The Endomorph Dilemma: Making the Right Choices for Your Body Type

What a task it is to lose weight and burn stubborn body fat as an endomorph. For those who don’t know, an endomorph is basically the body type that is predisposed to storing body fat. As an endomorph, it’s easy to gain weight and muscle, to be fair. The challenge is to eliminate excess body fat.

Personally, I love lifting weights. The challenge of lifting weights as an endomorph is that you build the muscle, definitely, but it’s covered by a layer of fat, never fully revealing the muscle. The typical look of an endomorph is ‘bulky’. But really, we want to be cut. We are the opposite of ectomorphs who have a hard time gaining muscle as they have hyperactive metabolism. Any muscle you put on will likely be used by your body for fuel, in addition to your fat storage.

Endomorphs, on the other hand, have extremely slow metabolisms. And apparently, our insulin sensitivity is quite high. Now, between the extremes of endomorph and ectomorph, is the mesomorph, with its perfect metabolism. Your body’s functions are optimized: the right balance between anabolism and catabolism. You could easily identify the mesomorph in the gym.

He’s the guy, or she’s the girl who doesn’t really need to work out. They don’t bust their asses on the treadmill or stair-climbing machine, get hot and sweaty like endomorphs, or pump half the iron to build mature muscle like ectomorphs. The mesomorph can work well on any diet. They can be easily bulked up on a high calorie diet or crushed on a low calorie diet.

In retrospect, it’s apparent that bodybuilding and fitness magazines only focus on the mesomorph, as endomorphs and ectomorphs try recommended diets and various supplements only to get bloated, leaky gut, acne, or some other side effect. Hmm, looks like someone isn’t telling us the whole truth. I suspect that to maintain sales of these popular magazines (I won’t mention any names), consumers need to be in a perpetual state of confusion. One month, a high-carb diet is good (omitting crucial information about body type), another month, low-carb, high-protein, with the obvious omission of body type.

I finally broke with this subscription based brainwashing. I decided to go experiment. I have tried various diets, various exercise regimens, various supplements and am in the process of creating a list of what works for my endomorph body type.

You see, the media is so powerful. They have mastered the art of mass brainwashing. No wonder we are so easily swayed. We have an important role to play as I am not going to blame the media or society. But another big contributor is the instant gratification mentality that is being bombarded in our brains and psyches.

We’ve gotten so used to the aggressive flavors of fast food that we don’t know how to appreciate natural flavors like raw salad and fresh fruits and vegetables.

What could that have to do with body type? Well quite. Highly refined grains, processed foods, artificial sweeteners (including cornstarch), and heavily fried foods are enemies of all body types, especially endomorphs, since an endomorph’s metabolism is quite slow.

Stay tuned as I will be making some food recommendations based on personal experience, for the endomorph body type. I will also make the connection between blood type and body type, and the benefits (or lack thereof) of dietary grain, especially wheat, and exercise routines/regimes that I find really ideal for the type of endomorph body.