Pear-shaped weight loss help

[Catcakes]

If you're very pear shaped, have you ever managed to actually lose weight off your lower half?

I'm an 8 on top and a 12-14 on the bottom. I've been like this since I was a teen. I'm fit and healthy but I cannot shift the fat off my lower half. I have so much trouble finding outfits I feel comfortable in, and I dread the summer. No matter what I do weight does not come off my hips and thighs. I do triathlons - I generally run around 30km a week, cycle, swim and do weights. All I eat is fish, rice, veg, salads, pasta, beans, lentils. 3 meals a day, normal portion sizes, and I rarely snack unless I'm doing a lot of training. I eat low sugar all week and usually treat myself to a pastry or a chocolate bar at the weekend.

Any advice or help appreciated.

I have lipodema and yes I have but it’s slow. Really focusing on leg exercises has helped make the muscles more defined and I still have chunky legs but they wobble less! I am just built this way so I try to dress to emphasise my top half. Can you try to embrace your strong legs in some way too?

I’m pear-shaped (store fat on hips, tummy and bum) and yes, my pear shape is just gone, I have become athletic built with small arse, which is quite a shock to me! Especially my saddle bags and my middle-aged tummy disappeared spectacularly. You already train a lot so it seems to be a matter of creating a small calorie deficit. I have been training 5-6 times a week for the third year running and my weight would slowly increase anyway, despite exercise and healthy eating. I was very fit and very plump!
It only clicked when I started counting calories.

I have to add that I’ve lost weight and fat evenly from the top half as well. So my small boobs are two sizes smaller and I can’t buy bras from my favourite brand anymore :-( I used to wear 30E and now it’s 32C so goodbye Freya!

Sorry I don’t want to dominate the topic but there’s one more thing that I found helpful. If you store fat round the hips it might be connected to high estrogen levels and it’s a bit of a vicious circle, because fat also secretes some amount of estrogen. What helps me (except for getting old so naturally my estrogen levels are lower than they used to be ) is tracking my cycle and eating foods in line with my cycle. This means that I eat more tofu, fish and so on in the follicular phase and then go for foods that aid production of progesterone in the luteal phase - stuff high in magnesium, vitamin C and B6. You should naturally have more energy in the luteal phase as well (higher metabolism, higher body temperature) so I also adapt my training to this, trying to listen to my body and push myself when I naturally have more energy. I hope this helps.

There are a lot of woo woo ideas about this online, such as seed cycling and other crazy theories. But it’s enough to understand how our cycle and hormones work and then make use of it.