Creatine does cause weight gain as weight gain is one of the most common side effects of creatine and is mostly due to increased water retention in your muscles, although the weight gain from creatine is also due to potential muscle growth from consistent training.
The weight gain from creatine is not often due to increased body fat, and although some of the initial weight gain is noticeable in the first week or two, "which is mainly water weight", long term muscle growth also contributes to the increase in body weight.
Creatine does have some side effects and the most common side effect of creatine is weight gain as a result of water retention in your muscles.
Other possible side effects of creatine are stomach upset, muscle cramps, diarrhea and nausea, especially when you take too much of the creatine.
Some people also sometimes experience dehydration or electrolyte imbalances when taking creatine, especially if they are not hydrated adequately.
Creatine is OK to take everyday as there's no harm in taking creatine everyday if you want too and it's also safe to suddenly stop taking creatine if you decide to stop taking it.
Creatine supplies energy to your muscles and also promotes good brain health.
Some people take creatine supplements to help increase their strength, keep their minds sharp and improve performance.
Creatine is also a compound that the human body also naturally produces and creatine can also be found in protein rich foods.
Eating protein rich foods can also help your body by providing with the creatine.
Creatine is also often take by athletes who need short bursts of speed or an increase in muscle strength, like sprinters, team sport athletes and weight lifters.
Although taking creatine may not help all athletes it's still won't hurt if it's taken as directed.
Creatine significantly increases your exercise capacity and can be taken safely every day, long term, including on non training days.
A popular practice of taking creatine is to take 10g of creatine on training days and 5g on your days off of training days.
Other benefits of taking creatine are that creatine can lower blood sugar and may fight diabetes, creatine can fight other neurological disease, creatine may help with Parkinson's disease, creatine can speed up muscle growth, creatine can improve high intensity exercise performance, creatine can support many other functions in the body and creatine can also help your muscle cells produce more energy.
You can stop taking creatine at anytime that you want to.
When you stop taking creatine you might experience a slight decrease in your strength, performance, and your body weight, although the impact should not be very significant.
There is also no set timeline for how long you can or should take creatine.