Can An Ectomorph Get Fat?

I agree with the statement "that ectomorphs are simply those who are active (whether fidgetting a lot, or lots of exercise), but do not eat enough." I can be described as a classic ectomorph. However I have had an aversion to being fat since I can remember. As a child I remember being afraid of eating any meat. I am a very active person, enjoy exercise and usually only have 2 meals a day. I don't skip breakfast. I was injured playing volleyball now have trouble gaining muscle mass. I think part of my problem is psychological as I am afraid of getting fat, diabetes or stressing out my liver/kidneys from too much protein. I do not think that my body type is entirely genetic. I once forced myself to overeat, drank a lot of milk-based drinks, and slept deliberately after heavy meals. I gained 20lbs and got so scared that I won't be able to stop my weight gain that I exercised like never before to lose all I gained. So hence my point I do not believe that body type is entirely out of one'd control there may be some environmental or psychological influence as well.

i am an ectomorph and i really do not eat right.hoever i to small for my age. i can pass for a 14 year old at the age of 20

My training partner is an ectomorph (158 lbs.)with a large gut. I recommended a 20% calorie restriction from his maintenance intake divided into 6 meals per day: 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat (5% sat).

I also suggested cardio for 30 minutes, 3 times per week and weight lifting (total body/ moderately heavy) 3 times per week.

After 6 or 8 weeks he has decreased his body fat from roughly 18% to 12% with little LBM loss, but he still has a little gut. Is it safe to increase carbs and calories a bit so he can pack on some muscle? He's starting to look too skinny.

Sid, your advice to your friend is excellent. Going to 12% bf is superb. I'm surprised he hasn't hit a plateau by now. As for carbs, I feel that the ectomorph is a lot less sensitive to carbs (i.e. a low-carb diet will not have as much impact as with a non-ectomorph). Therefore the ectomorph can increase carbs without the same fat risk as others.

I suggest your friend increases calories to 20% OVER maintenance, and reduces cardio. Do BF tests each week, and see how it goes.

I would love to discuss this. Maybe you could post something in the a href="http://forum.diet-blog.com/viewforum.php?f=9">forums, and we could discuss it. I am more ectomorphic - and burn muscle very easily.

This is going to blow your mind, I feel i could never get the right fitness or diet advice. I am a 32 year old woman who is the smallest in my family of woman, i love the fact that i can eat whatever i want and dont' get fat, but i hate the fact that i still look like a little girl who is under developed. What makes it so amazxing is the fact that I have not 1 or 2 but 4 children. I only gained weight in my pregnancies and then after that I lose it all. The only thing that seems to be a little bigger is my stomach area.

i am an adolecent ectomorph on this site for information and i found it. :) im in middle school and im not as thin as the other ectomorphs i know. Im glad for that but im trying to gain weight because i have thin legs. Im mostly drinking lots of milk. Like 2 or three glases a day. I also hear bread helps im want to get to an acceptable weight. This site helps.

My poor husband is an ectomorph. At about 5 feet 9 inches tall, he weighs around 115 lbs. He definitely has good muscle definition because he does heavy lifting at work, but is very dissatisfied with his body and wears baggy clothes to hide his shape. Considering that I outweigh him by about 50 lbs right now and I'm 3 inches shorter, I find this baffling because I wear baggy clothes to hide my own shape but for different reasons.

Is there any information out there or can anyone give me any advice on how he could go about gaining more body mass thats not muscle but not unhealthy fat tissue?

My boyfriend and I are both ectomorphs, and we have no problems or aversions to eating plenty. I am going on 31 and weigh the same if not less than what I weighed when I graduated high school. Our lifestyle does not afford us the ability to eat as much or as often as we'd like. We both live in nyc, so we do tons of walking; he's a drummer/musician [lots of calories burned there] and I do field marketing [lots of physical work]; and we have an incredibly healthy and active sex life [that's a loooooooot of calories, too!].

We both have had problems keeping our weight on. He has lost 8 pounds since we've met, and I've lost about 5 since I moved to NYC 2 years ago. He's Italian, so we already eat lots of pasta :-)

I am at a loss on what we can do to put some weight back on our becoming bony bodies. I fear that it's just not healthy, though we often eat well at home with lots of fresh veggies and salads as well as meat and carbs and desserts [repeat after me: carbs are our friend...].

