Pear Shape

lauraleefaith
lauraleefaith Posts: 578 Member
edited November 24 in Health and Weight Loss
MFP fam,

I have what's commonly known as a, "pear shaped body" which is a small upper body and a heavier lower body (disproportionate waist-to-hip ratio). My weight tends to collect at my hips, thighs and butt. Wonderful, right? Here's my question: what can I do, in terms of how I exercise and eat, to reach my ideal weight of 125 and still maintain my curves? I think there's a name for it, something like, curvy fit?

Would appreciate your input,
LL

Replies

  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    There is no difference between body types as far as losing weight. Everyone loses weight at a calorie deficit.

    Buy a food scale if you don't have one already and track your intake accurately. Good luck!
  • lauraleefaith
    lauraleefaith Posts: 578 Member
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt wrote: »
    There is no difference between body types as far as losing weight. Everyone loses weight at a calorie deficit.

    Buy a food scale if you don't have one already and track your intake accurately. Good luck!

    Thank you! I got caught up with the "body shape" movement and was genuinely hoping for a simple solution.
  • Ashtoretet
    Ashtoretet Posts: 378 Member
    Everyone loses weight the same way, but places that fat deposits are genetic. It's why women look so different from each other at the same weight, because some people are blessed with huge chests and the rest of us just have huge hips.

    You should get to a place that you're happy with, but keep in mind the fat will always stick to those spots the longest and if you ever regress it'll go back to those same places.
  • lauraleefaith
    lauraleefaith Posts: 578 Member
    @Ashtoretet Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks!
  • BrickFox
    BrickFox Posts: 61 Member
    Squats, Glute Ham raises, misc core work. If you aren't strength training with weights, you should start with some bodyweight exercises until you feel comfortable switching to a weight routine.

    As far as food, other's have said it already. As long as you're at a caloric deficit, you will be ok. I would strongly suggest you don't do what some members do and eat whatever as long as it's in your deficit, but try to choose nutritional meals.
  • lauraleefaith
    lauraleefaith Posts: 578 Member
    FoxWaal wrote: »
    Squats, Glute Ham raises, misc core work. If you aren't strength training with weights, you should start with some bodyweight exercises until you feel comfortable switching to a weight routine.

    As far as food, other's have said it already. As long as you're at a caloric deficit, you will be ok. I would strongly suggest you don't do what some members do and eat whatever as long as it's in your deficit, but try to choose nutritional meals.

    Now we're getting somewhere! I'm doing strength training with light weights every other day but I could definitely incorporate those suggested exercises in my workouts. What's your take on eating late meals? My cut off is no later than 6pm.
  • BrickFox
    BrickFox Posts: 61 Member
    I generally try not to eat about 2 hours before I go to bed. Definitely not a heavy meal anyway. If it's something light like yogurt, or cottage cheese, whatever.. that's fine before bed. You don't want to have your body trying to digest a full meal while you're sleeping, when it should be repairing your body.

    So, if you're going to bed at 10pm, I don't see anything wrong eating at 8-9pm.

    Back to weight training. Look up some videos on how to do bodyweight squats. When you do them correctly, your butt should be going below parallel to your knees. Just make sure you do them with proper form.
  • Alyssa_Is_LosingIt
    Alyssa_Is_LosingIt Posts: 4,696 Member
    Meal timing has no bearing on weight loss. You can eat whatever you want, whenever you want, and lose weight as long as you are in a calorie deficit.

    The only time I'd worry about eating late in the evening or before bed is if you have issues with heartburn/acid reflux. I don't eat heavily right before bed because I get heartburn. But if that's not an issue for you, you can eat all of your calories immediately before you fall asleep and still lose weight.

    Your body doesn't know what time it is.
  • lauraleefaith
    lauraleefaith Posts: 578 Member
    @FoxWaal @Alyssa_Is_LosingIt You both brought up some valid points. Again, thank you for your feedback.

    @FoxWaal I had an 'aha' moment the other night while doing weighted squats. I never felt the burning sensation and wondered why. It hit me that my form was a bit off. Once I repaired that, I started to feel that burn everyone talks about. It's not THAT bad. I love the feeling!
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
    If you're a big pear and you lose weight, you become a small pear. Your shape remains the same. Looking for shape-specific workouts is just silly.
  • lauraleefaith
    lauraleefaith Posts: 578 Member
    Traveler120 wrote: »
    If you're a big pear and you lose weight, you become a small pear. Your shape remains the same. Looking for shape-specific workouts is just silly.

    I love that! Thanks for your insight.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited September 2015
    Traveler120 wrote: »
    If you're a big pear and you lose weight, you become a small pear. Your shape remains the same. Looking for shape-specific workouts is just silly.

    Yeah but you can also wind up looking a bit more like a ruler. Still pearish but much less so once fat on hips is reduced.

    It's not silly to put in time developing shoulders to balance out the hips, or to try to make legs and glutes as strong as possible, or to add in cardio for the kind of deficit required to get fat low faster.

    All that said, be realistic, yeah. Going too thin for the sake of the bottom half will leave the top looking pretty scrawny. And there may still be some left on the thighs that you're not so happy with.

    It's better to accept your shape and decide it's not so bad. You *can* make some small changes, though.
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