No really... I AM big boned..?

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  • ebony__
    ebony__ Posts: 519 Member
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    I'm a physical anthropologist, and there IS such thing as big boned. No bones are the same size. Your ancestry plays a large part it it. It doesn't make a huge difference, but it's not irrelevant either. Now to say its an excuse for 50+ pounds is just crazy. But it can make things like wrists and ankles appear larger. It doesn't effect weight except by the smallest fraction. But a lot of things can change how you appear. Like a girl I went to school with was 5'7, 115 pounds and wore a size 6-8 depending on the brand because her hips were wide. She wasn't big boned, but her hip bones were spread apart farther.

    I like this.
    It definitely seems like my ASIS sit slightly wider since childbirth
  • castadiva
    castadiva Posts: 2,016 Member
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    Please ignore the numpties here who are saying that variation in frame size is a myth. As SarahMichelle says, bone size itself is variable, and more to the point, the way those bones are put together and the relative proportions are highly variable, and can make a big difference to how your body looks.

    Whether or not you will ever be able to wear a size 10 will depend in large part on your frame. I'm a similar height to you, with a larger-than-average frame (probably due to my Scandinavian/Scottish Highlander ancestry), and think it is unlikely, simply because of the depth of my ribcage and width of my pelvic bones, that I will ever be smaller than a small UK size 14, no matter how much weight I lose. That doesn't mean that you won't ever be able to achieve a smaller size, or that you shouldn't aim for whatever size you wish, but try not to get too hung up on it. Your body will look 'right' at one point or other, and how many pounds, or what clothing size that is, will essentially be irrelevant, unless you allow it to be the be-all and end-all.

    By the way, as a further point of reference, at 203lbs, UK 16-18, I have a clean jaw-line, visible, defined collar bones, defined tendons in my hands and feet, and no excess flesh on my wrists, ankles and lower arms/legs. My goal-weight is 176lbs, and I'll then re-assess, but I think it's unlikely I'll want to lose much more from my sturdy frame. Strong and toned is my aim.
  • Arilysal
    Arilysal Posts: 46 Member
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    Agree, i dont buy into the big bone excuse as well eventhough i've been told for YEARS that i am naturally big bone and will never ever be as skinny as my younger sister. I tend to carry my weight in my hips and shoulder so not only i look "fertile" i also looked like someone who can carry 3 rugsacks of rice. LOL. but i've manage to slim down and lose the thick shoulders and watching my younger sister growing more mature and carrying weight in her hips kinda relieved me a little (god im evil XD)

    Don't limit yourself to squeezing into a size zero if it just makes you look like a giant skeleton and scary. Focus on what you look best despite not being a size 10. Focus on loving yourself and your healthy glow!
  • jfrankic
    jfrankic Posts: 747 Member
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    Don't stress about frame size. Yes, there are small, medium and large frames but one of the best factors, in my NON expert opinion, to use to determine health is body fat %. You can be within your healthy weight range for your size and still be unhealthy because you are 40% bf. Or you can be 20 pounds over your recommended weight but be fit and healthy because you are 25% body fat.

    I am medium frame but I have a more muscular build. At my "healthy" recommended weight, I would be at 16% body fat. But at 20 pounds over my healthy weight, according to the charts, I am a healthy 25% body fat. So frame doesn't really matter, as I'm trying to be the best and healthiest me I can be. Heck, I'm 30 pounds over my chart weight and I'm a healthy/acceptable bf%. At 25% bf, I should be in size 10. I'm also 5'8, for reference.

    Bottom line...... get healthy! Stay healthy! Love yourself! It sounds like you carry your weight very well but it might not be a frame issue. It could just be how your body stores fat. Be healthy and just roll with it. Best of success to you!
  • 714rah714
    714rah714 Posts: 759 Member
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    So what you are saying is that there's no difference in body frame between say your typical basketball player and an NFL linebacker, none, none whatsoever..
  • kristen6022
    kristen6022 Posts: 1,926 Member
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    I always used to say I was "big boned". Until I tested that theory and realize I was really medium framed. I also always thought I'd never get below a size 10 in my adult life. I'm now a 4/6, 5'11 and 147lbs. It is possible. Blaming your frame size is just another excuse we use to stay larger.

