Creatine and fat burners...

[fl4sh080]

Whats up ya'll! I've been visiting this forum for a while but this is my first time posting.

Well first off I'm trying to lower my bodyfat as quickly as I can because I've got a trip to Cancun that is now only a month away. Basically I'm trying to get ripped!

Anyways, I've been taking creatine for about 2 months now and started taking fat burners about a month ago. I never bothered to do any research on taking the two together but I recently ran across a few articles that say doing both is a no-no.

I've actually lost quite a bit of bodyfat during the time I've been taking both and I've been somewhat pleased with the gains I've made (or maybe loss would be the more appropriate word). I do plenty of cardio (usually first thing in the morning), still do my usual weight training and I'm also very responsible/strict in regards to my diet.

I'm wondering if the creatine is slowing down my fat loss. I know its not keeping me from losing fat but are the two cancelling each other out completely?

Also, I've read that creatine helps you with fat loss. If it that is true, which should I drop, the creatine or the fat burner?

Btw, I'm taking Hot Rox and Pro Lab Creatine.

Oh yeah, I'm also taking Now Foods Whey isolate.

[Saurian]

One side effect of creatine is water retention within the muscles. As the creatine levels themselves raise intramuscle, this causes water to force its way into maintain equilibrium with surrounding tissues. This is arguably one reason for the increase in strength seen with Creatine - the muscle's individual cells all get a tiny bit bigger, which adds up over the course of a quadricep or bicep.

Taking a fat burner/metabolism booster with Creatine is going to collide on the water issue. Fat burners also [generally] dehydrate at the same time. This is part of how they cause such great weight loss numbers - a person on the TV will lose 5 pounds in 3 days...but they're really losing half a gallon of water and then a pound o fother stuff including actual fat.

I'd say for your trip you should cut the creatine out. As said, creatine causes water buildup in muscles. This makes them bigger, but not as "hard" or "ripped" really. So, from a purly vanity-minded perspective - focus on the Hot Rox and diet till then. Otherwise...you're not getting the most out of either technically.

[mooshue]

You should check out the velocity diet in the best of's part of the forum. I started it today. My goal is 20lbs in 28 days if i can manage to stay on it that long without cheating. From what ive read so far no one has managed to do it the full length without breaking down and having real food.