Calorie Consumption

The ectomorph body shape is best suited to having a diet with 50% Carbohydrates (CHO) 30% Lean Proteins and 20% Healthy Fats, to make up their Total Daily Calories (TDC).

The above table with give you a guideline for your total calorie intake for each of your 3 main food groups. Remember that fluid taken in, will also contain calories, especially if fruit juices - fizzy drinks - tea / coffee (sugar added) and alcohol, if consuming any of these, make sure that the calories count towards your carbohydrate intake. If your Total Daily Calories (TDC) is not in the chart above, for example you require a higher amount due to your exercise levels (5,000) calories, then simply add together the results from the 2,000 and 3,000 columns to give a TDC of 5,000 - CHO would be 1,000 + 1,500 = 2,500. At the other end of the scale, you may decide that you will go on a very low calorie diet for a few days (plateau breaking) and require only 1,200 calories, simply divide the results in the 2,400 column by 2, giving you a Protein intake of 720 divided by 2 = 360 calories for that day from proteins.

Due to your measurements often taken in grams, the below table will help you break down your calories into grams of each food source (figures will be rounded up or down to the nearest calorie) - remember that for each gram of carbohydrate and protein there are 4 calories and for each gram of fat there are 9 calories. For example 360 calories of protein is equal to 90 grams of protein, whereas 360 calories of fat is equal to 40 grams of fat. It is important to understand that fat contains over double the amount of calories to either carbohydrates or proteins, as food labels will often read only 10% fat, which may appear to sound low in fat, however it will actually be high in calories.

Once you know your daily food intake in either calories or grams per day, you will then need to break this down 1 stage further to give yourself guidelines for each meal serving. As mentioned numerous times, you are far better of eating 5 - 6 meals a day and regular 2 1/2 - 3 hour intervals. This would mean that for somebody needing 2,400 calories a day, there carbohydrate intake would be 1,200 calories or 300 grams per day, which would equal 60 grams per meal if having 5 meals a day, or 50 grams per meal if having 6 meals a day. If you have read the section dealing with fueling your body, you will also learn how to break down your calorie intake so that you can have a larger breakfast with smaller frequent meals throughout the day to keep your energy levels and metabolism high.

The endomorph body shape is best suited to having a diet with 40% Carbohydrates (CHO) 40% Lean Proteins and 20% Healthy Fats, to make up their Total Daily Calories (TDC). Some people will find that the high protein amounts are hard to consume, so you may decide to drop the protein by 5% and increase the carbohydrates by 5%, the second table will give these figures for 45% carbohydrates 35% proteins and 20% healthy fats - if you are carbohydrate sensitive, then you should try the higher protein method with 6 meals a day, as this will help reduce you protein amounts per meal whilst keeping your blood sugar at optimal levels.