Any pears out there who have managed to successfully reshape themselves?

[nzimogen]

Hi there,

I am a 25 yr old female, 5ft7 (170 cm) and weigh 135 lbs (61kg) and pear shaped... A decent booty, tiny boobs!

In my every day life I am pretty sedentary and spend a lot of time at my computer or watching TV. However, I try to make up for this by hitting the gym most days. I run at least 3 miles (5km) 3 days a week, often more. I also do an all over weight routine, 3 days a week which takes me about 30 mins.

The work outs are great for maintaining my current weight, but I am thinking of introducing some changes in order to lose 10lbs or so. Basically, I would like to see a dramatic reduction in the size of my behind. I currently wear an american size 6 in jeans, but because my upper body is tiny (flat chest!!!) it still looks large.

Personally, I am pretty happy with my existing exercise routine, so would I have to drastically change my diet to lose those stubborn inches from my butt? Or could I change up my routine and see some results without having to diet? (serious sweet addict here!)

Another concern is that when I have been slimmer, my upper chest starts looking scrawny... you know, that Courtney Cox ribby chest look (eek... not nice!) I do want a smaller butt, however, I don't want to be all bony in my uper chest and unfortunately my body type does tend towards that. Can I get around this?

If you read this and know of any tips or methods that would help me slim down my butt without sacrificing my upper half please let me know.

Thank you in advance.

[ABguy]

Sounds like you get a decent amount of exercise, so the only thing left is the diet. If you want to reduce fat/weight, you're going to have to reduce your intake (calories). Unfortunately, you can't target any one area for fat loss. You'll lose from everywhere

What you can do is work on upper body conditioning, to balance your top with your bottom.

I'd try the dieting first, get where you need to be on bottom, then resume a decent level of calories whilee working the upper half.



PS - At 5' 7", 135 lbs....you can't be more than a month away from your goal.

[causticmuse]

Well, I don't know if I qualify as a "pear" when I gain weight--I think I'm more of an hourglass with a bit of extra sand at the bottom, LOL.

Here's a side by side of what I looked like at 143 lbs, 26% body fat back in May 2004, and now at 134 lbs, 17-18% body fat. I'm 5'6".



If you check my media gallery post you can see me at other stages:
http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/s...ad.php?t=10333

At 20-22% body fat in 8/04, I still had some of that hip flab going on. It took some careful attention to diet (1200-1500 cals/day, 40/40/20 ratio, 6 small meals a day), a bit of extra cardio (three 20 minute HIIT running sessions a week and 300 minutes of extra moderate steady-state cardio on elliptical, bike, and treadmill), and lots of squats (heavy ones!) and lunges to get rid of what I thought was my genetically-predestined fluffy hips and thighs.

I also continued to lift heavy for my upper body workouts to mitigate some of the "Skeletor" chest issues. I carry more body fat in my bottom half, too, so when I drop fat overall, my torso shows it way before my legs and hips do. As Abguy said, maintaining muscle mass in your upper body is probably your best bet for preventing your ribs from becoming too prominent.

Maggie

[guava]

I never really thought of myself as pear shaped either. I liked to just call it a "small waist". When I was pregnant, I had 38Cs, so I miss them. I seem to resemble a pear more than any other fruit I can think of, but I'm working on it by trying to keep my shoulders broad.

Attached is a photo of me from two summers ago, and a photo from September. The September photo represents 8 months of lifting and diet improvements. I was about 130 pounds, and went down to about 115 pounds. (I'm 5'5") It took MUCH longer than I thought it would take, but once I got there, it's been fairly easy to maintain. I'm close to the same weight now (maybe a pound or two more), and at a slightly higher body fat percentage (maybe 18% instead of 17%, but I'm not really too sure) I relaxed my expectations for the fall and winter, and I'll start gung-ho again maybe in April.

I think the secret to balancing a pear shape is all in the UPPER body workout, not the lower. It's easier to make my shoulders bigger than my thighs smaller.

The biggest change I made to lose the weight was to completely cut out alcohol and soft drinks. (I drink diet Cola now). Presently, I'm really excited about Superfoods Rx These 14 foods will forever form the base of my diet.

[nzimogen]

Thank you ABguy, causticmuse and guava for your input.

After viewing your before and after pics I am encouraged to make some changes to my regular work outs. Talk about WOW! I showed my boyfriend your pics and needless to say, he was VERY impressed!!

So... I'm thinking of regular HIIT work outs on the treadmill, and a new lifting progam.

Any suggestions? I am pretty fit, so I should be able to handle a medium-advanced HIIT routine. I currently average around 7.5 miles/hr and regularly run between 3-5 miles at this pace. However, I can handle sprints of up to 9.5 miles/hr for 90 seconds at a time. (I tested myself out yesterday!)

So, do I replace my ordinary runs with this, or do I use it as a supplemental cardio work out? How long should I run for at HIIT to receive benefits more effective than I see from my normal 3-5 mile runs?

As for weights, I've been following a beginners all over body routine from Kathy Smith's book "Lift Weights to Lose Weight". I complete 2 sets of 10 or 12 reps per muscle group. I complete both sets for each muscle group one after another, with maybe 30 seconds rest between them. Although I exercise the same muscle group, I do change up the method. This routine takes me about 30-35 minutes, which I do 3 times/week.

I've remained loyal to with my "beginners routine", even though I have developed a lot more strength and should probably move into the intermediate category... I certainly don't work to fatigue anymore (naughty, i know)

I am especially motivated to build my chest muscles to avoid the "skeleton" look. Also, causticmuse mentioned heavy squats for her legs. Would this be the most efficent exercise to get rid of those dreaded saddle bags?

Alright, go ahead and hit me with your input and suggestions!!!

[Daniella83]

Originally Posted by guava

I think the secret to balancing a pear shape is all in the UPPER body workout, not the lower. It's easier to make my shoulders bigger than my thighs smaller.

Well you have certainly done a good job in balancing out! You look great

[teekz]

Personally I don't think its possible to completely change what your natural body type is. Pear shaped women tend to wider hips which are a an anatomical difference and because of that they will never change that.

But

I do believe that they can create a more proportional look through training and diet.

If you are naturally pear shaped the first thing you should do is incorporate more upper body training, specifically the upper back and shoulder area. Pears tend to be very slight up top and by developing the upper back and shoulders with exercises like seated pulldowns, shoulder presses and lateral raises you will create more of a V-shape in the upper body and balance out your wider hips.

The second thing you must do to create a proportioned look is tone and tighten your thighs, hips and butt with a variety of exercises for the lower body. I like to prescribe various lunge and squat exercises,

Check out this video for an example of the correct exercises to do for a pear shaped body type.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Y1Bm3_dXww



here is the trick though...

Pear shaped women can build up the muscles in their legs very quickly and this can make the problem even worse - you have to either do a few exercises to tighten things up and not go overboard OR train your legs everyday to the point of overtraining, there is no middle ground.

When you do a few exercises a few days a week it will be just enough to tighten up some of the softer areas around the butt and thighs but if you train the legs everyday and overtrain them it will cause the legs to start atrophying and eventually get smaller

The last thing the pear shaped woman must do is eat the correct diet for her. If you are a pear shaped woman you have to eat a balanced diet of 40% carbs, 40% protein and 30% fats. I have tried other nutrient combinations and they don't seem to work for the pear body type.


Try that approach help bring proportion to your pear shaped body