Taller girls look less muscular

I feel like fat works the same way. Tall girls get to carry a much higher body fat percentage and still look slim.

Short girls gain 5 lb and it translates into 5 pants sizes.

It's true. Taller people have more area, and can hold a lot more weight. Same for men and women. Just look at gymnasts...usually short people. They get bulky pretty readily (imho it's a nice look for both the male and female gymnasts).

I wouldn't call gymnasts "bulky." They are muscular and girls tend to be flat chested and to have a "pigeon breast" look. I assume it's the result of the training as well as the natural physique of girls who tend to be successful at gymnastics. And don't they tend to be short because shorter people have a lower center of gravity, which is an advantage is gymnastics?

And if you're unlucky enough to be disporportionate and tall too like me... then the exercises get harder! My arms are longer proportionally than average... so need to produce more torque in joints because of the leverage when doing things like pushups... doenst stop me, but it is physically harder mathematically/physically!

Though when you are tall, you can weigh more and look a lot thinner. When you are short, that fat doesn't have anywhere to go but sitck out

There are health issues associated with having a shorter frame as well. Yes, I gain muscle quickly, but what happens if I let myself go a bit? I'm short (5'4") and I'm a banana shape, so when I put on a few pounds my waistline zoomed right in to the heart disease danger zone. And I wasn't even technically overweight!

if you're short, large framed and have a relatively thick waist (which you would have as a banana shape), and you're using the "waist should be less than half your height" thing, then it's possible that this is more a problem with that particular test than you actually carrying enough fat to put you at greater risk of heart disease. The NHS (UK health service) has switched from that to having the same maximum waist size for everyone, regardless of height, because frame size does not correlate with height, very often shorter people have the same size torsos as taller people, they just have shorter legs. The absolute values used by the NHS are more reliable than the less than half your height rule.

The values used by the NHS are as follows:

somewhat increased risk of disease: men - over 37 inches; women - over 31.5 inches

greater risk of disease: men - over 40 inches; women - over 34.5 inches

- measure your waist midway between the bottom of your rib cage and the top of your pelvis, and breathe out first.

I still think that this will give false positives in large framed people and false negatives in small framed people, however it eliminates some error by not assuming that all short people are small framed and all tall people are large framed, which is not the case.

I think that applies for large framed women of any height. If you're short, you're supposed to be built like a pixie with a tiny little frame and weigh about 100lb. If you're tall, you're supposed to be built like a supermodel, with long, slim legs and a tiny little frame and you're allowed to weigh a bit more for being taller, but not that much more.... in other words, society expects women to have a tiny frame and be slender and not take up much space, and also to be delicate, weak, etc. ... whether you're tall or short, if you have a large frame, you're not built like how many people in our culture think women should be... my reaction to it is more like: what the heck's wrong with women having a large frame and being muscular?... and for that matter, what the heck kind of culture doesn't want women to be strong (whatever their body type)? But some women deal with it by trying to diet down to be an entirely different body type, which is doomed to failure because you can't shrink your ribs, shoulders or pelvis.

I've also noticed magazines airbrush the torsos of medium-large framed celebrities in such a way that they're effectively making their shoulders, rib cage and pelvis narrower, so they look smaller framed... that's not the same as airbrushing out rolls of fat or airbrushing someone to look like they would at a smaller body fat percentage.... they're airbrushing them from one body type that's seen as undesirable to another that's seen as desirable, and totally reinforced the idea that women are not supposed to be large framed. And when women say things like "if I gain muscle I look stocky " or "if I gain muscle I look like an amazon " then that's because society made them hate their body type. Which is really sad.