I need help with my PEAR!

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LadyGhostDuchess
LadyGhostDuchess Posts: 894 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This has been one of my biggest issues and it still is an issue for me and makes me feel a little self conscious!

I AM A PEAR! - and I HATE IT, I want to learn to love it!
If you do not know what I am talking about it is my body shape. I am a Pear shape!
"You're a bit wider on the bottom than you are on top... " (a bit would be an understatement!)

There are a lot of great exercises for this shape and I am okay with them, but there are a lot I cannot do and it is frustrating! I really want to work more to get my PEAR part down and get myself into a shape that is more flattering. With my body issues this makes things a little harder.
I am 27 years old.
I have messed up wrist joints (carpal tunnel or a bone arched wrong in my right wrist)
I have arthritis in both of my knees. (my left leg tends to keep swollen around the knee)

I love working out, but I hate the pain and the cracking and the crunching! Now, simple solution, wear a brace for support. I can't! I am allergic to rubber, elastic, laytex, and metal (lmao pretty much everything that makes up a brace). I do tend to wear a knee brace if my left leg is acting up, but I have to wear it outside my clothing. When I work out I feel great, I know I am losing inches. My trainer that I use to have told me to work out my arms and shoulders a lot to even my body out so I was less Pear. But when I work out and lose weight I am losing it in my chest first and I am still a chunk in the lower half. It is very VERY frustrating!

I am looking for advice from other Pears and how they deal with their Pearyness! And I am looking for some friends who are there to support me through my fruit issue!

Replies

  • digitaldigital
    digitaldigital Posts: 73 Member
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    Hips don't lie :)
  • LadyGhostDuchess
    LadyGhostDuchess Posts: 894 Member
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    Hips don't lie :)

    If only I had Shakira's hips! If I shook mine like hers we might have small earth quakes! LMAO
  • ritajean3
    ritajean3 Posts: 306 Member
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ImZTwYwCug



    On a more serious note. We are designed that way so when we have no food our babies don't starve, weight slides off the top easily but stores on the legs and hips. It will come off just a bit harder than the top keep at it!

    Squats are great for legs and butts if you can do them

    Swimming is great because it takes the weight off your joints
  • LadyGhostDuchess
    LadyGhostDuchess Posts: 894 Member
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    Squats are great for legs and butts if you can do them

    Swimming is great because it takes the weight off your joints

    Sadly, Squats, I can get down about...6 inches before my knee locks up and I can't get up, and I just keep going down until I can sit on the ground and get myself back up. That sounds so horrible for someone who is only 27. I need one of those "help I have fallen and I can't get back up"

    Swimming is good. I know my apartment has a book I need to get to it. We use to go swimming in my mother and father's neighborhood, but because winter has come all the pools are closing down and I avoid community pools (YMCA/College) because they are so disgusting and to much chlorine. Thank you for your in put though, that makes me so happy :)
  • HollieDoodles
    HollieDoodles Posts: 678 Member
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    Ugh... I'm a massive PEAR too. From the waist up, I look a bit chunky. From the waist down, I look elephantiasisy AND like a deflated balloon because I had lost a bunch of weight a few years ago. I also have issues doing lower body exercises. Mine are due to a medical condition. I haven't given up on it, but it's quite discouraging for me at this point.

    I hope you get some helpful advice on here. I'd sure like to hear it for myself.

    Hang in there and best of luck!
  • ritajean3
    ritajean3 Posts: 306 Member
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    that is what i feared when i suggest squats.


    if you are going for slim and not toned you should be able to get the weight off if you just keep dieting.

    As for the pool, maybe its cos im in Australia but the pools here are ok and we have heated ones for in winter have you had a good look at what is available?
  • LadyGhostDuchess
    LadyGhostDuchess Posts: 894 Member
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    have you had a good look at what is available?

    I think the pool in my apartment complex is heated, which should be nice because heat helps with the knee joints.
  • Yori1
    Yori1 Posts: 142
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    Elliptical/Crosstrainer - on low resistance.
  • nettie1969
    nettie1969 Posts: 107
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    yoga (modified) pilates zumba so much you can do and so many free resources to get them from

    I too am health challenged and so much a pear that I have no weight to lose from the waist up .... lol

    Static cycling is also very good .... i do it when i am watching tv. Lean back on the couch and raise your feet a couple of inches off the ground (more as you get fitter) and move your feet like they are on peddles .... no impact and good for general mobiliity. i have even seen little peddle sets that you can sit under your desk to peddle while you are working (I so have to get one of these).... basically if you work on your core (aka abs and spinal posture) and follow with good breathing technique (use the diaphram not ljust lungs) any movement will help you lose weight and tone in conjunction with proper diet.

    Ramble over....
  • feydruss
    feydruss Posts: 349 Member
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    I too am of the Bartlett variety (currently 39-33-46). Doing upper body helps, especially shoulder and chest presses. Being a pear has some advantages, though! We have defined waistlines, less dangerous visceral abdominal fat, and we look better in clingy dresses. And let's face it, guys usually go for the girl with the booty rather than the girl with the gut. Mostly. Not that it's right, but sometimes it's true.

    Swimming is a great idea, because it will make you strong all over! I find swimming especially builds my upper body and slims down my midsection and lower body.

    You could try doing some work with resistance bands as well. They might not hurt your joints so much.
  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
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    Hello, fellow pears! The only thing that made my "pearyness" diminish was losing weight. I am obviously still a pear but it is WAY less obvious now I am at a healthy weight.

    As for exercises, I love the idea of the pool (classes at a local YMCA?). Also yoga and pilates can be modified to go around any injury you may have. Any good instructor can do that for you.
  • LadyGhostDuchess
    LadyGhostDuchess Posts: 894 Member
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    Thanks everyone!

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