"Oh, she just has big bones," y do ppl say this?

There is *some* truth to it. Some people have larger frames vs. smaller frames. Most of the time though, people's frames are smaller than they like to think LOL.

Generally the statement does not hold much value or truth. Strip away all our flesh, some of us might have slightly different bone thickness, but it doesn't play much into the overall size. It seems to be usually used instead of saying "He/she will never be thin"

I have big bones, my rib cage is huge. but I also have a body fat %age in the healthy range (though I could go lower and still be healthy) a fair amount of muscle (slightly less than I'd like) and I don't look fat (not anymore, I did 6 months ago lol). Yes short, yes a little on the stocky side but I don't look fat (anymore!). My weight is on the heavy side of the healthy range for BMI and I know (because I know my lean body mass, body fat %age etc) that in order to get into the light end of the healthy range, I'd have to not only get my body fat %age well below the healthy range I'd have to lose about 15kg of muscle as well, and neither of those things would be healthy. The lower end of the healthy range is for people with a small build and the higher end of the range is for people with a large build, and also people who have a lot more muscle than average will end up in the heavier range or even the overweight (and occasionally even obese) range on BMI while having a healthy body fat percentage.

I think people need to be aware of their frame size because it affects what goals you have in terms of BMI and what dress size to aim for, someone who has a large frame can't expect to be a size two, but someone with a small frame probably will be a size 2 by the time they get into the healthy body fat % range, even if that's not their goal. But while frame size will make a big difference whether you're a size 10 or a size 2 once your body fat %age is in the healthy range, it's not going to explain someone being a size 20 or in the morbidly obese range on BMI

(I should really do palaeo to go with my neanderthalesque stature (neanderthal women were about 5'1", stocky, with huge rib cages lol) LOL but I like bread too much (home cooked with whole wheat and yeast only bread that is and not every day, only on refeed days))

I dated a woman who was big boned. That means that her frame was bigger than other women, and she weighed more. That also means that she could have more fat on her without looking overweight. I'd say though that "I'm big boned" is a way to explain why you're overweight, and is not necessarily true (with the exception of dhakiyya, what they say sounds correct). If someone else says it about someone, it's more likely to be correct.

My goal weight BMI is 20.0 Someone I know has a goal weight of just over 25. His body fat percentage at that weight is low, and the reason is that he has a lot of muscle and presumably bones as well.

I'm 5'2" and used to think I was small boned just because of my height until I measured my wrists. 6.75" Not using it as an excuse but it makes more sense now...I was 112 lbs in high school and NEVER in a size lower than a 6!!!

There is definitely something to be said for bone or frame size, but I don't think people use the term correctly. One of my girlfriends is pretty much my height and weight exactly - she is about 1/4 of an inch shorter and less than 5lbs heavier than I am, and we can share all of our clothes. However, if we compare the size of our arms, I look huge in comparison. Her wrists are tiny, her arms are shorter, and her hands look petite and delicate compared to mine. I'm certainly not a big girl at all, but she has a very tiny bone structure, whereas I have a fairly average bone structure (I guess?!). Anyway, I am still slim despite having a noticeably larger bone structure, so the concept of being "big boned" meaning "unable to be thin" is untrue.

the wrist size test doesn't work in my family, because the tendancy is to have big bones in the torso and small hands and feet. According to the scatter graph above, my BMI and body fat percentage put me in the extreme range of big bones (i.e. I'm to the right of the scatter dots for women) however my wrist is just 6 inches. My bf% is about 24 and my BMI is about 25. A small framed person with my body fat percentage would have a BMI of 18 (according to the scatter graph - i.e. the extreme the other side of the scatter for women).

My 2 yr old is just the same as me, my friend's 2 yr old has a much smaller ribcage (you can very easily tell if you pick them up one after the other) but bigger hands and feet. They have the same amount of baby chub on them and they're the same height, but my daughter's a whole kilo heavier (which is a lot for a 2 yr old!)

There's no single test that works for everyone, you have to look at the whole person, and there are other measures with bones, such as width of the shoulders, size of the ribcage, and so on. Another sign of a large frame for a woman is the bra strap size compared to cup size and compared to how much fat you can pinch around your ribs. If the bra strap size is large compared to how much fat you can pinch, it means you have a big rib cage (as opposed to someone who has a large strap size because they have too much body fat around there) .

