Is weight loss bad for a pear shape?
Catgurl20
Posts: 4
I was originally 154 and now 20 lbs down and feel like i look worst than before. I originally was a 36D-32-46. I was bottom heavy but not this extreme and where I'm losing is exactly where I don't want to lose. I'm now a 34B and not even done losing my goal weight is 116 lbs. My current measurements are 34B-27- almost45. I look more bottom heavy than I did then and my lower stomach hasn't really gotten smaller either it was 37 originally now it's 35.5. So my waist doesn't even look small because I have a huge roll below it. I just have smaller toned arms a smaller bust and now I have no definition in clothing and I still have 24" thighs with cellulite I really feel more depressed now than I did looking in the mirror. Is there any success for weight loss with this shape or not?
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Replies
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I have found that extra weight will emphasize whatever shape you have: pears get bigger on the bottom but are slower to gain weight on top. Hourglass shapes get bigger in the hips and bust but are slower to gain in the waist. Apple shapes will get larger on top but are slower to gain in the legs. When I was thinner I felt my pear shape was less pronounced... my hips and thighs got smaller, but my top half just didn't shrink as much because there wasn't much to lose there.
How do you feel you look worse now? Smaller bust? More jiggle? Are you just more conscious of your body now?0 -
right there with you. I have to lose a ton of weight to make any different on my bottom, and now my top half is getting boney. Granted I still look better than before, but i'm getting frustrated with my bottom half.0
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You may lose unevenly, but eventually things will sort themselves. Keep going.0
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Welcome to the world of body recomposition. It takes years to reshape your body. You cannot change your genetic structure, but through years of weight loss and muscle building you can make your body look vastly different then from your starting point. Too many people assume that all they need to do is lose excess body fat and they will look how they have always wanted too. This is almost never the case. Losing weight is generally the first step, but then alternating periods of fat loss and muscle gain (yes even for women who don't want to look "muscular") is usually what is required. Eventually your body will drop fat from all over but sometimes you need to get to a fairly low body fat percentage before fat starts leaving areas you are genetically prone to store it in. For myself, my lower back and lower abs don't shed fat until I get very lean. Many women find the lower stomach and thighs to be the "trouble" areas. Sometimes these areas don't get lean the first go around and require a few cycles of fat loss and muscle gain before they achieve the desired shape. Try and get to your goal weight and reevaluate. You say your upper half is pretty small now so I would imagine if you keep losing fat, it will eventually have to start coming from your lower have.0
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I have found that extra weight will emphasize whatever shape you have: pears get bigger on the bottom but are slower to gain weight on top. Hourglass shapes get bigger in the hips and bust but are slower to gain in the waist. Apple shapes will get larger on top but are slower to gain in the legs. When I was thinner I felt my pear shape was less pronounced... my hips and thighs got smaller, but my top half just didn't shrink as much because there wasn't much to lose there.
How do you feel you look worse now? Smaller bust? More jiggle? Are you just more conscious of your body now?
No like I wanted to lose on my thighs and stomach mainly. But I've mainly lost weight on my arms bust and waistline. I also wanted to lose proportionally. But my bottom half has barely lost anything and my top half lost everything. I preferred how I looked previously.
Also I have a sister and my mom are about the size I am trying to get to but they're normal pears but I only have like 18 lbs until im at my goal weight.0 -
Here's some pear shaped celebrities for you:
You are in good company.0 -
A really great trick for us bottom heavy ladies is to build up the shoulders. Try weight training your upper body to balance you out proportionally. If you check out my profile pic you'll notice my arms are actually quite large for a woman, but my booty is also very wide and my thighs are larger. Sometimes creating the illusion of the hour-glass by training and developing the upper body can make other regions looks smaller.0
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Your weight will drop where it decides to drop unfortunately. I am apple shape and while my legs look like I maybe have 3-4 pounds to lose just to completely tone them down, my upper body looks like a giant mess lol. I wear size 34" waist(for us apples our waist isn't our true waist) jeans however my upper body waist is 40". Now I'm also a mesomorph so I'm built to have a waist the same width roughly as my inner shoulder so I'm never going to have that V shaped torso and while 40" is more than I should be I've only got about another 20 pounds to go till I should look pretty good. Those last 20 are going to be hell though. Your lower body will eventually get smaller but it's certainly frustrating when the areas you want to get smaller go last.0
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I have found that extra weight will emphasize whatever shape you have: pears get bigger on the bottom but are slower to gain weight on top. Hourglass shapes get bigger in the hips and bust but are slower to gain in the waist. Apple shapes will get larger on top but are slower to gain in the legs. When I was thinner I felt my pear shape was less pronounced... my hips and thighs got smaller, but my top half just didn't shrink as much because there wasn't much to lose there.
