“When you decide what body type you are, every body type has their positive things and negative things. But the good thing about know your body type is learning how to love it and work with what you have. Every body type is beautiful, it’s just a matter of acknowledging it, embracing it, and feeling good about who you are.” – Devon Dionne on embracing our body type.

 

Check Out Our Batch Cooking Show!

Each Saturday at 2pm PST you can join us for our batch cooking show! Last week we made chicken salad, chicken bone broth, and two different kinds of roasted almonds: spicy roasted and chile lime roasted almonds. These two dishes and 1 snack all in just 35 minutes!

To watch and learn how to make these easy, healthy meals each Saturday, just join our Open Sky Fitness Podcast group.

Why batch cooking? It’s a great way to prepare for the week by making nutritious, delicious meals in advance. In fact, this food should last you around 3-4 days!

How to Eat For Your Body: What’s Your Body Type?

Every single one of us has a different body which also means we have different diets, physical abilities, and even capabilities to reach health goals at different rates.

Today on the show, Devon and I are going to share with you what it means for your health to be one of the three body types (Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph) plus what it means if you are a mix of two body types.

We also had a great question come up in the OSF closed Facebook group: How Often Should I Be Eating? Different sources have claimed that we should be eating 5-6 small meals a day compared to just 2-3 meals. Tune to find out what’s true.

 

The Ectomorph Body Type

The Ectomorph body type is extremely lean with little fat or muscle. A person who has an Ectomorph body can easily and continuously stay in this state of being lean and thin because they have a fast metabolism and are able to burn carbohydrates very fast.

Because we associate thin with healthy, an Ectomorph might think that they don’t need to focus on nutrition or exercise because of their size and believe that they can just eat and do whatever they want. It can be very easy for them to ignore they’re health and body because of the false idea that they’re already healthy.

Just like everyone else, Ectomorphs should avoid excess amounts of sugar and processed foods so that they can focus on following a nutritious diet.

How Can An Ectomorph Gain Muscle?

However, Ectomorphs can struggle to put on muscle and gain weight even if they try very hard to do so. They’re good at running because they genetically don’t carry around a lot of muscle nor fat. Therefore, long amounts of cardio is easy for them, but cardio doesn’t necessarily help us build muscle. They can easily become faster, but not stronger without focusing on lifting weights.

An Ectomorph can gain muscle by lifting heavy weights in compound movements such as squats and dead lifts. These movements put the Ectomorph body under enough tension and stress so that the body can adapt, react, and ultimately build muscle. An Ectomorph that wants to build muscle should eat plenty of protein as well as carbs since the body burns them so fast.

 

The Mesomorph Body Type

The Mesomorph body is athletic built with low to minimum body fat. This body type responds quickly to stress and can grow muscle very quickly with HIIT workouts. They can also drop weight quickly and naturally without putting in much effort at all.

However, before they’re naturally athletic, they could become bored with working out or don’t see a need to hit the gym. If a person has a Mesomorphic body and they physically look healthy, that’s not enough and they should pay close attention to what’s going on inside.

Keep track of your energy levels, nutrition, mood, sleep pattern, etc. Those can be key indicators that can tell you a lot about your current state of health.

Keep Challenging Yourself

To keep enjoying fitness, a Mesomorph should challenge themselves to new goals. Set a personal PR goal for a competition or make working out interesting by taking up a class.

They should train like an athlete because they are already build like one. Their body is meant for HIIT, cleans, jerks, Cross Fit, power moves, and timed challenges.

 

The Endomorph Body Type

The Endomorph body type is a bit thick in build and can gain both muscle and weight easily. Some hold their weight in different body parts such as their shoulders, chests, buttocks, thighs, stomachs, or arms.

To help stay in shape, long amounts of low-intensity cardio like walking is good for them. However, what’s even better is building muscle. When an Endomorph builds muscle, they can burn fat faster and continue to do so hours after their workout is complete.

Instead of eating processed foods and carbs such as pastas, breads, or grains, they should try to eat more vegetables that are natural carbohydrates.

The Difference Between Strength Training and Building Muscle Mass (Hypertrophy)

We often confuse strength training with hypertrophy and it’s important to know the difference because hypertrophy is more beneficial for the Endomorph body type.

When you strength train, your goal every week is to get stronger with 3-4 simple moves like squats, dead lifts, cleans, jerks, chest press, military press. doing 5 sets of  3 reps with 2-3 minutes in between.

When it comes to hypertrophy and building muscle mass, it’s not about burning calories and gaining strength. To build muscle mass, do 3 sets of an exercise such as a chest press with 6-16 reps.

