Birthing Hips
July 30, 2010 1:38 PM Subscribe
My body has appeared to change, but has it really changed beneath the surface?
For most of my life, I had what is known as a "boyish" figure--slim throughout the hips and thighs, with no real difference between my hips and waist. Also known as "the rectangle." Whenever I put on extra weight, it tended to distribute evenly through my torso, giving me that sexy potato look.
Then about two years ago, when I was 26/27, my body underwent what felt like a second puberty. Over the course of about six months, my body dramatically changed shape--my waist got a few inches smaller, my hips got a few more inches bigger, my butt got rounder, and my thighs thicker. I gained a few pounds, but less than ten pounds once everything was over (and no complaints about any of these change, by the way--I actually rather like having curves after years of being so narrow). My breasts also got larger, although it's not as huge of a difference as my lower body.
And this isn't just me noticing minute changes in my body--literally every pair of pants I owned (I still wore junior sizes) stopping fitting. Some I could not get past my thighs. A pair I bought in August did not fit in October. Friends commented on my body. Someone I hadn't seen in years asked, "When did you get that ass?" My husband makes comments CONSTANTLY.
I hadn't changed my eating or exercise habits during this time. I've always been on the smaller side, and was then and fairly athletic.
And since it's probably important, all this went down about a year after a pregnancy and first trimester abortion.
My question is: what the hell happened? Why did my body suddenly change, and so dramatically? Was it due to the pregnancy (although there was enough of a time gap that I doubt it's related), or is it simply getting older?
And the question that I'm wondering more about: did my body structure actually change? I know my hips are bigger, but did the actual location/shape of my hipbones actually change? Do I, after years of being straight-up-and-down, actually have child bearing hips (that is, will childbirth be "easier" now than it would have been before), or is a purely a superficial change?
For most of my life, I had what is known as a "boyish" figure--slim throughout the hips and thighs, with no real difference between my hips and waist. Also known as "the rectangle." Whenever I put on extra weight, it tended to distribute evenly through my torso, giving me that sexy potato look.
Then about two years ago, when I was 26/27, my body underwent what felt like a second puberty. Over the course of about six months, my body dramatically changed shape--my waist got a few inches smaller, my hips got a few more inches bigger, my butt got rounder, and my thighs thicker. I gained a few pounds, but less than ten pounds once everything was over (and no complaints about any of these change, by the way--I actually rather like having curves after years of being so narrow). My breasts also got larger, although it's not as huge of a difference as my lower body.
And this isn't just me noticing minute changes in my body--literally every pair of pants I owned (I still wore junior sizes) stopping fitting. Some I could not get past my thighs. A pair I bought in August did not fit in October. Friends commented on my body. Someone I hadn't seen in years asked, "When did you get that ass?" My husband makes comments CONSTANTLY.
I hadn't changed my eating or exercise habits during this time. I've always been on the smaller side, and was then and fairly athletic.
And since it's probably important, all this went down about a year after a pregnancy and first trimester abortion.
My question is: what the hell happened? Why did my body suddenly change, and so dramatically? Was it due to the pregnancy (although there was enough of a time gap that I doubt it's related), or is it simply getting older?
And the question that I'm wondering more about: did my body structure actually change? I know my hips are bigger, but did the actual location/shape of my hipbones actually change? Do I, after years of being straight-up-and-down, actually have child bearing hips (that is, will childbirth be "easier" now than it would have been before), or is a purely a superficial change?
Response by poster: I did not at the time; I've since starting using an IUD, but that was only 6 or so months ago.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 2:27 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by Ideal Impulse at 2:27 PM on July 30, 2010
Heh, I'm 26/27 and about 6 months ago my chest suddenly went up a cup size. This was accompanied by soreness, which I realized after a while (and after medical tests determined there was nothing physically wrong with me) was probably the same pain that accompanies breast growth during puberty. One of my best friends (female), the same age, randomly lost 15 pounds with no changes in eating or exercise. So I'm thinking that maybe there's some kind of hormonal shift that can happen in one's mid/late twenties, though it would be nice to hear someone with actual medical knowledge weigh in.
I'm kind of hoping it's reversible, although I'm not holding my breath...
posted by pluckemin at 2:36 PM on July 30, 2010
I'm kind of hoping it's reversible, although I'm not holding my breath...
posted by pluckemin at 2:36 PM on July 30, 2010
I don't know the why, but regarding the change in your body structure:
When women get pregnant, their hips widen not because the actual pelvis has grown but because the ligaments holding the pelvis in place begin to loosen, allowing the pelvis to spread out, making room not only for the growing baby but also allowing for childbirth.
So it's unlikely that your bones have "moved" or changed shape, but it may be that whatever happened caused the ligaments/musculature around your pelvis to "relax" for lack of a better word.
posted by devinemissk at 2:44 PM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
When women get pregnant, their hips widen not because the actual pelvis has grown but because the ligaments holding the pelvis in place begin to loosen, allowing the pelvis to spread out, making room not only for the growing baby but also allowing for childbirth.
