Myth?
 

Is it true that the first place you lose is the last you gained? And the last place you will lose fat is the first place you gained? If this is true, is that why the last 5-10 pounds are so hard; because that fat has been there so long its "stubborn"? I have this probing idea that keeps entering my mind that I wont really start to see my legs "reshape" until I am at around 125 and below. Which makes me want to lower goal because my legs have the most fat to lose..

Am I being too confusing? lol

umm...i'm confused haha...could be because i have had a long day! ;)

How you gain weight is genetic. If you are a pear, you gain the most weight in your lower body. So you may in fact just seem to lose it there last because your upper body simply has less to lose. You become noticeably thinner on top faster than you do on the bottom.

I think this is really what is going on most of all. We lose weight all over, but depending on our body composition it may seem to be coming off of only one area. Again, women who are pear shaped have more to lose on the bottom, so it just naturally takes longer for any change there to be really noticeable. And, yes, those women are also genetically programmed to hold onto that weight. Losing it can be hard. Some women even find that they are getting too thin for comfort on the top before they lose all they want to on the bottom. But a lot of women are able to achieve their ultimate goals for themselves, I think.

Very good point! I think it may "appear" to be coming off only up top because it is more noticeable. Wish there was some way to keep my bubble butt but have my legs slim down and shape up :D

I'm a pear for sure!

There is! Strength train, strength train, strength train! What you lose in fat, you'll rebuild in muscle. Take it from a girl who had NO butt and had to literally build one from practically nothing (my butt was so flat, it was unable to hold up pants!). Squats, lunges, deadlifts...these are your friends in preserving or rebuilding the butt.

I built my butt through strength training, too. :) I believe wholeheartedly in squats, lunges, deadlifts and the like.

Total, total pear here. There was a very brief time when my thighs didn't touch, but I swear it was for fives minutes ten years ago. ;)

I wish the trend toward being fond of a tiny waist and big booty had been around when I was in high school. Would've been a little more popular then. *heh*

Could I just do lunges and squats and not do a full blown weight lifting session? For example, could I do 50 lunges and 50 squats 5 days a week and "shape" my butt and legs? Or does it have to be a full session?

The best way to shape your bottom is to lift heavy enough that you can't do 50 lunges and 50 squats. Or, rather, if you do that many, you shouldn't be doing them in one set. You should ideally be able to do only between 8 and 12 repetitions (reps) per set, though I have been known to go up to 15.

Granted, there are those who will disagree. But, in my experience, the best results are achieved by pushing your body to its limit rather than doing one set of endless repetitions of something that remains fairly easy for you to do.

Whatever you choose to do, you shouldn't work out the same muscles two days in a row. Your body needs a day to rest and work on healing.

And the answer is, yes, you could do just this, though it's actually better to mix things up with other exercises and keep challenging your body. There are a lot of different kinds of lunges, squats and deadlifts. I do them all as well as other things.

I do caution you, though: if you don't want to end up more pear shaped you really should work the upper half of your body, too. In fact, working out the upper half of your body can actually help you to look more like an hourglass than a pear. You can widen your back and shoulders, for example, and thereby even out your physique. And because you are losing weight—losing fat—you will not get bulky. It is fat that can make a lifter look bulky.

Everything Petite Powerhouse said, x2.

Lift heavy. If you can do 50 reps in a row, you're not holding enough weight. Push to failure, or close to failure (when you literally can't do EVEN ONE MORE REP with good form) to get good results.

Lift allover. Trust me, it makes gigantic differences in how you look overall. Building shoulders, arms, and back makes your waist look smaller, which then combines with your LB to give you an hourglass. Also, you burn calories faster, and it raises your overall metabolic rate a bit.

Petite Powerhouse and Mandalinn, I agree about pushing to the point of failure and I agree that 8-12 reps is good sometimes, but I also think it's ok to change it up. I always push to the point of failure, but sometimes I'll lift light and failure doesn't happen until 20. Sometimes I'll do 20 reps, then increase the weight while DEcreasing the reps, repeat for a third set. I make sure my third set is to the point of failure.

As to the original question, I have absolutely lost the weight in reverse manner of how I gained it. In the end the fat seemed to have no place else to go so it all went to the trunk. I lost my entire rear end first. :D Made me very happy! I have had thick thighs for as long as I can remember, and low and behold, I still have thick thighs. I am going to have to get lower than my very tiny college weight to see these thighs go, I think.