Ever heard of "Heavy Bones"?

13

Replies

  • dragonghost
    dragonghost Posts: 68 Member
    edited August 2018
    Heavy Bones no though if your talking about large bone structure yes an it's very annoying especial when buying dress shirts or slacks.
  • TheMagicOneMikeD
    TheMagicOneMikeD Posts: 94 Member
    edited August 2018
    Yeah, I have bigger than average bones. I guess that's what you mean. Like I can't wear a regular size band on a watch and my wrist is not fleshy. But I'm also 6'1" which is like 3 inches taller than average, so I would imagine it's probably not unusual that my bones would be a little longer and wider. I don't know how much of an effect that would have on my weight though so I don't consider it when I'm looking at weight.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,843 Member
    Yeah, I have bigger than average bones. I guess that's what you mean. Like I can't wear a regular size band on a watch and my wrist is not fleshy. But I'm also 6'1" which is like 3 inches taller than average, so I would imagine it's probably not unusual that my bones would be a little longer and wider. I don't know how much of an effect that would have on my weight though so I don't consider it when I'm looking at weight.

    Ya, at least being female I have the advantage of being able to wear regular size men's watches, gloves, shoes, hats, etc.

    But women's bracelets and shoes is a PITA.
  • Evelyn_Gorfram
    Evelyn_Gorfram Posts: 706 Member
    VUA21 wrote: »
    Decided to look up genetically attributed high bone density - I really hope you don't have this. The most common syndroms include syptoms ranging from severe pain to deformation over time, including extreme bowing of the limbs, and loss off mobility.
    Thanks for doing that research. :)

    Fortunately, that's not my family. No one's limbs are bowed, and the only pain, deformation and lack of mobility we seem to get is from things like osteoarthritis.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    Not heard of heavy bones before.

    I always thought I was big boned.. when I lost weight and saw how tiny my wrist circumference became, I could see I was not big boned after all.
    I do have broad set hips and shoulders though, but thats genetics.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    Heavy Bones no though if your talking about large bone structure yes an it's very annoying especial when buying dress shirts or slacks.

    As a female with long bones I at least have the option of going to menswear for casual clothing that fits my arms and upper back without looking too big through the torso. I don’t bother looking in women’s for tees, sweats, and casual outerwear
  • sunfastrose
    sunfastrose Posts: 543 Member
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    We use 'heavy bones' too. Hadn't realised it wasn't widespread as a saying. As you say, it's widely used as an excuse for being overweight. However I will say that whilst I am overweight (25.4 bmi), I carry my weight in such a way that I LOOK like I'm much lighter than I am. Maybe your family is similar?
    I don't think it is widespread as a saying (er, is your "heavy-boned" family from South-Central Kansas, by any chance?).

    And yeah, we do all tend to look about 20 lbs lighter than we are, so that's probably what the "heavy bones" thing really means. (I sure wish I understood exactly how the business of "carrying ones weight well" works. I mean, I guess I do it, but where is it? Tucked around my kidneys or something?)

    What’s your frame size? http://www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/frame_size_calculator.asp

    I have a large frame and the only time I've had a BMI as low as 24 was after 6 weeks of undereating and overexercising during boot camp. (When I first arrived there, I had to get boots and hats from the men's side of the uniforms room because there weren't any big enough in women's. At 5'6", I'm not especially tall. I've always had a hard time buying bracelets. I wear men's shoes as often as I can get away with it.)

    My goal is to get back into my skinny jeans from when I was a full time yoga teacher, which will have me at a Low Overweight BMI, and I'm ok with that.

    I just used your calculator. Previous ones I used put me in the larger frame category. This one said "Unfortunately, the wrist and elbow methods do not agree with each other. The wrist method says that you have a medium body frame while the elbow method says that you have a broad body frame." I take that to mean I'm more medium framed with long limbs.

    Healthy BMI for me would be a weight range of around 125-159 (I'm right in between 5'7-5'8 female) I have found BMI still applies even though my frame is somewhat larger and I have long limbs. I look healthiest in the 150-155lb range. I also lift heavy so my muscle mass is slightly above most females my age and height. BMI works for most of us but definitely not everyone will feel and look their best in the given weight ranges

    - I was around 165lb in the boxing shot I used for my profile

    Is that healthy BMI taken from the referenced calculator? Because a general BMI calculator has 150-155 still in the healthy range for your height.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,108 Member
    SCoil123 wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    We use 'heavy bones' too. Hadn't realised it wasn't widespread as a saying. As you say, it's widely used as an excuse for being overweight. However I will say that whilst I am overweight (25.4 bmi), I carry my weight in such a way that I LOOK like I'm much lighter than I am. Maybe your family is similar?
    I don't think it is widespread as a saying (er, is your "heavy-boned" family from South-Central Kansas, by any chance?).

    And yeah, we do all tend to look about 20 lbs lighter than we are, so that's probably what the "heavy bones" thing really means. (I sure wish I understood exactly how the business of "carrying ones weight well" works. I mean, I guess I do it, but where is it? Tucked around my kidneys or something?)

