Why Squats and Creams Never Reshaped Your Curves — and the Hormonal Reason They Can't

I'm a women's hormonal-health nutritionist. After years of watching women do everything "right" and still not get the shape they wanted, here's what I've learned about where your body actually decides to store fat — and what I now recommend.

Written by Sofia Bennett, CNP
Medically reviewed by Laura Chen, MD — Endocrinology Updated June 2026 · 7 min read

Let me describe a woman I meet almost every week. She's been doing squats, hip thrusts and glute bridges for months. She's tried the creams, the "booty" gummies, maybe a waist trainer. And still — her hips and thighs look flatter than she wants, while her belly holds onto softness no matter what she does.

If that sounds like you, please hear this first: you are not lazy, and you are not doing it wrong. You've just been told the wrong story about how a woman's curves are actually built.

This article is for you if you've ever:

• Put in months of glute workouts and barely seen your shape change
• Wanted fuller hips and a rounder booty — but without surgery or a BBL
• Felt like your body stores weight in your belly instead of where you want it
• Wondered if your hormones are quietly working against you
• Been burned by "booty" pills before and want to see the real science first

I've spent years working with women on exactly this. What changed everything for me was understanding three biological signals that decide where your body stores fat. Once you see them, your shape stops feeling like a personal failure — and starts looking like something you can finally work with.

The truth no one told you about "curve" fat

Here's the first thing I tell every woman I work with: not all body fat is the same. The fat that sits on your hips, thighs and glutes — what researchers call gluteofemoral fat — is biologically different from the visceral fat that collects around your waist.

A 2024 review in Frontiers in Nutrition described how this lower-body fat is actually linked to healthier metabolic markers, while belly fat is the kind tied to problems.¹ Read that again: the soft, feminine curve you want on your hips is your body's protective fat. It was never the enemy.

Signal #1: Estrogen — where your body sends fat

The signal that decides that address is estrogen. When your estrogen is in healthy balance, your body actively routes fat toward the gluteofemoral area — it's the entire reason the feminine "pear" shape exists at all.² It's also why so many women notice their shape drift toward the belly later in life, as those hormones shift.³

This is the part the gym advice misses completely. You can build the muscle underneath all day long — but it's estrogen that tells soft fat to sit on top of it, in the right places. If that signal is off, no amount of hip thrusts will put the shape where you want it.

Signal #2: Cortisol — what pulls it to your belly

If estrogen sends fat to your hips, cortisol — your stress hormone — does the opposite. Chronically high cortisol is repeatedly linked to fat storage around the midsection.⁴

This is why a stressful, under-slept stretch can leave you "softer in the middle and flatter where you want curves," even when your diet and workouts haven't changed. It's not in your head, and it's not your fault. It's two signals competing for the same fat — and stress quietly tipping the balance the wrong way.

Signal #3: Circulation — the part almost everyone misses

The third signal is the one almost no one talks about, and it's the simplest: tissue can only be shaped by the blood that reaches it. Dietary nitrates (found in beetroot) and the amino acid L-arginine feed your body's nitric-oxide pathway, which helps open up blood flow.⁵⁶

Think of it like this: estrogen sets the destination, cortisol tries to reroute the delivery, and blood flow is the road the truck actually drives on. Most "curve" products only ever talk about one of the three — and in my experience, that's exactly why they disappoint.

What I started recommending — and why

I'll be honest with you: for a long time I was skeptical that any supplement could meaningfully help with this. I'd seen too many "booty pills" that were all marketing and no mechanism. So when I finally did start recommending one to my clients, it was for one specific reason — it was the first formula I'd found that addressed all three signals at once, not just one.

The one I now point women to is a liquid called CurveOn Booty Drops. Here's why it made sense to me, signal by signal:

For the estrogen signal — it uses maca and fenugreek, two of the most-studied botanicals for supporting healthy hormonal balance in women.
For the cortisol signal — it includes ashwagandha, an adaptogen that, in a 2024 meta-analysis, significantly lowered cortisol versus placebo.⁷
For the circulation signal — it adds beetroot and L-arginine to support the nitric-oxide blood flow that delivers nutrients to the area.

What I personally like is that it's a liquid you take under your tongue — not another capsule. In my experience the women I work with absorb it faster and, just as importantly, actually remember to take it. A formula only works if you stick with it.

If you want to look at the ingredients and the research for yourself, this is the one I recommend:

To be clear: the research I've cited is for the individual ingredients, not a promise about any finished product — and your own doctor is the right person to clear it for you. More on that below.

What you can realistically expect

Let me be straight with you, because the women who get the best results are the ones who start with the right expectations. This is support for a natural process — not an overnight trick. Most women I work with don't notice much in week one. They start noticing around weeks three to four, with the clearer changes showing over four to six weeks of taking it every single day.

It also works best alongside the basics: decent sleep (that's your cortisol), some lower-body training (that's the muscle underneath), and consistency. Results vary from woman to woman — but here's the reframe I want you to hold onto: if your curves haven't shown up where you want them, it was never about how hard you tried. It's about three signals deciding the address. Support the signals, and your body can finally put softness where you want it.

A note on transparency: Sofia recommends only products she believes in, and MarenHealth may earn a commission from purchases made through links in this article — this never affects the price you pay. This article is informational and is not a substitute for individual medical advice.

Sofia Bennett, CNP Certified Nutrition Practitioner · Women's hormonal health Sofia writes on metabolism, hormonal health and body composition. She focuses on translating peer-reviewed endocrinology research into practical guidance for women. Her work is reviewed for medical accuracy by MarenHealth's clinical network.