Tag Archives: coachincairo

The different body types – mesomorphs and endomorphs

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When you first start going to the gym, any changes you make to yourself: your nutrition or just working out will show results because you’re changing your routine. If you pair your training with a solid nutrition plan or just clean out your diet you will see even better results. In the gym, whether you do resistance training or cardio, start with a steady pace, let you body adjust and recover. Start with 2-3 days a week and gradually work it up to 4-5 days a week. You will see and feel how much time you need to recover. Your recovery time will heavily depend on your nutrition and your rest time though. If you’re not eating the right food your recovery will suffer.
The right food could be different for everyone. Something that works for someone might not work for the other. It also depends on your body type – as I said that in my previous post.
I’ve talked about the ectomorphs – the hardgainers – in my previous post.

Let’s see what the characteristics of a mesomorph:
Those are the people who don’t have to put much effort into their diets or training, they naturally have an athletic physique. They put on muscle (and fat as well) easily but they lose fat easily, too. They have well defined muscles, round muscle bellies – the best body type for bodybuilders, but for any athletes really. The best advise for them is to have more discipline. If they paid more attention to what they’re doing in the gym or what they eat, they could take their physiques to a completely different level easily.

The endomorphs are the people I talk to most: the people who put on fat very easily and have a hard time losing it. They have slow metabolism, they are soft and round, usually short and stocky. They put on muscle easily though so it’s not too bad for an athlete if they have the discipline to eat right. Endomorphs also need cardio all year around to keep in shape. They usually have insulin resistance to an extent therefore they really need to know when, how much and what type of carbs to eat to turn it to their advantage.

Personalized training and nutrition plans are available, contact me for details: hello@tamaramakar.me

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The different body types – ectomorphs

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When it comes to training and nutrition, it is very important that you know your body type. The different body types need different nutrition and they respond to training in different ways.

There are 3 different basic body types:
* Ectomorph
* Mesomorph
* Endomorph

Generally people are not just one clear type, but a combination of 2 or sometimes even all 3 body types.
Let’s look at these body types one by one:
Ectomorph – the hardgainer
Characteristics:
* small frame
* small joints
* usually tall with small waist
* very low bodyfat
Ectomorphs usually lose weight very quickly if they skip meals or their caloric intake is too low. They have very fast metabolism, they burn up everything quickly.
Ectomorphs are hyperactive, therefore if they want to put on some muscle they need to slow down, and get some extra sleep/rest. They need to reduce stress – don’t we all? They definitely have to avoid overtraining. They respond best to brief workouts and they have to allow plenty of recovery between training sessions.
Generally they don’t need to do much cardio, and they should really keep that to a minimum. They should make an effort to keep their caloric intake high with a moderately high carb intake and never miss a meal. Using additional supplements is highly recommended for ectomorphs to help gain and keep muscle.

Personalized nutrition and training plans are available, plese contact me for details: hello@tamaramakar.me

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About Leptin

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Leptin is the ‘satiety’ hormone produced by fat cells and it helps regulating energy balance by inhibiting hunger and it controls your metabolism. Leptin acts as the ‘opposite’ of ghrelin hormone (see my previous post).
How much leptin is released from the fat cells depends on how much fat there is: the more fat you have the more leptin is released.
Simply put: When your leptin levels increase, your brain sends a signal that you’re ‘full’ and your metabolic rate increases because of this signal. When leptin levels decrease, your brain sends a signal that you’re no longer ‘full’ and your metabolic rate decreases. The longer your body is in calorie deficit (hunger) the lower your leptin levels decrease and your metabolic rate slows down.
If you constantly eat above your maintenance calorie levels, you can become leptin resistant. The more leptin resistant your body becomes, the more fat you will store as your body will not be able to distinguish if your body fat levels are too high and the leptin receptors are desensitized.
How to maintain normal leptin levels:
* try and stay lean,
* don’t go on for too long to bulk,
* when you feel your metabolism slowed down, include a cheat meal/day. The excess calories will kickstart your leptin production (but only if you had calorie deficit beforehand for some time).

Personalised nutrition plans are available, contact me for details: hello@tamaramakar.me

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Dehydration – water retention

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Your body dehydrates if your fluid intake is less than what your body puts out. You lose fluids by breathing, sweating, exercising, urinating, vomiting etc so when your body doesn’t have enough fluids to carry out its normal functions, you get dehydrated.

The common causes of dehydration are: vigorous exercise or exercising in hot weather, diarrhoea, vomiting, fever or excessive sweating. It is very important to replace any fluids that you’ve lost before you get dehydrated.

The symptoms of mild dehydration are:
* thirst
* dry sticky mouth
* sleepiness or tiredness
* decreased urine output
* dry skin
* headache
* constipation
* dizziness

When the colour of the urine is darker, it can be an indication that you’re getting dehydrated.
What to do? Increase the fluid intake! Pay attention when the hot weather comes that you need to drink enough water throughout the day. When you exercise, always drink water to replenish the fluids you lose by sweating.

It’s worth mentioning that sometimes water retention can be an indication that you’re not drinking enough fluids. When you drink less water than what you put out, your body is trying to balance it by retaining some water to prevent dehydration. When you experience mild dehydration what you need to do is start drinking more water slowly to replenish the lost fluids.

This is not the only cause of water retention though. It could be just as simple as having too much salt, spices or sugar in your diet.

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Ghrelin – the hunger hormone in a nutshell

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Ghrelin is produced by ghrelin cells which are found in the stomach, lungs, pancreas and kidneys. It is a hormone that regulates hunger. When the stomach is empty, ghrelin is released. When food is eaten ghrelin secretion stops. Ghrelin increases appetite, increases food intake and promotes fat storage.
Ghrelin also promotes the release of growth hormone from the pituitary gland which breaks down fat tissue and helps building muscle tissue.
When people go on ‘yo yo’ diets – extreme calorie cutting diets, the weight they lose during dieting comes back on quick when the diet stops. One of the reasons why this happens is because the ghrelin levels are dramatically increased. The hormone levels stay like that for some time after the diet has stopped. The body reacts as if it went through starvation – which effectively it did, and to protect itself from future starvation it produces more ghrelin. In layman terms: you go on an extremely low calorie diet to lose weight. Your ghrelin levels increase so you feel more and more hungry. You are effectively starving on the diet to lose weight, and when you finally stop the diet, the body – to protect itself from further starvation – produces more ghrelin. Because you stopped the diet you go back eating normal and because you feel hungry you eat more and more – hence you put more weight back than what you’ve lost.
Ghrelin levels are primarily regulated by food intake. Levels of ghrelin increase when fasting (with increased hunger) and are lower in people with higher bodyweight than in lean people.
The different nutrients effect differently the release of ghrelin: protein and carbs slow down the production of ghrelin to a greater extent than fats – eating protein and carbs will make you feel fuller.

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