    Keep up the great work!
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
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    Looking for some motivation!

    Anyone else out there have a large frame and able to share their story? I'm 5'8 and 220... generally wear a size 16. I was at a Doctor's office the other day and he told me I was NOT big boned, and that he's seen much bigger - he's kinda given me a complex now! So I went and looked online to see how I can judge this myself and the circumference of my wrist is 7"....and according to everything I read that's big boned! I am very broad and carry weight all over, anyways I'm trying to lose weight, and I really wish I can get down to a size 10, is this even possible? I don't even remember a time that I wore something outside of a size 14. About 3 years ago I dropped down to 180, and I was wearing a size 14 - and this was a healthy look for me.

    Am I deluding myself into thinking my frame will prevent me from going down to a size 10?

    If anyone has got some stories, please share! Thanks!

    I think you are kidding yourself a little, yes. I'm 5'7" and the wrist on my dominant hand is 6.5". I do not consider myself "big boned".

    Yes, you can get down to a size 10. I'm still 12 pounds over my goal weight and am wearing my sizes 6 and 8 clothes. When those 12 are gone I'll be back in my 4s and 6s.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    "Bone" is relative, I have a 6' inch at 5'6", roughly 158 lbs, and I'm considered small framed, and people have often told me I'm "small boned" as long as I can remember. But when I was the same height and dealing with anorexia, at roughly 95 lbs, my hips were still big enough where a size 5/7 jeans was as small as I could go.

    I was "small boned," but my hip bones were wide enough not to make a difference ;)

    So bone 'thickness" could be something, as my sister has thick wrists and is generally stocky though she's a healthy weight. I think there' something to "small boned" versus "big boned" on HOW you show your healthy weight--not an excuse to be overweight.

    For instance, two people with different "frames" at the same weight and height are going to look different.
  • Curvimami
    Curvimami Posts: 1,853 Member
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    5'6, currently 204. My wrist is BONEY (I have no fat on it at all so it wont get smaller unless somehow I lose skin) its over 7inches. I am big boned and I have BEEN size 10 so yes, it is possible. At my smallest (135 and sickly looking) I was a size 6/7. My goal will be 8/10 at about 145.

    Ditto. Except my goal is 160 and that puts me at about a size 10 and some 8s depending on brand. Its amazing and so beautiful to me how people are built and shaped so differently.
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
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    Skeletons are all about the same size. No such thing as "big boned". Lol.

    So why am I 5ft4 and my husband is 6ft 3? :laugh:
  • ChrisRS87
    ChrisRS87 Posts: 781 Member
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    As I lost weight the circumference of my wrist got smaller too, I had to tighten my watch from where it was for years even. I'm afraid you were measuring more than bone.
  • msacurrie
    msacurrie Posts: 144 Member
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    Doctors are not all-knowing, and your pants size doesn't matter. It's about getting healthy :) you'll get down to the size your body is meant for, don't get discouraged :)
  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    You won't know for sure untill you lose weight.
    According to that calculators using wirst circumference I was big boned when I was heavier. But once I lost weight my wirst got tiny and now I'm middle or small frame! I don't think there is way to tell how much fat you store on your wirst without an xray...
  • Curvimami
    Curvimami Posts: 1,853 Member
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    If people have EXACTLY THE SAME skeletons then how is it possible to identify male from female when fossils are discovered from ancient cultures?

    Why are some women to 'narrow' for childbirth if the skeletons are EXACTLY the same? is the fat making their hips closer together?

    If all skeletons are the same please explain Osteoporosis and the other skeletal disorders. By this thinking then it would be impossible to have any differences in structure at all.

    Here's one from the American Journal of clinical nutrition : http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/75/6/1012.long which discusses frame sizes.

    It is utterly ridiculous to say that everyone has the same size of skeleton.

