"Big Boned" expectations

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  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    The term big boned ranks right up there with skinny fat and starvation mode. The average human skeleton doesn't vary much besides length of the long bones for height. You may have wider set shoulders or broader hips but your bones aren't big nor do they weigh more than another person of your height.

    For all the differences that we see in humans on the outside, we're remarkably the same on the inside whether it be bones, organs, metabolism or muscle structure.

    Using a clothing size isn't a god way to decide on goal weight. In the end, body fat should be your ultimate measure of success.
  • louiselebeau
    louiselebeau Posts: 220 Member
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    Expect to look like a Norse goddess and not a tiny pixie

    ^^^ This ^^^
  • sweetnlow30
    sweetnlow30 Posts: 497 Member
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    I am 5' 3" but I have a heavier frame. My hips aren't that wide but my shoulders are. At my smallest size I was a 6 in pants but I still took a L-XL in tops. For this reason I can get away with looking pretty good at the high end of "normal" for my height and weight. I wouldn't get too caught up in the numbers. Just lose until you find a weight you feel comfortable at. Some people would feel big at my goal weight of 145-150 but it works for me :wink:
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,411 MFP Moderator
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    There is no such thing as big boned.. you can have a broader frame (wider hips or shoulders) but big boned is a nice way of saying overweight or fat. Even if you have a larger frame you can still cut to a low body fat and look awesome.

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  • PetulantOne
    PetulantOne Posts: 2,131 Member
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    How did you calculate that you're "big boned"? If you used the wrist measurement method it doesn't mean anything when you're 100lbs overweight. You will lose size on your wrist. In 82lbs I've gone from an 8" wrist to a 7.25" which moves me from "big boned" to "normal". In other words, don't sweat it until you're close to your goal weight/appearance. Use the mirror and/or body fat percentage anyway, body weight means little.

    My wrists always stay the same size. Ray Charles' big girl gauge wouldn't have worked on me lol

    OP- like others have said, set a goal bf% and work on that.
  • krhn
    krhn Posts: 781 Member
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    Take this big bone statement with a pinch of salt, people can easily get blindsided by this and eat more because they are "big boned" - I use to say i was big boned when i was obese, then when i cut down in weight/fat, my wrist size is comparable with my younger brother LMFAO! :laugh:

    So much for "Big Boned" :drinker:
  • Pumpkinguy13
    Pumpkinguy13 Posts: 7 Member
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    I'm going to have to join on board with those saying, "Who told you that you were big-boned?"

    In my youth I was always very large. Huge is probably a better term. I always also assumed (and was told) I had a huge skeleton to go with it. Really large shoulders, hips etc.

    However, After I lost weight and became more fit I realized that maybe my hips and shoulders maybe are slightly wider than the average, but most of it was just fat and liquids. (plus I just stored more fat in the areas around the back of my hips that made me think my bones were bigger than they were).

    I don't think human bones vary THAT much away from the mean unless a person has something like Acromegaly.
  • elainecroft
    elainecroft Posts: 595 Member
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    The term big boned ranks right up there with skinny fat and starvation mode. The average human skeleton doesn't vary much besides length of the long bones for height. You may have wider set shoulders or broader hips but your bones aren't big nor do they weigh more than another person of your height.

    For all the differences that we see in humans on the outside, we're remarkably the same on the inside whether it be bones, organs, metabolism or muscle structure.

    Using a clothing size isn't a god way to decide on goal weight. In the end, body fat should be your ultimate measure of success.

    Some people just. have. bigger. bones. Example - my wrists and hands are bigger than most people my height. It's not because they are fat, they are just longer and wider. It is not reasonable to expect me to be the same weight as a person with a smaller frame, and in fact I have found that I often weigh more than someone who is a significantly larger size than me.
  • JosieRawr
    JosieRawr Posts: 788 Member
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    I have a longer/wider frame that many people... even when I was unhealthily skinny I could only just fit size six(not particularly comfortably either) not to say that I'm big boned as my wrists are less than 6inches around at the smallest point, but my hips are wide, I'm not hugely tall(@5'8) and I only have ~20lbs to lose, but I've decided not to set a goal in stone... I've always been bigger than my sisters and mom(not in an overweight way, just larger "stout" that went into curvy at puberty instead of thin) I'm thinking around 150lbs but if I get to 155 n like what I see I'll probably start working more on strength n lifting n less on cardio... As far as pants go... I have no idea where I'll land there, I'm currently about a 13(though my smaller framed in law gives me a *raised eyebrow* you're size what? ) in miss me jeans and a couple of other popular brands(around here anyways) I have no size goal... I think it works better than stressing out.

    Edit just cuz :)
  • Susie_Q12
    Susie_Q12 Posts: 40
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    UGH, not them "Big Bones" again....:laugh:
  • crazy4lulu
    crazy4lulu Posts: 822 Member
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    we are Large framed.thats it... just taller and well larger. Im 5 ft 11 inches, a size 8 or 10 on a "bad" day. i weigh 194 lbs and will never be petite. Life hands you lemons.... make lemonade. Dont let them go to waste. Keep doing what you are doing.
  • savithny
    savithny Posts: 1,200 Member
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    My mother starved to 115 pounds at 5'9" from a thyroid condition.

    She still took a size 12/13.. That's pretty much the dress size her *skeleton* takes. We ueed to joke that I'll see size 12 again .... six months after I'm dead.

    Human bones actually have a pretty wide variation in both robustness and how they're arranged. If there were less, anthropologists wouldn't be able to tell anything about a person from their bone structure.
  • kaylacharlton1
    kaylacharlton1 Posts: 2
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    Don't worry about scale numbers or dress sizes. Go until you feel healthy, meet your fitness goals, and like what you see in the mirror.

    If you do want a number to go by, find out what your healthiest Body Fat Percentage (BFP) is. I think for women it's usually in around 20-30% range (though of course age and whatnot play a factor), but it accounts for things that dress sizes and BMI don't like muscles, water, frame size etc.

    As a fellow big-framed lady this is what I've been going by. I haven't reached my goal, but it's definitely nice to know that I'm not as fat as BMI tells me.

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