body shape!!! what an hourglass really is

I don't know about any of you but I kinda get annoyed when someone claims to be an hourglass figure but ALSO mentions their top is bigger than their bottom or that their bottom is bigger than their top. That is NOT an hourglass. It's a pear or apple. An hourglass body shape has the bust and hips the SAME circumference and the waist AT LEAST 9 inches smaller than both the hips and waist, since they're the same size. Okay there sorry if I offended everyone. I did not mean too.

Good for you for providing a definition since people have actually been asking about it lately, but I don't get why it ANNOYS you. Someone claiming to be an hourglass doesn't somehow negate your status as one (if you are in fact an hourglass). If they have wider set shoulders they may really have a more hourglass shape than pear/apple shape--the 'hourglass' is seen from the front/back, after all, not how far your boobs stick out. Let people call themselves whatever they want.

Now, ME? I could NEVER pass for anything other than a pear but if I thought someone would buy me as an hourglass I'd go for it!

Great, by your definition I'm an hour glass!  52-42-52  -  Biggest hour glass i ever saw! LOL

But seriously, being this shape means I carry my extra pounds quite well!  Not many people would guess I'm 116lb over weight!

That would all be fine and dandy if you posted the correct definition.

Your bust is allowed to be up to 1 inch larger than your hips, though your hips can't be larger than your bust. Though your correct about 9 inches.

But answer me this...

My measurements (currently) are Hip:Waist:Bust 38-29-37 so in all technicality I am not an hourglass, I'd probably be classed as a pear. However 20lbs ago I was 40-30-40, which is an hourglass and previously when I have been 25lbs lighter my measurements have been 35-26-35...

So do I change my figure "status" every few months or just go by hourglass or pear?

Gee, do people actually claim to be "hourglass" these days?  I mean when we see all the "beautiful people" on TV etc., they could effectively replace a coat rack.   I could never achieve the status of a coat rack, unless I have starved to a near death scenario, but to be an hourglass?  That I can do.  Real women have hips.  Some of the most beautiful women ever known have been a rubinesque size 12.  I heard somewhere that even Marilyn Monroe wore a 16.  Clothes may have been cut a little smaller then..  but you get the picture.  How our society ever got to this stage - women on catwalks that look like death on a stick, and makeup that a Zombie would admire, I'll never understand.

You can gripe about the exact numbers all you like... but to most people an hourglass is a BALANCED shape, whatever the exact circumference is. Hips and Bust that look proportionate, and a body shape that dips in at the waist - and actually HAS a waist, whatever size it is. I don't have a wasp-waist, I don't have a large bust, and I don't have a huge butt/hips - the excess weight is pretty evenly distributed. I'm not top-heavy, and I'm not bottom-heavy either. I'm also tall enough that my torso is proportionate to my legs vertically and my waist comes in the middle where it's meant to. 

I never identified as an apple OR a pear... 

My current measurements are 46 - 41 - 46 and I've got my ever-shrinking stomach down to 46 too.  (and my ratio is improving because to my surprise my bust is shrinking much slower than my tummy - I was worried that my boobs would disappear entirely but I'm still a C-cup after losing 30 pounds. They weren't too small after all - the rest of me was too big for them. :P I'm getting more proportionate by the week.) 

this is the most ridiculous conversation ever.  a bunch of women tearing each other to shreds over some man's definition of the ideal female body.  unless you're getting sized for a dress, there's no need to talk about measurements.

I just measured: 42-34-42.  Crap! If I didn't measure after I ate breakfast, I would have been an hourglass!

Why would you get annoyed by people claiming this? I have more important things in my life to be annoyed by.

Actually, I have always had an hourglass figure, and it's a PITA to get clothes to fit!!!!

I kinda agree with KajiKat

When I think of Hourglass I think of it as a balance between the top and bottom,  Your waist should be a bit smaller since that's the emphasis of an hourglass.

 

Why does this bother you? Are you an hourglass and upset women are trying to make themselves seem more attractive when rightfully you think you are? Lol.

I don't know if I'm an hourglass or top heavy, maybe you can shed some light.

I use to be an hour glass when I was a teen, 36-26-36.

But now I'm 32D-24-34, which makes me sound like a pear. If I count bust as inches rather than bra size I'm 37-24-34, that would make me an inverted triangle.

(Also apple and triangle are different by the way. Apple is round in the midsection, triangle is top heavy with a thin midsection.)

