I don't know if I'll be much help on the creatine subject, but I have taken it in the past... before LCing. You do feel "bulked up" on it... Your muscles feel tight and you start feeling like "the Hulk". I never took it long term, though, because of the weight gain issue... It does make you gain and hold water. I don't use it now because of the carb issue. There are 35 gms of carbs in one scoop of the brand my hubby uses. And the first ingredient is dextrose... So, personally, I shy away from it now since I stay under 50 gms of carbs a day and don't want to add dextrose into that picture, but that's just me personally.

My hubby swears by it for bulking up, but he's into the bigtime bodybuilding bulk. It's also best to cycle it from what I've heard because after a while your body adjusts to it and it isn't as effective unless you come off of it for a while and then start back on it.

That's my 2 cents worth. Hope it helps. I'm sure there are others who have more experience with it as well.