    ^^^ This Exactly!!!!.. What was that guy thinking I wonder??? Hmmmm
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Skeletons are all about the same size. No such thing as "big boned". Lol.
    This. There are variations in height, and slight variations in frame size, but it isn't really enough to matter as far as weight is concerned. That's why healthy weight is given as a range, to account for individual differences in frame size. Someone with a larger frame size might weigh 20 pounds more than someone with a small frame, not 50 pounds more. "Big boned" is just an excuse.
  • JenniBaby85
    JenniBaby85 Posts: 855 Member
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    Well I don't know about the small, medium, and large framed stuff. I DO know that some people can carry extra weight well, and look healthy, where as others can't. I think the best "standard" is based on height, sex, and age. Not on "frame" size.
  • JenniBaby85
    JenniBaby85 Posts: 855 Member
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    If people have EXACTLY THE SAME skeletons then how is it possible to identify male from female when fossils are discovered from ancient cultures?

    Why are some women to 'narrow' for childbirth if the skeletons are EXACTLY the same? is the fat making their hips closer together?

    If all skeletons are the same please explain Osteoporosis and the other skeletal disorders. By this thinking then it would be impossible to have any differences in structure at all.

    Here's one from the American Journal of clinical nutrition : http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/75/6/1012.long which discusses frame sizes.

    It is utterly ridiculous to say that everyone has the same size of skeleton.

    ^^^ This Exactly!!!!.. What was that guy thinking I wonder??? Hmmmm

    I have to agree. It's true, some woman can't give birth naturally because of a narrow pelvis, which definitely has to do with the bone frame.
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
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    Looking for some motivation!

    Anyone else out there have a large frame and able to share their story? I'm 5'8 and 220... generally wear a size 16. I was at a Doctor's office the other day and he told me I was NOT big boned, and that he's seen much bigger - he's kinda given me a complex now! So I went and looked online to see how I can judge this myself and the circumference of my wrist is 7"....and according to everything I read that's big boned! I am very broad and carry weight all over, anyways I'm trying to lose weight, and I really wish I can get down to a size 10, is this even possible? I don't even remember a time that I wore something outside of a size 14. About 3 years ago I dropped down to 180, and I was wearing a size 14 - and this was a healthy look for me.

    Am I deluding myself into thinking my frame will prevent me from going down to a size 10?

    If anyone has got some stories, please share! Thanks!

    Maybe you'll be a size 10, maybe you won't; if you're healthy, dress size and scale weight is a moot point. The important thing is body fat to muscle and how you FEEL. If you liked yourself at a 14, make that a goal and then reevaluate from there.
  • Calliesmom1
    Calliesmom1 Posts: 78
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    There is too such a thing as big boned! I used to weight 110 pounds and had a huge shoulder width and was pretty much wide everywhere. The smallest size pants i could ever wear was a size 2. That was a really unhealthy weight for me and now im 137 and looking much better. But my point is so small boned women (with smaller frames) can be 110 and look great. On my big boned self it looked disgusting.
  • Virgo75
    Virgo75 Posts: 9 Member
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    If people have EXACTLY THE SAME skeletons then how is it possible to identify male from female when fossils are discovered from ancient cultures?

    Why are some women to 'narrow' for childbirth if the skeletons are EXACTLY the same? is the fat making their hips closer together?

    If all skeletons are the same please explain Osteoporosis and the other skeletal disorders. By this thinking then it would be impossible to have any differences in structure at all.

    Here's one from the American Journal of clinical nutrition : http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/75/6/1012.long which discusses frame sizes.

    It is utterly ridiculous to say that everyone has the same size of skeleton.

    Actually the difference between male and female skeleton is the shape of the pelvis. The myth that women can't have a baby because their pelvis is small is because of the shape of the inlet or outlet of the pelvis itself, not the size of the actual bones. Hips have no bearing on determining if a women can have a baby pass through the pelvis (the bony structure). This is an extremely rare occurance anyway and mostly because women are made to give birth on their backs in today's society, that is not a natural birthing position that when left alone, women use. I digress. my point is that you can' tell the size of someone's bones by looking at the outside, and relatively speaking we all have the same size bones.

    Of course if you look at a women at 5 foot and a man at 6.5 feet, there are going to be some differences, the bones must accommodate that size frame. But if you take 2 people at 5'8" in height, their bones will pretty much be the same size in diameter, width etc. Yes, the femur may be longer in one individual etc, but the actual size of the bone will pretty much be the same

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