So many things have taken a toll on my body over the years. From miscarriages to divorce, uprooting my life and loss. As my weight increased I kept trying the old tried and true and it wouldn't budge. As someone that refers clients to peptide support, due to my personal genetics the most I could hope for was micro micro microdoses. Nothing that could support weight loss.
Where I had been in 2019 in terms of weight haunted me. Most importantly, I didn't want to go backwards in my health journey but the stress odd were effectively against me. I kept fearing the return of the pain and the weight that had been my past.
I started thinking about what Dr. Stacy Sims says about muscle. I am a postmenopausal woman, and I try to walk daily, lift weights a few times a week, follow a mostly vegetarian diet, have chronic fatigue, and I am focused on healthy aging. Those are all situations where creatine may offer benefits.
This study ("Creatine in women's health: bridging the gap from research to recommendations") summarizes how creatine affects women differently than men because female hormones influence creatine metabolism throughout life. It highlights benefits that extend far beyond building muscle. ([PubMed][1])
For someone like myself these are the areas I'd pay the most attention to:
1. Preserving muscle during menopause
As estrogen declines, women naturally lose muscle mass and strength (called sarcopenia). Creatine helps replenish phosphocreatine, which muscles use for quick energy. When paired with resistance training, even just two or three sessions per week, it consistently improves:
* Strength
* Lean muscle mass
* Recovery from exercise
* Functional ability as we age
This is probably the strongest evidence supporting creatine use in postmenopausal women. ([PubMed][1])
2. Brain energy and cognitive support
Unlike caffeine, creatine doesn't stimulate the brain. Instead, it increases available ATP (cellular energy), which may help with:
* Mental fatigue
* Concentration
* Memory
* Cognitive resilience during aging
The brain uses enormous amounts of energy, and creatine appears to support that energy system. Research is especially interested in its role for women during menopause because estrogen normally helps support brain energy metabolism. ([PMC][2])
3. Chronic fatigue
This caught my attention because i've shared my history of chronic fatigue syndrome. Creatine isn't a treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome, but it improves cellular energy availability. Some reviews suggest it may improve exercise tolerance and reduce fatigue in certain clinical populations, although the evidence is still emerging. ([PubMed][3])
I wouldn't expect it to "fix" fatigue, but I would consider it a reasonable adjunct.
4. Mostly plant-based eating
This may be one of the biggest reasons. Creatine is naturally found almost entirely in:
* Beef
* Pork
* Fish
People eating vegetarian or vegan diets generally have lower muscle creatine stores. That means they often respond especially well to supplementation because they're starting from a lower baseline. ([PubMed][3])
5. Bone health
My mom suffered from severe osteoporosis. Creatine doesn't directly build bone. However, by improving strength and allowing you to train a little harder, it may indirectly support bone health when combined with resistance exercise.
Think of it as helping you perform the activity that stimulates bone. ([PMC][4])
6. Mood
This area is fascinating but still developing. Several studies suggest creatine may improve mood and even enhance treatment for depression in some women, possibly because the female brain relies heavily on efficient energy metabolism. This is not yet considered standard therapy, but it's a promising area of research. ([PMC][2])
New studies are also focusing in on natural support for GLP-1s that we already have accessible to ourselves. One of these is CQR-300 (a patented extract of Cissus quadrangularis) that has promising data for weight loss and metabolic health.
The positives that the studies on CQR-300 have shown:
*Weight loss over 8–16 weeks
*Reduction in waist circumference
*Reduction in body fat
*Improvements in cholesterol and triglycerides
*Better fasting glucose in some studies
*Reduced appetite in some participants[6]
One of my favorite ways to use creatine now is in connection to CQR300 and ginger for inflammation. Especially since it is supported by my team over at mindbodygreen where I completed my health coaching certification for national board qualification. You can click here to add the class to your cart by clicking "Enroll Now."
Enter HCCSTUDENT925 on the checkout page. You should then see the price adjusted.
[1]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40371844/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Creatine in women's health: bridging the gap from ..."
[2]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12086928/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Creatine in women's health: bridging the gap from ... - PMC"
[3]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39796530/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Creatine Supplementation Beyond Athletics"
[4]: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7998865/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Creatine Supplementation in Women's Health: A Lifespan ..."
[5]: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1578564/full?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Creatine supplementation is safe, beneficial throughout the ..."
[6] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2018.0016?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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