Anybody ever been referred to as "big-boned"??? Then lost we

trevsgirl89
trevsgirl89 Posts: 16 Member
edited October 7 in Success Stories
Okay this might seem like a strange topic..but anyways here it goes. I weigh around 210 give or take a few. My mom always refers to me as big boned and other people have as well. I don't feel like I am big boned at I feel like I am normal boned size. Sometimes I think they tell me I am big boned so they don't feel so bad about making comments about my weight. Maybe I am bigboned, there is nothing wrong with it....But I feel like I just look that way cause of my size. So my question is have any of you thought you were or have been referred to as "big-boned", only to lose weight and to find out that underneath all the excess weight you were indeed not big boned? Like I said maybe its a weird question...but just wondering? :):)
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Replies

  • fuzzimama
    fuzzimama Posts: 85
    That's a really interesting question, because I know I am fairly broad across the back, and I've always thought that even if I lost weight I would still never be super slim and slight like some girls, but I am interested to see how much of that is just myth and how much is reality. I know broad isn't the same as big-boned, but I think I have always thought of myself as fairly strapping compared with other frame shapes, and then add extra weight into the mix and that makes for fairly chunky (in my case).
  • Tsrwalker
    Tsrwalker Posts: 164 Member
    I have been told I am big boned...even when I was in shape. They say that if you take your thumb and put it around your wrist then try to touch your thumb to your middle finger it you can touch you are small boned if there is a little gap medium boned and if there is a big gap..big boned...try it. I have about a 1/2 inch to 1 inch gap..but my sister can touch we are the same height and body type but she weighs around 130 to 140 at 5'10 and looks perfect. If I dropped under 150 I would look sick..so my weight should be 150 to 160 hope this helps.
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
    I've always been called big-boned, but I believe I am. I certainly had real fat - lots of it - on my body, but that wasn't the only thing contributing to my size. As I've lost weight I've realized how large my frame is. I have a very wide torso, but it's not fat. I honestly can't compress my torso any smaller than it is because my ribs are right there. My wrists are the same way, very large, but it's not fat.

    I realize that I won't ever be a size 2, but I'm okay with that. I just want to look proportioned and healthy.
  • jake48864
    jake48864 Posts: 4 Member
    Goggle has information on this http://knol.google.com/k/how-to-determine-body-frame-size#
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 8,507 Member
    Yep, I actually turned out to be petite. Check out the size of your hands and wrists. If they are large, you may indeed be big boned.
  • Clarecbear82
    Clarecbear82 Posts: 369 Member
    I have been big my whole life and have always been told I'm big boned and that it was just the way I was built to be. 5months after having my third baby I decided to see if it was true so I joined here February last year weighing 210lb and have so far lost 70lb. I have also found that I actually have a pretty small frame.

    So in answer to your question I think a lot of people say these things to try and help you feel better about yourself. I don't think that they are being mean or anything. Also they might truely believe you are big boned.
  • losingtwentyin2012
    losingtwentyin2012 Posts: 10
    You say its a weird question so heres a weird answer...I am mostly referred to as "big-boned" first thing in the morning. :p

    wow really??
  • annalynne1983
    annalynne1983 Posts: 23
    Yep, totally! I used to be pretty big (just hit obese BMI) - my whole family is overweight and we all think (thought, in my case) we were big-boned. Turns out when I'm at my ideal weight I'm actually quite petite! I have trouble getting tops that are small enough sometimes when at my ideal weight, I usually take the smallest size in tops in your average shop. By ideal weight, I mean when I weigh 50-54 kg. I'm 159 cm or about 5 feet 2.5 inches but well endowed in the hip and bust area with, as I discovered, actually a pretty decent waist that I didn't know was underneath all that fat! I'm not designed to look small and delicate, but believe me, no-one would call me big-boned now!!!!

