It's safe to say growing and birthing a baby does “some things” to the body. And while many of those changes are temporary, like strange skin conditions experienced during pregnancy, some may be more permanent, like altered DNA.
With the onset of puberty, the male pelvis remains on the same developmental trajectory, while the female pelvis develops in an entirely new direction, becoming wider and reaching its full width around the age of 25-30 years. From the age of 40 onward, the female pelvis then begins to narrow again.
Thicker Thighs and Legs
It can take up to a year to lose the weight gained during pregnancy, says Dr. Dawson. To lose weight gradually, experts recommend a mix of exercise and well-balanced nutrition.
For most women, these enlarged bones go back to their original place by about 18 weeks postpartum, but some women keep the extra girth permanently. "My hips stayed permanently wider which was great for me because I had no shape before," said a Reddit user.
A Word From Verywell Family
Widening hips allow for the baby to pass through the pelvic bone during birth. You can rest assured that your widening hips, in most cases, will return back to their pre-pregnancy state, usually by 12 weeks postpartum.
Female traits
Widening of the hip bones occurs as part of the female pubertal process, and estrogens (the predominant sex hormones in females) cause a widening of the pelvis as a part of sexual differentiation. Hence females generally have wider hips, permitting childbirth.
But the main reason for girls' hips to grow after marriage is their physical relationship. When all girls have sexual relations with their husbands after marriage, it causes hormonal changes in their body. It also affects other organs like their waist and hips. After marriage, women's hips gradually begin to grow.
In the early stages of pregnancy, our body begins to loosen our ligaments, aiding us in handling a different center of gravity and providing the base for our structure to expand. This evolution allows the uterus to expand rapidly after the first trimester as the hips widen and the ribcage flares.
For example, if you have a high hip bone placement, your hip dips will be more prominent because there's more space between your femur and your pelvis to create indentations. Hip dips can become more apparent after pregnancy, too, because of how pregnancy affects your body's weight distribution.
After birth, hormone levels drop quickly and often take the glow with them. In addition, the stress that comes with becoming a new parent and sleep deprivation can quickly make the skin look dull, dry and tired.
Giving birth can be a very traumatic experience. While the pain of childbirth wanes quickly, the discomfort that is associated with your hips being out of alignment can last for months if not treated. If you are dealing with post-partum pain and discomfort, a visit to our wellness chiropractor can help.
To keep up with the increasing uterus size during pregnancy, your rib cage and hip bone may also expand their width. And although the uterus will shrink back to its normal size post delivery, your hip bone and rib cage might remain expanded to make you wider permanently.
So, as you grow taller, your body starts producing all kinds of hormones, which are chemicals that tell parts of your body what to do. During that time of growth, your hips widen (depending partly on what your genes, aka heredity, told them to do!) This widening helps with having babies in your adult years.
Changes to the Buttocks, Hips, and Thighs
Extra fat also tends to accumulate around the hips and buttocks. This tends to be more pronounced in women than in men given the gendered differences in fat accumulation and distribution. Widening of the hips and buttocks can lead to a distinct pear shape.
Pear shape
How to tell if you're a pear: “Your hips are wider than your shoulders,” Roché says, “They are also wider than your bust, making them the widest area of your body. In numbers, your hip measurement is more than five percent bigger than your shoulder or bust measurements.
The pelvic width of the oldest people in the study (ages 70 to 79) was, on average, about an inch larger than the youngest people (ages 20 to 29), according to the study. That translates to about a three-inch increase in waist size between someone age 20 and someone age 79.
No, you're not just imagining it: Your hips really do get wider as you get older, according to a new study. Even though most people stop growing in height by the time they hit age 20, researchers have found evidence that the hip bones can keep growing even as people enter their 70s.
“Mom butt” is slang for a post-baby booty… a little saggier and a little flatter than what it used to be… This phenomenon results from muscular imbalances, and it's not just an aesthetic issue! The glutes work hand-in-hand with the pelvic floor and core muscles.
Pregnancy and postpartum postures often leave this area exposed. Usually the tightness is caused by weakness of the hip flexor and hamstring muscles.