I considered myself an hourglass, because my shoulders aren't broad, its just my chest... I don't know exactly what I am.

*EDIT* You know, scratch that, I don't think I want your answer. Everything you posted has been about body shape on CC. Are you on a mission? I don't think you really know what CC is about. This is a great community full of people trying to help each other. It seems the only person you are trying to help is yourself.

I have never been an hour glass, but that is o.k. I got a big ole pear shape. . .I am, however, jealous of the women with the hour glass shape. . .just thought I would add that!!!   

I nearly jumped for joy when I saw your post, pgeorgian.  Amen, I say!

Ouch, nasty "papercut"!  Its always the small cuts that hurt the worst.  I'm an hourglass my hips and bust are 47 my waist is 35.5.  I said shoulders in a previous post but meant bust. 

Anyways if someone thinks they are an hourglass because they are 40-30-42 then so be it.  Why make them assume pear at 2 inch difference.  Kids will do that to ya! And who the hell would ever want to admit they are a fricking apple, have you looked at an apple, not very appealing shape wise.  Who cares unless they are on the body type diet and even that should not matter, eating healthy getting healthy is the key.

*Double EDIT*  I'm agreeing with the previous edit up there.

Who gives a rats butt cheek.

I know... my measurements are 36-26-36 or so, but at 5'4, 120 pounds (and I actually want to lose my holiday weight of 3 pounds) my bones stick out. Everywhere.  I mean, you can see my rib cage when I'm bloated and see my individual ribs when I suck in.  And those shoulder bones.  And those hip bones.  And I'm not even *that* skinny! 

Thanks to the damn hourglass shape, my mother thinks I have an eating disorder.  Only positive is, an hourglass looks about 5-10 pounds thinner than an apple at the same weight. 

Original Post by smrox:

I know... my measurements are 36-26-36 or so, but at 5'4, 120 pounds (and I actually want to lose my holiday weight of 3 pounds) my bones stick out. Everywhere.  I mean, you can see my rib cage when I'm bloated and see my individual ribs when I suck in.  And those shoulder bones.  And those hip bones.  And I'm not even *that* skinny! 

Thanks to the damn hourglass shape, my mother thinks I have an eating disorder.  Only positive is, an hourglass looks about 5-10 pounds thinner than an apple at the same weight. 

smrox, i know what you mean.. i'm 5'4" too with a 34-24/25-34 shape.. and my bones are HUGE! especially my ribs and shoulders and wrists?. i used to have a really low weight but it just wasn't right.. since my waist doesn't go under 24".. i looked weird. i've just figured that the measurements i have now are the lowest i'll ever have, unless my bones shrink. so i just maintain my weight between 110-120 lbs and make sure my body fat stays low by working out with weights and doing cardio. best thing about being an hourglass with big bones is that we carry our weight better than others.. so we tend to look thinner when we might actually be heavier.

*Hourglass* and *Pear* are both Mesomorphs (though I understand Endomorphs can work their buns off to become hourglass shaped, as well - just doesn't come naturally).  Assigning a cute little icon to them is entirely subjective.  They both have the same structure when it comes to losing/gaining weight and muscle and the same challenges when it comes to losing weight.

-one who's an overfilled hourglass at any size by any definition, and needs to friggin' lose weight all over.  It ain't all it's cracked up to be.

I am an hourglass. Yall need to stop being being so hateful toward us kind. We are more beautiful, we can eat and wear what we want and we are so much smarter. As for conceitedness goes, we are not. Whoever is not an hourglass that is just too damn bad. You were not born with it and you will never have it. Just be happy with your own type and back up  offf of us!!!

This is a funny thread!!!  Ha!!!  I'm certainly not an hourglass but I like the hourglass shape.   (Although to get really technical about the measurements just seems sort of silly to me!!)  I'm a pear.  Not crazy about being a pear but I do the best with the genetic card I pulled!!  If you are a pear there are way to workout to help balance your proportions and of course there is always surgery.  But that not for me!!!  

Papercut, you are mistaken. It is a myth that an hourglass is about having the exact same measurements on the bust and hips. The shoulders and hips should be exactly the same width, not circumference all the way round. The hourglass takes its name from how it looks face on, not side on.

I woldn't get annoyed about it - it sounds like you are resentful of women who think their figures are better than they are, if anything!