how to determine my bone size...m or s?
hiphop10
Posts: 135 Member
I read an article that you measure the space between the elbow bones while your arm is bent 90 degrees..has anyone heard of this before? and there is a chart to go by.
also I'm trying to figure out what I should weigh...I feel my best at 125.
also I'm trying to figure out what I should weigh...I feel my best at 125.
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If you feel best at 125, that is probably what you should be. Measuring the size of your bones does help to determine which side of the range on a chart you should be at, but some people have problems with it because they have fat covering their bones. It works best for people near their ideal weight anyway.0
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You say you feel your best at 125...sounds like you already know what you should weigh then.0
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I think you should evaluate the following metrics:
- How do you feel as far as your relationship with food, energy levels, mental well being as it pertains to your diet?
- How do you feel about your body?
- How are your general health metrics that may be weight-driven?
And I'd use those metrics to determine when you should stop losing weight and start maintaining.
Fortunately you can do this without knowing your bone size.
You may not even need to set a specific goal weight.0 -
Never heard that. My advice is to go by how you feel rather than looking at a chart.0
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Wrap your index finger and thumb around your wrist on the opposite arm. If they overlap you have a small bone structure, if they just touch you have a medium bone structure, and if they do not touch you have a large bone structure.0
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Jasonmylis wrote: »Wrap your index finger and thumb around your wrist on the opposite arm. If they overlap you have a small bone structure, if they just touch you have a medium bone structure, and if they do not touch you have a large bone structure.
I have heard this before, but how can it be correct? My wrist is smaller than it was 25 lbs ago while my fingers are obviously the same length. Before losing weight my fingers didn't touch but now they barely do. So my bone structure changed from large to medium by losing weight?
Granted my wrist isn't that much smaller (one hole on a watch band so roughly 1/4"), but that's after only 25 lbs lost. There are plenty of people on her who have lost 100+ lbs. I would imagine their wrists shrank by much more.0 -
Wrists don't take that much fat unless morbidly obese in which case just losing fat is a great goal ...the wrist size / forearm is as good a measurement as anything and there are millions of online calculators
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17182.htm0 -
Jasonmylis wrote: »Wrap your index finger and thumb around your wrist on the opposite arm. If they overlap you have a small bone structure, if they just touch you have a medium bone structure, and if they do not touch you have a large bone structure.
What if on one arm they don't touch and the other arm they just barely touch? I don't mean to be snarky, I honestly want to know. If I try on my Left arm they aren't close to touching, if I try on my right arm (my dominant arm) they barely touch).
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There are differences in the length of your fingers on one hand versus the other. Also, if your fingers are fat or muscular, they won't wrap around the wrist as easily.0
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...which is why you should just measure:
Women:
Height under 5'2"
Small = wrist size less than 5.5"
Medium = wrist size 5.5" to 5.75"
Large = wrist size over 5.75"
Height 5'2" to 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6"
Medium = wrist size 6" to 6.25"
Large = wrist size over 6.25"
Height over 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6.25"
Medium = wrist size 6.25" to 6.5"
Large = wrist size over 6.5"0 -
If knowing what you should ideally weigh is really important to you, go get a DEXA done. You'll know your entire body composition and can work from there.0
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X-Ray0
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good idea!
I just wanted to really know if I am small boned...I think I am
I thought only short people are small boned well guess I was wrong.
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azulvioleta6 wrote: »...which is why you should just measure:
Women:
Height under 5'2"
Small = wrist size less than 5.5"
Medium = wrist size 5.5" to 5.75"
Large = wrist size over 5.75"
Height 5'2" to 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6"
Medium = wrist size 6" to 6.25"
Large = wrist size over 6.25"
Height over 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6.25"
Medium = wrist size 6.25" to 6.5"
Large = wrist size over 6.5"
What's your source for these numbers?
"Small", "medium" and "large" are arbitrary classifications anyway.0 -
I got a free one a few years ago as part of a bone density study. The med student who read my report said I had good, dense, big bones, but then said that fat % wise, I was obese. (I was at 24.9 BMI at the time.) Depressed, I went home and showed my husband the results. He didn't buy that and looked it up online what % of fat I should be.
My body fat was right in the middle of where the body fat for a woman my age should be, although if I had been a man in my 20's (like the med student), I would be considered obese!
We had a good laugh over it, and it didn't diminish the usefulness of the free DEXA scan one bit.
On one side of my family, if you're over 50 and overweight, you've probably got type II diabetes. The DEXA let me know that I'm not so big that the diabetes is looming over my shoulder for a certainty, which was a big relief for me. Additionally, it let me know for certain sure that at a 24.9 BMI and exercising, I am not overweight in body fat percentage!0 -
Ok so my right fingers can touch around my left wrist = Medium bone structure
left fingers can not touch over right wrist= large bone structure
left wrist measures 6.25= s/m I'm 5' 6""
right wrist is 6.5" = medium
I'm 56 and my feeling is I have fairly large bones-broad shoulders and "childbearing" hips.
