Endomorph Fat Loss: Interview with Sean Patterson

Endomorphs are individuals who have trouble losing fat. I’m an endomorph. I know this because for years it was very easy for me to pack on muscle, but extremely difficult for me to lose fat.

That is the reason why the majority of this website is devoted to fat loss. I am constantly fighting a battle with excessive fat gain. But right, now I fight battles – sometimes my weight goes up, sometimes it goes down.

But, for the most part, I’ve got it under control. However, it took me a long time to figure out what exactly I needed to do to keep my weight under control.

I realized that mainstream information did not work for me. The moment I embraced strength training and high intensity cardio, I started losing fat permanently, and the whole process just became that much easier.

Don’t get me wrong. Fat loss is tough. But you must be armed with the right information to achieve your goals. That’s where Sean Patterson’s recent eBook, Endomorph Fat Loss, comes in.

Parth: Hey Sean. Can you tell my readers what an Endomorph is?

Sean: I consider someone an endomorph if they’re at the end of the genetic spectrum that makes it hard to lose fat. I’ve identified 8 genetic variables that determine what your body composition is like and when you get the short stick of some of them, you’re an endomorph.

Of course, there are varying degrees of endomorphs. Some endomorphs will find it harder to lose fat than others.

Parth: Looks like I’ve got some bad genetics. Anyways, why create a completely new program for Endomorphs? Don’t we already know all there is to know about fat loss?

Sean: Well, for most of the population, losing fat is simple. Eat a bit better, exercise a bit more and you’ll see the fat come off. But if you’re an endomorph, it’s not so simple.

If you’re an endomorph, doing what people with good to average genetics do won’t work as well. And so when people try these programs, they most often fail, which leads them to think that they just can’t lose fat.

But nothing could be further from the truth. While it does take more work and some more smarts for an endomorph to lose fat, it’s most definitely possible to get into great shape, regardless of your genetics.

Parth: What different training strategies are employed in your program that separates it from the others out there?

Sean: The main difference between my program and most is that it’s based solely for the endomorph body type. Most good workout programs are fine for normal people, but they just don’t cut it for endomorphs.

So what I did is look at the endomorph body type, figure out their strengths and then base a workout and nutrition program around it. For example, one variable that is highly prevalent in endomorphs is a high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres.

This means that long, slow cardio sessions are tough going for endomorphs. While normal people can easily train themselves up to become much better at endurance events, it’s much harder for endomorphs.

So why fight it? Instead, play to your strengths and use those fast twitch muscle fibres by performing high intensity cardio. It’s not that slow  cardio won’t burn calories for you (you can’t change physics), it’s just that endomorphs are natural sprinters.

So you’ll find it much easier to burn say, 300 calories, doing hill sprints than you would spending 45 minutes on the treadmill. And if you find it somewhat enjoyable, you’re far more likely to stick to the plan.

And it’s this philosophy that goes right through every portion of the program.

Parth: I see what you’re saying. Ok, so how do you approach nutrition as an Endomorph?

Sean: When it comes to nutrition, endomorphs have to be more careful than most. While some people can lose fat cheating all the time, an endomorph has to be much more meticulous.

This doesn’t mean you have to live on a diet of lettuce leaves though. I highly recommend eating foods like lean beef, chicken, brown rice, tuna, etc.

Basically, you want to focus on the HI index, which stands for Human Interference. The more people have interfered with the food, the less you want to consume.

We humans have evolved as a species over a long, long time and it’s only the last century or so that we started screwing with food, so our bodies just aren’t able to cope with it.

Picture your great-great-great uncle Ug the caveman. Think about what he ate and try and emulate him. Find some great, nutrient dense foods that you enjoy, learn to cook it in ways that you enjoy and endomorph nutrition becomes really simple.

It’s just a matter of throwing away the junk food for a few weeks and once you get over that hump, you won’t ever think about eating like that again.

Parth: Most Endomorphs just want to lose fat, not build muscle. Why is muscle building so important for an endomorph?

Sean: This is a huge point for anyone wanting to lose fat, but especially endomorphs. This is for two main reasons. Firstly, building muscle is like creating a powerful fat burning ally.

Muscle has quite a high cost on the body. It takes quite a lot of energy to maintain it, so the more muscle you build, the higher your metabolism will be and therefore the easier you’ll burn fat.

And secondly, as I already mentioned, endomorphs tend to have a higher percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres when compared to the rest of the population.