    I should also say I never used to get my fingers around my wrists - now they touch but only just. I wouldn't say I'm precisely delicate. I have a friend who I would describe as small-boned - she has a very fine look about her no matter how much weight she carries. The interesting thing is she runs a lot and trains for half marathons, yet had her BMI and body fat tested using some reall up-to-date equipment available at the local nutrition department at our university, has a BMI of 19 but really high body fat! Like much higher than ideal! The other interesting thing is we fit the same size clothes although she's slightly taller, so she's not as smaller than me as what I think she looks.

    People are definitely built differently, but in my experience, the big boned thing is often either used as a cop-out by people who need to lose weight but don't believe they can, or used to give people who need to lose weight a false sense of security (or burden, depending which way you look at it!) that they can't help the way they are.

    My husband called me on the big boned thing and said I could be small if I wanted, that I was spouting crap, and as it turns out, he was right although I got mad at him at the time.

    I say you can lose weight, go for it, and enjoy the fun of finding out what an awesome figure you're hiding!!!! :-)
  • bcampbell54
    bcampbell54 Posts: 932 Member
    You say its a weird question so heres a weird answer...I am mostly referred to as "big-boned" first thing in the morning. :p
    Or "Woody"
  • PennyNickel14
    PennyNickel14 Posts: 749 Member
    I have an XL frame. So when my weight goes down I still am "big boned".

    My Bestie (who I thought had an XL frame like me) lost weight and is actually a small or medium frame. As the weight came off it exposed how tiny her structure was. Really neat :)
  • fuzzimama
    fuzzimama Posts: 85
    Well, that's really interesting because according to those measurement methods I am actually small-boned. Eeep, better toss that out along with the other myths I've had stashed in my bag for years!
  • Kenzietea2
    Kenzietea2 Posts: 1,132 Member
    You say its a weird question so heres a weird answer...I am mostly referred to as "big-boned" first thing in the morning. :p

    The fact you said that means it is probably not true :flowerforyou: :laugh:
  • ogosun
    ogosun Posts: 175 Member
    actually its a "myth" there is no such thing as big boned.... look it up on the net....
  • trevsgirl89
    trevsgirl89 Posts: 16 Member
    I tried the wrist thing and I am able to touch my finger and thumb together. A few years ago when I was a teen-ager I could touch all my fingers to my thumb but its just my middle finger now. I wasn't sure if my bone structure had gotten larger or of I had just forgotten what my old self used to look like! :) Nothings wrong at all with being big boned...just wasn't sure if people were getting excess weight confused with bone structure. I have gained so much weight around my back area that it makes me look broader than I really am. Can't wait to get this weight off!! ;);)
  • chasingpavements24
    chasingpavements24 Posts: 107 Member
    Wow, that was really interesting! Thanks for sharing that link. It turns out that I'm small-boned, which is CRAZY because I have always been called big-boned since I was a little kid. My mom always used that as an excuse for my weight - "Don't worry that you don't look like the other girls - you're just big-boned. It's genetics!". I've had a broad back and generally a wide frame - I guess it's a result of me being overweight rather than my natural frame. This makes me even more excited to find out how I'll look once I get to my GW.
  • SafariLara
    SafariLara Posts: 172
    You say its a weird question so heres a weird answer...I am mostly referred to as "big-boned" first thing in the morning. :p

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA ^ this is hilarious
  • hawaiiheart44
    hawaiiheart44 Posts: 4 Member
    Yes, do what Tsrwalker said with your fingers around your wrist. I am petite, but I am also big boned..............I put my hand around my wrist, and there is a gap between my thumb and middle finger. I have a friend who is also 5 foot 3 like me, and she is small boned. When I am my ideal weight, although I am big boned, I do not appear "fat". I wouldn't put too much emphasis on these words, and just get healthy! :)
  • trevsgirl89
    trevsgirl89 Posts: 16 Member
    I agree! Above all else, I want to be healthy! :):) And just feel good about myself, no matter what that weight might be! :):)
  • AnnieSPAJ
    AnnieSPAJ Posts: 11 Member
    I've always wondered if I was big boned, I figured I was because my sister is the same height as me and a good weight for her is about 20 lbs. less than a good weight for me. These tests confirmed that I am :)
  • annalynne1983
    annalynne1983 Posts: 23
    I just found this site - no idea how accurate or research backed it is, but it is really interesting.