How do you feel you look worse now? Smaller bust? More jiggle? Are you just more conscious of your body now?
No like I wanted to lose on my thighs and stomach mainly. But I've mainly lost weight on my arms bust and waistline. I also wanted to lose proportionally. But my bottom half has barely lost anything and my top half lost everything. I preferred how I looked previously.
Also I have a sister and my mom are about the size I am trying to get to but they're normal pears but I only have like 18 lbs until im at my goal weight.
Man, I wish we had the ability to choose to lose proportionally. Unfortunately, we don't. The areas that are the most "troublesome" are usually the ones where we lose last. If you keep going, the weight will come off, but you can pretty much count on those spots being last.
Try having a trusted friend take photos of you in underwear or swimsuit or tight shorts and tank top...something tight and small which will show your shape. Take front, back and sides, and take arms up and arms down for front and back. Keep doing what you're doing for 4 weeks, and take the photos again and compare. You'll be surprised at how much you change, even when the scales or measuring tape don't show it.
Also, if you're not lifting, try it...that's the very best way for a woman to reshape her body.
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In two years I dropped 32 pounds here are my losses:
shoulder-chest-abdomen-hip-thigh
10-5-4-6-3
Obviously losing faster up top. Pear women rule my family. But I lift a lot, so I am toning and I think that helps. My advice is to just keep going. I've literally seen rolls disappear on my body which is an awesome feeling. It takes time and hard work, but I've been told the fat will eventually come off my hips and thighs! Pears can be and are just as beautiful as other shapes
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my true waist is 28 inches and my bottom is I think 44.... the last I checked... O_O
I love my shape for the most part, I think we mostly just need to comes to terms with what we look like, ya we can change it, but it will take a while...i'm just seeing bones that I've never seen before in my upper half...0 -
Whoa girl you got curves on you!!! I would love those measurements! I am 36D 31 43. I love my curves. Embrace them. Keep doing what you are doing and eventually you will get there. Work hard for it. Get to your goal weight and then maybe do a recomp or go through a bulk/cut phase. That is my plan.0
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You probably don't have a bad shape, I'm guessing it's your butt thats big?
Just keep losing weight, the thing is you may start to look emaciated on your upper body. Its best you just don't lose to much tbh, pear shapes are not usually skinny.
I have a straight body: 33-26-36 and I wish I had more curves 0 -
well you know it's all about that bass....
I kid I kid.0 -
i honestly plan on getting as skinny as i can and then putting on muscle.
Granted I know I should start lifting more sooner than later, just hard enough to fit in the small amount of exercise that i do get in....but you know, excuses.0 -
veganbettie wrote: »i honestly plan on getting as skinny as i can and then putting on muscle.
Granted I know I should start lifting more sooner than later, just hard enough to fit in the small amount of exercise that i do get in....but you know, excuses.
Bad idea...lift now. When you lose weight without lifting, you're losing muscle along with the fat. If you lift now, you'll protect most of your muscle, so when you get close to your ideal weight you'll already have muscle underneath that will be revealed...and you'll look better. Plus you'll have a higher baseline of muscle to work with at that point. AND you'll have gained strength, so when you're ready to eat at maintenance or do a bulk, you'll be lifting heavier and will have a much easier time of packing on more muscle.0 -
Have you been lifting weights? Maintaining and maybe even building muscle while losing produces better end results for all body types. And yes, muscular shoulders balance out wide hips and big thighs. I am also pear shape. My lose usually comes in my upper body but some does come off the lower, eventually. Also, I find that having muscle under the lower body fat makes it look better.0
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SingRunTing wrote: »Here's some pear shaped celebrities for you:
You are in good company.
my sister and mom and a few of my cousins well basically all my family that's skinny are similar to them in shape but more extreme they're like up top A cups with smaller waist but similar on the bottom half. I'm like uptop the same size as jennifer Lopez and Alicia keys but ALOT fatter at the bottom half of I could get a nice shape like that id be really happy with the results. That's what my ideal look would be like maybe a bit wide at the bottom. Maybe like Kim kardashian.0 -
A really great trick for us bottom heavy ladies is to build up the shoulders. Try weight training your upper body to balance you out proportionally. If you check out my profile pic you'll notice my arms are actually quite large for a woman, but my booty is also very wide and my thighs are larger. Sometimes creating the illusion of the hour-glass by training and developing the upper body can make other regions looks smaller.
