Pears: How small does my waist have to be!

6

6Swans4me

Cathlete
When do you normally see slimming changes in your legs and calves? Is it after losing most of your body fat around your waist, back and arms?

The size of my thighs and calves won't budge. Granted, I've only been working out since the beginning of Jan. But, I would have thought that I'd see some drop in the size of my legs after my waist got down to 25"! But, noooo. Another 1/2" off my waist and the fat on my thighs and lower calves will not be moved. If anything, my jeans sometimes feel tighter in the legs.

Okay, I'll stop my whinning for the moment.
 
6swans,
Whine away! We're all stuck with what we've got. I'm the opposite of you. My legs can look like sticks and my waist will still be big! We're all shaped differently. I would suggest lots of cardio, and for weight work, concentrate more on your upper body to balance things out. Stick to light weight and fast reps for your lower body, and keep it to a minimum. But don't blame yourself. Your shape is your shape.
Nancy
 
I thought and do think exactly this but what you think and see is not at all what others do My sister did tell me to stop whining Thursday wile trying on outfits for an event this weekend and then yesterday at my step class it was the first time I did the class and met this instructor she told me I was so Athletically built this was coming from an instructor so you probably are beautifully shaped just don't like that part so much. I do hate my inner thighs but as the other poster stated we got what we got lets love it if we do all the hard work and it won't budge then it's inherited. I have a 281/2" waist after twins and my son so I will be happy though its not my 25 I use to have I am older, fit and much more confident in who I am now then when I was younger.

beth6395

"Another one that proves equipment is not necessary to get the job done" -Cathe Friedrich
 
Thanks Beth and Nancy,

I don't blame myself as much as I blame genetics... **cough-cough** my mother, even if she's apple shaped. ;-) Ah, well. Blaming can be so much easier for me than accepting. :)

You know Beth, I'm really surprised that my thighs haven't slimmed down. I mean, if I lose any more inches off my waist, my thighs will be bigger than my waist. Freaky! My thighs used to be slim and muscular up until 4 years ago. I remember going to a gym with a friend when I was in high school. I don't know what happened in the 1oth grade. Hormones, maybe? But, I was around the same size then as I am now. The PT told me that my thighs most likely wouldn't slim down; that it was genetics. Well, a few years later they did slim down a lot. A change in diet, stress caused by a few bad relationships, and nursing brought the size of my thighs down. For the most part, my size stayed the same until I stopped taking my twins for walks.

No matter how much I pray, I highly doubt my dh and I will have any more children. So, I won't be nursing anytime soon. :7 There's no stress in my life. And, my diet isn't very bad.

So, I'm wondering just how great a role does genetics play if I was able to slim down and maintain for so many years. I'm thinking that perhaps I'm not as muscular as I was in my twenties and early thirties. Hmmm...
 
Hi 6swans,

I don't have any advice but want you to know you are not alone. I hate shopping for pants because they never fit. I have to buy them to fit my thighs and rear and they are just too big in the waist. I've come to the realization that there is nothing (other than liposuction) that will change this. I do my best to eat right and stay healthy which is much more important than how my jeans fit!

Okay-rant over!

Diana
 
Dang, I'd kill for a 25 inch waist! Aren't bodies amazing. I am totally built like a ruler and all my extra weight is right around my waist, it is about 28 inch ish. Sigh. Oh well, it just gets you to your workouts, I guess!

Jen
 
Diana (got2bfit),

Thankfully I don't wear jeans all that much. I'm too lazy to keep trying on jeans in a vain attempt to find a pair with a good fit. I have three jeans in my entire wardrobe. I don't know what I'll do when they wear thin since Calvin Klein stopped making my favorite pair.

Jen,

I see what you mean. However, I love that body type. My twin daughters take after my dh, tall and lean. I forsee them having killer legs while being locked up in the attic in their future! }(
 
It's too soon to see some changes in your lower body. I think people that tend to gain weight in the stomach area look slimmer faster because that fat is easier to get rid of. I am a pear and while I've worked out since I was a teenager I started getting *really* serious in Jan of last year. Yes I've lost pounds and dropped pant sizes, but I always saw saddle bags. It was until a couple of weeks ago that I started to see my saddle bags diminish because while I did lose some sizes my shape stayed the same. I was actually wearing skinny pants today. :eek: I think you have to give it time and the changes will start happening. For some people is 3 months, for others is 6, and then there are some like me that need at least a year. Regardless of how long it takes don't give up. Think of this as a lifetime commitment. Remember also that you probably won't be able to change your body type 100%, but you can make serious improvements.
 
