I weigh more than I look
Chicgeek88
Posts: 10
I am 5'5 and 149lbs. At my heaviest I was 170lbs. People are always surprised when I told them my weight. I have family members that weigh less than me but wear bigger size then I. Is there really a such thing as being "big boned"? Even when I was pregnant with my son I went the first 6 months without people noticing I was pregnant. I remember going to the ER at 7 months and the doctor thinking I was 7 weeks instead. Anyway, I just think it's weird how people that weigh the same can look so different and it's making me rethink my goal weight . 130 sounds good but I think If I lost another 20lbs I'd look sickly.
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Replies
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I think it all has to do with body shape and how you carry yourself. There are apple shapes, pear shapes etc. I think that you can be big boned to a point. You also get very petite people. We are all different shapes and sizes. Dont worry too much about it xxx0
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If you're close to your goal weight, it's probably best to ignore the scales and focus on health and fitness as well as how you look in the mirror.
I actually weigh as much as I did when I joined MFP two years or so ago. I'm just the right way round now. :laugh:0 -
I have always 'weighed heavy' - when being weighed for a light aircraft flight once they asked if they could search me because I weighed heavier than I looked. A couple of doctors have checked!
Charts etc are great for national statistics - go by how you feel and what the mirror tells you
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I sometimes get that..but then I feel big so it really doesn't make me feel much better when people are surprised :P0
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I have always 'weighed heavy' - when being weighed for a light aircraft flight once they asked if they could search me because I weighed heavier than I looked. A couple of doctors have checked!
Charts etc are great for national statistics - go by how you feel and what the mirror tells you
Omg. Cheeky beggars!0 -
I have the same problem, when I started out I weighed 256 (I'm 5'6"), and now I'm down to 207. I keep telling people I want to lose another 50-ish lbs and they say 'no way, there'll be nothing left of you', but I know what I weigh!
There's a test you can do to assess your true build. Put your thumb and forefinger around your opposite wrist:
If they overlap - small build
If they meet - average build
If there's a gap - large build
This works becuase the wirsit is non-fatty area, so even if you're very overweight you will still be able to tell your build type from this test. I didn't make it up, it's from the initial 'true body weight test' from the Dukan Diet! The Dukan diet said my true weight is 168 so that's my first goal to get to, but it still sounds a little heavy so I'd still like to get to 160 at least (ideally 156 so I can Ive lost 100 lbs!).0 -
Im exactly the same - I say to people that I want to lose 7lbs and there like.... from where!
But I actually do feel very big!! Its crazy isn't it!
Think it all depends on how you carry your weight.
My best friend is 5ft5 & has lost 2 stone already, and wants to lose another stone. I think she looks amazing now. She def carrys her weight very well.0 -
I'm the same but the wrist thing doesn't make sense with me, my wrists are scrawny but I carry weight amazingly well.
People are often astounded when I tell them how much I weigh and I've had 2 doctors not believe me and tell me to get on scales to check and one even got on them herself to see if the scales were wrong.
I know a friend who is the same height as me and is 2 or 3 dress sizes bigger than me at my weight and looks a LOT bigger.
I do have big boobs too but they're not gigantic or anything!0 -
I'm 5ft 9 and my fingers do not touch around my wrist. In fact- they are no where near touching!!! That saying, I do have short fingers..... My I do believe i'm of large build. My ideal weight is between 8 st 11 and 12 st. I think if I hit 8st 11 I would look very underweight. I'm going to aim for 11 and take it from there.0
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I have the same problem, when I started out I weighed 256 (I'm 5'6"), and now I'm down to 207. I keep telling people I want to lose another 50-ish lbs and they say 'no way, there'll be nothing left of you', but I know what I weigh!
There's a test you can do to assess your true build. Put your thumb and forefinger around your opposite wrist:
If they overlap - small build
If they meet - average build
If there's a gap - large build
This works becuase the wirsit is non-fatty area, so even if you're very overweight you will still be able to tell your build type from this test. I didn't make it up, it's from the initial 'true body weight test' from the Dukan Diet! The Dukan diet said my true weight is 168 so that's my first goal to get to, but it still sounds a little heavy so I'd still like to get to 160 at least (ideally 156 so I can Ive lost 100 lbs!).
however they do have fat on them. When i was at my highest, i couldn't get my forefinger and thumb to touch, wrapping it around my wrist. Now they overlap by an inch.0 -
I have yoyoed up and down in weight for years. Nobody ever believes I'm as heavy as I am and when I am thinner people say I'm too thin even though I'm nowhere I want to be for a goal.. and still over weight according to BMI.0
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So do I...
"big boned" could be a lot of things such as bones are denser, you carry more lbm among other things...
I personally wear a size 8 shoe...5 ft 7 and people never believe that I weigh what I do either.