I am aiming for a size 12 canadian clothes-a medium0 -
azulvioleta6 wrote: »...which is why you should just measure:
Women:
Height under 5'2"
Small = wrist size less than 5.5"
Medium = wrist size 5.5" to 5.75"
Large = wrist size over 5.75"
Height 5'2" to 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6"
Medium = wrist size 6" to 6.25"
Large = wrist size over 6.25"
Height over 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6.25"
Medium = wrist size 6.25" to 6.5"
Large = wrist size over 6.5"
What's your source for these numbers?
"Small", "medium" and "large" are arbitrary classifications anyway.
The US National Institutes of Health. They set the standards for frame size which are referenced by medical studies, etc. Someone else gave the link above.0 -
I found out something interesting doing this. The fingers on my left hand are just over 1/8 of an inch longer than those in my right... Both my wrist are 7.15 inches around, yet only my left hand can touch around the wrist. I of course had to know and measured my hands and fingers... I'm sure there is some arbitrary medical study that says something about this....0
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aribeiro659 wrote: »I found out something interesting doing this. The fingers on my left hand are just over 1/8 of an inch longer than those in my right... Both my wrist are 7.15 inches around, yet only my left hand can touch around the wrist. I of course had to know and measured my hands and fingers... I'm sure there is some arbitrary medical study that says something about this....
It's normal to have hands and feet of slightly different sizes.0 -
I just measured my wrist 5.5" and I'm 5'4" and both my hands can touch fingers around my wrists with extra room according the chart I'm small boned then..seems for years I thought I was medium-small so I just was wondering if there was a forumula to find out.... yes I agree there must be some arbitrary medical study about this..thank you0
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A tape measure may be better than fingers- my fingers are very long; some people have short fingers.0
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Id rather use the tape measure also.
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azulvioleta6 wrote: »...which is why you should just measure:
Women:
Height under 5'2"
Small = wrist size less than 5.5"
Medium = wrist size 5.5" to 5.75"
Large = wrist size over 5.75"
Height 5'2" to 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6"
Medium = wrist size 6" to 6.25"
Large = wrist size over 6.25"
Height over 5' 5"
Small = wrist size less than 6.25"
Medium = wrist size 6.25" to 6.5"
Large = wrist size over 6.5"
I was going to mention the same thing. It's far less complicated than measuring with your index finger or measuring your elbow. Knowing your built helps to figure out where your goal should be.
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According to that chart, I'm not only small, I'm teeny-tiny. At 5'1" tall, my wrists measure 5.25" on my dominant hand, and 5" on my non-dominant hand.
I don't think it has any effect on my weight loss efforts, though. Maybe on my bracelet or watch strap purchasing habits.0 -
The elbow is used by insurance companies
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Last time I tried this, I got mixed results, with a small bone structure on my write and thick at my elbows…
Maybe my boyfriend knows a med student who needs to practice a DEXA scan, I really would love to know, out of curiosity.
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According to that chart, I'm not only small, I'm teeny-tiny. At 5'1" tall, my wrists measure 5.25" on my dominant hand, and 5" on my non-dominant hand.
I don't think it has any effect on my weight loss efforts, though. Maybe on my bracelet or watch strap purchasing habits.
It has a effect on what your goal weight should be--especially since BMI is overly-generous to the teeny-tiny to begin with.0 -
dramaqueen45 wrote: »A tape measure may be better than fingers- my fingers are very long; some people have short fingers.
yeah, I have huge long fingers and my 17 yo daughter has what she calls "the hands of a small child." Her fingers won't go around ANYONE's wrist unless they are in kindergarten, mine will comfortably span even a large man's.0 -
azulvioleta6 wrote: »It has a effect on what your goal weight should be--especially since BMI is overly-generous to the teeny-tiny to begin with.
That'd be true if I were basing my goals on BMI.
Anyway, bone size is one variable, but muscle mass is a much more important factor.0 -
As one on the "teeny tiny" end of things bone structure wise, I don't know that I'd call BMI "generous." When I was a healthy, comfortable size for my frame, I got all kinds of concern trolling accusing me of having an ED. And, if I hadn't taken it upon myself to freak out about my massive jiggly belly, I would still be carrying extra fat around under the delusion that I was "just right" for my height according to BMI.
BMI is not a good marker for individuals. It's a macro-level tool for analysing whole population groups. Using it to monitor individuals is a bit like giving financial advice under the assumption that we all have some determined "average" income, skillset, and risk tolerance.0
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