If you are going through puberty (which happens gradually over several years) you may notice your breasts getting fuller and your hips/thighs getting wider. Some girls also gain a bit of weight during this time, too. All of this, along with your first period, are simply signs that you are getting your adult woman body.
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.
While it is often assumed that the widening of the hips is due to an increase in body fat, researchers led by Dr. Laurence Dahners say that it is a natural process not linked to weight gain and that the pelvic bones of a 40 year old are wider than when he or she was 20 years of age.
The differences in hip shape and width are primarily determined by genetics. Hips are made up of bones and soft tissue, and their shape and size are influenced by hormones and the distribution of muscle, fat, and connective tissue.
"I think it's a fairly common human experience that people find themselves to be wider at the age of 40 or 60 then they were at 20," study researcher Dr. Laurence E. Dahners, a professor in the orthopedics department at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, said in a statement.
A Word From Verywell Family
You can rest assured that your widening hips, in most cases, will return back to their pre-pregnancy state, usually by 12 weeks postpartum. If you are experiencing pelvic pain or other hip-related issues, you should bring these up with your healthcare provider promptly.
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.
As we've mentioned before, the secret of how to make your hips look wider is all about tricking the eye. The smaller your waist looks, the wider your hips will appear.
Wide hips
Wide hips are a sexually dimorphic trait. During puberty, women's hipbones widen to facilitate childbirth. Hips don't lie—wide hips in a woman are a strong signifier to men that she's a mature adult who's very much capable of reproduction.
Yes, it can. Brisk walking is considered a good cardio exercise. The idea is to pump up your heart rate. As activities like walking, jogging and running include major leg work, it helps lose those extra kilos.
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.
Estrogen is actually a group of sex hormones, each of them performing different roles in women's health and development. Estrogen helps make women curvier than men by making their pelvis and hips wider, and their breast grow.
For example, as estrogen levels rise after puberty, it prompts the pelvis to widen so that it's at its widest from the ages of 25 to 30–peak fertility years–to make it easier to give birth to human babies, whose large heads need the extra room when getting pushed through the birth canal.
Due to metabolic and hormonal changes, some women experience increased body fat, making them naturally curvier.
This one-inch increase in pelvic diameter could lead to an approximately 7.6 cm increase in waist size from age 20 to age 79, whether or not body fat increases. While it's nice to be able to blame expanding girth on your bones, it is still important to maintain a healthy weight through diet and exercise.
Several women say that they feel like their hips got wider, but it's actually their pelvis bone structure that has changed, Jessica Shepherd, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology and director of Minimally Invasive Gynecology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, ...
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.
Puberty usually starts when you're between 9 and 13 years old. But it can start earlier or later. Thanks to hormones like estrogen, you'll notice changes like your breasts starting to grow and new curves forming on your body. You might notice that you start to get taller, and eventually you'll get your period.
It is not possible to reduce hip fat on its own. However, if a person desires to lose excess hip fat, it can help to examine their diet and exercise routine, as changes to these can reduce overall body fat. Toning up and building muscle through specific lower body exercises may also help reduce hip fat.
Carrying fat on the hips, thighs and bottom, rather than around the waist, has a range of health benefits and actively protects against diabetes and heart disease, experts at Oxford University said. Pear-shaped is considered preferable to being apple-shaped.
Having sex doesn't make your hips get wider. In fact, there's zero connection between sexual activity and body growth.