I've been lifting and doing aerobic 6 times a week. I was actually thinking maybe that was why I was loosing so much up top even though I do all my exercises evenly. Maybe I'm doing the wrong ones...0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »veganbettie wrote: »i honestly plan on getting as skinny as i can and then putting on muscle.
Granted I know I should start lifting more sooner than later, just hard enough to fit in the small amount of exercise that i do get in....but you know, excuses.
Bad idea...lift now. When you lose weight without lifting, you're losing muscle along with the fat. If you lift now, you'll protect most of your muscle, so when you get close to your ideal weight you'll already have muscle underneath that will be revealed...and you'll look better. Plus you'll have a higher baseline of muscle to work with at that point. AND you'll have gained strength, so when you're ready to eat at maintenance or do a bulk, you'll be lifting heavier and will have a much easier time of packing on more muscle.
thanks for the advice, i'll need to figure something out for sure.
maybe i'll start bench pressing my toddler. O_O
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veganbettie wrote: »SnuggleSmacks wrote: »veganbettie wrote: »i honestly plan on getting as skinny as i can and then putting on muscle.
Granted I know I should start lifting more sooner than later, just hard enough to fit in the small amount of exercise that i do get in....but you know, excuses.
Bad idea...lift now. When you lose weight without lifting, you're losing muscle along with the fat. If you lift now, you'll protect most of your muscle, so when you get close to your ideal weight you'll already have muscle underneath that will be revealed...and you'll look better. Plus you'll have a higher baseline of muscle to work with at that point. AND you'll have gained strength, so when you're ready to eat at maintenance or do a bulk, you'll be lifting heavier and will have a much easier time of packing on more muscle.
thanks for the advice, i'll need to figure something out for sure.
maybe i'll start bench pressing my toddler. O_O
I don't know if that is a joke but people do that
http://www.wikihow.com/Work-out-With-a-Toddler
Perform specific exercises with your toddler.
Lie on your back with your knees up for support. Hold your child above you. Lift and lower him for a few minutes or as long as you can while you build arm and core strength.
Stand against a wall with your feet about 4 feet apart, toes pointing out. Hold your child with both arms. Keeping your upper body straight, bend your knees parallel to the floor. Hold the position, squeezing your buttocks while being careful not to lock your knees, and then return to starting position. Aim for 3 sets of 12-15 reps each. This exercise strengthens the inner thighs0 -
Welcome to the world of body recomposition. It takes years to reshape your body. You cannot change your genetic structure, but through years of weight loss and muscle building you can make your body look vastly different then from your starting point. Too many people assume that all they need to do is lose excess body fat and they will look how they have always wanted too. This is almost never the case. Losing weight is generally the first step, but then alternating periods of fat loss and muscle gain (yes even for women who don't want to look "muscular") is usually what is required. Eventually your body will drop fat from all over but sometimes you need to get to a fairly low body fat percentage before fat starts leaving areas you are genetically prone to store it in. For myself, my lower back and lower abs don't shed fat until I get very lean. Many women find the lower stomach and thighs to be the "trouble" areas. Sometimes these areas don't get lean the first go around and require a few cycles of fat loss and muscle gain before they achieve the desired shape. Try and get to your goal weight and reevaluate. You say your upper half is pretty small now so I would imagine if you keep losing fat, it will eventually have to start coming from your lower have.
As I am also a pear shape and have also noticed that my *kitten* and thighs look proportionately bigger as my top half gets smaller, plus the fact that I'm 48 years old and years of cutting and bulking and recomposition are not in my future, now I'm just depressed.
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oh come now. no *kitten*? how about "butt?"
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veganbettie wrote: »SnuggleSmacks wrote: »veganbettie wrote: »i honestly plan on getting as skinny as i can and then putting on muscle.
Granted I know I should start lifting more sooner than later, just hard enough to fit in the small amount of exercise that i do get in....but you know, excuses.
