What I Wish I Knew In The Beginning #2: What is my "Body Type" (and why does it matter?)

Before we begin, I would like to recap what we've already learned.  In How to Size Myself Up, we calculated our BMR, added on the activity factor, and came up with a calorie number we should be eating each day to just maintain our current weight.  We then subtracted 500 calories from that total to come up with a general caloric intake figure we should aim for in order to lose 1 pound a week.

Your nutritional plan will, quite literally, make all the difference in your goals and results.  For people just starting out, a serious emphasis should be put on making gradual changes to your diet and nutritional intake before you even bother with getting all crazy up in the gym.  Walking for 30 minutes a day and altering the way you eat will make a massive sustainable change in the bodies of sedentary individuals.

This next installment of my "What I Wish I Knew" series will be applicable to both sedentary individuals taking their first steps and those who are well-seasoned in diet and exercise, alike.  This entry will discuss the following topics:

1. What is Metabolism? And how it affects weight loss...
2. Macronutrients and Micronutrients:  A brief overview, and target goals 
3. Every Body is Different:  Knowing your body type can offer valuable diet insight...
4. Pulling it All Together:  Diet diaries and battle plans!

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What is Metabolism? And how it affects weight loss

According to Dictionary.com, the term Metabolism can be defined as "the sum of the physical and chemical processes in an organism by which its material substance is produced, maintained, and destroyed, and by which energy is made available."  Contrary to the popular belief that metabolism just refers to how fat or skinny a person will become, the term actually encompasses a broad range of physical and chemical chain reactions throughout all your cells, every second of every day, in their effort to repair themselves, replace themselves, and provide energy for larger functions such as keeping your brain thinking, your heart beating, your stomach digesting, and everything in between.

Metabolism is a very complex and highly technical subject, so for the purposes of this article we we will keep it at a very basic overview.  Your body strives each day to maintain itself.  It generally wants to be in a state of homeostasis (stability).  So, it works daily to repair and maintain all the tissues that you are made of, and this requires energy.  If you consume too much food (energy), your body will break down that food and store it as fat around your body to be used at a later time.  If you eat too little food (energy), your body will either tap into those fat reserves or, in desperate times (such as in anorexic individuals), will deconstruct the muscle tissues in your body to get the energy it needs to maintain vital processes.  The heart organs of people who have died from anorexia tend to look like blocks of swiss cheese; there are literally holes eaten out of the muscle tissue that were used by their bodies just to survive.

For simplified purposes, when you take in more food (energy) than your body requires, part of the metabolic process is to convert that unused energy into easily accessible units that can be stored away, kind of like how you might take the abundance of fruit from a fall harvest and convert it into jams and jellies you can store in the pantry for later use.  Those jelly jars are fat cells in your body. When you are dieting to lose weight, you are creating a deficit in the number of calories you eat versus the number of calories your body spends each day to move you around (exercise) or do normal cellular functions in the body.  To make up that deficit in energy needs, your body will do the reverse of storing the energy:  It will tap into your "pantry of jam preserves" and metabolize the fat stores in your body for its energy needs, thus leading to weight loss.  A fabulous and fascinating article which talks about this topic in more detail can be found on Helium.com, in an article entitled How Body Fat Is Made.

Suffice it to say, therefore, that metabolism is a very important component of weight loss.  We want to keep your metabolism going strong and hard each day so you can expend the maximum amount of energy ("burn as many calories as possible") every day, even when just at rest. 

A simple Google search on "How to Boost My Metabolism" will yield endless tips and tricks on how one can get their internal furnace going on all cylinders all day long to maximize their daily caloric burn.  I will summarize the best and most basic techniques, here:

