Weight tracking and creatine loading

[Pawn]

Hi Jordan.

I have a quick question and my google-foo as well as search-foo has provided me limited feedback.

Details:
Stats: 33 years, 364 lbs, 6'4'', 49'' waist, 19.5'' neck

Lifts: Squat 455 [1]; Bench 202.5 [5]; Dead 425 [5]; Press 155 [3]; Clean 195 [1]

Programming:
Thursday: Intensity Bench / Volume Press
531 for squats Friday + Power cleans + Volume Trapbar Deadlifts
Sunday: Intensity Press / Volume Bench
531 for deads Monday + Barbell Rows + Rackpulls + Prowler Pushing
Soccer Weds
(the 531 may not be optimal for the squat programming as per the referenced article in the 'Internet Sucks' thread... I may look to change this up after the current 531 cycle)

Diet:
Daily Consumption: 2800 Calories / 250 g P / 95 g F / 250 g C
Thursday evening's meal (day before squats): +800 Cal -- mix of fat and carbs

Supplementation:
Creatine Monohydrate (powdered): Loading: 10g per day Nov 23 -> Nov 30; 5g per day since



I've tracked my weight and have been consistently losing about 1.5 lbs per week. I expected the loading phase of creatine to simply offset a single week, but it appears to have offset at least two. (I was 362 the day I started taking the creatine... and am currently 364 when (assuming my diet logs are accurate) it would be 359 or so...)

The question: how long does it take for creatine monohydrate to max water retention / how long until I will get reliable feedback from the scale?

Additionally you mentioned in some of your historical posts about some trainees potentially needing a higher dosage than 5g -- do you have a recommendation?

Thanks for taking the time.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

It takes about a week to saturate the muscle, but I would expect your weight to increase reliably with creatine supplementation. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.