Ok, I've read the creatine resources...

[sean.peters]

I still have a question. Most of these sources suggest that you need to take your creatine along with some form of sugar... but geez, how much is necessary? Most of the supplements I've seen have had like 80g of dextrose in them! I could stand to lose a little body fat, and I'm reluctant to add a couple hundred calories worth of sugar to my diet every day... what do you all think?

[ELmx479]

I have been taking it with 8oz of grape juice and it has been working fine for me. 160 calories, 40 carbs.

[weasel]

seems to work just as good without suger for me actually. For a while i was takeing mine with a 12 ounce G2 gatoraid and see no diffrence from it and taking with water.

[sean.peters]

Ok, cool. I've been on it for a week and have been taking it with some kind of a fruit serving - 6 or so dried apricots for 100 calories, or a large apple for about 70... too early to tell yet, but I did put up more weight in the gym yesterday...

[Ace7644]

you use the dex as energy as you're workin out

[Tom Mutaffis]

The sugar does help with the uptake of the creatine, if you take it pre-workout then most of the sugars will be utilized for energy and it will not have much impact on your body composition. Dextrose is not nearly as bad for you as high fructose corn syrup either - not all sugars are created equal.

Creatine 500 (Creapure) is a high quality creatine monohydrate and you can experience with different amounts of sugar for the transport, between 25-50 grams should work for most people.

[sean.peters]

Tom - thanks. Regarding the Creapure product... is it "micronized"? Does it matter? I've read that creatine that isn't sufficiently finely ground doesn't get absorbed well. That seems reasonable to me, as the stuff I'm currently using doesn't seem to dissolve all that well in water. Any thoughts on this?

I appreciate all the help so far.