1. Eat smaller meals 5 - 7 times a day instead of 3 large meals.  Why?  Because your body burns calories each time it is put to the task of digesting a meal and sorting through the molecules.  Plus, if you give your body a stable, steady inflow of food, it will positively affect the hormones and enzymes released in your body which regulate hunger, cravings, fatigue/energy bursts, blood sugar highs and lows, etc. (to be discussed in a later blog post).
2. Sleep.  Yes, sleep! Why?  When you sleep, your body releases Human Growth Hormone (HGH) and Melatonin to start doing heavy repair and growth of your tissues.  It's during rest, not exercise, that muscle is repaired and built stronger and larger.  Without adequate rest, you will not have neough HGH and melatonin to restore your body and you will be left weak and groggy and unable to perform basic metabolic functions the next day as a result.
3. Workout HARDER.  Think quality, not quantity.  You'll often hear of a cardio technique referred to as HIIT (pronounced "hit"), which stands for High Intensity Interval Training.  Repeated studies have shown that your metabolism gets much more fired up (and stays much more fired up) by doing intervals than regular "steady state" cardio, even after your workout is already completed.  Examples of HIIT:  For beginnings, running 1 minute and then walking 1 minute.  Repeat for 30 minutes straight.  Intermediate:  Going all out on the elliptical, as hard as you can, for 30 seconds, then going at a regular pace for 45-60 seconds.  Repeat for 20-30 minutes.  Advanced:  Sprinting for 30 seconds, then jogging for 30-60 seconds (or running stadium stairs and then walking down them).  Repeat for 20-30 minutes.
4. Eat Breakfast:  Put your metabolism to work as soon as you can! And in WebMD's article Lose Weight: Eat Breakfast, Elisabetta Politi, RD, MPH, at Duke University Medical School says, "When you don't eat breakfast, you're actually fasting for 15 to 20 hours, so you're not producing the enzymes needed to metabolize fat to lose weight." Also, drink water.  Water has 0 calories and yet burns energy when you drink it and your body goes to work putting it to use, even if that means just pushing it through your system so you can pee it out.  
5. Lift Weights.  Sure cardio is essential to burning a lot of calories and creating a wider daily caloric deficit for you, but what about lifting weights?  You may have heard the phrase, "Muscle burns more than fat." But what does that even mean?  In basic terms, this phrase is talking about how many calories your body burns up each day in maintaining the muscle fibers in your body versus the fat cells.  According to the Mayo Clinic's article "Metabolism and Weight Loss:  How you Burn Calories", 1 pound of muscle burns approximately 6 calories per day at rest.  1 pound of fat cells, on the other hand, only burns 2 calories per day at rest.  While 6 calories and 2 calories do not represent much, we are also talking about a 300% increase in calories burned per pound of tissue while sitting around doing nothing. Wouldn't you rather burn more calories doing nothing?   These are the small things that add up to make a measurable difference.

I'll save you the boredom of reading more, and will let you do your own research.  Here are some great, simple, reputable articles:

• 11 Scientifically Proven Ways to Boost Your Metabolism (Greatist.com)

• 10 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism (WebMD)

• 7 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism (MSNBC.com)

• Metabolism: Popular Myths and 9 EASY Ways to rev It Up (Bodybuilding.com, one of my favorite sources of info along with CutandJacked.com)

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Macronutrients and Micronutrients: A brief overview

Big words, simple meanings.  From the medieval latin word makros, "Macro" just means large, or large scale.  Macronutrients are therefore just the nutrients that living organisms need in a large quantity.  There are 3 main classes of macros, and they are Fats, Carbohydrates, and Protein.

Micronutrients, you therefore can assume, are the nutrients we require much less of.  Such nutrients, which are typically measured in milligrams and micrograms as opposed to grams, are things such as iron, potassium, sodium, and all of the -iums you see on a multi-vitamin label.  If you eat a clean diet full of a diversity of veggies, fruits, healthy whole grains, lean proteins and dairy, you will not need a multi-vitamin.  It is easy to get your daily allotment of micronutrients with a healthy diet.

Consumption of macronutrients, however, are up to interpretation.  Based on your general body type (discussed in the following section), you may need to eat more carbohydrates, less carbohydrates, more protein, or more/less fat to achieve the body you desire.  The general guidelines are as such:

• Protein:  10% - 35%  of caloric intake
• Recall each gram of protein equates to 4 calories.  30% of calories from protein for a 2,000 calories diet would therefore equate to 150g of protein (2,000 * 30% = 600 calories, 600 calories divided by 4 calories per gram = 150g grams.)
• Bodybuilders usually strive to get 1 -2 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
• I typically stick to the 30-35% range
• Carbohydrates:  45% - 65%
• 1g of carbs also = 4 calories, so 50% of calories from carbohydrates on a 2,000 calorie diet = 250g (2,000 * 50% = 1000 calories, 1000 calories divided by 4 calories per gram = 250g grams.)
• I only allow myself 35-40% calories from carbs, since I respond best to a low-carb diet
• Remember, simple  sugar is only a FORM of carbohydrate.  Fiber is also a carb.  Avoid / limit sugars, but DO eat healthy carbs like whole grains, Ezekiel bread, sweet potatoes and other healthy sources of non-sugary carbohydrates like berries and apples.
• Fat:  20% - 35%
• I like to aim for 30% calories from fat.  1g of fat = NINE (9) calories, so for a 2,000 calorie diet, that would be 67g of fat.
• Not all fats are made the same! Some fats BURN fat.  Nuts, avocado, olive oil and Omega-3s (fish fat) are all healthy fats that are good for you and your body spends a lot of energy digesting them.

