Quite often, among visitors to gyms, you can find quite well-fed men with a high percentage of subcutaneous fat and with a small amount of muscle. These are the very endomorphs - or, according to the Russian classification, hypersthenics. You will find the general rules for training such athletes in our special training program for the endomorph, but we will tell you about what the nutrition of the endomorph should be for losing weight and gaining muscle mass so that all the efforts spent in the gym are not in vain, we will tell in this article.
Features of nutrition of an endomorph
A person with a pronounced endomorphic (hypersthenic) physique has, relatively speaking, "spherical" shapes - a round full face, a large belly and buttocks. The chest and trunk are usually wide, but the ankles and wrists, on the contrary, are thin, which gives the trunk some absurdity.
People with a hypersthenic constitution are predominantly overweight. Even if they are athletes, their percentage of subcutaneous fat will always be higher than that of ectomorphs and mesomorphs. Fat deposits tend to accumulate primarily in the waist, chest, hips and shoulders. It is for this reason that endomorphs cannot achieve good results in building a relief body without a properly selected diet and a well-thought-out meal schedule.
Proper nutrition of the endomorph is the basis of the entire training process. Without it, the athlete may and will be able to build good muscle mass, but it will not be visible at all under the layer of fat.
There are several main nutritional features of a hypersthenic:
- The diet should be formulated in such a way that the food is either completely excluded, or contains a minimum amount of simple carbohydrates.
- There should be more protein in the diet.
- You need to clearly regulate the amount of calories consumed. There should be much less of them than for the mesomorph.
- To obtain a visible result and high-quality relief, hypersthenics cannot do without special sports nutrition with a fat-burning effect.
- Periodically, the endomorph needs to use special diets to dry the body.
The diet
The nutrition of an endomorph for gaining muscle mass should be built in such a way as to take into account everything: calories, the ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, the presence of micronutrients, water intake and other factors.
Calorie calculation
The first thing to do to build the right diet is to calculate your energy requirement according to the Harris Benedict formula, and not by actual weight, but by the desired one. This will allow you to consume fewer calories than you actually expend, which ultimately will lead to the fact that the “missing” calories, the body will begin to “extract”, breaking down the stored body fat. The formula for calculating calories is shown below.
40 calories X body weight X daily activity level (from 1 to 1.5) = number of calories
This will be your approximate rate for gaining muscle mass. For weight loss, we subtract 100-150 calories from this weekly, then drying will take place without prejudice to muscle mass.
For endomorphs who do not monitor the calorie content of the diet and the quality of the products consumed, a direct road is only to the super heavy weight category in strength sports. But if your goal is a beautiful athletic body and functional development in all respects, do not be lazy to calculate the calorie content of your diet.
BJU ratio
An endomorph needs to consume about 2-3 g of protein, 4 g of carbohydrates and 1 g of fat per 1 kg of body weight daily. This ratio will allow you to gradually gain high-quality muscle mass without creating excess body fat. If you feel that progress in gaining muscle mass has stopped, and there is not enough energy, then slightly increase the amount of carbohydrates consumed.
For effective weight loss, you need to reduce the calorie content of the diet. This is done by reducing the quantitative content of carbohydrates and fats in the diet. We gradually reduce carbohydrates to 2.5 g per 1 kg of body weight (or less), and fats - to 0.5 grams per 1 kg of body weight. Please note that preference should be given to monounsaturated, polyunsaturated and saturated fats, and their total amount should not exceed 10% of the athlete's daily diet. Protein should be consumed as much as during weight gain, otherwise the body will simply not recover.
Recommended and prohibited foods
Compared to ectomorphs and mesomorphs, hypersthenics are most limited in their choice of food. Recommended foods include:
- red meat (beef, veal);
- white poultry meat (chicken, turkey);
- fish, fish oil;
- vegetables and herbs;
- rice;
- fruits (in moderation);
- linseed oil;
- whole wheat bread;
- low-fat cheese and lean cottage cheese;
- nuts.
Foods that contain carbohydrates should be low on the glycemic index so as not to provoke insulin spikes. And you should definitely consume unsaturated fatty acids to reduce the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, because this is a common problem for overweight people.
Under the strictest prohibition - all fast food, fatty foods, sweets and flour.
Diet
Many overweight people, having heard the advice to eat less, mistakenly believe that we are talking about the frequency of meals. In fact, I mean write volumes. But the number of receptions, on the contrary, should be increased - there should be 5-7 of them throughout the day. These are three dense, full meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and two to four light snacks between meals. As a snack, you can serve as any fruit or a portion of a protein shake. The last "dense" meal (dinner) should be organized no later than 2-2, 5 hours before bedtime. Ideally, it is advisable to dine with a mixture of protein and fiber (cottage cheese / fish / lean beef / venison + vegetables / herbs). After eating, before going to bed, it is good to walk for 40-50 minutes - this has a beneficial effect on the digestive processes.
At the same time, watch your reflection in the mirror and do not forget to take anthropometric measurements - the thickness of the arm, thigh, neck, chest. Plus, keep track of your progress in strength movements. If the weight has dropped to a level that satisfies you, and the muscle volume increases, everything is in order, continue to eat as it is. But if the weight stands still, and the numbers in the mirror and on the centimeter tape are still disappointing, adjust the diet. Do not forget that nutritional correction is something that awaits you constantly, and, at first, in order to reduce weight, then - to keep it.
Sample menu for the day
The menu for the day for an endomorph may look like this:
| Eating | Sample menu |
| Breakfast |
|
| Snack |
|
| Dinner |
|
| Pre-workout snack (30 minutes – 1 hour before start) |
|
| Snack after training (20-30 minutes after training) |
|
| Dinner |
|
| Snack before bed (20-50 minutes before bedtime) |
|
If you eat everything in the table above in moderate portions, then this will be about 1500-2000 calories, and the protein content will be about 300-350 g.
Sports nutrition for endomorph
A feature of metabolic processes in the body of an endomorph is that the protein consumed with food is absorbed in very small quantities - about 30 percent, that is, much worse than fats and carbohydrates. In this regard, athletes with such a physique at the stage of training for a set of muscle mass need to be especially actively replenished with a protein reserve, which serves as a building material for muscles.
Protein shakes are the best for this, since getting the right amount of protein with daily food is quite difficult even with a strictly balanced diet and a well-thought-out menu. The recommended dosage of protein is 3 tablespoons of powder per 0.5 liters of milk or unsweetened juice. You need to take a cocktail 3 times a day between meals. If you are an adherent of only homemade healthy food, then you can make protein shakes at home.
When muscle mass is gained and work begins on muscle strength and relief, it is advisable to use supplements such as arginine and glutamine. Arginine is usually taken in the morning and before bed, and glutamine is usually taken after training and also at night. Their dosage is detailed in the instructions.
At the stage of active weight loss, to accelerate the process of breaking down fats, you can use sports nutrition with a fat burning effect, the so-called fat burners. But do not get carried away with them, as they all contain various combinations of psychostimulants. You can of course use carnitine as well. But don't put too much hope in it for burning fat. Rather, this supplement will be useful as a component of maintaining heart muscle health during exercise. It is also recommended to introduce BCAAs and amino acids into the diet (before, after and during training).
In conclusion, I would like to remind you once again that endomorphs tend to be overweight or gain weight quickly, so your lifestyle and dietary habits will have to change dramatically. And just because you weren't born for bodybuilding doesn't mean you weren't born for sports. Be healthy!
