I'm loving my new waist line, but my hips are still huge!

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laurajcrampton
laurajcrampton Posts: 71
in Health and Weight Loss
Can anyone give me some good exercise tips to blast off unwanted flab on my hips? I've always had a sizable *kitten*, so I don't think that's going anywhere... But my hips are huge, and look even bigger now my waist line is smaller! (27inch waist and 39inches across my *kitten* and hips!)

Any advice would be appreciative :)

I have been on the treadmill with a steep incline, and I think that's doing something, but I want more!

Thanks :)

Replies

  • Justjamie0418
    Justjamie0418 Posts: 1,065 Member
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    I'm there with you! I am like a 28/29 inch waist/41 hip. I still got 25-30 lbs to go but I know what you mean.. I really do!
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Unfortunately, you can't spot-reduce fat, which means that there are no specific exercises that will make you lose fat from a particular area. You just have to reduce fat in general (with a calorie deficit) and hope that it eventually comes off where you want it to. It's very common for women to carry fat in this area.

    To be honest though, I'd swap ya - I have slim hips and a thicker waist - I'd love to be curvier! Maybe we should just learn to embrace our natural shapes, because there's always someone out there who would prefer to have what we have!
  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,688 Member
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    If your waist is smaller from exercise and diet you are on the right track. Your body probably just loses fat there last. All my life, when I was Younger I had a flat stomach and complained regularly about my plump thighs. Now, finally in my 40's I deposit fat on my stomach. ( some people call it a "mena pouch" because I'm getting closer to menapause. )
    Your body shape is youthful and beautiful:).
  • debzeeU2
    debzeeU2 Posts: 99 Member
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    I love my curves aka hour glass body. I know my hips have gone down some when I was at my smallest weight but I still had the rockin' curves..
  • laurajcrampton
    laurajcrampton Posts: 71
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    I mean 'tone' my hips really, I know it's very difficult to lose fat from one particular area! Any toning exercises you can recommend? If my boobs were bigger, I'd at least look balanced in my figure!
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    What's your hip bone structure like? I have a wide pelvis, and weight loss isn't going to make those bones contract. So no matter how much weight I lose, my hips are always going to be large.
  • islandgirldl76
    islandgirldl76 Posts: 47 Member
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    For the side pockets on the hips and upper butt.

    - Get down on all fours like you are playing horsey with your kids.
    - Take one leg and keep the bend in it and lift it up 90 degrees and hold it a second and then back down.
    - Do 2 sets of 15.

    That will start to reduce some of that, you will feel the burn right there, squats don't hit that spot. But girls stop watching mainstream magazines which airbrush the hips off of woman. You are ideal right now. I don't mind having a curvy butt and hips if my waist is small. At my smallest my waist was 24" and my butt/hips 38" I topped out at 41".

    Men, not boys LOVE the view of the hourglass, embrace it and stop fighting it. Just tone it and go with it.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    I mean 'tone' my hips really, I know it's very difficult to lose fat from one particular area! Any toning exercises you can recommend? If my boobs were bigger, I'd at least look balanced in my figure!

    Well, what do you mean by "toning"? It's not a very technical term and when people use it, they're really referring either reducing fat (which we've already covered) or increasing muscle. Reducing fat reveals more muscle definition and gives a look which might be described in magazines as "toned". Increasing muscle is very difficult (to pretty much impossible except in certain specific circumstances) when you are eating at a calorie deficit. You need to eat more calories than you are taking in to build muscle mass. You can go some way to changing the shape with strength training, but the most noticeable changes will be from the fat reducing, and your muscles swelling when you work them hard

    All of that said, there is not a lot of muscle on your hips to work with. You can target your glutes, which are in your bum, but I don't think there're any exercises you can do to make your hips bigger. Then again, you said you wanted your hips smaller.... do you see the paradox?

    If you were seriously interested in balancing things out by building muscle, it would be possible to add muscle to your upper body, which would make you appear to be more hour-glass rather than pear-shaped. Again though, to build a significant amount of muscle, you'd need to be eating more calories than you were burning off.

    I'm definitely not trying to discourage you from resistance training - I'm a big fan of heavy lifting myself and have had a lot of success with it. You can target the muscles in your lower half with squats, lunges and deadlifts. I'd definitely give it a go and see if you like the results, but please, please be aware that these will not make the fat in those areas disappear - unless your body just happens to be ready to let go of it there.
  • DrMAvDPhD
    DrMAvDPhD Posts: 2,097 Member
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    27-39 is a good ratio. That puts you at a ratio of 0.7 which is considered ideal in many parts of the world. Focus on dropping fat if that's what you want, but consider that your waistline and bust will shrink proportionately as you do. I have a slightly smaller but similar waist-to-hip ratio and think it's pretty much my best feature :-)
  • michellel313
    michellel313 Posts: 19 Member
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    hahah i'm right there with ya!
  • Dulcemami4ever
    Dulcemami4ever Posts: 344 Member
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    Advice: embrace small waist, big hips :)
  • carrieous
    carrieous Posts: 1,024 Member
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    stairmaster and running

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