodybuilder; they do not fully comprehend the importance of a consistent approach to eating, sleeping and training. Therefore the data obtained during a bodybuilding study that does not utilize bodybuilders, must be questionable. This study used a "crossover design"; the assessment period between creatine use and non-creatine use was very close.

In this study, the authors suggest that creatine may prevent fat loss and this is a puzzling notion. Creatine contains no calories and I fail to see how 2-grams a day of a non-caloric compound could interfere with the fat loss process. I mean let's use our common sense here.

The aspects I have raised are not meant to detract from the research study I have just discussed. These points merely stress the importance of the way in which the results are interpreted. Also, remember that not all bodybuilding journalists are interested in the little details that may influence the results.

Creatine is a zero-calorie, lean mass stimulator. It is an important part of the bodybuilder's arsenal to gaining a bigger, stronger, leaner physique. Of the hundreds of studies that have examined creatine's effects on body composition, the vast majority show very favorable increases in the lean mass to fat ratio. If maximum muscle gains are desired, I cannot see a reason to exclude creatine during any attempt at fat loss. Combined with the correct, calorie-restricted eating plan, creatine will only serve to accelerate your fat loss efforts, not impede them.