How To Eat For Your Body Type

Knowing how to eat for your body type, and applying correctly this information to your nutrition strategy will greatly help you to get the most from your efforts.

As you may know already, there are three body types or phenotypes (ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph) that are determined by genetics and environment, and most people have one dominant characteristic – just a few people fall perfectly in one of these three categories.

For this reason, you should find your general tendency in one of the three groups, learn what it means to eat for your body type, and adjust your dietary plan accordingly.

If your dominant tendency is ectomorphic (small bone structure and thin limbs), you most likely have good insulin sensitivity, so eating more carbohydrates throughout the day should work just fine for you.

And although you may be able to consume starches with every meal, try to eat more high glycemic carbs around workouts and less at other times.

As a general rule, carbohydrate intake would be around 50% from your total calories, but adjustments should be made according to your results. (Bear in mind that total calories from carbs and fat should be kept constant, so eating more carbohydrates means reducing fat intake.)

On the other hand, the people with a mesomorphic tendency have an athletic appearance (medium sized bone structure and good muscularity) even without exercising.

They tend to be testosterone and growth hormone dominant, and have good insulin sensitivity, so it's easier for them to build muscle and/or get lean.

If that's you, a moderate carb intake (around 40% from your total calories) is a good start – you should feel pumped and energetic. However, this figure can be increased according to your activity level and goals.

Begin with a small quantity of starches outside the workout window (except breakfast) and increase it afterwords. See how it works...

If you tend to be more endomorphic, it doesn't mean that you should throw the towel thinking that you are damned to be fat for the rest of your life.

Following an appropriate nutrition and exercise plan will greatly help you to build a lean, muscular physique. In fact, many top bodybuilders (such as Dave Draper) had/have this tendency, and yet got spectacular results.

In this case, you may have some insulin resistance, which means that you have a higher baseline level, and more insulin is released in response to a meal. In this case, a highish carbohydrate intake would make you feel bloated and hungry about an hour later.

For this reason, your best bet is to avoid any starches (stick with veggies and fruits) outside the workout window (including breakfast). As a result, your carbohydrate intake will be reduced to 20-30% and fat percentage increased accordingly.

As mentioned, these are just general guidelines. It should be obvious that no diet should be set in stone, and there is no general solution for everybody. However, knowing how to eat for your body type will allow you to have a starting point from where you can make adjustments according to your results.

It's important to note that, apart from your genetic, insulin sensitivity correlates very well with your body fat stores. In other words, genetically you could be a mesomorph, but if you are a fat ass, your carbohydrate intake should be reduced.

My assumption is that you are exercising, and by exercising I mean lifting weights. If not, start as soon as possible. Besides the fact that strength training will help you to keep/increase muscle mass while restricting calories, it also empties your muscles of glycogen.

When this happens, insulin sensitivity increases substantially (regardless of your body type), so more carbohydrates can be consumed.

As a conclusion, eat for your body type, train hard, and you will see improvements in body composition regardless of the starting point. 

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