When dressing for your shape, colour and occasion you need as well “to dress yourself” from the inside in order to ensure that you feel good about yourself. Both aspects need to be addressed – none can co exist without the other. No clothes or make up will be able to cover up a lack of sleep, a bad diet that is lacking of the right nutrients to make you feel good and look energised. Also it will have the unpleasant side effect to add additional pounds to your shape and mostly when that happens you put it on where you don’t want it. It is not about wearing Size 0, which I do not support, but about feeling good about yourself- no matter the size- with no regrets. Looking and feeling as good from the outside as you feel on the inside can be influenced by the right diet for your shape but also by the right workout for your shape. Every shape has different criteria good and bad therefore it is only logical that when we workout we need to apply different sets of rules to address different parts of the body we like to keep build up, slim down or just keep in shape. Someone who is a for example a. pear- carrying the weight on hips, thighs and calves will need to choose a different regime in diet and work as someone who is e.g. an inverted triangle who have broader shoulders or/and upper body than in comparison to their bottom . So, it is natural that their diet and workout plan has to vary from each other.

Our guide will help you find the perfect regime for your shape choose the right diet for your body shape!

• Inverted Triangle

Your build is characterised by:

• Straight and squared shoulder line
• Little definition between waist and hips
• Flat hips and bottom
• A bottom half that seems smaller than your top half

Advice

Doing a mixture of cardiovascular and resistance exercises will help. More resistance exercises on your lower body will be necessary, to obtain a balance between lower and upper.

Essential diet tips

• Stick to foods that are moderate in unsaturated fat – to avoid piling on the pounds – and high in calcium.
• Incorporate a balance of low G.I carbohydrates with lean proteins.

Essential exercise tips

• Lower body exercises like squats and lunges.
• Upper body toning exercise.
• Incorporate moderate to high amounts of cardiovascular exercise

• Lean Column

Your build is characterised by:

• Narrow shoulders
• Flat chest or small bust
• Small and non-defined waist
• Narrow hips and flat bottom

Advice

An exercise routine should include exercises to enhance gluteus and shoulder muscles. This will help curve out the shape of the body. Also do whole body

Essential diet tips

• Make sure you include plenty of lean protein, like fish and turkey; complex carbs, such as wholegrain rice and pasta; and calcium-rich foods, like yoghurt and tofu in your diet.
• Avoid carbonated soft drinks and cut down on starchy foods like white rice and potatoes.

Essential exercise tips

• No activity is off limits for your shape, but abdominal and back exercises should be high priority.
• Three days a week of formal exercise with lots of rest in between is ideal level.
• It’s important to exercise intensely and really tax the muscles during each workout in order to achieve good muscle tone.

• Rectangle

Your build is characterised by:

• Straight shoulder line
• Straight hips and bottom
• Very little waist definition
• Straight ribcage

Advice

Short fast bouts of cardiovascular exercises are recommended. High repetition resistance exercises may help tone and define shoulders, waist and hips.

Essential diet tips

• Eat a high protein diet to help muscle development. i.e fish, chicken, eggs and dairy products.
• Include RDA (recommended daily allowance) of omega 3 and 6, to help with joint suppleness during extra resistance training.

Essential exercise tips

• Upper body cardiovascular exercises will help define shoulders. Boxing training may help this as well as helping definition of the waist.
• Compound resistance training will help shape and strengthen of the middle part of the body.
• Exercises such as squats, deadlifts and pressing movements will help.

• Apple

Your build is characterised by:

• Rounded shoulder line
• Curved back
• Fullness around the middle
• Flattish bottom

Advice

Apples shapes should concentrate their exercise regimes on cardio activities to bring the body back to proportion by reducing upper body mass, while core- strengthening exercises will help to trim the waist further.

Essential diet tips

• Eat a moderate amount of healthy fats found in grains and oils, as well as lots of fruit and vegetables.
• Replace brown-coloured whole grain foods with smaller quantities of white.

Essential exercise tips

• Do high reps with low resistance for the upper body and high reps with moderate resistance for the lower body.
• Best exercises include step and spinning classes, racquet sports, abdominal crunches, kick-boxing and skipping.
• Worst exercises include all upper body exercises that involve using heavy weights.

• Pear

Your build is characterised by:

• Full hips or thighs
• A defined waist
• Shoulders that may slope and are narrower than your hips
• A top half that appears small

Advice

Doing cardiovascular exercises for quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteus for long durations will help. An example of this could be cycling or running. It would also help to do heavy resistance training on the upper body.

Essential diet tips

• Stick to foods that are low in fat – to avoid piling on the pounds – and high in calcium.
• Lower your salt intake to reduce water retention and cellulite in problem areas.

Essential exercise tips

• Use aerobic activities to slim your lower half and then strengthen the upper body with weights and resistance training.
• Best exercises include push-ups, chin-ups, leg lifts, jogging and dancing.
• Worst exercises include rollerblading, stepping and high resistance weights.

Neat hourglass

Your build is characterised by:

• A defined bust
• A defined waist
• A neat bottom
• Neat hips

Advice

Doing moderate to high intensity cardiovascular exercise will help tone the whole body. Carrying out resistance training at high reps and low weight will also help.

Essential diet tips

• Eat lean protein, such as skinless chicken breasts, and lots of leafy green vegetables, like spinach, broccoli and cabbage.
• Avoid foods high in sugar and limit your intake of eggs, dairy products and nuts.

Essential exercise tips

• Focus on losing weight and inches first with high reps and low resistance exercises, then slowly incorporate weights if you want.
• Best exercises for your shape include fast walking and slow jogging with no incline, jumping jacks, swimming for distance and stationary cycling with light resistance.
• Worst exercises include step and spin classes, leg presses and thigh machines on high resistance, weighted squats and lunges, and running or rollerblading on incline.

• Full Hourglass

Your build is characterised by:

• A full bust
• A small waist
• A rounded bottom
• Rounded hips

Advice

To help fat burning do interval training or circuit training. This will help burn excess fat around the body.

Essential diet tips

• Eat lean protein, such as skinless chicken breasts, and lots of leafy green vegetables, like spinach, broccoli and cabbage.
• Include lots of antioxidants and minerals to help break down fats within the body.

Essential exercise tips

• Use interval training and circuit training to help burn fats and tone up the whole body.
• Include exercises that help strengthen both lower and upper back.
• Include toning exercises like light resistance training for the whole body.

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Have a nice day,

Michaela

P.S: Net- a- porter is now available on Joy of Clothes