My wrist is big and when I put my middle finger and thumb around it they touch. Am I big boned?
newstart1988
Posts: 154 Member
My wrist is big and when I put my middle finger and thumb around it they touch. Am I big boned? I'm trying to figure out my frame size. I used to be skinny a long time ago but now I'm over weight and can't remember what I looked like at my lowest weight.
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Replies
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You might just have long fingers. Wait. I do have really long fingers and my middle finger and thumb don't touch. Does that mean I really am just big boned after all?2
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When I do that, there is about an inch gap. I am big boned-my wrist is 7.5 inches around, no fat on my wrists. Usually you use a measuring tape around your wrist, or measure the width of your elbow.4
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You really can't tell from that. That test ignores that some people have long fingers and some have short fingers. And that the size of your ribcage is far more relevant to your frame size than the size of your wrist.
Just pick a goal weight that seems reasonable to you - probably somewhere in the normal BMI range. You can always change the goal as you get closer to it and realize it was either too high or too low.5 -
My thumb and middle finger do not touch around my wrist, i have a normal/average frame, I'm 5"8 . I dont think this is a reliable test...4
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Christine_72 wrote: »I dont think this is a reliable test...
IMO, it isn't. I was always told that I was "big boned" or had a "large frame". Some people based this analysis of my frame on wrist diameter. I have discovered, after decades on this earth, that I do not have a large frame, or even a medium frame. I am actually small. Very small. There was just a hugely huge amount of fat covering that tiny frame.
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People say to me all the time "your not fat, your big boned"
No dude im fat. My bmi is still low 40's down from a high of 70
The fact my wrists are 7.5cm is no indicator of my frame4 -
SusanMFindlay wrote: »You really can't tell from that. That test ignores that some people have long fingers and some have short fingers. And that the size of your ribcage is far more relevant to your frame size than the size of your wrist.
Frame size is about bone mass, not about the width of anything. People think having broad shoulders, chest or hips mean they have a "large frame" but that not's true. It's about bone diameter, which is why it's traditionally calculated from your arm.3 -
newstart1988 wrote: »My wrist is big and when I put my middle finger and thumb around it they touch. Am I big boned? I'm trying to figure out my frame size. I used to be skinny a long time ago but now I'm over weight and can't remember what I looked like at my lowest weight.
why do you want to determine your frame size? what difference will it make??6 -
My thumb and pinky finger can touch up until 1/3 of my lower arm. Does that mean I'm small boned?
No, I calculated that even when I'm at the very bottom of a healthy weight a medium pants will be tight for me (with an hourglass shape).
It's all about proportions.0 -
newstart1988 wrote: »My wrist is big and when I put my middle finger and thumb around it they touch. Am I big boned? I'm trying to figure out my frame size. I used to be skinny a long time ago but now I'm over weight and can't remember what I looked like at my lowest weight.
Why do you need to know your frame size?2 -
Forget about "bone" size. Look more at your body fat percentage. Body fat percentage doesn't rely on frame size, height or shape.
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My thumb and middle finger just touch around my wrist most of the time. If I'm a little bloated they don't. If I gain more weight they won't. If I lose more weight, they'll reach even more easily. My wrist gets bigger or smaller depending on how fat or thin I am, or on how much salt I've had, or on how humid the weather is (more humidity, bigger wrist). I don't think that's a very good way to determine frame size.1
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When I was over weight my fingers barely touched. Now they overlap by 3/4 inch. I don't think my bone structure changed.
It's a bogus measurement, IMO.5 -
Forget about "bone" size. Look more at your body fat percentage. Body fat percentage doesn't rely on frame size, height or shape.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
This. ^1 -
SusanMFindlay wrote: »You really can't tell from that. That test ignores that some people have long fingers and some have short fingers. And that the size of your ribcage is far more relevant to your frame size than the size of your wrist.
Frame size is about bone mass, not about the width of anything. People think having broad shoulders, chest or hips mean they have a "large frame" but that not's true. It's about bone diameter, which is why it's traditionally calculated from your arm.