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Every Body is Different:  Knowing your body type can offer valuable insight...

In American psychologist W.H. Sheldon's 1954 book, Atlas of Men, three main body types (known as 'somatotypes') were defined as part of Sheldon's "Human Classification System".  These three body shapes were called Ectomorphic, Mesomorphic, and Endomorphic.  While some of Sheldon's hypotheses ended up not being scientifically accurate, his work in classifying body types has helped modern scientists and athletes alike understand how different body types may correlate with different metabolisms and "aesthetic programming". In short, different body types have different features, different strengths and weaknesses, and require different training schedules and diet and workout plans in order to change one's physical appearance and bodily composition.  Whilst you may be a mix of one of these three types, all humans fit somewhere on the somatotype spectrum, and we cannot change what we were born with.   Knowing your general body type can thus help you understand a little bit more about how your body operates, and how to design an appropriate diet and fitness plan that might work better for you than others.   This is not an exact science, but it is good to know about and contemplate as you proceed with customizing a plan that works for you.

It should be noted that regardless of whichever form you are, you ABSOLUTELY can become totally ripped, fit and awesome looking, and can enhance your performance to be competent in just about anything.  So don't let what the genetic jackpot gave you become an excuse for you to say it can't be done!  I personally find myself to be an endomorph with mesomorphic qualities.  I choose to use that to my advantage :)

Ectomorphs

Ectomorphs are described as people with long, narrow limbs and bodies, narrow shoulders and flat chests (both male and female).  Ectos are NOT just people who are skinny or lean! There is an air of fragility, or delicacy, about this body type, with a lean and less sturdy skeletal structure. Ectos are often referred to as "naturally thin", the type of people who can "eat whatever they want, and not is ironically considered "less efficient"), and thus find it difficult to put on weight -- including muscle mass.  Ectomorphs need a large amount of calories in order to gain weight and muscle mass, and a large amount of calories to maintain that mass once built.  Because ectos tend to have a lower body fat percentage, once muscle mass is built, it is very visible and ectomorphs can sport a very chiseled toning to the body.  Leaning out is rarely an issue for ectomorphs; even those who are "skinny fat" (lean, although with subcutaneous fat on the body nonetheless, and very little muscle definition).  The challenge for this body type, is putting on enough weight and then maintaining it.  Ectomorphs can benefit largely from supplements, and their workouts should be focused to short, high intensity ones with a vast focus on weight training.  McLovin'?  Defo an ecto.

According to Obi at MusclePharm.com, an ectomorph should try starting with a diet of 25% protein, 55% carbohydrates and 20% fat.

Endomorphs

Endomorphs are pretty much the opposite of Ectomorphs.  They are thick and burley in appearance.  Just because someone is "fat" does not mean they are automatically an endomorph!  If you think that you are doomed to fatness if you are an endomorph, bear in mind that Mike Tyson is an endomorph.  That man was a beast when he was taking care of himself.

Some might call endos "big boned", and they have a large portion of body composition made up of fat.  Endomorphs find it very difficult to lose weight, and they gain weight rather easily.  One particular quality about endomorphs is that, while they may gain fat easily, they find it quiet easy to bulk up with muscle.  Endomorphs tend to have very strong arms and legs, and find building their quadriceps fairly easy with proper training.  Endomorphs, as can be expected, have a very energy-efficient metabolism (which means it is slower than the other body types) and require far fewer calories to gain muscle mass and maintain it.  Endomorphs are the type that need to constantly watch their caloric intake so as not to disturb the balance of lean muscle mass and fat gain.  An endomorph's workout routine should consist heavily of cardio as well as weights; the cardio, to keep body fat percentages down.  Supplements aren't usually needed so long as protein intake is adequate.

