I myself am an ectomorph, so it may be hard for me to relate.
But basically, what you'll want to do is find ways of keeping your metabolism up. When I say that, most people think this means hitting the gym for an hour every other evening. But what I'm talking about is far less intense, but is much longer, in the order of a few hours each day, spread throughout the day.
This sounds daunting, but it's far less effort than hitting the gym on a regular basis. The main idea is focusing on your forms of travel, and how much you're on your toes.
Basically, instead of hitting the treadmill, walk or bike to work (if possible). If you're in front of the computer for a long time, take some time to reflect on your thoughts with a nice walk. It's a matter of using forms of transportation that use your own energy. And an even bigger part is in pulling these forms of exercise into your everyday life. We all have only a limited supply of willpower, so you can't brute-force these things, especially when that will power can be used in other areas!
As long as your metabolism stays up, sitting still might actually become an annoyance. It certainly is for me at times. This can really help boost the habit. These days, I get some 10 miles of walking in each day. Because I want exercise? Not really, (my dietician says I need to burn fewer calories.) It's because I have a new idea, or because I'm just sick of sitting.
Next, Diet. For one, develop an actual taste for healthy foods and a distaste for unhealthy foods. Don't act like it's a struggle to avoid that double-chocolate cake, but rather teach yourself to be less satisfied with the treat, as though it's uninteresting or too fake. I used to be able to eat tons of cake and cookies, but now, I can only eat half a slice after using this method.
Also, remember how a sumo wrestler gains his weight: While he eats healthy, he eats a medium portion as soon as he wakes up, then takes in all his calories right before he goes to bed. Your metabolism is low while you're asleep, so it turns more of the content into fat.
You must run opposite of this diet routine. That is, instead of two large meals, eat tons of small meals throughout the day. Eat slowly, and only until you don't feel hungry, not when you feel full. This makes sure your stomach gets a good grip to your healthy diet, and eating slowly helps the stomach keep track of how full it ACTUALLY is.
Eating less may be hard at first, but once your stomach shrinks down a bit, you'll become much more satisfied with less food. So basically, you'll get half as full twice as often. Same calories, but your body deals with the nutrients better, and that's the key.
I would say give this a try for now. You can't force your way into weight-loss workouts, because you'll crave vacations from it, causing the common yo-yo effect. You have to merge habits into stuff you like to do. Habits always overpower diets.
Hope this helps, and best of luck to you!
You want advice from an endomorph on how to be an ectomorph?
First off, this idea that there are "hard gainers" and "easy gainers" is a little blown of proportion.
Otherwise endomorphs would be considered gifted athletes, since they gain muscle so easy compared to everyone else.. Endomorphs would be the best long distance runners ever.. which is ironic since those runners would typically be classified as ectomorphs.
Secondly, training plans have the same affect on all 3 body types. So the article writers is a d-bag for suggesting otherwise. A bodybuilding, powerlifting, running, cycling, swimming or etc.. regime will produce the same athlete in the end given the same routine and diet over a prolonged period. E.g. If I ran 3 miles a day for 10 years, and so did some endomorph.. although initially I'd be faster cause I'm in shape and he isn't.. eventually we'd even out as I progress less and less.
And this idea that your body type is permanent is also wrong.. you won't always have a "Soft and round body" if you train hard to be firm and defined.
I use to be an "ectomorph", but now I'm a mesomorph. It doesn't mean anything and the classification is ignorant and misleading. I didn't suddenly start gaining muscle better, or fat. I worked out, so naturally my chest and shoulders got broader, I gained muscle (so everyone thinks I gain it easily now, because I'm a mesomorph?) and now I'm athletic. I wasn't just born athletic / a mesomorph. The idea is silly. A 3,500 calorie deficit still causes a 1lb weight loss in either ectomorph, mesomorph or endomorph. There is no magic math for endomorphs that somehow makes them create more energy and use less.
So you want a weight loss program that works for endomorphs? Then I'll tell you a weight loss program that works for people-- High protein, low calorie diet mixed with extensive running and cycling with a progression in cardio time of 10-20mins weekly. So you invest 150mins to cardio your 1st week..170mins your 2nd.. 190mins your 3rd.. etc..
Do not get yourself caught up in believing some body type fiction. There is no science behind this classification and endomorph is just another way of saying fat because God made me this way.. and ectomorph is skinny cause I was born this way.. and discredits athletic people once again as history always has, deeming them genetically gifted, perfect metabolism, good muscle gains, and all kinds of other things that makes it "easy" for them and that's why everyone is out of shape and they're not.. because they have it easy.. rather than society facing the truth.. which is athletic ability requires hard work, not genetics.. and that genetics is likely only the difference between #1-5 and not #1,000 and a #1,000,000.. so there's no excuse.
Sorry if I'm too blunt.
It's basically going to be the same for anyone else of other body types. The only difference is that you'd have to pick a realistic weight. At least you know that you have a different body type and won't be model thin by going the healthy route, so that's already a huge help for you. A lot of this is mental.
General rule of thumb- Cardio burns that fat. 60+ minutes at least 5 days a week. The intensity would vary, considering any underlying health issues, history, etc. Be sure you know you aren't at any risks before starting a heavy duty routine.
You can also add in resistance training at least 3 days a week, alternating days for recovery. (Cardio can be every day, btw.)
However, the question you asked is rather vague. You need to know how much you want to lose so you have a solid goal to aim for. If you want to aim for 8-10 lbs in a month, so be it.
Other things to consider are types of exercises. For cardio, you can run, do elliptical, aerobics, cycle, etc. Pick something that you like so you'll stick to it. If you have any previous injuries or are prone to hurting knees, for example, then pick something that's low impact like swimming, cycling, or the elliptical. For resistance training, you may not like free weights or machines, but could use resistance bands instead.
I'm an endomorph. The things that have worked for me are just doing regular exercise. Find something you love and do it! Strength training and clean eating are also helpful. Salty food can really cause a lot of bloating, as can sugary foods. So try to stay away from those. Drink water mostly, but drink milk too for calcium or even almond milk.
Eat lots of veggies and fruit, and also lean protein.
I really found that pilates worked the best for me. It gets you sweating and works your muscles at the same time, and when I was doing that I found my weight just melted off!
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Go to bodybuilding.com
Look for "Choose a Plan" and click on it. Follow the prompts; age, gender, goal etc; I use Lee Lambrada's(ex Mr Olympia) 12 week fat loss plan. Each plan has a video for every day of that plan. It's like having a personal trainer with you every step of the way. Lee will teach you some great recipes, untangle the twisted truths about fitness and much more.
To answer your question; If you want to lose fat, you're going to need a program that includes some weight lifting( not to get bigger), cardio and changing the way you eat. Weight lifting is not just for bodybuilders. Done correctly it will turn your body into a fat burning machine and tone the muscles you have now.
And don't believe those silly myths like; I have a slow metabolism, it's genetic. Anyone can have a great body at any age. There are pictures posted before and after of people in their 70's who have made the change. You be the judge.
You won't be disappointed! And best of all, it's FREE!
1) Eating - ingest less calories
2) Exercise - burn more calories
Apparently high intensity interval training's pretty good.. You don't have to run a marathon in order to improve metabolism ( link ), so it's not too time consuming either
As for the first one, link <-- this is quite a good website when you're looking into low-calorie, healthy foods
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