How much creatine per kg - Scientific information

Your knowledge to go: How much creatine per kg?

• To get the most out of creatine, it’s important that you take it regularly and in the right dosage.

• In the loading phase you need about 0.3 g per kg of body weight, while in the maintenance phase you need around 0.03 g per kg.

• Some people follow the cycle loading phase – maintenance phase – rest phase, while others just take creatine continuously.

• Too much creatine can lead to issues like digestive discomfort, but 3–5 g per day is generally considered unproblematic.

• How much creatine per kg you need is not dependent on whether you’re currently in a phase of building muscle, losing weight, or maintaining your weight.

Creatine effects

Before we really dive in, let’s briefly go back to the basics: What does creatine actually do? At the moment, there’s reliable information on creatine primarily in the context of athletic performance. However, researchers are also currently looking at the potential impact of creatine on various areas of the body:

• Brain

• Nervous system

• Mental health

• Immune system

• Muscles 

In particular, the effect in sports is interesting for many people and the reason why they want to take creatine. You can think of creatine in the body as acting like an energy store or energy supplier by providing ATP: Creatine increases physical performance in successive bursts of short-term, high-intensity exercise when a daily intake of 3 g is achieved. Put very simply, your muscles have more energy thanks to creatine and can therefore deliver strong performance.
By the way: Taking creatine without working out won’t give you any performance benefits, because without training you won’t get stronger. Creatine is not a magic cure, after all. If you want to know what creatine actually is, you’ll find more in this article: What is creatine?

So how much creatine per kg do you need to benefit from its advantages?

How much creatine per kg – your overview

If you want to know how much creatine per kg you should take daily, you first need to understand that, from a sports science perspective, there are two phases when supplementing creatine: the loading phase and the maintenance phase.
The daily dosage differs in these two phases. The dose does not depend on whether your goal is to build muscle, lose weight, or anything else.

Loading phase: How much creatine per kg in the loading phase?

• When you start taking creatine, you can optionally do a loading phase for about 5–7 days. During this phase, you “load” your creatine stores with a higher dose so that you notice an effect as quickly as possible.

• Recommended dose: 0.3 g of creatine per kg of body weight

• Depending on your body weight, this can be anywhere from 15–30 g of creatine.
  
  

Maintenance phase: How much creatine per kg in the maintenance phase?

• After the loading phase comes the maintenance phase. Your creatine stores are now full and only need to be maintained.

• Recommended dose: 0.03 g of creatine per kg of body weight

• Depending on your body weight, this can be around 1.5–3 g of creatine.

• Most people don’t base their daily dose on their body weight, though, and simply follow the standard intake recommendation of 3–5 g of creatine per day.

There’s also a third phase that’s less well known: the break. As you might guess, this is when you pause your creatine intake. More on that later.
Just for completeness:
How much creatine per kg during the break? 0 g per kg!
Now you know. ;)

Did you know?
The loading phase is not strictly necessary! You can also start directly with the maintenance phase – your stores will still fill up over time. It just takes a bit longer. After a maximum of 4 weeks, your creatine stores will be full with this method as well!

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Men and women

Many people assume that the recommended creatine dose differs for women and men. That’s not true though! The same dosage recommendation applies to both men and women:

How much creatine per day for women? Loading phase 0.3 g/kg | Maintenance phase 0.03 g/kg

How much creatine per day for men? Loading phase 0.3 g/kg | Maintenance phase 0.03 g/kg

The creatine dosage for men often simply looks higher because men often (not always!) weigh more than women. As a result, their total daily amount is higher. Per kg of body weight, however, it’s exactly the same!

How much creatine per day – calculator

Okay, I know – for many of us, math class was a long time ago, and even opening the calculator app can sometimes feel like too much. So I’ve done the math for you and listed the recommended creatine dose for different weight ranges here:

How much creatine per kg in the loading phase? (Information from sports science)

How much creatine per kg in the maintenance phase? (Information from sports science)

And last but not least: How much creatine per kg during the break? 
Okay, no. I’ll spare you that one.