When you focus on building muscle mass, ,ake sure that you eat enough to give your body the energy that it needs to lift weights.

 

How Often Should I Be Eating?

 

“There’s a difference between knowing when you’re hungry and when you’re starving.” – Rob Dionne

 

There’s been a misconception that eating 5-6 meals every day or every 2-3 hours is what our bodies need. However, Devon and I did the research and found this to be completely false.

People have said that eating 5-6 meals a day supposedly:

• Raises your metabolism
• Stops your hunger craves
• Helps with weight loss
• Keeps your blood sugar levels consistent
• Assists with keeping you out of starvation mode

However, we didn’t find proof that any of these were true. In fact, the latest research found all that all of these “benefits” don’t actually happen and there were no changes in metabolism or weight loss.

Listen from 33:00 to find out why 5-6 meals a day does not benefit our bodies.

Listen to Your Body’s Needs

If you need to snack between meals to help keep your energy up and your stomach satisfied, that’s okay! We’re just saying that you don’t have to be eating all the time with 5-6 meals.

Sometimes when we’re tired in the middle of the day, we’ll just grab a cup of coffee when our body is actually telling us that it needs food!

We may not get the stomach growls and pains, but if it’s been 6 hours or so since you last ate, your body probably needs something in its system.

 

“If what you’re doing is not working for you, ask yourself the question, ‘Is it not working because I’m not doing this 100% or is it not working because this is the wrong thing for my body?’.” You want to make sure you’re not jumping ship too early on a program or style of eating because you’re not seeing the exact results within a week. It helps to stick to it and try it out.” – Rob Dionne

 

Join The Open Sky Fitness Podcast Group!

That’s right! We have a closed Open Sky Fitness Podcast group  on Facebook where you and everyone have the opportunity to talk about your health and fitness goals in a safe environment. We post workouts and start discussions about how to be strategic around finding a healthier you. Check it out!

 

Start Building Your Own Workouts and Meal Plan!

Download Results Tracker here!

Click To Download Home Workout Templates or text the word, “lifting,” to 33444 to download the templates. 

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Have a Question or Review for Rob or Devon?

We love answering questions and getting feedback from you, our listener! If you have any questions to ask us, want to share a review of the show, or tell us any suggestions for guests/topics that you think would be great to have on the show, just email Rob at rob@openskyfitness.com or Devon at devon@openskyfitness.com or you can also leave us a review at www.openskyfitness.com/review, ask a question in the closed Open Sky Fitness Facebook Group and even text OSFreview to 33444 to get the link.

What You’ll Hear on This Episode

00:00 Open Sky Fitness Introduction

1:15  Opening comments with Rob and Devon

3:00  Questions from the OSF Facebook Group

5:00  What’s your body type and what does it mean for your health and dietary needs?

5:15  The Ectomorph Body Type

12:00  The Endomorph Body Type

14:45  Strength Training vs Building Muscle Mass (Hypertrophy)

23:55  The Mesomorph Body Type

31:00  Some people hover between two different body types

33:00 How Often Should We Be Eating?

51:50  Closing comments with Rob and Devon

55:00  Open Sky Fitness Closing

RESOURCES MENTIONED DURING THE SHOW:

• Join The Open Sky Fitness Podcast Group on Facebook
• Check out The Pink Marine by Greg White
• Find out what your body type is!
• Tune into the OSF episode 133- Should I Count Calories?
• Check out last week’s podcast episode 134 with Christy Harrison: Make Peace With Food & Your Body
• Find out about healthy foods with OSF episode 102- Julie Daniluk: The Power of Anti-Inflammatory Foods
• Discover The Problem with the Dogmatic Nutrition Approach OSF episode 124
• Learn more about calories and healthy eating with OSF episode 123- Hot Topics: Gluten & Sugar
• Step up your cooking game with OSF episode 119- Convenient Foods and Meal Prep Hacks
• Get organized with the OSF episode 117- Kitchen Clean Out Hacks
• Change your ways with OSF episode 115- 5 Steps to Planning a Healthy Life
• Want learn the healthy way to add calories? Find out How To Gain Weight Fast with the OSF Episode 90

To Download Rob’s FREE workout templates click below**

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Ask Rob a Question or tell him what is working for you: Email Rob@OpenSkyFitness.com

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Thanks for Listening!
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Thanks for listening/reading Episode 135- How to Eat For Your Body Type! We hope you have gained more knowledge on how to be a healthier you!