Is it possible to change your shape?

[Greenfingers37]

For my whole life, I've had a typical pear shaped figure-quite petite on top but with big hips, bum and more belly fat than I'd like! For context, I'm 56 and currently 12 stone 3 pounds.

Is it realistic to think that, with diet/exercise/weight training, I could be more in proportion? I realise I'm overweight but I know people who are heavier yet look so much better in their clothes.
I've joined the gym and a running club-I can currently run about 3K non stop although not very quickly.
Any advice would be welcome!

I don’t think so. You couldn’t suddenly become an hourglass for example. It’s 99% genetics.

There are 2 things that affect your body shape (apart from anatomy like height): amount of body fat and muscle. These are the 2 things you can change.

So if you lose some body fat and increase the amount of muscle then yes, you can change your shape. For example you can increase the size of your upper body by building muscles and lose body fat to slim down the bottom. But as the storage of fat is determined by your genes you can't change where the fat goes.

That's the technical answer!

Completely agree with @safetyzone you can't change where you gain or lose fat from, you can build muscle.

I am naturally pear shaped when I gain weight ie it all goes on my hips and thighs but I have trained hard to build my back and shoulders so now I look a lot more balanced.

My friend has a gastric bypass and went from an apple shape to a straight up and down .
I've always been hourglass ( lucky me) even when pregnancy and gaining and losing weight . You could get a boob job tk even put your body but a bit extreme

Yes, this happened to me with regular training. I was always a pear and with regular exercise I lost saddle bags and fat from my tights that have become visibly toned. I started with just over 104 cm wide hips and ended with 88 cm so quite a big difference.
I also lost some centimeters around my boobs but because they were already on the small side the change wasn’t so dramatic.

I am 6 months pregnant now and of course I don’t diet but I still exercise, adapting the level to my ability and I eat very healthily. I didn’t put the hips centimeters back on, my hips are wider because my pelvis is stretching but I still have visibly toned legs and no saddle bags.

So it’s is possible with some commitment, my whole body has become more athletic with training.

Thanks for all your replies and advice. Lots of food for thought 💪