With that, questions like “How much creatine at 80 kg?” (24 g in the loading phase, 2.4 g in the maintenance phase) or “How much creatine at 70 kg?” (21 g in the loading phase, 2.1 g in the maintenance phase) should be fully answered. But what happens if you take more creatine?

What happens if you take too much creatine?

To answer that, we first have to clarify how much creatine per kg is actually too much. In general, doses of 3–5 g per day are considered safe – how much that is per kg of body weight depends on how much you weigh.
If you take more than this amount, the first thing to know is that it won’t give you any extra benefit. So, taking more than 3–5 g doesn’t lead to better effects , more strength, etc. So it’s definitely a waste of money. Better invest that money in a delicious protein bar instead:

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On top of that, a too high dose of creatine can lead to symptoms like digestive issues (nausea, stomach pain, etc.). While side effects of creatine are generally rare, very high doses can definitely cause reactions.

How do you take creatine?

We now know how much creatine you should take. But what’s the best way to take creatine supplements? We’ve already talked about the cycle of loading phase – maintenance phase – break. This is also known as a creatine cycle. After 5–7 days of loading, there is a maintenance phase of around 6–8 weeks. The following break usually lasts a few weeks (typically 2–4).

But why is this break important? Couldn’t you just take creatine continuously? The current research isn’t entirely clear on this yet – so we don’t really know. The idea of the break is to “reset” your body. Afterward, your body is supposed to respond better to the substance again. Just like caffeine loses its energizing effect for many people over time, some people feel a similar effect with creatine. Others, however, decide against taking a break and supplement creatine continuously.
By the way, your creatine stores drop back to baseline levels roughly 4 weeks after you stop taking creatine.

One more important point: During both the loading and the maintenance phase, you should really take creatine every day! Not just on training days. After all, you want to keep your stores full all the time.

Tips for taking creatine:

1. Creatine is available, for example, as a powder or in capsules. The most common form is creatine monohydrate in powder form. It’s easy to dose and to take.

2. You can either mix the powder into water or add it to a protein shake, your porridge or a smoothie. Ideally, combine your creatine intake with a decent amount of carbohydrates – this can help your body absorb creatine even better.

3. If you tend to have a sensitive stomach, it’s a good idea to take your creatine with a meal. You can also split your daily dose into 2–3 smaller servings. This makes creatine especially well tolerated.

4. Make sure to always drink plenty of water! Creatine causes your muscles to store more water, which increases your fluid requirements.

Looking for more tips on timing your supplementation ? We got you!

Did you know that creatine is also found in foods like meat? 
Quiz question: What does 5 grams of creatine (often the recommended amount) correspond to in terms of pork?
Answer: About 1 kg.
Oh wow, now I really understand why so many people who eat meat still choose to take creatine as a supplement. 

Conclusion

Creatine can definitely be useful – but only if you take it in the right dose. Luckily, you now know how much creatine per kg is recommended by the pros. So nothing stands in the way of your creatine journey.
If you’d like to read more about creatine, here are a few of our articles – with these, you’ll be a creatine pro in no time:
Is creatine worth it?
Creatine intake

Don’t be surprised if these articles also talk about how much creatine per day, per kg, etc. is recommended. As they say – repetition is key when it comes to learning!

PS: Always keep in mind that there’s a lot of misinformation online about how much creatine per kg you actually need. So don’t believe everything right away and pay attention to trustworthy sources!

Literature & sources

1. Kreider, R. B. et al. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. In: Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition , 14(1). 

2. Nebel, R. (2002). Creatine in sports – ergogenic supplement? In: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Sportmedizin, 53(7+8) 

3. Swiss Sports Nutrition Society (2023). Supplement guide. A-supplements: performance supplement.

You have questions? Then feel free to send me an email – I’m looking forward to hearing from you! :)

The information shared in this article does not replace individual medical or nutrition counselling.