I am on a new program that has me lifting twice a week (Monday, Wednesday) and I just bought creatine to help with my gains (I am cutting by running 4 days a week). I am not sure as to when I should take my creatine. Obviously on workout days, but should I take it on running days to keep my levels up? Everyday? I would like to cut expenses if I could so I only want to take it if it is absolutly necessary. Thanks for any help

Take it post-workout on workout days, and in the morning when you eat your breakfast on rest days. Thats what I do and what is pretty normal I think. And make sure you drink a lot of water. I hope your doing atleast a full body workout on monday and wednesday. If I was you I would workout mon, wed, and fri. Two days a week isn't really enough.

yeah, they're full body workouts. I am currently training for a triathlon so lifting has taken a back seat to biking, swimming, and running.

creatine works by building up to saturation in the body, then keeping saturated. as little as 3grams a day will accomplish this.
if you're over 200lbs then go with 5grams a day.

Elite is exactly right about the creatine. Take creatine immeditaely after working out because you want to raise your insulin levels to help fuel your muscles.

I dident know creatin spiked your insulin..

Why do you need creatine afterwards ? Food will do that too - i.e raise your insulin levels.

Simply take in some simple high-glycemic carbs after your workout to bump your insulin.

I've never read anything about creatine spiking insulin, some say it does help to have some sugars/simple carbs with it as a transport system though...

I wouldn't take creatine if you're cutting. If you're cutting you'll essentially be trying to lose fat and water weight...right? unless your goal is different...

Creatine helps store/retain water, which isn't what you want if you're cutting.

I dont see why you shouldnt take it while cutting. You should drink alot of water while cutting, and creatine helps you lift heavy, which helps keep muscle. If your trying to loose weight, then creatine might not be good as it retains water, and water weighs something. But when you cut, its the fat you want to get rid of.

It depends how much you want it then, like you said... water weighs something, ie the water weight you carry.

If you are cutting, then you are trying to lose weight, yes of course lose fat, but for some people water weight is a concern as well.

"I dont see why you shouldnt take it while cutting."
"If your trying to loose weight, then creatine might not be good as it retains water, and water weighs something."
...that's kinda contradicting yourself lol

but yeah, that's exactly the point I was making, that it retains water

my weight is irrelevant to me. I am merely trying to cut fat. A triathalon requres a lot of muscle for swimming/biking/running. Ideally I would love to maintain my weight by cutting away fat and replacing it with muscle but I know that is impossible. I want to lose as little muscle as possible though so I want the creatine to help me lift harder. Just wondering if it will be less effective if only taken 4 days a week.

i did not contradict myself. If your trying to loose WEIGHT, then creatine might be a bad idea. But if your trying to loose FAT (which is what most people want, they just say whey want to loose weight) then taking creatine wont harm you.
If you want to get more defined, you shouldnt care about water weight from creatine, you should care about loosing fat.

Though if you want to drop a weight class in a short period of time, and figure that the extra energy from creatine is worth sacrefising for that, then go ahead, but thats not the same as cutting.

relax karky...I was saying that you contradicted yourself in saying that "you shouldnt take it" and then saying "that is might not be as good as it retains water weight." not contradicting yourself in the sense that you should or shouldn't take it in the literal sense.

I agree that most of the time cutting is referred to as just losing fat, but what I was trying to say before (but it didn't come out correctly) was that many times, depending on the individual and the situation the individual strives to lose water weight as well. An extreme and probably unrelated example, although it would be the easiest to understand, is a bodybuilder wanting to lose the water weight in addition to the fat prior to a competition.

Triathletes usually want to stay at and maintain a very similar weight while training in order to perform better/similarly during the actual competition. Hydration is key because triathletes sweat a ton obviously. And, because creatine retains water, it will will force the individual's body weight to fluctuate quite a bit - which is exactly what you don't want prior to a triathlon because it will change all or most of your times during the actual event.

Hopefully I explained myself better this time around...that's why I was saying "no" for this particular case in reference to fat loss AND water weight...

Creatine spikes your insulin if you take the right kind of creatine. It's usually more expensive.