Creatine: Weight based dosing so I don’t have to eat 6 pounds of chicken every day
We Inherit Opinions Before We Realize to Question Them
I had opinions about creatine I'd never actually examined. Bloating. Weight gain. Kidney damage. Something for bodybuilders, not for me. I'd never read a single study — but the concerns were just there, fully formed, somewhere between overheard gym conversations, wellness content I'd scrolled past, and years of absorbed messaging about what should and shouldn't go into a woman's body.
Isn't it strange how that works? We inherit opinions before we realize to question them.
What Changed My Mind
What changed my mind was an episode of Diary of a CEO. An anti-aging doctor said she takes 25–30 grams of creatine a day to combat sleep debt and brain fog — that it lets her perform as if she'd had a full night's rest when she hadn't. My first reaction was skepticism. My second was curiosity. Because the days I don't sleep well aren't occasional. For most working women — managing jobs, homes, caregiving, the mental load of everything else — short sleep is the default, not the exception. And the cognitive cost is real.
So I went looking for actual answers. I didn't want to bulk. I didn't want anything that would make me feel puffy, foggy, or like I was taking a supplement in the marketing sense of the word. I wanted to know whether a small, evidence-based dose could give me what the doctor described — sharper thinking on bad sleep days — without the side effects I'd spent years absorbing warnings about.What I found surprised me.
Why Your Dose Probably Isn't My Dose
The recommended maintenance dose is 0.1g per kilogram of body weight. That number matters more than the serving size on the back of the tub — because that serving size was not calculated with most bodies in mind.
Think about it this way. I am 5'1" and 105 pounds. My friend is 6'4" 200 pounds. The idea that we would take the same dose of anything — a medication, a supplement, a cup of coffee — and expect the same result is something we would never accept in a clinical setting. Yet that is exactly what the standard creatine label asks us to do. The 3–5g default was built around an average male body. If that is not your body, the math was never yours to begin with.
My Dose · 5'1" · 105 lbs / 48 kg · 4.8g per day
His Dose · 6'4" · 200 lbs / 91 kg · 9.1g per day
Same label. Same scoop. Nearly double the dose.
This is not just about economics — though it matters there too. Just like any compound, our bodies calibrate over time. The effects plateau. Dosing too high from the start leaves you nowhere to go. Starting at the right dose for your actual body weight means you are working with your biology, not against it.
I always ask myself first: is there a natural way to get this? Creatine is found in chicken, red meat, fish, nuts, yogurt, milk, and cheese — things I already eat. Great, I thought. I don't need a supplement. Then I looked at the dosage math. To hit 3 grams a day through food alone at my body weight, I would need roughly 6 pounds of raw chicken daily. At Whole Foods, that is around $30 a day just to obtain creatine from food. The cost, the prep, and the prospect of eating 6 pounds of chicken was not going to work.
Needless to say, I looked into creatine supplements more seriously.
What the Science Says
It turns out one paper does most of the work. Eleven of the world's leading sports nutrition researchers reviewed more than 500 studies on creatine and pooled their findings into a single 2021 review published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Here's what they found — answering, in order, the exact questions I had.
Won't creatine make me gain weight? Any initial weight change is water being drawn into your muscle cells — not fat. Across multiple studies, including trials lasting up to two years, creatine had no effect on fat mass.
Can creatine cause kidney damage? The evidence simply doesn't support it. At recommended doses, creatine is safe for kidney function in healthy adults. If you have a pre-existing kidney condition, that's a different conversation — but for the rest of us, it's not a concern unless we're drastically misusing it.
Isn't creatine a steroid? No. Creatine is a naturally occurring compound your body already produces, with zero hormonal activity. The association likely came from decades of it being shelved next to actual performance-enhancing drugs in supplement stores.
Do I need to do a loading phase? The classic protocol — 20g a day for a week — is optional. Lower daily doses of 3–5g work just as well. It just takes a few weeks instead of a few days to build up your stores. For someone cautious about what goes into their body, the slow and steady approach felt right.
Does timing matter? Before your workout, after, with meals — the research shows it largely doesn't matter. What matters is consistency.
How does it help women specifically? This one surprised me. In postmenopausal women, creatine showed measurable improvements in muscle mass, strength, and functional performance. That said — the supplement works in conjunction with strength training, not instead of it. Passively taking anything without intentional lifestyle change doesn't move the needle much in the long run.
What Are the Downsides?
Part of what I try to do here is give you the full picture so you can make an informed decision for yourself — not tell you what to take. Here's what the study actually flags as potential downsides:
The most consistently noted side effect is water retention in the first few days. Creatine draws water into your muscle cells, which can show up as a slight bump on the scale. For most people this resolves — and at the lower maintenance dose I take, I haven't noticed it.