CAN ANYONE PLEASE GIVE US SOME ADVICE???

As a side note, I am to my limit with other body types feeling they have every right to insult and belittle us ectomorphs and then say it was meant as a compliment when we retaliate to stand up for ourselves. I don't flaunt my size, nor do I buy into the american beauty ideal of skinniness on a pedestal. It's even worse in the Black community, where the ideal is a woman who is a little on the 'thick' side. Growing up hearing 'your narrow ass' is just as traumatic as hearing 'your fat ass.' If someone accosts me as a "skinny blah-blah" with a sneering undertone, am I wrong for replying "you fat so-and-so"? It seems it's only fair that it goes both ways, and skinny people have feelings and deserve respect, too.

holla if you hear me on this...

I've just started researching, and finding out I'm an ectomorph. I dont eat breakfast, but have lunch and dinner, I find it impossible to gain weight, so I shall be changing diet as I learn more, might even attempt that breakfast thing normal ppl do.

If you're an ectomorph and you do want to GAIN weight, try eating late at night, 1 hour prior to going to bed or so. these late night meals should be somewhat high in fat proportion and high in other calories.

So . . . eat your cheesecake and go to sleep. it'll work every time.

My son is an ectomorph (10th percentile for body weight and 50% for height) ,and his pediatrician recommended that I sneak calories into his food wherever I can. Such as adding butter to his vegetables, only whole milk, etc. etc. However, I find that when I do add fats to his meals, he gets full sooner and stops eating sooner. I highly monitor his physical activity. He's wonderful at all non-contact sports, and runs like a gazelle. but because of his light frame, he is at risk for stress fractures, and dehydration. Water, gatorade and light foods during the days and high fat foods at the end of those high physical activity days.

i've always been skinny and underweight... until the past few years or so (i'm 35 now, and a little over 5 feet), when i've seemed to gain a significant amount of body fat in my upper thighs/stomach/waist/butt. my arms/shoulders/lower legs are still fairly skinny/bony. what's sort of baffling is that i don't weigh much more than i ever did--my weight bounces from about 99 up to 104 or occasionally 105 (the most i've ever weighed). sometimes i eat like a pig (fun!) and sometimes i'm too busy or anxious or something and i miss lots of meals, so i'm always gaining and losing the same few pounds. i don't really care what i weigh but it really bugs me that i'm getting that spare bike tire in the middle. any advice on how to get rid of it? cardio? diet? both???? i do go to the gym 3x a week to do weights (although there have been long periods in the last year i haven't been able to make the time to go, so i've had weeks/months without much exercise), but i don't do much cardio. maybe that's my secret? help!! i've heard that the body you have in your mid thirties is the best one you'll have, so i'd really like to slim down my middle back to muscle so i don't get stuck with a soft middle forever... :)

I recently came across the information of the body mass and what term best describes your shape. For the past couple of years iv'e been an ectomorph, never really concerned about how thin i am. But now, at the age of twenty, weighing at about 120 pounds,(height, 5'9)i'm really in the consideration for gaining more weight. I have a high metabolism and i'm always pretty much active, but then again i'm always eating like a cow but i still seem to never gain any weight. I was just wondering what do i really need to do in order for me to gain more weight and muscle mass ( atleast around an extra 20 to 35 pounds. what should i eat and what shouldn't i do, so in advance, thanks.

Thanks for the info. I thought I read somewhere I would be considered a "ruler" type of body, an "apple" shape of body, now a "endomorphic" type. I feel what it all boils down to is I still have to eat right, eat less, and move more. Is there any other answer?

I don't think I'm an ectomorph, but my husband most definitely is. I am more of a mesomorph, as I can gain muscle very quickly and am more on the short side. I think ectomorphs who want to lose weight need desperately to do it by working out. My husband lost weight but not size after college because he stopped working out and consequently began burning muscle. Margaret, as you are an "endomorph", be sure that you get adequate protein when you do cut calories out and be sure that when you move more, that you try to do a lot of cardio as that will help you reduce your apple tummy.

SPECTRA 9-24-05
I didn't know your comment was addressiing my comment. Thanks for the tidbit.