Creatine Monohydrate Dosing
Calculate evidence-based creatine loading and maintenance doses based on body weight, per the ISSN position stand (Kreider et al., JISSN, 2017).
Results
What is it?
Computes evidence-based creatine monohydrate loading and maintenance doses using the ISSN protocol (Kreider et al., 2017). Loading at 0.3 g/kg/day for 5–7 days rapidly saturates muscle creatine stores, followed by a 3–5 g/day maintenance dose to sustain elevated levels.
How to use
Enter your body weight. The calculator provides your total daily loading dose (0.3 g/kg), suggests splitting it into 4 equal doses across the day, and calculates the ongoing maintenance dose (0.03 g/kg, minimum 3 g).
Example scenario
An 80 kg individual: loading = 80 × 0.3 = 24 g/day, taken as 6 g four times daily for 5–7 days. Maintenance = max(80 × 0.03, 3) = 3 g/day thereafter. Full saturation is typically achieved by day 5.
Pro tip
You can skip the loading phase and take 3–5 g/day from the start — stores will fully saturate in about 3–4 weeks instead. Take creatine with a carbohydrate-containing meal to enhance uptake via insulin-mediated transport.