Bad idea...lift now. When you lose weight without lifting, you're losing muscle along with the fat. If you lift now, you'll protect most of your muscle, so when you get close to your ideal weight you'll already have muscle underneath that will be revealed...and you'll look better. Plus you'll have a higher baseline of muscle to work with at that point. AND you'll have gained strength, so when you're ready to eat at maintenance or do a bulk, you'll be lifting heavier and will have a much easier time of packing on more muscle.
thanks for the advice, i'll need to figure something out for sure.
maybe i'll start bench pressing my toddler. O_O
I don't know if that is a joke but people do that
http://www.wikihow.com/Work-out-With-a-Toddler
Perform specific exercises with your toddler.
Lie on your back with your knees up for support. Hold your child above you. Lift and lower him for a few minutes or as long as you can while you build arm and core strength.
Stand against a wall with your feet about 4 feet apart, toes pointing out. Hold your child with both arms. Keeping your upper body straight, bend your knees parallel to the floor. Hold the position, squeezing your buttocks while being careful not to lock your knees, and then return to starting position. Aim for 3 sets of 12-15 reps each. This exercise strengthens the inner thighs
HA! Thanks!!! Actually since having my baby my arms look amazing. And they never did before. Must be from carting him around.
This thread has inspired me to buy that book all the women on here rave about, the new rules of lifting for women? I think that's what it's called.
should be here by Monday. I don't really have the option for a gym at this point, but i'll look on craigslist for some simple weights and go from there. 0 -
@catgurl20 you may lose bodyfat up top first, but if you're lifting quite heavy (in the 6-8 rep range) you should be building muscle. What exercises are you doing?0
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I know how you feel..my top half is scrawny, but my legs are strong and muscly...and all the fat sticks around the lower stomach, hips and thighs.
It does get smaller, eventually... though I've accepted that my thighs will be 20 inches forever lol.
It has taken me months to start losing from where I want to, but It's just the way things are. I would suggest you try to get into some strength training/ a beginner weight lifting program if you haven't already, as it does help those problem areas to look better. Also mixing up your current exercise routine a bit can help. In the start I was only cycling, which worked out only legs and the stomach area was tucked away. Once I started running, things looked better.
As for cellulite on your thighs, I would recommend dry body brushing before you shower, and also Frank body scrubs (those coffee scrubs you do in the shower) are really good-both worked for me! Hang in there, and good luck !0 -
Yay for recomp!0
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So, I'm a pear too. The reason you are feeling even more like a pear is because you lost 4 inches from your waist but only one from your hips. That's okay-you're losing belly fat, which is more unhealthy to carry around than fat in your hips. If you get your hips down another few inches, you'll be more proportionate (though probably still a pear, and you should be glad).
For me it happened the other way. I was already only a 28 in waist so I went down to a 27, then my hips went from 44 to 40.
Also, squat.0 -
Also, how tall are you? Those measurements seem...interesting, at only 124 lbs.0
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0somuchbetter0 wrote: »Welcome to the world of body recomposition. It takes years to reshape your body. You cannot change your genetic structure, but through years of weight loss and muscle building you can make your body look vastly different then from your starting point. Too many people assume that all they need to do is lose excess body fat and they will look how they have always wanted too. This is almost never the case. Losing weight is generally the first step, but then alternating periods of fat loss and muscle gain (yes even for women who don't want to look "muscular") is usually what is required. Eventually your body will drop fat from all over but sometimes you need to get to a fairly low body fat percentage before fat starts leaving areas you are genetically prone to store it in. For myself, my lower back and lower abs don't shed fat until I get very lean. Many women find the lower stomach and thighs to be the "trouble" areas. Sometimes these areas don't get lean the first go around and require a few cycles of fat loss and muscle gain before they achieve the desired shape. Try and get to your goal weight and reevaluate. You say your upper half is pretty small now so I would imagine if you keep losing fat, it will eventually have to start coming from your lower have.
As I am also a pear shape and have also noticed that my *kitten* and thighs look proportionately bigger as my top half gets smaller, plus the fact that I'm 48 years old and years of cutting and bulking and recomposition are not in my future, now I'm just depressed.
You should check out some of the lifting ladies on here if you honestly are insinuating you're too old to do so.. plenty of women your age or older who've achieved this.
The only limits are the ones you put on yourself.
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