Taking 20 grams of creatine powder a day for 5 days can make you gain about 1.2 kg in weight and help your muscles store more energy, at least in people whose bodies respond well to creatine.

Taking creatine for a week like this doesn’t make you weigh more or gain more muscle in young, healthy men and women.

Taking creatine powder for about a week—first a lot, then a little—can boost the amount of creatine in your muscles by over 13%, which helps your muscles store more energy.

Taking creatine supplements the way some athletes do—starting with a big dose, then switching to a smaller one—might temporarily boost the sugar stored in your muscles, but that boost fades once you switch to the smaller daily dose.

Taking creatine supplements for about six weeks doesn’t seem to change the levels of a specific protein and its genetic instructions in your muscles, even if you’re healthy.

Taking creatine for a week doesn’t make your muscles start building protein faster, even if you take a lot of it at first and then less later.