So it's unlikely that your bones have "moved" or changed shape, but it may be that whatever happened caused the ligaments/musculature around your pelvis to "relax" for lack of a better word.
posted by devinemissk at 2:44 PM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
Most people think 18 is some kind of stopping point for your body but it really doesn't stop growing until you're around about 25ish, and if you start looking up how and when other systems in your body stop growing/ageing/changing you may be a little surprised.
It sounds like you had some kind of hormonal shift. The hormonal system can go through huge shifts for men and women upwards 'till around between 45 and 55, after that it's usually a gradual decline.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:38 PM on July 30, 2010
It sounds like you had some kind of hormonal shift. The hormonal system can go through huge shifts for men and women upwards 'till around between 45 and 55, after that it's usually a gradual decline.
posted by P.o.B. at 4:38 PM on July 30, 2010
I suddenly went "LOOK BOOBS" at 28ish, so I'm at least a supporting data point. My mother had the same sort of sudden shape change around that time, and is now trending back towards the sort of rail-thin size I remember my grandmother being.
If you've got access, start asking female relatives. It could be hereditary.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 5:56 PM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
If you've got access, start asking female relatives. It could be hereditary.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 5:56 PM on July 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
I had a friend who was about 5'5 from her late teens until her mid 20's.....now she's 5'7. Her mom experienced the same thing in her mid 20's. Neither of them got curvier but growth is due to hormones too so I'd guess that's the cause.
posted by Weaslegirl at 6:41 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by Weaslegirl at 6:41 PM on July 30, 2010
Off the wall question - did any of you mid-20s growers increase your soy intake around that time? It's just a wild guess based on the concept that soy can imitate hormones, so I thought I'd ask.
posted by CathyG at 7:20 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by CathyG at 7:20 PM on July 30, 2010
Mrs. RKS reports similar figure changes after 2 pregnancies, both when she was about 30/31 (14 months apart, both went full term). More in the chest than the hips, which were always curvy. She's very petite overall.
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:06 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by randomkeystrike at 8:06 PM on July 30, 2010
I believe I read somewhere the body and mind don't really fully mature until about 32 or so. I know at 28 I was suprised to gain another .5" of height and overall bigger arms. Working out helps too mind you but I always have worked out and never saw any gains until recently.
posted by Takeyourtime at 9:26 PM on July 30, 2010
posted by Takeyourtime at 9:26 PM on July 30, 2010
CathyG -- no increase in soy here. In fact, if anything, I've probably decreased the amount of soy I've been consuming, because I've started cooking meat more frequently. Interesting thought, though!
posted by pluckemin at 11:31 AM on July 31, 2010
posted by pluckemin at 11:31 AM on July 31, 2010
Response by poster: Same thing here with the soy--I was a vegetarian from age 16 to 22ish, but by the time these changes were happening, I was eating meat and drinking milk again, and very rarely consuming soy.
I have many female friends whose breasts have changed sizes, especially in their mid/late 20s, so that doesn't surprise me. But the hip size changing seems to be pretty unique to me. I'm also the only one of my friends who has been pregnant--unless they just haven't talked about it.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 11:40 AM on July 31, 2010
I have many female friends whose breasts have changed sizes, especially in their mid/late 20s, so that doesn't surprise me. But the hip size changing seems to be pretty unique to me. I'm also the only one of my friends who has been pregnant--unless they just haven't talked about it.
posted by Ideal Impulse at 11:40 AM on July 31, 2010
Not qualified to even attempt to answer your last question, but I'm here to add just another statistically meaningless yet oh-so-reassuring anecdata point. Your story sounds verrrry familiar to me, right down to the specific figure beforehand (I could not wear any actually sized bra, and my torso and lack of hips was the most noticeable part--I was literally straight up and down, though I've had a small but perky behind that guys have taken pains to tell me about approvingly even back then, and YES, I could wear junior sizes and size 0s and 2s, which was very convenient and cost effective, alas). And at the exact same age--a bit of a gradual shift shortly before 27, but super definitely noticeable at 27--I bizarrely sprouted hips, and yes, my torso got softer all around but turned in at the middle with a definite "oh, that's what most women have already!" flaring of hips and widening (they kind of, like, grew "out" in front, not so much so you could notice face-on) of my upper thighs. I was freaked out by it for exactly the same clothing-related reasons (I am still upset that it looks like I may never again be able to wear my favorite old jeans), and people definitely noticed the weird abrupt change (my husband was adorable being super embarrassed and tripping over his words trying to mention appreciatively he'd noticed the bust change in particular). I thought maybe I just needed to lose weight, but I have and I'm realizing the composition/shift in shape, not just the net/ultimate shape itself, is here to stay. I'm have mixed feelings about it--I really love being curvy for the first time ever (especially the array of PRETTY bras I can finally wear!), but can't help but feel a bit of wistfulness at not looking unusual (think cute pixie) anymore and not being able to wear the cute clothes I was used to (I totally get it now when women complain about standard sizing being weird for anyone with boobs and hips).