I've have heard of lots of measurments to tell if you are big boned...
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/17182.htm
and according to this I am big boned as my wrists are just over 6.5 inches when measured.0 -
I've always carried my weight pretty well. I'm still 195, but most of my friends think I'm a lot lower than that. To be honest, I'm not too worried about the numbers themselves. I'm just gonna go until I find what looks best on my frame. I set my goal weight pretty high for just that reason - I don't think I wanna go any lower than an 8-10, and another twenty pounds should do the trick.
But then, I'm okay with not being thin. I'd rather NOT be thin, but I don't wanna be fat, either. Just soft and curvy and cute and strong. Depends on what you like and where you're comfortable, I think.0 -
I have a tiny frame, so do my sisters. I'm 6'0 and 131lb and my sisters are 89 and 96lbs too.
My wrist is 5in and the fingers overlap, also on the forearm area too. Waist 28.0, thigh 19, arms 10.00 -
Me too.
People are very surprised at my weight but I think I just have learned how to hide it well under clothes!!0 -
I have the same issue. It's my face. As I've gotten older, it has really thinned out. My sister (who is fit and thin and who I trust to tell me the truth) said yesterday that I was too thin. So I showed her my ginormous gut.
One thing we disagree on is that exercise alone will fix it. I've been fighting this long enough to know where abs are made. Though more exercise certainly wouldn't hurt my cause.0 -
Wow...this is so interesting to read. I guess everyone worries or obsesses over weight but funny hoe most dont talk about it or at least not in my experience. Im definitely on the big side ..I did that wrist test thumb and finger and theres at lest an inch maybe inch and quarter gap.
Ive always been a big guy though..even as a kid...i remember as a kid always getting picked on about having large calves...then started powerlifting before hs and lets just say most things stopped....I wish I had learned how to balance things out though....then I prob wouldnt have gotten deppressed and stopped working out.
But heres to a new day for us all!!
May we all hit our weight goal marks!! 0 -
Body shape has a lot to do with it. I'm morbidly obese but a lot of people don't think I'm anywhere near as heavy as I am, because I have huge boobs, then carry my weight on hips and legs, and so have a defined waist. Makes me look a LOT smaller size than I am.0
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I'm the same way, people think I weigh 25lbs less than I do. When I tell people I lost over 100lbs, they're shocked, because no one thought I was that big. I am no longer surprised when I see a woman the same weight as me but with larger measurements. I use the scale to make sure I'm staying on track, but I don't let it determine where I "should be". That also goes for my BMI, which says I'm overweight, but I guess in some universe being a size 8/M can be overweight.
btw, I'm 5'41/2" and 161lbs0 -
what if you have really fat fingers though?!0
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I am 5'5 and 149lbs. At my heaviest I was 170lbs. People are always surprised when I told them my weight. I have family members that weigh less than me but wear bigger size then I. Is there really a such thing as being "big boned"? Even when I was pregnant with my son I went the first 6 months without people noticing I was pregnant. I remember going to the ER at 7 months and the doctor thinking I was 7 weeks instead. Anyway, I just think it's weird how people that weigh the same can look so different and it's making me rethink my goal weight . 130 sounds good but I think If I lost another 20lbs I'd look sickly.
I'm the same way. I got up to 170 and everyone thought I was 150 something. It's your bone structure......... some people are built to carry weight in certain areas that arent as noticeable as other areas. Some people just don't show their fat as much as others........Fat can be structured tighter or looser depending on the collagen structure underneath the skin... perhaps your fat is tighter and doesn't look as much as it actually is.0 -
Shape, frame, muscle...all has to do with it. I have ALWAYS gotten: "You weigh THAT much!" (even when I was heavier...and that was just extra fat). It's probably much better for people to think you weigh less than say to you: "I can't BELIEVE you ONLY weigh ________!"0
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ABSOLUTELY.
Per the wrist test up there, I have almost 2cm gap between my thumb and forefinger.
The BMI pisses me off - it puts me at about 175 to be "Normal," which I am about 35lbs away from and I swear, if I wanted to ACTUALLY hit that, I'd have to chop off a leg. There's just no way, unless I want to go bulemic. I think each of my legs alone is about 70lbs.
Anyway, yeah, I get the same comments: "You weigh WHAT? NO freaking way!"
It's flattering and all, but it does throw off the ol' self-image a wee bit.0 -
This is what I was thinking. It isn't fair, but for women if you have more of an hourglass shape it seems more "acceptable" to be heavier.
Look at plus-size models, you would be hard-pressed to find one who carries her weight in the mid-section.0 -
Yep, when mine was measured when I was obese, it said I was a large build, and I said no, I am not. I am actually a medium build, and now that I lost weight the measurement is correct for medium build, so your wrist can have fat.I have the same problem, when I started out I weighed 256 (I'm 5'6"), and now I'm down to 207. I keep telling people I want to lose another 50-ish lbs and they say 'no way, there'll be nothing left of you', but I know what I weigh!
