Pear-shaped with wide shoulders

Just wondering..is anyone else out there a pear with wide shoulders? Every book/site I've read says that pears have narrow shoulders and wide hips, so I'm confused as to what shape I'm considered. (I do have a small bust though.)

Does your waist go like this:

) (  ---- Hour glass

This

/ \   ---- Pear 

or this

\  /   ----   Apple

or this

| |    ----  Plank (or something like that)

I would consider myself pear-shaped (large bum, wide hips, smallish chest) and I have very broad shoulders. Thanks a lot, mother nature, LOL. I doubt any of us fits strictly into a certain body shape.

If you have wide shoulders along with a bigger bottom, you probably are an hourglass.

Oh, I see. Well that does sound much better than pear-shaped...but when I made my little virtual model dealy the pear one seemed to resemble me more. But let's go with hourglass :D

My waist does look like this: / \ 

But "pear" just seems like the wrong word to describe my body type, just because of the broad shoulders.  I know it doesn't matter that much, but I just wanted to know so I could try and pick clothing that flatters my body shape.

I just read that pear shapes can have wide shoulders, and usually have larger frames.  I am considered a pear but looking at your diarrama I am definately an hourglass.

Are you within normal BMI range, or still losing?

If you are still losing, it is possible that the wide shoulders will go away and a more pear-ish shape will be revealed. I am thinking about my mother, when she's within normal BMI range, she's most definetly pear, but when she puts on enough weight her arms and shoulders and upper back fill out and it's not so obvious. Like you, her bust is small.

My sister, when at normal BMI, is more of an hourglass, in her 20s she used to have a 36-24-36 measurement with C chest, which is the "classic" hourglass. When she gains enough weight, you can't tell that at all - she looks more like an apple.

I think another way to figure this out is to compare your bra-band measurement to your hip measurement. If they are more or less equal, you are more likely hourglass or plank or apple, rather than pear. To determine which one, you need to figure out your waist to hip ratio. If it's less than 0.8, then you're a pear or an hourglass. If it's more than 0.8, you are either a plank or an apple.

For example, at BMI of 20, my bra-band measurement is exactly the same as my hip measurement, and my waist to hip ratio is 0.81. When I gain weight, that ratio increases, so I would say I'm more apple than plank. But at normal BMI, you could make the case I'm pretty close to a plank! Except I always figured planks were naturally thinner.... and small chested, which I'm not.

Oh - and as my BMI increases, my shoulders look wider and wider, because I gain weight easily on my upper body. They *are* more wide than a pear shaped person's... but I am not quite a reverse triangle (linebacker-type) either. Although I may feel I look that way. :-(

When I'm in a positive mood, I like to just say I'm "proportionate." ;-)

Original Post by smasifi:

My waist does look like this: / \ 

But "pear" just seems like the wrong word to describe my body type, just because of the broad shoulders.  I know it doesn't matter that much, but I just wanted to know so I could try and pick clothing that flatters my body shape.

So does your body look like this:

\  /
/  \

Cuz that's an hour glass.

I can't figure out how you can have a big bottom and a big top and still call yourself a pear.

Well it's just confusing cuz I have wide shoulders, but then my boobs are like B cups (B- actually lool). And to answer your question jenmcc, I've always had wide shoulders, even when I weighed 128 and I was 5'4"...and now I'm 142..

Boobs don't determine what shape you are. Your general outline does.

I am in your body type-- i'm a very wide shouldered & wide bummed shape--

i now have a classic upper body triangle to almost non-existent hips-- i look more like

 \  /
  ||
 \  /

through my months of working out i've turned myself into a very broad shouldered/backed woman who has lost a great amount of hip width but not bum width--

so, while my measurements are

20.5" delt to delt (bare back shoulder to shoulder - not tip to tip)

34" bust (rib cage bc i have no bust at all)

27" waist (slimmest)

35" pubic bone

36.5" hips

39" widest part of bum (damn cellulite filled pear!)

(edit - those were my measurements last month so i just updated-- i didn't realize i'd changed so much!) 

I think that it's how you work out & where you are graced with ability to build muscle and how you work it- i walk, swim, bike, run, elliptical, stairmaster, weight train, and eat a very, very clean sickly depressing diet-- and don't even ask what I weigh-muscle weighs so much more than fat and the whole BMI is BS for some of us who carry a lot of muscle- i'll just say I wear a size 6 & am at around 15-16% body fat after months of killing myself working out & still not where I want to be body shape wise-- but athletically? I am very sure of myself!

eh-- as long as you look good!

 

 \  /
  ||
 \  /

and as far as naming this shape? lol-- it reminds me of roadkill!

 \  /
  ||
 \  /

Oh Em Gee! Get yourself to a doctor! You're missing part of your body!

Seriously though, you sound like an hour glass with a slightly smaller top than bottom. That's not a bad thing. I don't see why you have such a problem accepting this.