    http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

    The methods on this all put me aiming for about 53-54 kg, which is in fact where I feel at my best, fit clothes well, don't have much surplus fat but am not skinny by any stretch of the imagination. If I got down to a BMI of 19, I would be feeling pretty bony - I got down to 50 kg once at about a BMI of 20 and for me, that was starting to feel bony and scrawny.
  • briocktj
    briocktj Posts: 128
    Having grown up skinny, (115 even after delivering 3 boys)..... I found it extremely funny when people would say I was big boned.... okay, um.... I wasnt big boned before my 30s when I put all this weight on.... Do bones GROW? LOL
  • Virginia90
    Virginia90 Posts: 317 Member
    So now I'm super confused! I can touch my fingers around my wrist, however when I did the measurement thing, it told me I had a large frame! Lol...So many I have a large frame with long fingers? Though I didn't think my fingers were that long...however, my wrist is 6.25" around....I guess I'll see what frame I really have once I lose all this weight!
  • Dauntlessness
    Dauntlessness Posts: 1,489 Member
    I sympathize completely. My mom always told me I had big shoulders and was "big boned". I went most of my life feeling much larger then all the other girls even though I really wasn't (other then being fatter). Since I have lost weight and have definition in my shoulders I am actually pretty small and do I dare say, even dainty. I am so much smaller then I ever though I could be.
  • TripleJ3
    TripleJ3 Posts: 945 Member
    actually its a "myth" there is no such thing as big boned.... look it up on the net....


    I think what she means is frame size. You can have a large frame, medium or small. I have a medium frame. No matter how much weight I lose, I would never be able to fit into a 2 or smaller. I can only wear a 4 in dresses and skirts.
  • MsKeri23
    MsKeri23 Posts: 27
    im what they call big boned also. so when i tell people im fat n need to lose weight they always say no u dont ur jus built bigger . well what does that mean because i everybodies bones r pretty simular right!?!?! lol
  • changling82
    changling82 Posts: 137 Member
    I was always told I was big boned. Not sure if it was because they thought i resembled one side of the family and not the other or if it was just because they didn't want to hurt my feelings. I accepted that i was "big boned" for a long time. Now i've dropped 110 pounds of the 140 i wanted to lose, and i can tell you for sure, i'm not big boned at all. I was really surprised to find out how tiny my bone structure actually is.
  • reckless99
    reckless99 Posts: 10
    Yes, it's frame sizes. Google "body frame size" and you'll see that the results usually show that the method for calculating frame size is by measuring the circumference of thr wrist or the breadth of the elbow. I'm borderline small/medium frame size with a 6" wrist and 5'5"1/2 height.
  • sasbw27
    sasbw27 Posts: 710 Member
    bump
  • cherbapp
    cherbapp Posts: 322
    You actually have to have a bone structure and bone density test if you want an accurate measurement on frame size and true goal weight for your body.

    According to the wrist test, my finger overlaps my thumb by over a half inch, but I have incredibly long fingers...so that's useless.

    I always liked to say I was big boned, but I am actually a medium size frame according to my doctor...but I have incredibly dense bones, likely from being really overweight for a long time. So my goal weight of 175 is good for me, and even though it's technically overweight for most women at 5'9"...it will be just right. I will look like a similar medium framed woman who weighs 15 pounds less because my bones weigh more than average. Frame size is more in the shoulder width...length of hands and feet, etc.

    Intersting thread!! :)
  • bziebart
    bziebart Posts: 1 Member
    Great question. Although most people are saying "Big Boned" to be poliet, there is a body type in which one would be big boned.

    http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/body-types-ectomorph-mesomorph-endomorph.html

    All human bodies fit into one of three categories: Ectomorphic, Mesomorphic or Endomorphic.

    You're likely endomorphic and regardless of your weight you would likely have a larger frame than say someone of the same weight who is ectomorphic.
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