Hello all, I was hoping for some advice on my creatine-relateed situation.

To start off, a little history. I'm 27 year old male, 5'11". I weighed 200lbs, 25% BF last February. I used HIIT to get down to around 168lbs by June/July. Now, my goal is to get back up to 200lbs, but at around 10% BF.

I spent 7 weeks on the Art of Waterbury, and then another 8 on the Waterbury TBT (been adapting, really like the compound lifts squats, deads, bench, pullups, etc.). Trying to eat 300-500 over. Made a ton of progress in the strength area, and slower progress in the size area.

Anyway, I got up to 175 with nothing but protein and decent diet, and I started taking 5g of GNC's mono creatine around 3 weeks ago. I add 5lbs in that time. My muscles do look a little more defined, but I feel quite a bit more bloated (belly, love-handle area, and face/chin). I've read that a few others have had this affect from mono creatine, and its a little discomforting. So either, I've gained 5lbs of fat back with the creatine, or indeed im bloating (adding water to more than just my muscles themselves).

I am reaping benefits though, I feel like I can do more in the gym, less drained, able to finish off sets sooner and faster. Definitely happy with gym performance.

My original plan was to stay in a bulk and keep on the creatine for 3 months (i.e. until around the beginning of February), and then cycle off the creatine and potentially cut off a few final lbs of fat. I'm trying to decide if I should just suck it up and stay in a bulk with this creatine bloat, switch to a different creatine (CEE or "micronized mono" - the stuff from biotest), or just stop with the creatine alltogether.

Any thoughts from anyone else who has experienced this mono creatine bloat? (unless I really did add fat, lol I doubt that's the case, although it is unsettling, I worked my butt off to drop 30lbs of fat and I really don't want to gain it back!!)

Creatine doesn't make you gain fat. Get that concept out of your head.

How much water do you drink a day? 1 gallon+ is where you wanna be, especially when on creatine.

Micronized creatine monohydrate will give you teh same water bloating if that's what this is. CEE is less likely to do that.

Remember that gaining fat on a bulk is normal. If you gain fat too quickly, it means you're eating too many calories even for a bulk. Bulk cleanly.

Alright, I'm thinking I'll switch to CEE, because this bloat is bothering me. It feels like I'm getting fatter, but I didn't change my diet at all and gained 5lbs during the 4 week saturation period of the creatine mono. Is there anything I need to look out for when switching? I.e., since I've already been taking mono (but not loading), will there be another 'saturation' period? From what I understand, CEE is the same creatine, but with better abosrbtion properties..... so, perhaps I'll stay 'saturated', and just lose the bloating effects when switching?

what is CEE?

Creatine Ethyl Ester