#39 How To Get A Flat Stomach Part 3: Endomorph Nutrition and Workout Guidelines

Endomorphs: here is your how to get a flat stomach nutrition and workout guidelines. The details I will discuss are similar to the how to get skinny legs nutrition and workout guidelines, so check that out if you haven’t already.

If you are not completely sure about your body, I have a special quiz that will help you learn your body type in just 2 minutes. And it’s completely free :)

Yours is the most challenging of the body types, but with hard work and dedication you can achieve great results! Your best bet is to combine both exercise and a healthy diet, as it will be more difficult to achieve fat loss and a flat stomach with just diet or exercise alone.

NUTRITION GUIDELINE

As I always like to remind you guys, diet is the most important factor when it comes to getting a flat stomach. I’ve talked about it more in my previous article on how to get rid of belly fat.

Diet should be your main focus when it comes to both fat loss and getting a flat stomach.

The most important thing is not to eat too many or too little calories. You need to get that balance right!

You should be in a slight calorie deficit, but not too much otherwise you will be too hungry and this can lead to overeating or binge eating. For more on my daily diet, check out my previous blog post here.

WHAT YOU SHOULD BE EATING

Protein and fats will be your new best friends! Make sure you’re eating a diet that is high in protein and healthy fat.

Good sources of protein include:

• lean meat (especially chicken),
• eggs,
• protein powder,
• yoghurt
• soybeans

Good sources of healthy fats include:

• salmon,
• avocado,
• nuts,
• nut butter, eggs
• healthy dips.

It would also be very beneficial for you to invest in a whey protein powder. To find out more about why protein is important, have a look at this blog post.

WHAT YOU SHOULDN’T BE EATING

Carbs are not your friend. Unfortunately, your body type cannot get away with a high carb diet or too many naughty treats so you must have discipline.

You still need to eat carbs as they are absolutely essential for your body to function. But make sure you’re sticking to a low carb diet and are avoiding processed foods and alcohol.

Good sources of carbs include:

• fruit,
• green vegetables,
• sweet potato,
• white potato,
• wholemeal bread,
• brown rice
• oats.

But try to make sure your main carb source is vegetables.

The timing of your carb intake is also very important. Ensure that you focus on eating carbs first thing in the morning or within one hour of your workout.

Post workout, your body is in an anabolic state and needs the carbs to replenish your body, NOT store fat. This is the absolute best time to consume carbs, whether it be morning or night.

Research has also shown that glucose tolerance is highest in the morning so your body is best able to deal with carbs in the morning.

IDEAL MACRONUTRIENTS

Because your body does better on a lower carbohydrate diet, I would suggest the following macronutrient breakdown:

• 20-25% carbohydrates
• 45-50% fats
• 30% protein

This is quite low in carbohydrates so it is important to make sure that you are eating carbohydrate foods that are high in fibre such as fruit and vegetables.

Fibre makes a HUGE difference to how full you feel (and of course your bowel movements) so it should be factored in!

FIBRE

Fibre is extremely important, especially since you require a low carb diet.

At one point, I followed a low carb diet and didn’t bother about fibre. I was eating only around 11g of fibre per day and I was constantly hungry.

I thought that was normal because I was “on a diet.” But then I increased my fibre intake just by changing my foods (still eating the same amount of calories and carbs) and I was much less hungry!

You need to make sure your carbohydrates are coming from healthy sources such as fruit, vegetables, lentils, nuts, seeds and whole grains.

Foods such as crackers, cereals, sweets, white bread, etc. do not contain much fibre, so I would avoid these.

The recommended fibre intake is 15g of fibre per 1000 calories, with the absolute minimum fibre intake being 22g per day (for a female).

So if someone is eating 1800 calories per day, their recommended fibre intake is 27g.

SHOULD I COUNT CALORIES AND MACRONUTRIENTS?

I’m not saying that you always have to count your calories and macros religiously (I don’t do it either). But when you’re starting a new diet, it’s good to know your daily macros and calorie intake.

Eating too little can actually backfire in terms of weight loss. By eating too little you can damage your metabolism which will then cause your body to store fat. 

And knowing your macros is also very important. You calorie intake may be perfect but you still may feel hungry old the time if you’re not eating enough protein or fibre.

So I would suggest that you calculate your daily calorie and macros intake for a week or two so you can get a good idea of how much you should be eating.

If you don’t know how to calculate your daily calorie intake, read this blog post. And if you don’t know how to calculate your macronutrients, read this blog post.

DAILY DIET EXAMPLE

Here is an example of a daily diet for your body type.

I have based the calorie and macronutrient intakes on a female aged between 18-30 years, who weighs 70kgs and exercises at a moderate to high intensity.

If you weigh more than this or exercise vigorously, you may need to eat more than this.

If you weigh less than this or exercise less, you may need to eat less than this.

• BREAKFAST: post workout protein smoothie made with 1 scoop of protein, 1 cup of light milk and 1 piece of fruit
• SNACK: 200g fat-free yoghurt with 1 serve of fruit
• LUNCH: burrito salad bowl (recipe in my free recipe ebook)
• SNACK: 2 boiled eggs
• DINNER: 170g salmon, 1 cup roast sweet potato and 1 cup steamed green vegetables

WORKOUT GUIDELINE

Your number one goal should be fat loss. But since you cannot really spot reduce fat, if you want to lose belly fat, you’ll need to reduce your overall body fat.

