What Are the Differences Between Body Types and How Does It Reflect in Weight Loss?

Everybody is different because people have different body types, and each of those body types have their own advantages and disadvantages. You might know people who are naturally very skinny, and no matter how much chocolate, candy, fast food or whatever else they eat, they cannot gain weight. On the other hand, there are people who eat healthy and still manage to put on some pounds. Why? Metabolism determines the rate at which your body uses calories, and body types are usually classified by metabolism. There are three major body types:

• Ectomorph
• Endomorph
• Mesomorph

While some people consider there to be more body types, such as ecto-mesomorph, or endo-mesomorph, and I will briefly touch on them, but I will not explain them in details, because they are the mixtures of two different types.

Ectomorph is a person who has extremely fast metabolism, leading a person to be naturally skinny. You can consider a typical ectomorph to be a person who eats everything and still does not get fat. If the person has ectomorphic qualities, one has a really hard time gaining weight. Additionally, usually ectomorphs have small bones, leading them to look so skinny. Ectomorphs usually, do not need to diet to lose weight, because their body fat percentage stays around 5-8%. However, if an ectomorph wants to gain weight, one has to consume loads of calories. For example, bodybuilders who weigh around 220 pounds in the contest (3-5% body fat) and are ectomorphs eat about 5,500 calories on their bulking diets.

Although you might be thinking that you would enjoy being an ectomorph, don't be so sure. Most of the ectomorphs are really really skinny, and they hate it. They try gain weight, and, if you think that eating 5,500 calories is easy, trust me - it's not. While you can eat that many calories from fast food, that is not what you need to eat. You need to eat high caloric, high protein, low fat diet, and it can get expensive.

My advice for ectomorphs, wanting to gain weight, is - try to eat as healthy as possible, but, if you see that you won't be able to reach your daily caloric needs, then a burger might not harm you.

If you are reading this article, you are most likely are an endomorph. Why? Because you are trying to lose weight, and this article is in the weight loss category (if you are just looking to get more knowledge about different body types, I apologize). Endomorph is generally an opposite of an ectomorph - chubby, or even a fat person. Therefore, endomoprhs often look round and soft. The reason for that is that endomorphs have slow metabolism, and they gain weight very easily, because they body use less calories than other body types. In addition, endomorphs have big bones, making them look even bigger than they actually are.

Endomorphs can gain muscle as easy as they gain fat. However, losing that fat is when it becomes unwanted to be an endomorph - they have an extremely hard time losing fat. Cardio exercises are mandatory for endomorphs, while ectomorphs can slack off on it. Generally, a person is an endomorph, if one's body fat percentage naturally is above 18%.

Mesomorphs are the lucky ones when it comes to bodybuilding/fitness. Why? Because they are ectomorphs and endomorphs combined. A typical mesomorph is naturally fit and has an athletic body. They can gain muscle as easily as they can lose fat, making bodybuilding for mesomorphs being easier than the other two groups. Mesomorphs have perfect metabolism - not too slow, but not too fast either. In addition, their bones are normal sized.

Losing weight for mesomorphs should not be extremely difficult. If a mesomorph wants to lose weight, one should do lifting combined with cardio. However, mesomorphs do not need to do excessive amounts of cardio - 3 times a week is enough.

There are plenty of tests that can help you find out what body type does one have. You can measure your body fat and have a wild approximate, but that might be incorrect. If you have recently been eating a lot of junk food, you can show up as a endomorph, instead of a mesomorph. In addition to the body fat percentage test, take your wrist and try wrapping your other hand around it. If your fingers overlap, you are probably an ectomorph. If you cannot touch your fingers while wrapping them around your wrist - you are an endomorph. If your fingers just touch - you are a mesomorph.

I was considering myself to be a mesomorph, because of all the tests I have done, but losing fat is not easy for me. So I have made a conclusion that I am an endo-mesomorph. Similarly, if you consider yourself to be skinny, but have an easy time gaining muscle, you probably ecto-mesomorph.

Do not forget, that when you get older, you metabolism naturally starts to slow down and you will start to experience weight gain. Since your body type generally depends on your metabolism, you could consider that to be the changing of your body type. However, most of the qualities of your body type remains the same, so, if you were an extreme ectomorph, you will probably not become a huge endomorph even when you are 60 years old.