Body Type

nelja wrote: »

What is your body type? Have you changed your diet macros's or exercise to match that?I am a ENDOMORPH .Did it make a difference?

Don't fall for the somatotyping BS. Not even developed by a physiologist, but by a psychologist. If you need to lose weight, then eat less than you burn.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

My body type: works out, but likes steak and potatoes.

Mycophilia wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it, unless you're a Xenomorph.

You beat me to it!

xandra47 wrote: »

It's worked for me! I've lost alot more inches since adjusting my macros for my body type.

The only problem with this statement is that the body 'types' weren't based on genetics or anything remotely scientific - they were defined by a psychiatrist and were based on feelz...

nelja wrote: »

xandra47 wrote: »

It's worked for me! I've lost alot more inches since adjusting my macros for my body type.

I am going to try it.My husband always says,take what works for you and through out the rest.

So you will buy into the nonsense instead of listening to people who have been there and know better? Why did you even ask?

Seriously folks, why is it so easy to fall for snake oil? I will never understand this.

Of course they don't cancel each other out. I thought that was the whole point of a discussion, to gather facts from both sides and come to one's own conclusion. Not to just hear one side beat down anyone who says otherwise. But that seems to be the normal "discussion" on these forums. Please excuse my unejumucated input, I'll leave it to you professionals from now on.

I think the point is not that you couldn't have results if you adjusted your macros via that body shape or blood type, its that you really can't say if your results came from magically aligning your intake to your body shape or just by tracking and being mindful of your intake, and being active. You have not controlled the other variables in the equation (which, outside a lab is pretty much impossible) to say for sure that using that system is SOLELY responsible for your success. Because, at the end of the day, if your split of 1500 calories is 50C/30P/20F or 20C/50P/30F (as just examples, not recommendations), if 1500 calories is less than your body burns in a day, you will lose weight. Your macros are essentially how you "spend" your calories (in some combination). Now, if you want to get into individual variation, some people feel fuller on protein (or fat) and may adjust their macros accordingly so that they don't want to claw their eyes out while trying to lose weight (like I felt like when I was eating about 90% carbs at the beginning of my journey), that's up to you. No one is saying that you can't adjust your macro intake if your body responds better to different combos, but ultimately it is CICO. I could lose weight eating 90% carbs (see Twinkie Diet) if I wanted too, I (personally) would be absolutely miserable and starving and probably nutritionally *kitten*ed. For many people, using the MFP macro split is fine to start with and some tweak to individual tastes (mostly for either satiety or fitness goals) as they learn about themselves, but don't lose sight of the forest for the trees. Get a food scale, log accurately, start to learn about nutrition, be consistent in calorie intake within MFP goals, and you will start to progress. If you want to get into macros as you go on, fine, but they are just different ways you could "spend" your calories- I would tell any new person to focus solely on calories first. Some people don't ever look past calories and are successful- it is very possible.

Same with exercise- if you don't exercise and then start exercising based on your blood type, you will probably feel better as you become more active- great. But I could say that I chose to do running because I am the 3rd born daughter under an autumn moon, and that helped me get into better shape. My result is the same as your blood type reason, but it is NOT the reason it worked. Its because we became more active and got healthier, not because 3rd born daughters need to run as exercise not play, say, volleyball because they lack hand-eye coordination (sample size n=1).

However, here is my other point. If you feel motivated by using one of these random reasons for choosing X food or Y exercise, and it helps you (safely) reach your goals then I ultimately don't care if that's how you got started. But that is not WHY you were successful- you were successful because you found types of food you like and enjoy eating or exercise that you look forward to doing because mentally you found what works for you and it was operating under fundamental biochemical principles (CICO). I DON'T understand people who are trying some of these things (like keto, which some people love and some people feel miserable on) and they stick with it EVEN THOUGH IT MAKES THEM MISERABLE because of some pseudoscience or peer pressure or whatever. There are MANY ways to do this, highly individual details and nuances, but at the end of the day, weight loss comes from CICO.

"I love carbs, can I still lose weight?" YES, CICO.
"I hate exercise, now I am trying to run even though I hate it, do I have to exercise to lose weight?" NO, CICO.
"Do I have to eat no carbs and only do cardio as an Ectomorph to lose weight?" NO, CICO.
"I lost weight eating no carbs and doing only cardio, so this is the only way to lose weight" NO, IT IS ONE OF MANY WAYS SOME PEOPLE COULD LOSE WEIGHT BUT CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR SUCCESS, HOPE YOU CAN MAINTAIN IT- AND CICO.

So, long post short. There is no evidence for body typing as a way to lose weight, but if you follow any safe program and you feel motivated whatever and you are seeing results, great. But anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence because there are too many variables in real life to be conclusive, and it will all boil down (as does the whole world) to basic principles of energy balance:

Calories in < calories out = weight loss
Calories in = calories out = maintain weight
Calories in > calories out = weight gain

Sorry folks, feeling a bit ranty today. OP- its a little bit of trial and error, but I promise you, it is possible to find a way that works for you and helps you lose weight without being miserable, and it will help you maintain it throughout your life.

Simply musing: let's say you have a $2,000/month unexpected windfall. You can spend it all but you want to save $500/month. Doesn't matter how you spend the other $1,500, as long as you enjoy it. I may want to spend it all on getting manicures and (non-toxic) rainbow dyes for ponies, because that makes me happy. I can choose to spend it doing renovations on my tiny house. I can give it all away. At the end of the day, all that matters is that I'm saving that $500 and I'm feeling good about how I'm spending the rest, which means I can keep saving, month after month. Maybe looking at it like a budget works for some folks?

I only heard of these body designations in terms of approaches for bodybuilding, to build the muscle and definitions for comps.

I never heard of body types in conjunction with diet.