There's a test you can do to assess your true build. Put your thumb and forefinger around your opposite wrist:
If they overlap - small build
If they meet - average build
If there's a gap - large build
This works becuase the wirsit is non-fatty area, so even if you're very overweight you will still be able to tell your build type from this test. I didn't make it up, it's from the initial 'true body weight test' from the Dukan Diet! The Dukan diet said my true weight is 168 so that's my first goal to get to, but it still sounds a little heavy so I'd still like to get to 160 at least (ideally 156 so I can Ive lost 100 lbs!).
however they do have fat on them. When i was at my highest, i couldn't get my forefinger and thumb to touch, wrapping it around my wrist. Now they overlap by an inch.
I have always weighed more than I look like I do, and have had lots of things happen, a Doctor said to me once, no way, you weigh THAT much?
Anyway, find the healthy range for your height/frame and see where you want to set your goal within that. My range is 118-132, right now my goal is 130 but when I am 5 lbs. away I am going to re-evaluate and see if I want to lower it.0 -
I wonder how many people who are overweight have been told that they look like they weight less then they really do? I feel like it is a common occurrence that people do , and the same thing with age too. Oh your 34, you don't look a day over 26. Oh your 300lbs, you look like you are 260.0
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Not in my case, I had many medical professionals either say that to me, or they would weigh me, look at the scale, look back at me, check the scale, repeat that, shake their head and write it down. In high school I weighed 120, everybody thought I weighed about 100, I was the same size as other girls who did weigh 100.I wonder how many people who are overweight have been told that they look like they weight less then they really do? I feel like it is a common occurrence that people do , and the same thing with age too. Oh your 34, you don't look a day over 26. Oh your 300lbs, you look like you are 260.
In my case I know what it is, I am more muscular than average, and muscle is more dense and takes up less space, so you weigh more but are not bigger. It is not going to make a stupendous difference, in my case it is 20 lbs., but you have to take it into consideration when setting weight goals, it would be fine if I decided to go back down to my high school weight, it would not be healthy if i wanted to go down to 100.0 -
It's not all about being big boned. How fat is distributed makes a big difference. Some apple shaped people have more fat around the middle and almost none in the legs, so they look heavier than a person who has the same amount strategically all around the body even though they weigh the same and would need the same amount of effort to lose it. Big boobs make a difference too, and there is your genetic predisposition to having larger muscles.0
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The wrist test isn't very good.
What gives someone a larger build (therefore more lean body mass than average for your height) is having wider shoulders, a larger rib cage and a wider pelvis. This usually goes with having larger joints, but not always.
also, most sites that explain how to measure the wrist joint do it wrong. You measure the size of the actual joint, not the fleshy part at the front of your forearm. But even if you do it this way, some people store fat on their wrists, and that completely confounds the measurement, as you're measuring the size of the joint, i.e. where the bones meet. Extra fat there =/= a larger frame size. If there's fat on your wrist joint the test will be meaningless.
It's better to go by body fat percentage. That's the best way to tell if you really do have a large frame or if you're carrying too much fat. Also look in the mirror. Bones are solid, muscle is firm when you flex, but fat is soft and jiggly.
Basing your goal weight on body fat percentage is important, because while the majority of the population will be in the "healthy" BMI range when their body fat percentage is, BMI doesn't tell you where within that range you should be. Small framed people should be in the low end of the range (with a few outliers even in the underweight range while still being totally healthy) medium framed people should be in the middle of the BMI range while large framed people should be in the higher end of the range... and some large framed people who do a lot of strength training, manual labour or other activity that results in gaining lean mass may be above the healthy BMI range while their body fat percentage is still in the healthy range.0 -
Not in my case, I had many medical professionals either say that to me, or they would weigh me, look at the scale, look back at me, check the scale, repeat that, shake their head and write it down. In high school I weighed 120, everybody thought I weighed about 100, I was the same size as other girls who did weigh 100.I wonder how many people who are overweight have been told that they look like they weight less then they really do? I feel like it is a common occurrence that people do , and the same thing with age too. Oh your 34, you don't look a day over 26. Oh your 300lbs, you look like you are 260.
In my case I know what it is, I am more muscular than average, and muscle is more dense and takes up less space, so you weigh more but are not bigger. It is not going to make a stupendous difference, in my case it is 20 lbs., but you have to take it into consideration when setting weight goals, it would be fine if I decided to go back down to my high school weight, it would not be healthy if i wanted to go down to 100.
You know you have no way of knowing this right? Just because your doctor didn't think you weighed as much as you did, doesn't mean somebody at some point lied to you about what they thought you weighed. That, and I don't really think you fit into the examples I gave.0
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