Her femininity is what she decides it is, not what other people say it is. It sounds like she really needs more confidence in and love for her own body and some different role models.

There are many famous ladies out there who have very small breasts and narrow hips but who look fantastic and very feminine. Jessica Ennis (http://www.jessicaennis.net/) is the obvious British poster girl for the glamorous athletic look. Or how about Keira Knightley, who in this picture, without any help from corsets or push up bras, shows her real slim-hipped, small-breasted but still feminine self:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h67/Gubernatrix/general%20blog%20stuff/keira-knightley_400px.jpg

Here’s the reality about the body parts you mentioned:

Breasts are just fat, so their size has a lot to do with your overall bodyfat levels and genetics. There’s nothing you can do to make *just* your breasts grow (apart from surgery).

Hip width is a function of skeletal structure so again there’s not much you can do other than pile the fat on. However, the body puts fat on where it wants to put fat on – if you get fatter, there’s no guarantee that it will go to the hips. It might go to the abdomen instead and give you a big gut without making any difference to your hips.

Bum is a different matter. The bum is full of muscle and can be trained to be bigger and firmer. Hurrah, good news at last! Squats (full depth) are the best exercise for the bum out there IMO.

So now to your client:

Is she training like a bodybuilder? Is she doing bodypart splits, 3 sets of 10? If she trains like a bodybuilder and eats like a bodybuilder she shouldn’t be too suprised if she ends up looking like a bodybuilder.

I would recommend training for strength (not size) by doing compound exercises such as squat, deadlift, pull-up, using low reps – sets of 3 or 5. A basic barbell programme (http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2010/08/basic-barbell-programmes-reviewed/) like Starting Strength or Stronglifts would give her strength and would build up her bum nicely. She will probably put on a bit of muscle if she is an easy gainer but she will *not* end up looking like Madonna.

At the same time that your client is strength training, she should be eating a calorie surplus to put on more weight but monitor where it is going on.

You might want to point her towards my post on femininity and muscle (http://gubernatrix.co.uk/2010/07/femininity-and-muscle/) where I talk about this whole issue. This is much healthier than dwelling on paparazzi images of Madonna!

So to summarise, here’s what she can realistically do:
- put on some body fat all over (it’s not possible to control where it goes) with your nutritional guidance
- build a nice firm bum with strength training (squats!)
- get stronger and more athletic
- look fantastic whatever size she is!

It’s long, but he’s an engaging speaker. If you are already familiar with his work, though, you might want to skip the first half hour!

Jay

@ Demetre: Good point, it is important not to get hung up on macronutrients and remember that real food provides all sorts of goodness – possibly even things we don’t yet know about!

Very well written article, with which I agree 90%. I would strongly suggest whole wheat bread, and all the healthy fats eg olive oil, fat fish, nuts.
An excellent non fiction book is Eat, drink and be healthy, from Walter Willet.
My line of thinking: Food is not chemical substances but valuable nutrients! So it is not only carbo, fat, protein, but bread, oil, fish ….

I am a great believer and respectful of thoughts of ancient people. I think clarified butter helps in recovery as well as smooth digestive functioning.