Personalized maintenance and loading dose based on body weight, goal, training frequency, and phase protocol.
Creatine monohydrate is the most researched performance supplement in sports nutrition — and one of the few with a robust, consistent evidence base. But the standard "5 grams a day" advice ignores body weight, training intensity, and whether a loading phase makes sense for your situation.
This calculator models maintenance dose by body weight, adjusts for training frequency, and generates a complete loading protocol if you want to saturate stores faster — including timing, daily schedule, and estimated saturation timeline.
All fields update results in real time
Creatine monohydrate has been studied in over 1,000 clinical trials. The evidence for strength, power output, and muscle mass gains is among the strongest of any supplement. The dosing question has a clear answer — with one important caveat: the right dose depends on your body weight, not a flat number.
| Body Weight | Maintenance Dose | Loading Phase | Saturation Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 150 lbs (68 kg) | 3g/day | 15g/day × 5 days | 3–4 weeks (no load) / 7 days (load) |
| 150–180 lbs (68–82 kg) | 4g/day | 20g/day × 5 days | 3–4 weeks / 7 days |
| 180–220 lbs (82–100 kg) | 5g/day | 20g/day × 5–7 days | 3–4 weeks / 7 days |
| Over 220 lbs (100 kg) | 5–6g/day | 25g/day × 5–7 days | 3–4 weeks / 7 days |
A loading phase (20g/day for 5–7 days, split into 4 doses) saturates muscle creatine stores in about a week. Without loading, the same endpoint is reached in 3–4 weeks at maintenance dose. Both approaches are equally effective long-term. Loading only makes sense if you have a performance event within 2–3 weeks and want the full benefit quickly. The trade-off: more frequent dosing and higher GI discomfort during the loading week.
Dietary creatine comes primarily from red meat and fish. Vegans and vegetarians have significantly lower baseline muscle creatine levels than omnivores — making supplementation more impactful for this group. Studies show vegans experience greater performance improvements from creatine supplementation than omnivores starting from the same dose, because they have more "room" to fill. Vegans should increase their maintenance dose by 10–20% to account for zero dietary creatine intake.