According to Obi at MusclePharm.com, an endomorph should try starting with a diet of 35% protein, 25% carbohydrates and 40% fat. **I personally disagree with this, though.  I think 35% protein, 35% carbs and 30% fat might be a better starting point.  25% calories from carbs is extremely low and difficult for a beginner to achieve.**

Mesomorphs

Yes Brandi Chastain, we are sure as hell talking about you!  Mesomorphs are the "holy grail" of genetic body types, in my honest opinion.  They have well defined bone and muscular structures, and a naturally athletic physique.  Even when they are overweight, you can tell that mesomorphs would have excellent bodies, if only they would be trained accordingly.  Mesomorphs gain muscle easily, but they also gain fat much easier than an ectomorph. Male mesomorphs typically have broader shoulders and a rectangular symmetry, whereas females have an "hourglass" figure.  Mesomorphs gain and lose weight relatively easily with proper diet and exercise. They respond best to weight training, but since they can put fat on easily, mesomorphs must watch their nutritional intake.  Thus, a combination of weight training with some (though not excessive) cardio works best for mesomorphs.

According to Obi at MusclePharm.com, an endomorph should try starting with a diet of 30% protein, 40% carbohydrates and 30% fat. **This is also just a very balanced, good ratio to stick with regardless of your body type.**

HERE is a basic Body Type Test by bodybuilder.com, a source I find to be reputable.

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Pulling it All Together:  Diet Diaries and Battle Plans!

We've talked a LOT about definitions and such, so let's tie it all together here.  We know that diet is 80% of the battle.  If you are going to start anywhere, it's cleaning up your diet.  I will discuss "Clean Eating" in my next post, but for now let's stick with the basics:  You should have a target number of calories and a general idea of what % of calories you want your macronutrients to consist of.  If you are unsure, stick with the general guidelines of 30% calories from fat, 40% from carbohydrates, and 30% from protein.

You really must log your food intake.  At least for the first couple months.  Keeping a daily food journal will show you where you are getting your calories, will help you adjust your diet to meet your physical needs, and will scare the living shit out of you (in a good way!) when you realize how misunderstood you were about how much you were actually eating.  There are millions of online diet diaries, the most popular and successful of which are on SparkPeople and MyFitnessPal .  Both are free, multi-functional, very useful, and have mobile apps.  You can also buy any number of physical books at the bookstore or online which you can carry in your purse or book bag, and manually record the foods you eat.  Eventually, you may just want to make your own spreadsheet.  I have a fabulous one I can share with you, just email me at theallnaturalathelete@gmail.com.   

IMPORTANT TIPS:

1. You want to be eating a small meal every 2 - 3 hours. Meals are no longer the size of football stadiums; they resemble something more of a balanced snack.  Each meal, you will want a protein, a carb and a fat.  Examples could be 4oz salmon fillet and some steamed asparagus, a piece of fruit and a serving of almonds, some nonfat greek yogurt or cottage cheese with fresh berries and walnut bits, a hardboiled egg sliced up ontop of a bed of spinach with olive oil and lemon juice, carrots and hummus, a protein shake, a piece of toast with peanut butter, etc.  Think of your meal plan less as Breakfast - Lunch - Dinner, and more as Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3, Meal 4 and so forth. 
2. Eat your carb-rich food items earlier in the day so that you have the whole day to work them off.  Save your lean meals (veggies and lean meats) for the evening time so that when you're sleeping, you won't have all these fats and sugars in your system just lying around with nothing to do. 
3. Aim for 100 fl. oz of water a day.  Flush that system of yours! 
4. Clean eating is a long process of learning and adapting, so for now, just stick with basic common sense.  Stay away from crap food, soda, juice and unhealthy desserts.  Try to only eat fresh ingredients, and avoid chemicals, added sugars and preservatives.  Stay away from boxed things; they are typically loaded with crap.  Start reading your labels (I'll include this in my next blog post) and start making smarter, more common sense decisions.  Stay away from the fancy marketing, don't let packaging that says "Healthy!" or "Diet!" on it fool you; that stuff is full of crap designed to make it taste good but do nothing for you.
5. Always have your meal plan prepped for the week.  Have snacks pre-cooked, pre-measured and stored away so that the second you are hungry, you make a smart decision instead of a bad one.

 

I plan to write next about the tenets of "Clean Eating", how to read labels, and how to get moving!  Until then, start laying the foundation of the greatest experience OF YOUR LIFE :)