women with broad hips in the States

[clandestinidad]

There are many many studies about the effects of estrogens in our environment on us. They ARE saying that cancers are related to estrogens we eat breathe etc. That online article that was quoted was not a bunch of crap, its one example of the research being done to try to decrease the cancers that are ravaging our bodies.

I dont know about fat distribution b/c of estrogens, I thought it was just b/c we sit on our asses too much ;b

[NatoPMT]

I live in London, almost every woman i know falls into either the apple or pear category, its less evident who is which shape when they are very slim, but you can see tendancies. The rest are either athletic or hourglass - not me unfortunately.

 

Its really easy to disguise the shape with certain cuts on your clothes. The style that suits pears is hipster jeans with low down back pockets. When i was in NY in June, I went to levis thinking id get a good deal on the jeans. Every pair i tried on looked seriously unflattering and when i asked for the style that suits me i was told that they were a european cut and not available in america. Maybe in general US women havent been shown how to hide it and there are overweight people to illustrate it. Obesity is low in japan, but i see japanese girls who have the pear proportions, however, they are slim. I 'guess' that hormones may be contributing to this, modern living certainly is - women in the 50's had very different shapes to us. The clothing industry is constantly changing cuts.

 

The pear shape is always spoken of in the uk as being an 'english' shape, the media call it the 'classic British pear shape'. They also report it as being a 'safer' shape as the fat is laid away from the vital organs.

 

BB

[Miranda]

Women simply more commonly have a pear shape...regardless of their ethnicity. It's just a "potential to carry a fetus between your pelvic bones" kinda thing. Even slim women typically have more flaring hips, and when you gain weight, it's even more noticeable. Having traveled in European and African countries, I don't think being bottom-heavy, proportionally speaking, is a purely American phenomenon at all (though being overweight definitely is, due to our abundance of desk jobs, and the fact that compared to many other countries, we don't walk ANYwhere).

[This_Too_Shall_Pass]

Actually, I had a question that was completely opposite to what the OP posted.

 

I've observed that slim and average-weight women in the US don't have a tendency to be pear-shaped!! I've seen so many girls and women who would be classified as normal and healthy, and they have an impossibly small rear compared to women in other parts of the world!! And what's more amazing is, they tend to have a very ample bust.

 

For the record, let me reiterate commonly-known facts: a) Obesity is higher in the US than in most countries, b) Most people have a tendency to carry weight either in the abdominal or the hip region (apple or pear shaped), and c) Women tend to be more pear shaped, in general.

 

Now from my experience, women with a big bust (generally) tend to be apple-shaped. Also, women with an "average" bust tend to lean toward the pear shape. But here in the US, I've seen women who are very slim and have a small butt...but they have a really big bust for their body!! I'm talking of someone who's about 5'4" tall, weighs about 114 lbs, and has a bust size of 34 C or D. And I've seen this is more common in young (15-30 yrs) females. I'm not talking about implants either, because it can't be possible that every 3rd woman here has implants.

 

I'm wondering why (and how) is this so?! I haven't seen women in Europe or in Asia with this very peculiar build.

[jen_jen_heartbroken]

I'm not talking about implants either, because it can't be possible that every 3rd woman here has implants.

 

If you're from CA, then it might be more like every other woman. The procedure is cheaper than ever, and companies that offer financing of plastic surgery is a booming industry.

[JS17]

I'm wondering why (and how) is this so?!

Hormones. Read a4a's post. Also keep genetics in mind. Different body types originate from different regions, it's bottlenecking/the founder effect.

[Outcast]

You live in California. It's entirely possible that every 3rd woman has them.

[This_Too_Shall_Pass]

You live in California. It's entirely possible that every 3rd woman has them.

 

 

No, seriously. I don't live in Los Angeles. Up here in Northern California, I'm not sure if I can say that every 3rd woman has them.

 

And half of these are young girls - say 15 to 25. Now breast implants are probably the most common in that age group - but still, I'd think they're too young to pay for the surgery! Unless their parents finance it.

 

I guess what I'm pointing to is the fact that the American woman's bust seems to have grown phenomenally over the past 20 years. Just look at pictures of women in the 60s and 70s...and then look at 15 yr olds right now. I don't know if it's the food and hormones or just girls becoming really attentive towards their breasts because of all the media influence and such - but the difference is marked.

[Outcast]

I think you're suffering from 'confirmation bias'.

[This_Too_Shall_Pass]

I think you're suffering from 'confirmation bias'.

 

Never heard of it.

 

Do enlighten this ignorant bumpkin, O Wise One.

[a4a]

 

 

 

I guess what I'm pointing to is the fact that the American woman's bust seems to have grown phenomenally over the past 20 years. Just look at pictures of women in the 60s and 70s...and then look at 15 yr olds right now.

