Body shape calculator
What is my body shape? Four measurements, one clear answer — with the math shown, so you can check it instead of trusting it.
Body Shape Calculator
Measure at the fullest part of each, over light clothing.
Your hips measure more than your bust, with the waist still drawn. Dressing it well means lifting the eye upward.
hip 39 > max(bust, shoulder) 36 × 1.05 → hip-dominant
Second opinion without the tape: the photo analyzer reads the same six shapes — spoon included, which four measurements cannot see — from one full-body photo.
How to take the four measurements
The calculator compares your measurements to each other, so a consistent tape matters more than a precise one. Measure over light clothing, keep the tape level all the way round, and take all four in inches or all four in centimeters.
Bust
Around the fullest part, tape level front and back. Wear an unpadded bra or none at all — a padded one can add two inches and turn a rectangle into an inverted triangle.
Waist
The narrowest point of your torso, usually an inch above the navel. Bend sideways: the crease that forms is your natural waist. Keep the tape snug, not tight, and don't hold your breath.
Hips
The fullest part of the seat, normally seven to nine inches below the waist. Stand with your feet together — apart, you will read narrower than you are.
Shoulders
Across the back, from the outer edge of one shoulder to the other. This is the one most calculators skip, and it is the measurement that separates an inverted triangle from an hourglass.
No tape measure?
The body type quiz asks seven questions you can answer in a mirror and runs the same five rules on your answers. It is less precise than four measurements, and it can do one thing this page cannot — it asks whether your hips step out below the waist, so unlike this page it can return a spoon. Or skip the questions too: the body shape analyzer reads the same six shapes from one full-body photo, analyzed in your browser without the photo ever leaving your device.
How the calculator decides
Five rules, tested in this order. The order is the part most body shape calculators get wrong: dominance is checked before waist definition, so a figure with wide hips and a soft waist is returned as a pear rather than a rectangle.
The thresholds, in the order they run.
1 · hip > max(bust, shoulder) × 1.05 → PEAR
2 · max(bust, shoulder) > hip × 1.05 → INVERTED TRIANGLE
3 · waist ÷ bust or waist ÷ hip ≥ 0.85 → APPLE
4 · waist ÷ bust and waist ÷ hip ≤ 0.75 → HOURGLASS
5 · nothing above fires → RECTANGLE
Every result you get above comes printed with the line that produced it.
Find yours, then dress it
Questions
- What is my body shape?
- Your body shape is the relationship between four measurements — bust, waist, hips and shoulders — rather than any one of them, which is why every shape exists at every size. Enter all four above and the calculator returns one of the six shapes along with the comparison that produced it. If you would rather work out what your body shape is based on measurements by hand, the five rules are printed below in the order they run.
- What measurements do I need for a body shape calculator?
- Four: bust, waist, hips and shoulders. Most calculators ask for only the first three, which is why they cannot reliably tell an inverted triangle from an hourglass — both have a defined waist, and only the shoulder measurement separates them.
- Is this body shape calculator accurate?
- It is exactly as accurate as your tape measure, and it shows you the comparison it used so you can check the answer rather than trust it. The one figure it cannot see is the spoon: four circumferences do not reveal an upper-hip shelf, so a spoon figure is returned as a pear.
- Where do I measure my waist?
- At the narrowest point of your torso, which is usually about an inch above the navel rather than where your jeans sit. Bend to one side and measure at the crease that forms.
- Can I use centimeters instead of inches?
- Yes. Every rule the calculator applies is a ratio between two of your own measurements, so the unit cancels out. Just don't mix them — all four numbers have to be in the same unit.
- What is the most common female body shape?
- Rectangle. The largest study on this is the North Carolina State University FFIT sizing research (Simmons, Istook and Devarajan, 2004), which analysed body scans of 6,318 women: roughly 46% measured as rectangles, about 20% as pears, 14% as inverted triangles and only 8% as hourglasses. Rectangle is also this calculator's answer when no dominance test fires, for the same reason — it is the middle of the distribution, not a fallback.
- Can my body shape change?
- The proportions can shift with age, pregnancy and training, because they are ratios between measurements rather than fixed anatomy. Re-measuring once a year is plenty. Your shape is not a size, and it does not change when your size does.