How to Diet for Your Body Type

There are hundreds of diets in the world right now, but unless you find the one that fits your body you might be wasting your time and unnecessarily depriving yourself food. By discovering your body type and the diet that pairs with it, you can lose weight and keep a healthy body image. By stimulating your metabolism and fat-burning hormones, you can reach your goal weight more easily than you think.

Instructions

The Types/Shapes

1

Discover your type before you decide on a diet. There are various ways to classify your body type, but one fun, visual way is to compare your body shape to the shape of three common fruits: the chili pepper, the apple and the pear. By understanding each type, you'll be able to pick which one is most like you and learn how to alter your diet accordingly.

2

Choose the chili pepper shape, and you are saying that your body has a narrow shape with little noticeable difference between the size of the shoulders, hips, and waist. If you gain weight, it's typically around your middle, but doesn't show as a "pot belly." Chili Pepper types are sometimes at risk of being underweight, or not having enough body muscle to form a healthy body.

3

Choose the Apple shape, and you're saying that your body carries fat around your middle but has lean arms and legs. You find it easy to drop fat around your middle during short, quick-fix diets, but you tend to gain it back again when you return to your normal eating patterns. This is because fat around the belly is more mobile than other types of fat, as it more easily enters the bloodstream and circulates around other organs. You may have high blood-sugar levels, and are in danger of developing diabetes.

4

Choose the Pear shape, and you're saying that you have a small upper body, a small waist, but you carry your weight around your butt, hips and thighs. You may also find that you have cellulite around your thighs, which is fat that looks like cottage cheese. The body finds it difficult to rid itself of this fat because of the limited blood supply which flows through these fat stores. You may not suffer health issues because of your shape, but you'd still like to shed some extra pounds from you lower half.

The Diets

5

Chili Pepper types benefit from eating healthy fats, lean proteins and a healthy amount of organic fruits and vegetables. You shouldn't be afraid of healthy fats and omega 3-rich foods such as avocados, nuts, extra-virgin olive oil and oily fish. These fats will contribute to a healthy BMI. You should also incorporate weight-training into your workout routine to build healthy, lean muscle. Two sessions a week, paired with a light to medium cardiovascular regimen, will keep your heart and lung health at an optimum level.

6

Increase your intake of healthy fats and lower your intake of carbohydrates, if you are an Apple shape. Carbohydrates raise your insulin levels, which can lead to diabetes and heart disease. Eat fiber-rich foods such as complex-carbohydrates like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans. Introduce a cardio-heavy workout regimen at least three days a week. This means running, biking, swimming or hiking for about 40 minutes during those sessions. You should also include two strength training sessions per week, as well as yoga and/or pilates sessions to lengthen your muscles so that you appear leaner in the middle.

7

Closely watch your fat intake, if you're a Pear shape, and instead eat more complex carbohydrates and lean proteins. Fat is much more difficult to burn than protein and carbohydrates, so by limiting your fat intake you're more likely to burn the fat around your lower half. Your diet should consist of whole-grain cereals and pasta, lentils, beans, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Try to stay away from any fried foods, desserts, nuts, and oils. Pear shapes benefit greatly from cardiovascular exercise that engage the lower half of the body. You should balance your regimen with a few upper-body strength-training sessions a week, to balance your bottom-heavy figure.