I used to joke that I had an hour glass figure with a few inches of fat on it
My weight loss seems to be even with the same about of inches coming off bust, waist, hips.. So what am I? [/B][/QUOTE]

we call that a yearglass figure around here. Several friends and I are the same shape.

I too fall in the pear shape category. I can't buy suit sets because my top is a whole size smaller than my bottom! Don't even think about putting me in straight skirt because if it fits in the bottom the waist is way too big and vice versa. I find that Levi and CK jeans fit me best also the pants that rest on my hips rather than my waist.

Fun thread!
Carolyn

I found DKNY Jeans a great fit. Thank god for Factory Outlets. I couldn't afford them at normal price.

I'm an hourglass, I guess. Tall, and gain weight all over (arms, bust, hips, thighs, blah, blah, blah).

My mother, sisters, AND daughter are all pears. They're short (between 5'1", and 5'4"), and tend to gain first in the butt and thighs.

I'm an amazon next to them, at 5'10". I took after my Dad's side of the family.

Hourglass or barrel? Well, since hourglass just SOUNDS so much better, I'll stick with that!

Sh'ra

You sound so much like me! I have three petite sisters under 5'-4"
and I am 5'-8" and normally built. Thats probably why my parents put me on diets at such an early age.
My dad used to call me his "little linebacker". Cute huh?

I have to use denium leggings to find jeans that fit. I'm at that wonderful hight where my inseam is 30" Not 28 for normal and not 32 for tall. This is why I decided to go with casual dresses instead of pants. I gave up. I'm a size 28W, yep that's how big I am.

I'm a 28W too, Lessara (I'm not intentionally following you around the board today, but we seem to be on at the same time). Or a 3X, since everything I have is from catalogues and "easy fit." I'm glad to read that. I've so often read on message boards from people who weigh 300, 340, and are size 22s.

NO WONDER! ARG! I thought it was 30" Regular and 32" Tall
I bought some talls and they were a little too long so I bought regular last time and my stupid white socks are ALWAYS showing!

Sorry. I feel better now.

I'm a pear btw. Hourglass. And 5'8" if you hadn't figured that part out

Meeker, I feel your pain!

I have always had that problem with the jeans and pants.
They make them as if all women are straight from top to bottom with no curves. So you fit in a 8 or a 10 and you got this extra space near the lower back area because it's too big on your waist.

The low rider jeans are better for your waist, but then your butt looks huge

Lessara, I told you we were kindred spirits - or maybe just kindred bodies. Same here in childhood. I wasn't fat, but since my older sister was smaller than me by the time I was age 4, my dad always called me chubby. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy, though in high school I slimmed out (and guess what? was asked to pose for Playboy as well - NO THANKS).

I have the same problem with jeans, though I tend to get talls because they seem to get shorter in the wash, and I HATE highwaters. But, the waist is nearly always too big if they fit arount the rear (I can relate, Meeker and Celerunner). Oy! I hate dresses, though - I feel like Omar the tentmaker dressed me.

I'm big on nice pants and long flowy blouses. They hide a multitude of evils, and keep my legs warm

Sh'ra

I don't have that problem. My "waist" is 10 inches smaller than my hip, but I would never wear pants there. It's way to high. So the waist always seem too tight to me, but maybe my intestines get irritated too easily and it's all in my mind. I wear my pants right below my bellybutton. Seems normal to me. My "waist" is 3-4 inches above that.

Yes, there is a reason that the pear and hourglass women (or those rare men who get bug bums) lose more slowly. It has to do with lipoprotein lipase, an enzyme that helps to store fat. The fat cells in breasts and thighs actually secrete this stuff, while the fat cells in bellies do not. Thus, storing fat it easy for the big-bummed and breasted and gets easier the more fat that is stored. There is further evidence that belly fat is intended to be used for quick energy release (during winters and times of famine). Breast and bum fat, however, are intended for long-term storage (so that women still have sufficient fat stores to bear children even during five-year droughts). My understanding is that estrogen helps instruct the body to store fat in the breasts and thighs.

Add that to the metabolic effects of repeating dieting cycles, that most of us have experienced...and wow! It's a miracle we can lose anything at all.

HYSTERICAL!!!!

What a great laugh I have had this morning... you guys are great!!!!!

It is great to keep a sense of humor amidst the insanity...

I am an hour glass... from a front view.. but then I have this flat butt --- almost heart shaped when carrying certain weight!!!!

Thanks for the laughs!!!!

Ramona

This has been a hoot reading about apples and pears.

Madpiano and Marlaine, I need that waist space (I always say in my next life, I want a waist so I can tuck in my clothes). I have to buy my pants (trousers) a size too big so that they fit around my waist. My pants are always baggy in the legs, even jeans--hate it!

At any rate, I am definitely an apple and since it's only Day 6 for me, I do not know if I will fall into the Turtle catagory or not.

I believe this is from protein power:

If you take your waist measurement and divide it by your hip measurement and you get:

less < .8 you are a "pear" shape
more than .8 you are an "apple"

Example: Hips 54 Waist 43
43/54= .796 I'm a pear!

Mystery solved

What a great post! I'm definately DEFINATELY a pear. The pear shape runs on my mother's side of the family. I'm a good two sizes bigger on my bottom than top. It was horrible when I had to buy suits for work

Someone asked about what jeans fit "pear" shapes best. I've found the reverse fit jeans from Gap and Old Navy fit the best. Most of the other jeans are huge in the waist just to fit my big ole butt!

I can finally squeeze my butt into size 10 jeans, and I'm probably a size 6 on top. Makes for some interesting outfits

I've never tried DKNY jeans, I'll have to look for some. Somebody mentioned the low waist jeans..forget it! Those make my butt look even bigger and just look plain horrible on me.