    What’s your frame size? http://www.myfooddiary.com/Resources/frame_size_calculator.asp

    I have a large frame and the only time I've had a BMI as low as 24 was after 6 weeks of undereating and overexercising during boot camp. (When I first arrived there, I had to get boots and hats from the men's side of the uniforms room because there weren't any big enough in women's. At 5'6", I'm not especially tall. I've always had a hard time buying bracelets. I wear men's shoes as often as I can get away with it.)

    My goal is to get back into my skinny jeans from when I was a full time yoga teacher, which will have me at a Low Overweight BMI, and I'm ok with that.

    I just used your calculator. Previous ones I used put me in the larger frame category. This one said "Unfortunately, the wrist and elbow methods do not agree with each other. The wrist method says that you have a medium body frame while the elbow method says that you have a broad body frame." I take that to mean I'm more medium framed with long limbs.

    Healthy BMI for me would be a weight range of around 125-159 (I'm right in between 5'7-5'8 female) I have found BMI still applies even though my frame is somewhat larger and I have long limbs. I look healthiest in the 150-155lb range. I also lift heavy so my muscle mass is slightly above most females my age and height. BMI works for most of us but definitely not everyone will feel and look their best in the given weight ranges

    - I was around 165lb in the boxing shot I used for my profile

    Is that healthy BMI taken from the referenced calculator? Because a general BMI calculator has 150-155 still in the healthy range for your height.

    In my most I state that it is within a healthy BMI and that BMI still applies even though I have a slightly larger frame
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited August 2018
    Ironically, our bones have been shown to get thicker (more dense at least) to support obese bodies. It's like the chicken or the egg conundrum. Most "big boned" people are bigger boned because they got obese first and their body's bones thickened a bit to support the added structural load. So, people can be moderately bigger (or at least more dense) boned, but it's because they were overweight to begin with, not vice versa.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,971 Member
    edited August 2018
    Bone mass/wt reportedly varies from 3-5% of BW, depending largely on age, sex and race.

    A "normal" level of fitness is presumed and the % would decrease or increase depending on whether the subject is,over or under weight, respectively.

    As,for race, Asians supposedly have more porus bones and are on the low end. Blacks supposedly have denser bones and are on the high end. Everyone else is somewhere in between.

    If you want to know what your bones weigh, get a DXA scan.

    I've had many DXA scans and my bone weight is consistently around 7.1# which, based on my last scan, would have been equal to about 4% of my BW, which was 156 at the time - right in the middle of the expected range.
  • TheMagicOneMikeD
    TheMagicOneMikeD Posts: 94 Member

    I always thought I was big boned.. when I lost weight and saw how tiny my wrist circumference became.
    I lost an inch around my wrist with my weight loss, which, if going by the frame charts, I went from a large frame to a medium :wink:


    interesting
  • missh1967
    missh1967 Posts: 661 Member
    msf74 wrote: »
    Bone density does vary between individuals and increasing it is one benefit of weight bearing / resistance based exercise.

    It's possible that is what they mean.

    This. Bone density is real!
  • ejbronte
    ejbronte Posts: 867 Member
    Just on the topic of large or small frames: A very few years ago, the skeleton of Richard III was discovered in Leicester. At first, because the bones were "gracile", it was thought the skeleton was of a woman. So Richard would have been a small-framed male. He was an extremely active man, therefore likely muscled; but also had scoliosis.

    When the bones of Anne Boleyn were discovered, comment was made about how small they were.
  • ejbronte
    ejbronte Posts: 867 Member
    earlnabby wrote: »
    ejbronte wrote: »
    Just on the topic of large or small frames: A very few years ago, the skeleton of Richard III was discovered in Leicester. At first, because the bones were "gracile", it was thought the skeleton was of a woman. So Richard would have been a small-framed male. He was an extremely active man, therefore likely muscled; but also had scoliosis.

    When the bones of Anne Boleyn were discovered, comment was made about how small they were.

    I found the whole thing about Richard III interesting. I saw a program (might have been one of the Tony Robinson shows) about it where they settled some of the controversy about him and his scoliosis. Until the bones were found, pro Richard groups insisted he couldn't be a hunchback because he led armies. He definitely had a bad curvature in his spine which contributed to the "hunchback" look but they found a young man of a similar age and with a similar curvature to use as a comparison. The young man was fitted with custom made armor and participated in riding, sword fighting, and jousting with no problem making it evident that Richard's spine did not prevent him from being a warrior king. Obviously they still couldn't prove or disprove whether he was an evil king who murdered his nephews.

    The young man is Dominic Smee: I met him briefly at a Richard III Society meeting (yes, I'm one of those. It gets worse: ask me about the Brontes or Diderot. You'll run away fast...). He was very charming, informative, and interesting to talk to.
  • jayemes
    jayemes Posts: 865 Member
    My wrist and elbow are in agreement that I have a broad frame. Damnit. :lol:
  • rosyone1
    rosyone1 Posts: 32 Member
    The calculator tells me I have a thin body frame, which is what I thought. For an adult woman of my height, I have relatively long legs and a short torso with narrow hips, a poorly defined waist, and a natural thigh gap at a healthy weight. I don't think my shoulders are particularly wide or narrow relative to height, but they are wide relative to my hips. I have a high center of gravity, as my dad used to say, and generally require a size larger top than bottom. All that said, I've never thought my bones were anything other than average in weight for someone with a healthy bone density. It's their relative length and how they're put together that makes the difference.