 

 

the push up bra perhaps?

 

a4a

[Outcast]

Never heard of it.

 

Do enlighten this ignorant bumpkin, O Wise One.

 

LOL. You know how the minute you buy a brand new Mini you suddenly realize how many people are driving Minis? Or how if you get your hair tinted Sunshine Coast Glow you realize that half the town has gotten the same colouring? It's a human phenomenon to notice evidence which proves your theory more than other information.

 

If you go out today persuaded that everybody else is part of a couple but you, you'll not even notice all the singles travelling solo.

[SincereOnlineGuy]

I'm from Switzerland. I've been to a couple of European countries, including Italy, and I've never seen similar proportions. Italian women I think tend to be a little bit more curvy, especially when they get older, but it's nothing compared to what I've seen in the States. Example, a woman has a bust circumference of 85 cm, her waistline is 68 cm and her hips are like 130 cm. This is kind of disproportionate. Even when women tend to store fat around their hips, they usually don't do it to such extremes, eventually they will grow bigger everywhere when they gain weight.

 

The first time I saw a woman with these proportions I found it utterly bizarre. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm cruel, but I'm really curious about this, because as far as now I have only seen this phenomenon in the States.

 

LOL - "utterly bizarre" is your perception of what you saw.

 

The locals will share a laugh given the converted measurements you gave for an example:

 

Imagine a woman measuring:

 

33.5 - 26.5 - 51

 

Most women who look like that are coincidentally standing in front of a mirror at the carnival.

 

When talking about obese America it is probably unwise to begin with waist measurements of 26 1/2 inches.

 

Anyway, I would most like to put in a word of admiration for women who do have those full hips whose origins are almost completely genetic.

 

It has been stated that the single most significant factor about what men admire in the physicality of women is the waist-to-hip ratio. I think that once you bring the numbers you offered back in line with reality then you'll find many American women not so far off of the ".70" waist-to-hip ratio which is said to be "ideal".

 

I have to admit having been drawn to the subject line of your first post.

[JeT'Aime]

I'm actually from America (the States) and i have noticed that too. Well actually, I'm one of those women you're talking about. The only reason i can think of would be all the sitting. maybe all the fat just goes to your butt!!! haha! probably not. all i have to say, is that i love the way my body is. i'm not fat, but the only place i gain weight is my hips and butt. and personally, i think it's very feminine. i love my girly figure!

[EMJ]

How many drive-throughs restaurant, banking, drug stores etc. are in Switzerland? How many Europeans eat their major meals out of paper bags on a regular basis? How many suburbs exist in Europe that can only be reached by car? How many meals are ready in 5 minutes or less in Europe?

 

The American diet since 1960 has been about all of those things. Speed and convience and everyone, including small children are paying the price with obesity and related health issues. It's lifestyle. In the countries who follow the trend, you will see obesity where it rarely existed before, think Japan.

 

It takes rejecting that lifestyle, which is not easy, to get and stay thin. It's a choice. Or a lot of better choices. Fortunately there is another harder but more satifisying option. Give up the processed and fast food and take the time to prepare and eat more nutricious food. Move your body more, especially when you don't feel like it. We know it's true we just have to get off our lazy butts and do it!

[Outcast]

We know it's true we just have to get off our lazy butts and do it!

 

Oh don't be silly. Much better to blame 'hormones' 'the big bad food machine' and 'purple people from planet Znogflybz' rather than take responsibility for shoving masses of food down one's piehole and not moving one's immense butt off a chair or out of a vehicle.

[jen_jen_heartbroken]

I've been told I eat like a bird. But I'm one of those people who needs to spend an hour or two at the gym every single day if I want to be on the thin side of things. I do spend quite a bit of time exercizing each week, but I don't want to live at the gym...rather be doing other things. So I'm a bit more curvy than I'd ideally like to be. But, on the other hand, my man loves my shape, so I really can't complain. My girlfriend is pretty lucky. She eats take-out and candy all the time, never exercizes and is a size 2. Everyone's body and metabolism is different. One of those things makes people unique.

[Fun2BMe]

I've been told I eat like a bird. But I'm one of those people who needs to spend an hour or two at the gym every single day if I want to be on the thin side of things. ...

 

My girlfriend is pretty lucky. She eats take-out and candy all the time, never exercizes and is a size 2.

Digesting lots of food burns more calories than your two hours at the gym. Don't you know that the less you eat, the easier it is to gain weight?

 

I eat a lot and exercise just a little bit, enough to keep me in shape. If I reversed it to eat a little and spend my day at the gym (which for many years I regretably did) I'd be in your situation.

