I'm so confused. Am I an hourglass or a rectangle?

michelleepotter

Ok, a couple of years ago I used a calculator on some site that told me I had an hourglass body shape. I was pretty shocked because I have small boobs and hips, but I also have a small waist, so whatever. I followed the tips for dressing on that site, and right away people started asking if I had lost weight (even though, at that time, I was still gaining).

When I joined MFP, I took my measurements again based on a site someone posted here, and this time it said I was a rectangle. My bust and hips were the same, with my waist being three inches smaller. A little disappointing, but it made more sense to me. After that, I had been having my husband take my measurements to track my weight loss (I thought it would be easier for him to be consistent), and those measurements all followed the same pattern of hips and bust the same, with waist slightly smaller.

Well, last night I noticed that my husband was measuring my "waist" across my belly button, and *not* at my natural waist, which is a few inches higher than that. (I didn't notice before because I usually try to look straight ahead so that I'm standing up straight.) So I measured my natural waist, and it was SIX INCHES smaller than my hips!! That's three inches smaller than where my husband was measuring.

So now I am confused. I know that I always measured my natural waist. Could my body shape have changed that much? Does that mean I am an hourglass after all?

Rilke

Everything I've read says that to be "hourglass", your waist must be at least 9-10 inches smaller than your hips.