Exercises; Pear shaped women? Anybody?

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I am a pear shaped woman and everyone knows what that means! All my weight goes to my butt and thighs! My upper body can use work but not as much as my lower body! My thighs and butt is really whats pushing my weight up! Anybody have any recommended exercises I can do along with eating right?

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  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    I'm also pear-shaped. However, there's no way to spot-reduce fat. Exercise will help you build strength and endurance and improve your overall fitness, but the only way to decrease the size of your hips, butt, and thighs is to lose body fat over all.

    I've lost more inches from my hips, butt, and thighs than I have from my upper body and my shape has evened out some, but even after losing almost 70 pounds, my lower half is still my largest half. That's just how my body stores fat.
  • ebayaddict0127
    ebayaddict0127 Posts: 523 Member
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    Strength training can help tone your bottom half. Diet and exercise in general will help reduce the size. Genetics will also play a role. I'm pear shaped and even when I was 125 pounds and exercised every day and dieted.. I still had chunky butt and thighs.
  • KayTheGemini
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    I'm also pear-shaped. However, there's no way to spot-reduce fat. Exercise will help you build strength and endurance and improve your overall fitness, but the only way to decrease the size of your hips, butt, and thighs is to lose body fat over all.
    Oh yeah, truee. What type of exercises did you do to lose as much as you did?
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
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    Calorie deficits help you lose weight. Exercises help make you strong and healthy. Take advantage of being a pear--I'm one (as you can see in my pics) and my lower body strength training is coming along way faster than upper body. Don't neglect your upper body.

    This! I can squat and deadlift more than twice as much as I can bench and overhead press.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    I'm also pear-shaped. However, there's no way to spot-reduce fat. Exercise will help you build strength and endurance and improve your overall fitness, but the only way to decrease the size of your hips, butt, and thighs is to lose body fat over all.
    Oh yeah, truee. What type of exercises did you do to lose as much as you did?

    I did a variety of exercises, it just depended on how I was feeling. Mostly circuit training, HIIT, yoga flows, walking, biking, and now weight lifting.

    BUT weight loss isn't really about exercise. Exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, and increasing your fitness level will help you get the body you want, but you still have to eat less than you burn. Weight loss is all about being in a calorie deficit. If you want to lose weight, the most effective thing you can do is to eat at a moderate deficit and track everything you eat/drink accurately and consistently.

    Give this a read. There's lots of good information here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • GiGiBeans
    GiGiBeans Posts: 1,062 Member
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    Running hills, hiit and strength training have evened out my pear shape quite a bit. Before/Later pic in profile.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Calorie deficits help you lose weight. Exercises help make you strong and healthy. Take advantage of being a pear--I'm one (as you can see in my pics) and my lower body strength training is coming along way faster than upper body. Don't neglect your upper body.

    This! I can squat and deadlift more than twice as much as I can bench and overhead press.

    And I agree! Although my lower body has more fat than my upper body does, it is also much stronger.
  • emilym173
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    I'm currently 32, 27, 37. Being a pear can be very frustrating. My small upper body bone frame and proclivity to gain weight in my lower half makes me feel like I look disproportionate. Especially since women's fashion (especially stuff geared towards 20-somethings) seems to be made for ladies with a more boyish figure (read: small hip-to-waist ratio.)

    I will probably always be pear-shaped, given that I have a wide pelvis. I have learned to accept this shape (in fact, apparently having wide hips makes you more attractive to men on a biological level!) and work with what I can change (body fat % and muscle tone.)

    I didn't start dropping weight in my lower half (especially my much hated muffin tops) until I completely changed my diet and started doing yoga, cardio and weight training. I think the diet aspect is super important. I cut out soda, empty calories and drastically reduced my sugar intake. I also try to actually cook my own food instead of eating processed junk. I've recently seen a lot of success with eating at a calorie deficit (1200/day.)

    As far as workouts, I highly suggest p90x or p90x3 (only 30 minutes a day!). It kind of covers all of your bases with cardio, strength training and yoga. If you are more of a gym person, definitely don't neglect weights! I made the mistake before of only focusing on cardio to combat the lower body fat. You will see the fastest results when you do a combination of cardio and weights. It's also worth noting that I found working on my upper body helped draw attention away from my hips and gave me a more balanced look.
  • kmoirecavender
    kmoirecavender Posts: 91 Member
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    well, they say butts are the new boobs...but I too, am a pear, and want to change this somehow! My problem in the past was losing a lot of weight, and looking gaunt in the face and collarbone area, but still having a substantial butt, hips and thighs. I am trying to implement more strength training now along with my cardio and watching my diet. If anyone has any good tips I am all ears!!
  • HeatherLaehn
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    I do zumba, walking, and eating foods that are not processed. Foods that are processed seem to go straight to fat because the body doesn't recognize it so it stores it. I keep an eye on my heart rate during exercise to make sure I stay in the fat burn zone. Hope this helps. "Nothing dared, nothing gained. Never give up. EACH day is a new day.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    Calorie deficits help you lose weight. Exercises help make you strong and healthy. Take advantage of being a pear--I'm one (as you can see in my pics) and my lower body strength training is coming along way faster than upper body. Don't neglect your upper body.

    This! I can squat and deadlift more than twice as much as I can bench and overhead press.

    I'm pear shaped as well but I actually bench as much as I squat. My squats are pretty sad.


    OP: This is a pretty good beginner's weight lifting program, if you have access to a gym with a barbell and a power rack:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I do zumba, walking, and eating foods that are not processed. Foods that are processed seem to go straight to fat because the body doesn't recognize it so it stores it. I keep an eye on my heart rate during exercise to make sure I stay in the fat burn zone. Hope this helps. "Nothing dared, nothing gained. Never give up. EACH day is a new day.

    The bolder sentence above is absolutely not true. Furthermore there's little reason to keep your heart rate in the "fat burn zone". At the end of the day, overall calories burned is what matter for fat loss, not what heart rate you exercise in.
  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
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    I also am. Regular exercise, eating as clean as possible, dressing to suit your body but finally accepting yourself are what I recommend.
  • uhhhDoodle
    uhhhDoodle Posts: 41 Member
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    Bump
  • claudie08
    claudie08 Posts: 159 Member
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    I, too am pear-shaped and proud of it. At my smallest (many moons ago) I was 37-26-43 and I loved my curves which are now hidden beneath the fluff.

    For workouts, I do a little of everything...cardio, ZUMBA, and strength. Nothing too intense. And unfortunately, I cannot do lunges because of bad knees, so I need to find alternative exercises. Any advice on this is greatly appreciated.
  • BetterThanExpected
    BetterThanExpected Posts: 104 Member
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    I suggest focusing on cardio and building muscle on your upper body. Building more muscle on your arms/shoulders/etc will help visually balance out your lower body, and cardio will help you slim overall.
  • sassyjae21
    sassyjae21 Posts: 1,217 Member
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    idk wtf i am. My fat just seems to go everywhere lmao
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
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    I can only speak for myself but I do the same workouts as women of all the other shapes. No special pear workouts are needed.
  • Hauntinglyfit
    Hauntinglyfit Posts: 5,537 Member
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    I can only speak for myself but I do the same workouts as women of all the other shapes. No special pear workouts are needed.

    same.
  • Anonycatgirl
    Anonycatgirl Posts: 502 Member
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    My grandmother weighed 75 pounds when she died and she was still pear shaped. A little tiny shriveled pear, but still a pear. Alas, I inherited her body type. I decided years ago that pears are lovely fruits and I'm going to be the juiciest, most delicious damn pear I can be!