how do you figure out : petite, or medium frame?

soleilxo
soleilxo Posts: 202
edited December 2024 in Motivation and Support
I am 5'4, 113 lbs, Ive been told I am petite, small frame, but is the only proper method to determine this is by measuring yourself?! Can you know other ways?! I really want to figure out what I am the correct way!

thanks in advance :)

Replies

  • soleilxo
    soleilxo Posts: 202
    and what are the measurements that would classify you as such ..
  • luvs2teachincali
    luvs2teachincali Posts: 207 Member
    I'm curious to hear the answers on this topic as well. Since I've been fat since....well...FOREVER...I don't even know what I look like under all the fat. So how would I know what my frame is? Right now it's XL. lol. Thanks for asking.
  • kristenn1989
    kristenn1989 Posts: 196 Member
    Quick way to do it would be to wrap your thumb and longest finger over your wrist. If they overlap, you're small framed. If they just touch, medium. If they don't touch, large


    source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2346297_determine-body-frame-size.html
  • MaybeAMonkey
    MaybeAMonkey Posts: 247
    I was always told that 5'4 and under is petite (and I think most clothing manufacturers use this too). As for "frame" - I think that's a judgement call. I'm 5' and half of an inch and I don't have wide shoulders, I have a friend who is 5'2 and has very wide shoulders ... I'm called petite and small framed, and she's called petite but not small framed. FYI, we can both get our fingers to overlap when we wrap our thumb and longest finger over our wrist.
  • TheGoalDigger
    TheGoalDigger Posts: 159 Member
    I found a website to measure it and I'm a large frame.
    It's based on your wrist circumference


    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/fsz

    Check it out
  • _VoV
    _VoV Posts: 1,494 Member
    I doubt a single measurement (like the wrist measurement) will give you the best indication. I would ask an objective observer: your doctor, an exercise specialist, or other knowledgeable person.
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    I am 5'4, 113 lbs, Ive been told I am petite, small frame, but is the only proper method to determine this is by measuring yourself?! Can you know other ways?! I really want to figure out what I am the correct way!

    thanks in advance :)

    Hey there. I'm your height but when I weight 125lbs I looked like a skeleton. I was ill and not healthy at all. Now at 135-150 I look much healthier and not-skeleton-like.

    The weirdest part about this is that I can wrap my middle finger/ thumb around my wrist with more than an inch overlap. This SHOULD classify me as petite, or small framed. But with the memory of how I felt and looked at what should be an average weight for my height, I would have to say I am medium, or more likely, large framed.
  • mhuch110
    mhuch110 Posts: 130 Member
    There is also a way you can measure using your elbow... hold your arm up and bend your elbow in so that your arm is parallel to your chest (palm facing in). Measure the distance between the two prominent bones on either side of your elbow. If it's 2 1/4 - 2 1/5 inches, you are a medium frame. Anything below that is small, higher than that is large.
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
    the size of the bones of your wrists and elbows is one way, also how wide your shoulder bones are, and how big your rib cage is (although the last one it's hard to tell if you have a lot of weight to lose.

    larger frame size = larger skeleton than average, so you'll have bigger wrists and elbows, wider shoulders, etc. there's quite a lot of variation, and it would affect what dress size you are when your body fat percentage is in the healthy range. Larger frame sized people should aim for the high end of the BMI healthy range, and if you're large framed and muscular, then you may be in the overweight or even obese range while your body fat percentage is in the healthy range. Small framed people should aim for the lower range, unless they are very muscular, in which case even they will probably be in the higher range. Which shows how unreliable BMI can be.

    In terms of health, it's better to just aim for a body fat percentage in the healthy range, because that's the same regardless of frame size or height. 18-25%is the healthy range for young women. Older women this percentage is higher, maybe 22-28%.
  • kat5556
    kat5556 Posts: 164 Member
    I recently asked a Registered Dietitian that I'm seeing this questions. She said many people think the "wrap your fingers around your wrist" is the way they tell but if someone is over weight then of course their wrist are going to be larger. She goes by bone density instead and uses your ethnicity. I'm a good example. I have tiny wrists but the rest of me is more average. I wear a size large in tops so I'm not small boned except for my wrist.

    She says that there are some exceptions to this rule but for the most part she classifies Asian people as light boned, Caucasians as medium boned and African Americans as heavier boned.
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    I am 5'4, 113 lbs, Ive been told I am petite, small frame, but is the only proper method to determine this is by measuring yourself?! Can you know other ways?! I really want to figure out what I am the correct way!

    thanks in advance :)

    Hey there. I'm your height but when I weight 125lbs I looked like a skeleton. I was ill and not healthy at all. Now at 135-150 I look much healthier and not-skeleton-like.

    The weirdest part about this is that I can wrap my middle finger/ thumb around my wrist with more than an inch overlap. This SHOULD classify me as petite, or small framed. But with the memory of how I felt and looked at what should be an average weight for my height, I would have to say I am medium, or more likely, large framed.

    same here. then someone pointed out to me that my fingers are long :laugh: so my fingers wrap around my wrist, but technically my frame size falls in the medium-large side.

    the elbow distance thing is supposed to be most accurate.

    at 5'5 i looked like skeletor when i weighed 125 pounds. I dont start looking chunky until around 160. my perfect weight range is probably 145-155 and i'd end up a size 6/8 at that weight
  • CalCount61
    CalCount61 Posts: 1
    The method suggested by Kneh13 is a good rule of thumb (pun not really intended), and works well if you have average sized hands / length fingers given your height / wrist size. If you don't, or are not sure, try a body frame size calculator such as this one:

    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/fsz

    Also useful are waist-to-hips, chest-to-waist and chest-to-hip calcuators:

    http://www.csgnetwork.com/hwcratiocalc.html
  • bhfood
    bhfood Posts: 77
    knix......is correct from everything I've ever heard. As a nurse I know your pelvis is an indicator (bigger gives baby more room to come through in labor) and I have used that same wrist and finger thing. also I know petite has to do with your inseam length and ht.
  • dhiammarath
    dhiammarath Posts: 834 Member
    Quick way to do it would be to wrap your thumb and longest finger over your wrist. If they overlap, you're small framed. If they just touch, medium. If they don't touch, large


    source: http://www.ehow.com/how_2346297_determine-body-frame-size.html

    But what if you have a lot of fat on your wrist? I store fat everywhere... so right now, my wrist bone is like the tender morsel buried in the jelly donut of my wrist (heck, even my fingers got fat). My hands are small, too. I've got short, squatty-ish fingers. I'd kill for long, slender graceful ones!

    I've tried the wrist measurement thing, too. But my wrist measurement has changed quite a bit already and I'm already halfway!! I'm real curious to know what frame size I am, but I don't think I can determine it until I get down to a healthy weight.
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