And what this means is that endomorphs have a higher potential to build muscle than most. Chances are that if you’re an endomorph, you know you’re a strong person. You’ve probably always been good at power related activities, but not so good at endurance sports.

So even though you want to lose weight, you have to realise that the best thing you can do is actually build some muscle. And this goes for women as well as men.

If you’re a woman, there’s no way you’ll end up looking like he-man unless you take an enormous amount of steroids. So get in the gym and start pumping iron.

Parth: Just thought of another nutrition question – what about carbs? Should Endomorphs avoid them like the plague?

Sean: No, I don’t advise avoiding carbs completely for long periods. In the short term, carb manipulation is one advanced strategy I’ve used to drop fat quickly, but you don’t want to drop carbs forever.

This is because your body will think it’s starving and lower it’s metabolism as a result. What you do need to do is focus on eating a limited amount of carbs (say 30% of your daily diet) and make sure that they’re coming from quality sources.

You can’t really eat too many green leaky vegetables. They’re low in calories and high in lots of other good stuff. You can however easily eat  way too much bread, rice, pasta etc.

And this is even more true for processed breads, rice and pastas. As part of the endomorph fat loss program, I do recommend eating nutrient dense breads, brown rice and pasta, but you need to stay away from white stuff like it is poison.

This is good advice for anyone wanting to lose fat, but it’s even more important for endomorphs because their bodies convert carbs into fat so much easier, so you have to be very careful about the carbs you do eat.

Parth: Most people stay away from Fats. But in recent years we’ve been told we need healthy fats. What’s the final verdict?

Sean: You definitely need good fats in your diet. There’s a huge misconception that fat makes you fat. And it kinda makes sense. But it’s completely false.

Sure, eating too much bad fat will have you overloading on calories before you know it, but you still need to get plenty of good fats. In my program, I outline some of the best sources to get these fats from.

Also, because fat is more than twice as many calories per gram than carbohydrates or protein, you have to be careful about how much you consume. A friend of mine was having trouble losing fat a few years ago when he came to me for advice.

I had him write down what he was eating every day for a week. At the end of the week I took a look at it and noticed it was great except for one thing. He was eating entire handfuls of walnuts a couple of times per day.

And since fat is so calorie dense, he couldn’t lose fat, despite his good diet and exercise regime. So make sure you’re eating the right amounts  aswell as the right types.

Parth: I think I’m guilty of eating too many healthy fats. Yet another area of confusion is how often you should eat. Some say once per day is enough, and others say you must eat 6 times a day. What do you suggest?

Sean: This is once again good advice for all dieters, but even more important for endomorphs. Forget eating three times a day, that was something that started around the time of the industrial revolution.

It was nice for employers if you ate before work, once during a break at work and then once again when you got home. It’s not so nice for your body.

Mr Caveman didn’t eat three times a day. He snacked throughout the day and ate whenever he was hungry, so our metabolisms like it when you feed it constantly.

Compare it to a fire. If you’re trying to keep a fire burning all day long, do you throw a ton of wood on it at the start of the day and leave it alone? Or do you constantly feed it wood throughout the day?

And because endomorphs are already a bit behind when it comes to metabolisms, you need to do everything you can to really crank it up.

Parth: Final question – Why is it important to check your body fat percentage? And what’s the best way to do it?

Sean: It’s important to measure your progress because without some real data, it’s hard to know if you’re on the right track. Sure, there are signs such as pants becoming loose, but if you want to make sure you’re on the right track, you need to keep some basic data.

And I’m not saying you need to be a fanatic. You don’t need to weigh and measure yourself ten times a day. But I do recommend measuring your body fat once a week or fortnight.

It allows you to say “Ok, this week I’m on the right track, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing” or, “Ok, it’s not working, looks like I need to change
something in order to get rid of some more fat”.

There are a bunch of different ways to do this, but I find the best way is with some basic $10 calipers. You can just measure one point on your body and once you get good at it (takes 10 minutes), you can be confident that you’ll know if you’re heading in the right direction or not.

Parth: Alright, I think that covers it all. Thanks for you time Sean!

To learn more about Sean’s brand new program, check out EndomorphFatLoss.com.

PS. If you grab the Sean’s program, using the link above, then I’ll send you a set of bonus workouts that coincide with Sean’s program to help you speed up your fat loss results.

All you need to do is click on that link above, purchase the product, and send me your receipt number to shah@shahtraining.com.

Tags: endomorph fat loss, Fat Loss, fat loss nutrition, healthy fats, sean patterson