Sort of OT:Changing Body Type?

Kristin L

Hi everyone. I've been inspired by other ladies (both on this site and in RL) to eat better and exercise. I expected to feel better and maybe lose a couple of vanity pounds, but I figured my body type (pear with a bit of apple) to stay the same. Lately, I've noticed that my body types is changing into more a rectangle. Any ideas on to keep it at least more pear-like. As much as I may complain to my BF about my hips, I love them and don't want to see that much of them leave!

12 years ago

Body Type

10 replies

Latest reply was from Aziraphale

Mochi

Veteran

Hmmm. Very interesting predicament! Some YLF-ers here have had transformed body types thru weight losss, so will be curious to hear their stories... I suspect the body's going to lose where it wants to.

How do you mean by pear with a bit of apple? I thought that would be a contradiction?

12 years ago

qfbrenda

Veteran

I went through a similar thing. I used to be an hourglass... had several kids... exercised a ton, cleaned up my eating, and lost weight down to about 20 lbs less than I was when I got married... and discovered that I'm an inverted triangle with hardly a waist and not much of a chest. Talk about a change! I'm not sure what to tell you other than every body can be dressed well. Your body gets the choice about where you might lose weight, so I'm thinking you might need to just get healthy and be prepared for changes.

12 years ago

Anonymous

I'm having the same problem with changing body type. All my life I've been pear-shaped. I only gained weight on the hips/butt/thigh area while my upper body and torso remained slim. Now I am going through peri-menopause and I seem to be shape-shifting. I'm starting to put weight on around my waist, rather than my hips and I'm finding that my overall shape is more up-and-down now, rather than pear shaped. And I find I'm a little puffier around the neck and shoulders and my arms are heavier as well. Meanwhile, my rear-end is the same. This has been happening over the past year and it has made me re-look at what shapes of clothing work with this new body shape. I no longer have the defined waist that I had naturally and need to use some of the WNTW "tricks" for creating a waist-line visually.

I think that there are lots of ways to make clothing do the heavy lifting of creating shapes on your figure. I think to make the hips look curvier, you need to define the waist more and I hear pencil skirts can make curves magically appear.

12 years ago

Kristin L

Veteran

Mochi - What I meant by apple was my waist wasn't well defined and I had a bit roundness in my stomach. But my largest area is my hip area, which why I think I'm predominately a pear.

qfbrenda and Enginemom - I'm glad to hear that this is normal, although still a pain in the bum. Thanks for the ideas and pep talk!

12 years ago

cciele

Veteran

Hm, would doing exercises that emphasize the glutes (lunges, squats, etc) help get the effect you'd like?

I've also experienced changing body types -- I think age and childbirth does have a great effect. I was once an hourglass and now I'm a rectangle with some appley tendencies. I doubt I'll get my waistline back, but I'm dressing to enjoy the body I have now

12 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

Ditto what others have said. Body shape can change over a woman's lifetime. Generally the waist becomes less defined over time, particularly if there have been pregnancies, because as we age there is an increasing tendency to store fat around the midriff. It's true for both men and women, but menopause really speeds up the process for women. The female hormones help keep fat off the midsection and onto the hips and thighs, but as those hormones drop, a woman's fat storage pattern begins to resemble a man's.

Here's a funny thing -- one time, years ago, I had a prof who explained how you can tell if someone was chubby all their life or if they gained weight in middle age. He said that if a person's arms and legs are plump, they were always plump, but if they have skinny arms and legs and a big belly, they started out slim and didn't spread out until probably their 40s.

12 years ago

ManidipaM

Veteran

Elisabeth, I'm afraid your prof was wrong I know enough people who were chubby in the belly as girls but slim in the arms and legs --- and continue to be so as they approach 40; and I also know a few who were chubby all through when they got bigger on the other side of 40. This one appears to be one of those myths people love to repeat despite clear evidence to the contrary, like the one of spot reduction with 'targetted' exercise. (The opposite, which Cathy mentions, does work though --- you can 'spot bulk' with the right exercises alright!)

12 years ago

Kristin L

Veteran

Thanks for the work-out ideas Cciele!

I don't think I've ever heard those theory about weight. Very interesting, Thanks Elisabeth and ManidipaM!

12 years ago

Jewell

Veteran

I was going to offer advice similar to what cciele already said. I think exercises to build muscle in the butt and thighs may help you maintain some curves on your lower half, but I don't know how much they'll help with maintaining the womanly hips you love so much.

I can totally relate to your fondness for those curves. Despite being slim my whole life I've always had what a boyfriend once described as "child-bearing hips". They're so much a part of me that I wouldn't know what to do if my body transformed so much that I no longer had them.

12 years ago

Aziraphale

Veteran

Manidipa -- well, what do you know. I guess that prof was wrong. The idea has stuck with me, though, because it has the ring of truth to it. That is to say, there are probably lots of exceptions to the rule. I can think of a few exceptions myself, actually -- for example, I went to elementary school with a girl with long, slender legs and body fat around her waist. But I know FAR more people -- and probably more men than women -- who had either the skinny or the athletic/muscular build throughout their 20s and 30s, who then gained weight mainly in the torso as they passed into middle age. I think most of the over-50 adults I know fit into this category. I think the distribution of fat toward the torso as you age is quite well-documented. I should look up some stats.

But it is definitely true that "spot fat reduction" is a crock. I've seen people bulk up their muscles in specific areas using weights and targeted exercises, but you can't do much for spot fat reduction besides liposuction!

12 years ago

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