text: best eating/ exercise for my shape? i am 21 yrs old, 5'2 and weigh bout 112 lbs (8st). i am pear-shaped: very small waist and large hips & thighs. finding clothes is difficult cos if they fit me on legs, they are too big at waist...bla bla.    so basically, i'd like to be healthy, fit and hopefully slim down thighs a bit.  i have been trying to eat healthily, i like fruit, veg so that's no problem and i've been exercising regularly but i've put on bout 7lbs in last couple of months.  i'm totally confused at what eating healthily really means cos everywhere tells you different answers and i like fruit etc but find i'm always hungry.  i prefer to go to exercise classes (or swimming) rather than the gym cos its structured and have been going a step class but i don't know if it's maybe been building up my thighs instead....??  so, any real healthy eating answers and what's the best exercise for my shape? eating healthy has a fair amount of common sense to it. try and eat a balanced diet. your body needs three basic food groups, carbs, fats and proteins. diets like atkins do work but they are extremely bad for you.  eat fruit and salad for vitamins, rice bread potatoes etc for carbs. red meat will give you proteins and fats, white meat will give you proteins and less fat. for fats you can always use olive oil. grilled meat is best for dieting.  to lose weight take your daily recommended calorie intake, minus about 200 cal from that and then split that amount of calories into 6 meals that you eat regularly through out the day. drink plenty of water. for lunch and dinner take about a fist sized portion of carbs,meat and salad. avoid eating carbs for about 3-4 hrs before you sleep. chew your food for a long time. your exercise programme sounds ok, you could always ask a personnal trainer to give you a structured weighs programme. to be completley honest it sounds like you large hips and thighs may be to do with genetics as well. the exercises that you are doing shouldn't really build your thighs but should be toning them. aim to do about 45 mins of cardio work 4-5 times a week. good luck