I'm not the expert but I think that it's not a fair comparison to measure around your shoulders. Instead, try measuring from shoulder to shoulder seam, and from hip to hip seam.
This would be a measurement of how you look straight on, like in a photo.
Because if you measure around your shoulders, you're getting a 3-dimensional measurement which would include width of your arms, shoulder blades, back muscle, rounded back if you have one, etc. That can skew things, I think.
I say that because when I measure around, my shoulders are 40 inches but my hips are only 33 inches. If you look at me straight on, I think my shoulders and hips are *nearly* equal.... shoulders just a tad wider but definetly NOT 7 inches!!! When I measure just the front, I get something like 17 inches shoulders, 16 inches hips. So I consider myself an hourglass leaning towards inverted triangle.
In my case, I think the discrepancy can be explained by the width of my upper arms. I do not have delicate, thin arms.
The other way to tell is, do you wear a different size on top compared to bottom? If you consistently wear a size smaller on top than on bottom, then you are very likely a pear.
About 60% of the time I wear the same size on top as on bottom. The other 40%, I need a size larger on top. If I gain weight, I tend to gain it on top before I gain on the bottom (another clue that I lean towards inverted triangle). If instead you gain first in your lower half, that's a fairly decent clue you are a pear. If you gain all over equally, you are probably an hourglass.
Hope that helps!!!