But calculating it from your arm needs to involve a measuring tape (and will still be flawed if the person has enough fat to make their wrist larger; losing weight has definitely shrunk my wrists). Using fingers to measure it is highly inaccurate.
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Big boned is usually an excuse for being fat in all
honesty.
Scale, tape measure, pictures and bodyfat measures will provide much better information than fingers round a wrist.7 -
Christine_72 wrote: »My thumb and middle finger do not touch around my wrist, i have a normal/average frame, I'm 5"8 . I dont think this is a reliable test...
Mine touch easily with room to spare, but I have long fingers (used to always be told I should play the piano, but I hated to practice, which long fingers don't compensate for), and probably narrow wrists. Medium to small frame, I'd guess, but NOT a reliable test.0 -
In my early 20s I was a size 14 and I had a small frame size according to that wrist size. Now that I am really really big, I've tried it and I get large frame. My frame has not changed since my early 20s. This tells me that there is more fat accumulated on my body then I had thought. So, that test is really incorrect and pretty worthless. IMO. Better is the crook of the elbow to test- that has not changed for me at all. Still have a small frame, large portions of fat.1
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This test is still done by doctors & healthcare professionals. My fingers didn't touch, so that was added to one of their established criteria of being overweight. All doctors & healthcare officials varie in what they measure to establish obesity diagnosis. Some use the current evidenced based researched ways of bmi, weight, etc in addition to extra not so common ways.0
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I have sausage fingers and am small framed according to my doctor and yet my fingers barely touch.0
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Where exactly are you all doing this "test" on your wrist? I did it directly over my wrist bone and my fingers don't touch, if i move just below the bone they touch, but only just.1
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Wrist bone, with the bumpy part.1
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Wrist bone, with the bumpy part.
Well that's confirmed it, I'm a big boned heifer
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This is a silly test. The size of all your body parts can vary independently and widely, though most of us are close to certain norms of proportion.
Why do you need to know frame size? If it's to get a goal weight, I agree with the person who suggested using an initial target in the middle of the normal BMI range for your height, then re-evaluate when you get nearer that. Or set a body fat target range, though that's harder to measure accurately.
Proportionally, I'm a mess. I have giant hands, big wrists, wide shoulders, huge head, but - though female - narrow hips. A small tank top is kind of loose, but a sleeved t-shirt in the same brand and line needs to be a medium or large for the shoulders to fit. Despite my having large hands and long-ish fingers, my middle finger & thumb just barely touch, with effort, around my wrist at BMI 21 (5'5", 128lbs - not exactly overweight). My hips are around 34-35".
Why am I telling you this? One body part means nothing. My boy-hips are much more relevant to how much I should weigh than my ape-wrists.5 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Wrist bone, with the bumpy part.
use a measuring tape. Mine is 6" and I'm "big boned". The test is just to give you an idea of your frame size.0 -
The frame size test only works for people like me who had 5 inch wrists even when morbidly obese. It wouldn't work on people who put weight on their upper body.
Suggest you just use MFP without all the faff.2 -
newstart1988 wrote: »My wrist is big and when I put my middle finger and thumb around it they touch. Am I big boned? I'm trying to figure out my frame size. I used to be skinny a long time ago but now I'm over weight and can't remember what I looked like at my lowest weight.
If you have fat wrists (many fat folks do) then how is measuring your wrist gonna tell you if you are "big boned"? And why are you even wondering about it? It's a useless measurement. Focus on meaningful information.3 -
Frame size can set other things in context. A lot of women, especially, think of clothing sizes when they think about weight gain or loss, and clothing size can be very dependent on frame size. You can't diet your pelvis or ribcage smaller.2
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I don't think this measurement tells you much at all. Before I lost weight, my fingers didn't quite touch around my wrist. Now they overlap. My "frame" didn't change size; I just lost fat from my arms and hands.0
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My wrists got smaller as I lost weight. It's a useless measurement.
If you're looking to set a goal, aim for the high end of a healthy BMI. Assess when you get there if you want to lose more based on body fat.1
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