Does Body Weight Affect Creatine Dosage?

Creatine dosing is often discussed as a flat number (e.g. “take 5 grams per day”), yet many research studies actually use weight-based dosing, especially for higher or short-term protocols.

When Body Weight Matters

Body weight becomes more relevant when:

• Using a loading phase

• Using higher doses for cognitive or mental fatigue research

• To combat the symptoms of brain fog or sleep deprivation

• You’re significantly lighter or heavier than average

In these cases, doses are commonly expressed as grams per kilogram (g/kg) of body weight.

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Typical Weight-Based Ranges

Research commonly uses:

• ~0.03 g/kg for maintenance

• ~0.25–0.3 g/kg for loading phases

• Up to ~0.35 g/kg in short-term cognitive or sleep-deprivation studies

For example, a 70 kg person and a 100 kg person may both benefit from creatine but their optimal doses during higher-dose protocols may differ.

When Weight Doesn’t Matter Much

For everyday use, 3–5 g per day works for most adults, regardless of body weight. This is why flat dosing is so common in supplement advice.

Weight-based dosing becomes useful mainly when:

• Precision matters

• Higher doses are involved

• The protocol is short-term

Body weight has some effect, but broadly the dosing falls in the same range. For a full primer on usage and amounts, see our creatine dosage for beginners guide – it covers standard dose recommendations and more.

If you want to see how dose changes based on your body weight and goal, use the Creatine Dosage Calculator.

To compare products once you know your dose, check the Creatine Price Index to avoid overpaying per gram.