It's all in the genetics, girl. I have a naturally thick waist and therefore have never and will never, no matter how hard I try, have a 25" waist in my adult life! As an adult, at it's smallest my waist was 27" and at it's largest...well, okay, let's not go there! :p Anywho...sometimes that's just the way it is. Although...if you want to give it a shot, you can try freestyle for the legs. It might help! :)
 
Rose,

Skinny Pants! That is a huge accomplishment. You should see the pair of skinny pants dh bought me for Christmas. I thought he was joking and I wasn't laughing. I have it all on video. Your experience is sooo encouraging! I wish I would have read it before gorging on springrolls and a huge plateful of spicy chicken salad with loads of steamed rice. Thanks for motivating me to not give up! I might workout tonight afterall. :)

Blessings
 
>It's all in the genetics, girl.

Nooooo! I'm not listening....;)

What is freestyle?

BTW, my name is Wendy too. And, no offense... but I'm so not a Wendy! But, that's the name my parents agreed to name me. My mother claims it was because she thought it sounded beautiful to her native Thai ears. I think it's because she could pronounce it fluently. :7 When I think of Wendy, I think of a willowy, fair skinned woman perhaps with strawberry blonde hair; something I'm so not.
 
Freestyle is working your legs 4-6 days per week with light weights. It is geared for slimming down instead of bulking up/building muscle. It reminds me of endurance work really...I did it for a while and lost an inch or so in each thigh quite quickly! It can be time consuming though as you have to add a leg work out to your work out schedule almost every day.

BTW, I don't like my name either. ;)
 
I don't mean to hijack this off the original topic, but my problem is the middle instead of the thighs/butt (as others have said also). Just curious what those with thick middles do to trim it down. Someone suggested more cardio and high rep/low wt for the thighs, what do you do for the middle? TIA (Sorry for the interruption :D)
 
>Rose,
>
>Skinny Pants! That is a huge accomplishment. You should see
>the pair of skinny pants dh bought me for Christmas. I thought
>he was joking and I wasn't laughing. I have it all on video.
>Your experience is sooo encouraging! I wish I would have read
>it before gorging on springrolls and a huge plateful of spicy
>chicken salad with loads of steamed rice. Thanks for
>motivating me to not give up! I might workout tonight
>afterall. :)
>
>Blessings

Blessings to you too! Well, while you can't defeat genetics, you can do the best with what you've got. I swear I never thought I'd wear skinny pants, but after 13 months my body is starting to change for the better. I'm not in my goal weight yet (I still have 12 pounds to lose), but my saddlebags have dimished to a point that I can wear skinny pants if I want to and not be ashamed. To achieve my goals I say that diet is 65% and exercise 35%. I do Cathe, attend yoga once a week, and I also exercise outdoors (walking and hiking mostly). Two good books that changed my life (and my body) are "The 3 Hour Diet" and "You on a Diet", both best sellers. They both have the D word in their titles, but I've never been on a *diet* per se. They teach you what to eat, when, and how much. I thought I knew how to eat until I read those and then I started to see some changes on the scale and the mirror. I hope this helps. Please don't give up. Be patient and you'll see that by the end of the year things will be different. :)
 
Pilates really helped me trim down my middle. It really draws in the core region. I have been doing Winsor Pilates for about 3 years and love them all. It's tough at first but if you're consistent changes really happen! I now incorporate it about 2-3 days a week.

Hope this helps!

Susan
 
>Pilates really helped me trim down my middle. It really draws
>in the core region. I have been doing Winsor Pilates for about
>3 years and love them all. It's tough at first but if you're
>consistent changes really happen! I now incorporate it about
>2-3 days a week.
>
>Hope this helps!
>
>Susan

I agree. When I was doing Pilates it was the first time in my life I had ever seen significan't changes in my mid-section! I second the vote for pilates...DEFINATELY!:)
 
Thanks for the suggestion of Pilates. I have a few Winsor Pilates but was never consistent with it. I think I need to really try to stick with it for a time. Any other Pilates suggestions besides Winsor?
 
I have tried Stott Pilates and they were good also. I have read a lot of good reviews on them too.
 
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