I also take a lower dose because I do obtain some creatine naturally through the foods already in my regular meals — chicken, eggs, nuts, and dairy all contain it. Supplementing on top of what I already get through food means I can stay closer to my calculated weight-based dose without exceeding it. It is the same logic I apply to everything: food first, supplement the gap.
At higher doses — anything over 10 grams at a time — some people experience GI distress, bloating, or diarrhea. This is dose dependent. Another reason I believe in starting low and going slow.
Then there's the hair loss question. One study found that creatine loading increased levels of DHT — a hormone linked to hair loss in people who are genetically predisposed to it. Here's the thing though: that finding has never been replicated in any other study, the DHT levels in question remained within normal clinical limits, and no study has actually documented anyone losing hair from creatine. But the study is out there.
If you have a pre-existing kidney condition, this is a different conversation entirely and one you should have with your doctor before adding anything new.
And finally — something I think about whenever I read research. Several of the authors of this study sit on the scientific advisory board of Alzchem, a company that manufactures creatine. The study discloses this transparently, but I think you should know it too. It doesn't invalidate the findings — the research is still the most comprehensive review of creatine that exists — but a discerning reader deserves the full picture.
The Bottom Line
Creatine monohydrate is one of the most studied supplements in existence. The concerns I carried for years — kidney damage, fat gain, only for people who want to bulk — are not supported by the evidence. What is supported: it's safe, effective, and significantly underutilized outside of athletic populations.
What I Actually Take and Why
My priority was finding the purest form — least processed, fewest additives. To figure out what that actually meant, I started using the NOVA framework as a rough filter. NOVA is a food classification system developed by researchers in Brazil that sorts everything we eat into four groups based on how industrially processed it is — from whole unprocessed foods all the way to what they call ultra-processed. A practical rule of thumb used by UK health organizations: more than 5 ingredients you don't recognize, and it's likely ultra-processed. That number stuck with me. So that became my filter — more than 5 ingredients I can't identify, I put it back. The one exception is when the benefit clearly outweighs the cost. Thorne became my go-to — their micronized version mixes easily, doesn't taste gritty, and absorbs well.
How I Take It: The Strawberry Matcha Creatine Latte
Here's where it gets practical — and a little fun. I mix my creatine into a homemade strawberry matcha latte for an early afternoon pick-me-up, right around the 1–3pm window when my energy starts to slow. Low calorie, antioxidant rich, and honestly better than anything I'd get at Blank Street or Starbucks — because I know exactly what's in it and how much of everything.
Matcha in its truest form is one of the most antioxidant dense foods you can consume. It contains L-theanine, an amino acid that promotes calm focus without the jittery spike of coffee — and it has been used in Japanese tea ceremonies for centuries as a ritual of presence and clarity. Strip away the syrups and the aesthetics and what's left is genuinely worth drinking.
I also pay close attention to how much matcha I use because caffeine, like creatine, is something I believe in dosing by body weight. The recommended caffeine range is 3–6mg per kilogram per day, with an upper limit of 400mg per person. I start at the low end, which for my weight starts at around 140mg per day, which works out to about 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of matcha. I also have black coffee in the morning so I try to take that into account when making my latte.
A full breakdown — exact recipe, ratios, and why each ingredient is in there — is coming soon. But here's what I'm working with:
Matcha — $15/month
Thorne Creatine — $24/month
Elmhurst Milk — $32/month
Brad's Organic Coconut Water — $30/month
Minimo Nutrition in Vanilla — $24/month
If you're someone who buys a fun drink every day, we know that adds up. A more intentional homemade version runs about $4.17 per cup — versus $7–8 at Starbucks or Blank Street. Over a year, you'd spend nearly $2,750 at a coffee shop versus $1,500 making it yourself. That's over $1,200 back in your pocket. For me, that's an international vacation. I'll take it.
Why One Study Is Never Enough
It’s important to note, a single study is just one data point. What makes research reliable over time is when findings are replicated, when multiple independent teams arrive at the same conclusions, and when the scientific community continues to cite and build on the work. The number of times a study has been cited by other researchers is one of the clearest signals of its credibility and influence.
Here are five of the most cited and authoritative studies on creatine that form the backbone of what we know:
1. Kreider et al. (2017) International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine The most comprehensive evidence-based review on creatine that exists. If you read one thing, read this.
2. Harris et al. (1992) Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation. The first study to prove oral creatine increases muscle creatine stores in humans. The modern creatine era begins here.
3. Hultman et al. (1996) Muscle creatine loading in men. Proved that 3g daily for 28 days achieves the same result as 20g daily for 6 days. The foundation for everything we know about dosing.
4. Antonio et al. (2021) Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?. Eleven independent researchers. 500+ peer reviewed publications. The study that answers the questions people actually ask.
5. Rawson & Volek (2003) Effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training on muscle strength and weightlifting performance.