For optimum results you should be doing the following:

• 2-3 DAYS OF CARDIO ONLY
• RESISTANCE TRAINING 3 TIMES PER WEEK. Keep your resistance sessions low weight (or body weight only) and high rep. Here is an example of a full body lighter resistance training session that you can do.
• AT LEAST 20 MINUTES OF CARDIO AFTER EVERY RESISTANCE TRAINING SESSION (this will help you burn more fat)
• AB EXERCISES 3 TIMES PER WEEK
• ONE REST DAY PER WEEK

CARDIO

Try to do at least 20 minutes of cardio after every resistance training session to burn extra calories and fat.

That means you will be doing some form of cardio during every workout (i.e. 6 times per week).

It is beneficial to do cardio after resistance training because this type of workouts uses up your glycogen stores, which means your body will use more fat during your cardio workout (for more information on this, check out my previous blog post on cardio).

You should also have at least 2-3 days of cardio only. Low to moderate intensity cardio, i.e. walking and running will work best to help you achieve fat loss.

But if you notice that running cause your lower body to bulk up and you don’t want to build your leg muscles, you may just stick to power walking.

Power walking is great for fat loss. It actually burns fat. Since it is a lower intensity exercise, your body uses glucose and fat to produce energy.

Your body uses other energy sources (such as glycogen and creatine phosphate) to produce energy during higher intensity exercise.

RESISTANCE TRAINING

If you do only cardio, you will burn fat and get leaner, but it won’t help with getting abs. Resistance training will help you get toned abs.

If you want to get toned, you need to build muscle and you can’t build muscle if you avoid resistance training.

When I say resistance training, I don’t mean you should be lifting as heavy as you can. Your body type can bulk up easily and if you prefer to look slimmer, I would recommend you avoid heavy lifting.

I actually prefer bodyweight training over weight lifting since I find that it gives me a slimmer look.

I highly recommend bodyweight training or doing lighter weights with a high number of reps.

Bodyweight training should help you get that lean and toned look without making you bulky.

You may not build as much strength as someone who lifts heavy weights but it can still be challenging. It will also help you improve balance, coordination and core strength.

If you want to make it more challenging, I recommend using light weights and resistance bands and keeping your repetitions high.

With this type of training, you should focus more on endurance rather than strength. This will help you prevent bulking.

Full body resistance training will work best. Do lighter weights or just use your body weight and keep your reps high.

To increase intensity and burn maximum calories, only have short breaks between sets (30-60 seconds) to keep your heart rate up.

MY FAVOURITE FULL BODY RESISTANCE WORKOUTS

I love doing resistance training and these are some of my favourite full body workouts you can try :

• Full body resistance workout
• Full body resistance workout for a lean body
• Let’s Get Lean – Full body workout

They may look easy but you will definitely feel them working. :)

AB EXERCISES

Once you have started to reduce your overall body fat, ab exercises will help you see ab definition.

Your abs are made up of four main muscles and in order to get great abs, you will need to work all of these muscles.

Remember that you won’t be able to see your ab definition until you have reached a certain body fat percentage. So your key goal should be fat loss!

I have plenty of workouts that will engage all your abdominal muscles and ere are some of my favorites: 

• Favourite ab workout
• Ab burn workout
• Oblique ab workout
• Lower ab workout

SHOULD I DO HIIT?

HIIT is an amazing exercise and it can help you burn lots of calories. But I know that HIIT routines that are heavily focused on legs can cause bulkiness, especially in endomorphs.

If you tend to gain leg muscles easily and you don’t want to grow your thighs, it may be better if you avoid HIIT training, especially those routines that include lots of squats, burpees and similar workouts that will engage your quads.

But if you think your body can handle them without causing unwanted bulkiness you can try some of my HIIT routines.

Here are some of my favourite HIIT workout that shouldn’t cause bulkiness:

• HIIT for a slim and toned body
• Full body HIIT workout that won’t add bulk

REST

You MUST have at least one rest day. Because your program is so intense, rest is going to be very important to help your body recover and prevent you from injury.

If this program is too much, start out with a less intense program and work your way up. Or start by lifting very light and doing low-intensity cardio and build up.

Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see immediate results. It will take you longer to see a difference, but you just need to persist!

Everyone is different, but it may take up to 8 weeks to see any noticeable difference. :)

Mesomorphs, you can read your how to get a flat stomach nutrition and workout guideline.

And ectomorphs, your how to get a flat stomach nutrition and workout guideline is here!

3 STEPS TO LEAN LEGS PROGRAM

I should also mention my 3 Steps To Lean Legs Program. It will help you lose overall body fat and build lean leg muscle without making you bulky.

My program contains an 8-week workout that combines cardio, resistance training specifically for your body type.

It also has a complete nutrition plan for each of the three body types. This way, you can be sure you’re eating a healthy diet that will help you achieve your fitness goals easier and faster.

And from now on, the resistance training part of my Program will have FULL-LENGTH videos that you can follow and train with me :)

To find out more about my 3 Steps to Lean Legs Program click the link below:

https://www.rachaelattard.com/skinny-legs-ebook/

To find out more about my FULL-LENGTH VIDEOS, follow this link: 

https://www.rachaelattard.com/lean-legs-video-course/

Love Rachael xx