This all came as a surprise to me because the sexual fitness-peak (not desire, but fitness/prime to reproduce) Natalie Angier described as being around 25 had fit my experience; it was literally starting my 25th birthday and for that entire year I noticed my body acting like it was trying to convince anyone who'd notice how ready it was for a baby in almost creepy ways--I was wet ALL THE TIME, my period was perfectly synchronized and felt oh so "efficient", I seemed to be more attractive to everyone I met (I got hit on like nothing ever that year, it was shocking). So I just thought after that total "on" glow period began to wane my body would wind down hormonally and be stable until menopause. HA! No. A couple years later, the hourglass came.
I always assumed before all this actual puberty just kind of acted stunted with me, probably for weird slight hormonal imbalance reasons--when I first got my period at 14 it was all kinds of fucked up and stayed that way for years (I'd get it maybe 3 times a year with slight spotting in between occasionally, nothing like once a month though), I was a bit hairier than normal, never got any curves to speak of, felt completely asexual until well into my mid-20s, etc. In retrospect I wondered if it was because I wasn't getting the right nutrition--I didn't have a full blown eating disorder but my eating habits were fucked up and I had major depression and poison control and surgery and long hospitalizations in the wake of said mental disorder. I got a sex drive for the first time, as well as a somewhat normal but still not quite regular period, right around when I was mentally well and better at taking care of myself physically. A few years after that I got with my now-husband, started having a regular, healthy sex life as well as happiness and stability I'd never known before, and my period became like clockwork and the curves started happening.
I have no idea what in all those lurking factors and changes might have contributed, I just chalk it up in general to a hormonal shift, and it seems like they definitely can happen way later than expected. My mother (who is not related to me; I'm adopted), after being straight-up-and-down boyish and lamenting in her youth (and it's not just her subjective memory; photos and my dad's observations back it up), experienced the same thing, a sudden sprouting of boobs and hips and period changes, way way later than normal, and then AGAIN and AGAIN more severely each time at different phases in her life (I forget exactly, but it happened in her early 30s, and then again in her 40s, and then again in her 50s). She now is one of those ladies who has to buy special bras and all that.
So in short: hormones are really weird, and do not behave in the simple uniform "around 13 to 18, your body will change..." sex ed way we're lead to believe as kids and young adults.
posted by ifjuly at 11:48 AM on July 31, 2010
This all came as a surprise to me because the sexual fitness-peak (not desire, but fitness/prime to reproduce) Natalie Angier described as being around 25 had fit my experience; it was literally starting my 25th birthday and for that entire year I noticed my body acting like it was trying to convince anyone who'd notice how ready it was for a baby in almost creepy ways--I was wet ALL THE TIME, my period was perfectly synchronized and felt oh so "efficient", I seemed to be more attractive to everyone I met (I got hit on like nothing ever that year, it was shocking). So I just thought after that total "on" glow period began to wane my body would wind down hormonally and be stable until menopause. HA! No. A couple years later, the hourglass came.
I always assumed before all this actual puberty just kind of acted stunted with me, probably for weird slight hormonal imbalance reasons--when I first got my period at 14 it was all kinds of fucked up and stayed that way for years (I'd get it maybe 3 times a year with slight spotting in between occasionally, nothing like once a month though), I was a bit hairier than normal, never got any curves to speak of, felt completely asexual until well into my mid-20s, etc. In retrospect I wondered if it was because I wasn't getting the right nutrition--I didn't have a full blown eating disorder but my eating habits were fucked up and I had major depression and poison control and surgery and long hospitalizations in the wake of said mental disorder. I got a sex drive for the first time, as well as a somewhat normal but still not quite regular period, right around when I was mentally well and better at taking care of myself physically. A few years after that I got with my now-husband, started having a regular, healthy sex life as well as happiness and stability I'd never known before, and my period became like clockwork and the curves started happening.
I have no idea what in all those lurking factors and changes might have contributed, I just chalk it up in general to a hormonal shift, and it seems like they definitely can happen way later than expected. My mother (who is not related to me; I'm adopted), after being straight-up-and-down boyish and lamenting in her youth (and it's not just her subjective memory; photos and my dad's observations back it up), experienced the same thing, a sudden sprouting of boobs and hips and period changes, way way later than normal, and then AGAIN and AGAIN more severely each time at different phases in her life (I forget exactly, but it happened in her early 30s, and then again in her 40s, and then again in her 50s). She now is one of those ladies who has to buy special bras and all that.
So in short: hormones are really weird, and do not behave in the simple uniform "around 13 to 18, your body will change..." sex ed way we're lead to believe as kids and young adults.
posted by ifjuly at 11:48 AM on July 31, 2010
I've never been pregnant (that I know of), but I went through similar changes when I was about 25. Like you, I still had to shop for pants in teenybopper stores because my hips were so narrow. I could still fit into all the clothes I wore when I was 12. Then suddenly, I started gaining weight. It ended up being less than ten pounds, but it all went to my boobs and butt/thighs. I went from regularly being mistaken for a high school student to looking (for lack of a better word) "womanly." I figured it was like puberty phase two. I'm also hoping someone with medical knowledge will weigh in, but I do believe it's more than a superficial change.
posted by keep it under cover at 1:37 PM on July 31, 2010
posted by keep it under cover at 1:37 PM on July 31, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by galadriel at 2:21 PM on July 30, 2010