I'm somewhere between an hourglass and an apple. I have fairly broad shoulders and ample boobs. I still have a tummy, and think I always will. My hips are broad, but I don't have all that much of a butt.
My aunt and cousin are true apples with even more boobs and belly, but less hips.
I'm unusually hourglass/pear shaped (unusual only because I'm a guy, who are usually more V/apples) -- but I've always been better at lower body workouts so maybe just bigger muscles.
Either way, no major complaints -- though just a tad hard finding good men's jeans that fit well (most of them are a bit snug around the thighs, and I don't like the baggy style.)
When I am in my healthy range, I am perfectly proportionate. (I have had 2 different seamstresses tell me how rare that was when they were doing dresses for me ..and I didn't feel proportionate! )
Now as an overweight girl i have a really big tummy..not so big hips, or thighs..so yeah imo many "apples" when they are their ideal weight , you cannot tell their shape..pears often you can cause they're a bit hippier, with a bit more generous thigh though it does look very feminine.
A lot of it is finding the right style to fit your body-relaxed fit (fuller through the hips and thighs), Old Navy Curvy cut jeans, and jeans that are made "At The Waist" or "Just Below The Waist" at Old Navy are cut more for hourglasses and pears...and the low rise boot cut style jeans are cut more for apples.
I just found out this last weekend that Old Navy is re-designing their denim line. I too love the curvy jeans (I'm an hourglass) I'll be sad if they discontinue them. I went into the store and they were completely depleted on jeans and when I asked about it that's what they told me. Online is picked over too. I think the girl said that the new line comes out mid-June.
Have you ever tried Levi's 515s? I find that they fit me really well for low-rise jeans.
You can't really change your body shape-if you are an apple, then you will never be an hourglass. Our bodies are genetically made to be what shape they are. When we are heavy, we all have those certain spots where the weight tends to stay.
It may seem like you might be changing shape as you lose-but it is because you are losing weight/fat. When you are closer to goal weight, your body doesn't have as much fat in your problem areas, so you look more proportioned. You aren't becoming an hourglass as you lose weight-when you were a pear or apple. You are still what you are, just not holding onto the fat in the places where it was obvious before.
Even in thin women, you can see their shape if you really look. At their ideal weights, and in good shape-apples tend to have more defined/muscular legs with more definition. Pears and hourglasses do not. Hourglasses and pears tend to have much more shapely and defined abs-while it is really hard, even thin and fit, for apples and cylindars to get that curvy waist and ab definition. Apples tend to have broader ribcages-even being thin they might wear a 36-38 band size on their bra...and a pear or hourglass might wear a 34 at a similar weight/height.
Hourglasses and pears both have curvy, womanly hips and legs-but the hourglass will be more chesty and have more proportional shoulders. At the same height and weight, the pear might be a B cup, and the hourglass might be a C.
You will look more proportioned as you lose and get fit-but you can't really change what your natural body type is. You can only lose weight to minimize that, and dress to flatter your natural shape.
aphils description leaves me even MORE confused about what I am...
I'm definitely NOT an hourglass, even though I am really busty. I never have close to a 10" difference hip to waist to bust.
I used to be more apple, even as a teen I carried belly fat...this time my lower belly is losing weight, never has happened before in my life, I am losing in completely different places than before. (maybe SBD isnt full of crap on "lose belly fat")
But I am a 34 band....although I dont tend to think of myself as having a small ribcage because my ribs decend into my waist to the point where my ribsize controls my waist size more than anything else. And my ribs dont V
I'm somewhere between an apple and an H. I think if I get to my ideal body weight my body type will be "tree" Straight solid undefined trunk that branches suddenly into enormous boobs and shoulders.
ennay-
How are your arms? Do you tend to carry fat there when you are heavier?
How does your back look when you are heavier?
Do you have any cellulite at all?
Do your legs look more "long and lean" like Cameron Diaz-or do you get more sculpted calves-really defined muscles in them in the back, contrasting with narrower ankles.
Your belly fat...is it all over (upper and lower abs and love handles) or is it concentrated more in one area of the abs?
Is your butt nonexistent-as in very small hips when you look directly in front of the mirror at yourself...or is your hip measurement smaller because if you look at yourself in front of the mirror, you HAVE hips that you can see wider than your waist...but from the side your butt is "flat". (So the measurement would still be smaller than an hourglass. (Did that make sense at all? )
A 34 band size can be an apple or a cylindar...I was just saying that if you had women of the same size, that the apples would tend to have larger band sizes compared to pears or hourglasses of the same size.
I have a big butt, fat all over my tummy and back, big arms, shoulders about the same width as my hips, waist 12 inches smaller than both hips/shoulders, thin ankles and muscular legs, big calves but smaller ankles, I wear a 40C but I've fluctuated between B and C cups.
The body shapes (apple, pear, cylinder, whatever) are just general guidelines, general ways of categorizing different body shapes. It's entirely possible for you not to fit into any one category prefectly. Humans aren't binary (apple or not, cylinder or not) in that way.
I'm not sure what shape I would be considered. Although I carry extra weight in my arms, chest....I carry most of my weight in my abdomen and thighs. Not my butt though....i have a flat butt. But I definately need to lose from my abs and thighs!!! So what does that make me????
though it does look very feminine.
I too love the curvy jeans (I'm an hourglass) I'll be sad if they discontinue them. I went into the store and they were completely depleted on jeans and when I asked about it that's what they told me. Online is picked over too. I think the girl said that the new line comes out mid-June. 