A lot of women who have a large frame size also have a lot of paranoia about their weight because of always being a bit on the heavy side according to BMI, if you have a large frame size and are quite muscular as well, then you have a high chance of being in the overweight range when your body fat percentage is in the healthy range, and this leads to unnecessary paranoia and worry about being overweight when you're not. And then you get people saying "big bones is just an excuse" - well it may often be used as an excuse, but if your body fat % is in the healthy range and your BMI is in the overweight range, then big bones in this case is not an excuse at all, and trying to diet down into the lower end of the BMI healthy range would be extremely unhealthy. This is all the more reason to focus on body fat percentage and not BMI, because your body fat percentage is a much more reliable indicator of health. The healthy range for women is around 19-25% although it gets higher as you get older so for older women it would be 21-27%.

Also the actual weight of the bones changes when your bone density improves, so someone who exercises a lot will not only have bigger, stronger muscles they will also have denser, healthier bones, and this will make them heavier for their height without making them any fatter. The best advice I heard was to try to be as heavy as you can at an ideal dress size (i.e. your body fat percentage is in the healthy range giving you a smaller dress size (one that's appropriate for your frame size!) and then having strong muscles and strong, dense bones will make you heavier at that dress size.

There is *some* truth to it. Some people have larger frames vs. smaller frames. Most of the time though, people's frames are smaller than they like to think LOL.

LOL I agree.

When you try grabbing an overweight person on his wrist or shoulders, you'll hardly feel their bones at all. That is just an excuse by some so that they can continue to eat crap & be a couch potato. I was also guilty of this one before but now I realized that this is all false.

I look as though I have big bones because my shoulders are broad but I am infact "normal" framed

Determining frame size: To determine the body frame size, measure the wrist with a tape measure and use the following chart to determine whether the person is small, medium, or large boned.

Women:
•Height under 5'2" ◦Small = wrist size less than 5.5"
◦Medium = wrist size 5.5" to 5.75"
◦Large = wrist size over 5.75"

•Height 5'2" to 5' 5" ◦Small = wrist size less than 6"
◦Medium = wrist size 6" to 6.25"
◦Large = wrist size over 6.25"

•Height over 5' 5" ◦Small = wrist size less than 6.25"
◦Medium = wrist size 6.25" to 6.5"
◦Large = wrist size over 6.5"


Men:
•Height over 5' 5" ◦Small = wrist size 5.5" to 6.5"
◦Medium = wrist size 6.5" to 7.5"
◦Large = wrist size over 7.5"

Info from nih.gov.

"Big Boned" means FAT.
People are just trying to be kind. It's like when they say she's "cute in the face" :bigsmile:
Now you know.....it all means FAT!

doesn't your frame just get bigger to support your body weight when your still growing ? if you lose weight after that there is no going back for your bone structure. I feel like i have wide shoulders and my midsection (rib cage) is wide.

no it doesn't your skeleton size is determined by genetics, if you have too much body fat you just pile it on around your skeleton. Frame size only goes so far, there is variation between people but not that much variation. You might find some people who are size 8 (USA 8/UK 12) while lean because of their frame size, but you won't find someone who's a size 20 because of frame size, above a certain size the difference is purely the amount of body fat. And there are lots of obese people who have small frames in fact if you're very obese you can't really tell your actual frame size easily without losing enough weight for your bone structure to become apparent.

Being fat growing up will not change your frame size. I was not fat growing up at all, I was very lean until my late teens and 20s. However i have a large frame because my dad has a large frame and his dad has a large frame, and my 2 yr old also has a large frame while my 5 yr old has a small frame like my husband. (neither of my kids are overweight, in fact my 5yr old is underweight according to the charts, but she's not, she's short like me with a small frame like her dad!)

so if you have a large frame it's because you're genetically predisposed to have one, lose the fat and you'll still have a large frame.

your bones will get denser or less dense depending on how much exercise you do and whether you eat enough calcium, but that only affects the weight of the bones, not their size.