BayouHealth: WHAT’S YOUR TYPE

How To Personalize Your Nutrition and Training Based On Your Body Type

by SHANNON DAHLUM

How many times have you seen photos of a celebrity in great shape, along with an article outlining the training and nutrition program he or she used to look that way? And how many times have you followed that program, but to your complete and utter surprise, you didn’t look like that person when you finished? How is it that you can follow Carrie Underwood’s leg training routine for ten weeks and still not have legs that look just like hers? The answer is body type. You have a specific body type and no matter what kind of training or nutrition program you follow, your type will never change. But knowing your type and how to make the most of your positive traits is the key to achieving health and confidence in your own skin.

Your body type isn’t just a description of how your body looks; it can give you clues about how your body responds to food and exercise, as well as characteristics about your sympathetic nervous system (how your body responds to stress) and your hormones. There are three main body types, or somatotypes; ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. Most people are a combination of two of these types, but in most cases, one type is dominant.

ECTOMORPH
The ectomorph is naturally long and slender. They have small frames with narrow hips and shoulders, and long limbs with small joints. Chris Rock, Bradley Cooper, Cameron Diaz, and Kate Moss all have the ectomorph body type. These are the folks who typically are envied by their friends for being able to eat whatever they want without gaining weight. While it’s true that they don’t easily gain fat, they also have a hard time gaining muscle. It’s easy for them to fall into the habit of eating junk food just because they can, without any visible side effects. This often catches up to them later in life, though. Although their body still remains small, their body fat percentage can become high. This is often referred to as the “skinny fat” type.

Ectomorph bodies are extremely efficient at burning calories. They naturally have a high level of insulin sensitivity, which means that most of the food they eat is burned as fuel, rather than stored in the tissue. This also means that many people with this type have lots of energy to burn! They often can’t sit still, and they may constantly jiggle a foot or fidget when they have to sit or stand in one place for any length of time. Their small frames may be lacking in strength and power, but they make up for it with endurance because of their high energy turnover. They make the best marathon runners, cyclists, triathletes, and endurance athletes of all kinds.

Because of their naturally low insulin levels and high metabolic rates, these body types usually perform best when they eat a higher percentage of complex carbohydrates than the other types. They also tend to need more frequent meals, since they burn through their food so quickly. Combining fats and carbohydrates together will increase the insulin response to food, so this is a good trick for ectomorphs who are trying to put on weight. A higher insulin response means more nutrients are stored in the body (as fat or muscle), while a low insulin response means more nutrients are burned as fuel. Some good examples of fat and carb combinations are a sweet potato topped with coconut butter, brown rice with organic grass-fed butter, or a banana with raw honey and peanut butter.

If you’re an ectomorph, a good place to start would be with a minimum of four meals daily, each containing a protein source and some plants (fruits or veggies). Add in starches or whole grains (potatoes, sweet potatoes, bananas, legumes, or grains) to two to three of those meals, and include a source of healthy added fats to two to three of the meals. If that doesn’t feel like enough food for you, add in more meals! Some ectomorphs do best with as many as eight meals daily, especially if gaining muscle is their goal.

It’s also important that you stick with a consistent strength building routine since it’s so hard for your body to build and maintain muscle as an ectomorph. Stick with heavy, compound movements (like deadlifts, squats, pull-ups, and military presses) because they’ll give you more bang for your buck than smaller isolation exercises. Rest around 2-3 minutes between sets to keep your heart rate down. If you move quickly from one exercise to another, your heart rate will stay elevated and your strength building routine will wind up being more of a cardio workout. As someone who already burns a high amount of calories, that’s not what you need, especially if you want to gain muscle.

MESOMORPH
Mesomorphs have medium frames with wider shoulders and narrower waists, and are naturally muscular and athletic. Some mesomorphs you may recognize are Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Wahlberg, Madonna, and Carrie Underwood. These are the body types that are often seen on bodybuilding stages or as the most successful gymnasts or sprinting athletes. They’re great competitors and really excel with powerful, explosive movements but they tend to tire out fairly quickly, so endurance sports aren’t their thing. These bodies can gain muscle fairly easily and respond quickly to changes in training or nutrition. However, they also respond fairly quickly in terms of fat gain with they cut loose and indulge, too.

The mesomorph type tends to produce higher amounts of growth hormone and testosterone which helps them pack on that curvy, athletic muscle. It can also help them pack on body fat if they become sedentary and eat too many refined carbs or fats. Insulin sensitivity is average, which means they can achieve a lean body composition fairly easily when their intake matches their activity level, but they can gain fat easily if they overeat. Many mesomorphs say they feel like they tend to get “bulky” with a resistance training program if they aren’t eating appropriately to shed the excess body fat that could be covering those muscles. To make the most of this body type, mesomorphs do best with they balance their carbohydrate intake with their activity level.