[chantelle]

Digesting lots of food burns more calories than your two hours at the gym. Don't you know that the less you eat, the easier it is to gain weight?

 

I eat a lot and exercise just a little bit, enough to keep me in shape. If I reversed it to eat a little and spend my day at the gym (which for many years I regretably did) I'd be in your situation.

That sounds very strange...

 

So, till far as now, most don't have noticed this phenomenon. That's also weird...

[Fun2BMe]

That sounds very strange...

 

So, till far as now, most don't have noticed this phenomenon. That's also weird...

I had heard of it, but found it hard to believe until I tried it. I then lost several sizes by eating more and exercising less. This refers to people who literally do eat like a bird. That is a curse, you will find it very difficult to lose weight after the initial week or so, let alone if you eat like that permanently.

 

If you have a little bit more to eat than usual on a given day which to the average person would be very insignificant, it would deposit straight to the hips or other fat banks. Your body is used to little food like it's starving, so as soon as you eat a little more, it stores it thinking that it will go back to starving mode and need that energy.

 

On the other hand someone who eats a lot, the body is quickly digesting it and is used to expelling it, not in a shock mode where it will immediately store it for the future. Your body knows you're a pig and there will be more to come, all the while burning a lot of calories!

[Clair]

It depends on what exactly you eat. You can eat like a bird, but if what you eat is carbohydrates, you will gain weight. You can only eat so much carbs (I still haven't figured out how much), but for me it's definitely not more than 100 g a day.

[Joe in Vegas]

I'm going to ask a question now, and please, I hope nobody will take it the wrong way. It's just something that I noticed once and I couldn't really find any explanation for it.

 

I spent some times in the States and what caught my attention was that a lot of women had very broad hips and thighs. Their upper body would be slim, but the lower part would be really big, like they were wearing big saddlebags on each side of their hips and all the fat would be concentrating in this region. I've seen overweight women and usually they are bigger everywhere, everything on their body is a little bit bigger, but these women looked so disproportionate. I've never seen this anywhere else, just in the States. I have to admit, the first time I saw a woman who looked like this I was a bit shocked. It looked absolutely weird, not like the usual overweight women I have seen as far as now.

 

Is there any explanation to it? Is it the food, an increased prescription of the pill?

 

P. S. This is not supposed to be thread for bashing people, so I'd appreciate it if anybody who has problems with overweight people would just to stay out of this thread, ok?

 

 

It's definitely the food here in the States. Fast food restaurants selling greasy, fatty foods like hamburgers and "french fried" potatoes boiled in grease, are EVERYWHERE in the US. This is a revolution in eating habits that begun sometime in the 1950s, but accelerated massively during the 1970s and 1980s. The US has a very fast-paced lifestyle also; among married couples, even young couples, both parents are usually forced to work because most middle-class and working-poor jobs don't pay enough to support a family on. The combination of ubiquitous fast food restaurants on every major street in every city and town, the fast-paced, work-to-survive lifestyle of "Middle America", and the fact that most people (except for the wealthy) are forced to patronize fast-food restaurants very frequently simply because of their convenience and ubiquity, and you have people growing in girth. Women generally tend to put on weight around the hips, so you see a lot of women in the US with big hips and buttocks. I guarantee you that these are people for whom "fast food" has become a habitual lifestyle; and moreover, they are FORCED into this lifestyle by their hectic, workaday lives which leave little time for cooking or shopping for fresh foods anymore.

 

Although there are many women in the US who have this big-hipped, overweight physique, it's also interesting to note that this body shape starts early, with kids. Looking at average teenage girls (especially young Hispanic girls -- children of low-wage immigrant workers in the cities, who are forced to eat a lot of greasy fast foods -- you find that they've lost the traditional "hourglass" shape of a young woman, and in addition to having corpulent hips, they also have thick waists, making the overall body shape look "straight up and down", like a man's, rather than curvaceous like a woman's. This is true with many white girls as well, but for some reason whites and blacks tend to be more immune to this, even though they are eating a lot of fast food as well.

 

That's not the only weird thing about female figures in the US. There are other oddities; for instance, the loss of the "hourglass" figure, with American women trending towards women who are either stick-thin or thick-waisted.

 

I was recently in Eastern Europe and found that almost all of the teenage and 20-something young women there have beautiful, slim, hourglass shapes with nice curves -- small waists and broader hips. In the US, among most groups, you see a lot less of this. You either see girls and young women who are stick-shaped (thin, straight-up-and-down bodies, like boys), or thick all the way up and down, like the young, overweight Hispanic (mostly Mexican) women I mentioned. Whenever I see a young woman in the US with a nice traditional "hourglass" figure, I'm delighted and make a mental note of it. But, increasingly in the US, this seems to be a fairly rare sight.