Hip dips: a normal, natural body part

AAt age 17, while I was restricting calories and exercising a lot, I remember looking in the mirror while getting ready for a party and realizing, oh my god, those indentations between my hips and my thighs (called “hip dips”). ) don’t seem to be around anymore! I was delighted. I felt warm.

I’ve come back to this moment countless times over the years as I looked in the mirror and noticed my hip dips (not having them was a fleeting moment in my life). If I just had the discipline from my senior year in the second semester, I could get back to that body, right?

The truth is, I had hip dips for my entire adolescence before that point, and after those few months, I had hip dips for my entire adulthood—when I was a teenager with a teenager’s metabolism and almost down to zero responsibilities. Hip dips were and are a part of my post-pubescent body.

It turns out that there are probably physiological reasons why I (or anyone else) has hip dips, and it has nothing to do with how “fit” you are.

“In today’s fitness culture, there’s a lot of pressure to conform to certain aesthetic ideals, but true health and fitness are about how your body feels and functions, not about eliminating natural features like hip dips,” says Ingrid Clay, CPT, NASM – certified personal trainer on Chris Hemsworth’s Centr fitness and wellness platform. “It’s essential to embrace the unique shape of your body and not focus on ‘fixing’ things that are completely normal. Hip dips are not a fault, they are just part of the anatomy of your body.”

“Hip dips are not a fault, they are just part of your body’s anatomy.” – Ingrid Clay, CPT

What are hip dips?

Hip dips have become the target of fitfluencer promises on social media, with workout programs and diets promising to eliminate or fill them in. What are people talking about when they talk about hip dips?

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“This refers to the area just below the hips, the upper part of your legs, when there is a more pronounced indentation,” says exercise physiologist Angie Asche, MS, RD, CSSD, a nutrition and fitness expert at Centr.

Clay describes hip dips as “the natural inward curves between your hip bones and thighs, creating a slight indentation at the sides of the hips.”

What Causes Someone to Get Hip Dips?

Hip dips, or lack thereof, are a result of your musculoskeletal makeup. Your muscle and fat distribution and the length and width of your bones all play a role.

“Hip dips are caused by the shape and structure of the pelvis and femur,” says Clay. “Specifically, where the top of the femur (great trochanter) meets the hip bone (iliac crest), the bone structure creates a dip. The muscle and fat distribution around this area also affects how noticeable the dips are, but the most important factor is the skeletal structure of the individual.”

So yeah, have you ever looked at a photo or model of a skeleton and noticed a hollow where the hip meets the pelvis? That’s where hip dips come from.

Why do some people have them and others don’t?

Our bodies are all unique, but society tells us that some literal bone structures and genetics are more ideal than others.

“The cause and reason why some have them and others don’t is actually a combination of genetics and the overall structure of the individual’s anatomy and body composition,” says Asche. “There’s nothing wrong with having them, for many it’s just a natural part of our anatomy.”

To get to the nitty-gritty, the bone structure of your hips, pelvis, and femur can play a role in the visibility of hip dip. Then, if you are genetically predisposed to have more muscle and fat around your hips, that natural indentation may be more or less visible.

“People with wider hips or a more pronounced distance between their pelvis and thigh may have more noticeable hip dips,” says Clay. “Those with more muscle or fat in the hips and thighs may have a smoother curve. It is mainly genetically determined; Some people are naturally more likely to have visible hip dips, while others are not.”

What if you want to get rid of hip dips?

Do exercise or diet programs on social media play a role in this suspicion you have? First, remember that these promises are full of it, because “spot reduction has not been shown to be effective, meaning one exercise or exercise program will not necessarily result in fat loss in that specific area,” says Asche.

It’s also worth taking a moment to assess whether hip dips are just a natural feature of your body. Does it seem like your body has hip dips more often than not at different weights or physical conditions?

“Much of the focus on hip dips in modern culture is due to social media and beauty standards, which often emphasize an idealized and unattainable body shape.” -Clay

Next, if hip dips seem to be a part of your body, ask yourself Why you want to target them.

“It’s not in any way harmful to have them or something you should try to get rid of, but rather it is a very natural part of many people’s anatomy,” says Asche. Where did the desire to change this benign part of your body come from? Does that motivation align with your values?

“Much of the focus on hip dips in modern culture is due to social media and beauty standards, which often emphasize an idealized and unattainable body shape,” says Clay. “Rather than aiming to get rid of them, the goal should be to improve strength and confidence in your body as it is.”