If you’re a mesomorph, try sticking with three meals daily and include protein and plants at each. Add in complex carbs to one or two meals immediately following your workouts. Avoid carbs in all other meals and add in a source of healthy fat instead. Remember that non-starchy veggies and fruits are being referred to as plants, not carbs, so don’t avoid those! Your carbs should be eaten post-workout so they will go toward replenishing the energy stores in your muscles, which you just depleted. Eating carbs at other times could result in excess fat storage for the mesomorph type. Also, if you’re struggling to lose fat, avoid combining carbs and fats together in the same meal.

As far as training goes, include regular strength training and high intensity bursts of cardio. You’ll likely do well with supersets or circuits in the gym, so that you stay moving and maintain a higher heart rate while training. You also respond quickly to change and will plateau fairly quickly without it, so be sure to change your training program every 6 to 8 weeks to continue making progress.

ENDOMORPH
The endomorph type carries a lot of muscle mass on their larger frames, and they tend to easily accumulate a higher amount of body fat than other types, too. These bodies are curvy and voluptuous, and really darn strong. Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Chris Pratt and Russel Crowe are some examples of endomorphs. These bodies perform very well with extremely short bursts of strength and struggle most with stamina and endurance. Powerlifting and throwing sports (like shot put and discus) are where these guys really excel.

Endomorph bodies have a propensity to store the largest proportion of their weight in their lower bodies (lower abdomen, hips, rear end, and thighs), which is why this body type has been known as the pear shape. While they tend to store more mass, they can also be fairly lean and muscular with work. It can often feel frustrating that losing weight takes so much time and effort, but gaining it can happen in no time. And even though they tend to eat less than the other body types, they still tend to hold more excess weight.

Naturally low levels of insulin sensitivity is responsible for the propensity to store nutrients, rather than burn them as fuel. But this trait wasn’t developed as punishment; it’s a survival mechanism! In times of famine, it’s the endomorphs who would thrive and could outlast the other body types. Because they were built to thrive during famine, creating a “famine” type of environment, though intermittent fasting, may help this type look and feel their best.

Lower insulin sensitivity also means endomorphs have a slow metabolism and lower energy levels. They may have trouble regulating their body temperature in hot, humid conditions, can suffer with a sluggish thyroid, and may even have slow reaction times. Eating and moving in ways to enhance insulin sensitivity are the keys to looking and feeling their best.

If you’re an endomorph, start with two to three meals daily, including protein, plants and healthy fat at each. Avoid starches and grains completely to keep your insulin levels lower. Keep your meal times consistent every day, and incorporate intermittent fasting occasionally. Don’t make the mistake of only eating one or two moderate sized meals each day and think that you’re doing a good job of intermittent fasting; this often just winds up being like any other low calorie diet that triggers your body to store even more fat. Instead, be consistent about getting in two to three good, balanced meals for at least a couple of weeks, and then introduce some fasting intervals once or twice per week. Seek out the help of a wellness professional who can give you guidance with this.

For training, the best approach for you as a mesomorph is to get as much regular movement as possible. Think walking and lots of it. Wear a fitness tracker and track those steps and shoot for more than 5,000 per day. Taking a 10-30 minute walk after each meal is a simple way to decrease the insulin response of your meal. Once you consistently have a movement routine in place, then add in some training sessions to supplement your exercise. You’re naturally very strong, but stick with moderate weights and higher reps (3-4 sets of 8-12 reps, or 2-3 sets of 12-20 reps). The goal shouldn’t be to lift the heaviest weight possible, but to do more reps and tire your muscles that way. You’re doing it right when it feels like your muscles are on fire at the end of your set!

Determining your body type is isn’t always easy. Most people are a combination of more than one type, and lifestyle factors can cause you to take on the characteristics of other types over time. To start, follow the recommendations for the type that seems to describe you the best, and always keep a detailed nutrition and training log, and track your progress with measurements and/or progress photos. The only way to know what works for you and what doesn’t is to pay close attention! If you aren’t seeing progress after a couple of weeks, make some tweaks and stick with them for two more weeks. Keep trying and tweaking until you find what your body responds to.

No nutrition or training program will ever change your body type. An athletic mesomorph can’t exercise their way to a long, lean ectomorph type, and an ectomorph can’t eat their way to a mesomorph’s round, voluptuous curves. Rather than cursing your body for not naturally being the shape you wish it was, learn to embrace the body you were born with, and eat and move in the way your body was built to. Every body type has it’s enviable traits, so maximize the ones you have! The most important and effective thing you can do to optimize your health and body composition is to do what works for YOU.