Can we change our body shape
The general shape of an individual is defined mainly by that person’s inherited skeletal structure, muscles and fat. So is it possible to change our body shape or are we stuck with what we’ve been given?
Skeletal structure grows and changes up until adulthood and then remains essentially the same until death. Muscle mass and fat distribution develops during puberty due to the influence of hormones, but can also be affected by activity levels and diet. Muscle mass and fat distribution then continue to change throughout life, due to these same influences.
So the answer is yes, we can have an effect on our body shape; the easiest and simplest way being through diet and exercise.
Some things are of course harder to change than others. During puberty, men develop broad shoulders and expanded ribcages to support the oxygen requirements of a larger muscle mass while women experience a widening of the hip bones to accommodate childbirth. For hormonal reasons, women also store most of their body fat in their buttocks, hips and thighs while men store most of their body fat around the abdominal area.
Unfortunately it appears to be human nature to want the opposite of what we have, and so we have a growing number of body conscious men who want bigger legs to balance out their expanded chests and broader shoulders, and women who want more shapely arms to balance out their larger buttocks and thicker legs. And of course we all want to be lean, because leanness is associated with the youth and virility that we are all so desperately trying to gain and/or hang on to.
As body shape is affected by muscle and fat distribution, does it not follow that by manipulating our muscle and fat distribution we can change our body shape. This is essentially what bodybuilding is all about.
Diet and exercise controls the amount of body fat that we store on our bodies, so a healthy calorie controlled diet and active lifestyle gives us control over our jelly bellies and chunky thighs.
The type of diet and exercise we follow affects the size and distribution of our muscle mass, so a “tailor made” diet and training program gives us control over our chicken legs and stick arms.
Sound easy? Nothing worth working for is ever easy but the results are always worth the effort!