Wrist measurement

I used to not believe the whole "big boned/small boned" theory of body sizing.... but after reading up on it, it makes sense to me.

According to my height and wrist size, I have  a small frame. I think if you have a small frame and added weight, you look like you weigh heavier than people of the same height/weight with a large frame.  What do you think?

http://www.hpathy.com/healthtools/body-weight .asp   -

Body size always seems to have a range and it makes sense to me that if genetics gave you a larger frame then you'd fall more on the higher end of that range. Your bones are going to remain the same weight if you are losing weight in a healthy manner.

I'm 5'0" and 110 lbs and I have a whopping 6" wrist circumference. Apparently I have a large frame which makes sense to me as I've always felt big boned. I keep reading about women the same height as me who weigh 100 lbs and I think I'd look like a skeleton at that weight even though 100 lbs is still theoretically within the scope of a healthy weight for me.

I'm not sure about the whole differences in frame size thing either, although I've been tempted more than once to use it as an excuse for why I weigh more than I look(so people tell me).

I'm 6' 170 lbs, and have a 6.75" wrist circumference, or large frame. However, I've always felt like I should be at most medium frame, since I have tiny arms for my height. Or maybe that just means I'm disproportionate xD

I'm also not sure about the frame size thing because I'm Chinese, and its always been said that bmi, weight charts, and stuff were created for the average American, and not for ethnic groups. Although tall Asian is still kind of a rarity, so I'm not sure whether I should be scaling down the bmi/frame weight charts for my ethnicity, or scaling it up for my apparently large frame.

While I agree with the concept that wrist size is an indicator of body frame and can help guide you to a comfortable range on the BMI scale, this particular tool in the attached link is NOT reflective of healthy BMI numbers. (Not the wrist measurements they provide as guides to small, medium or large frames, but rather the WEIGHT ranges they then associate with these body types.)   PLEASE do not use this tool as guide to a healthy weight for you. Stick to the standard BMI tools and find a range that is appropriate for your body type, give or take based on muscle tone, etc. 

But this specific tool is wayyyyyy off. I just plugged in my stats (and agree with the small frame determination based on times when I was at my fittest levels and 'ideal' weight.)    I'm 5'4 and 'small' framed. It suggested that my weight should be between 97 -119 pounds, with the mean being 108.  If I weighed 97 pounds, my BMI would be significantly underweight, at 16.6.  Very unhealthy and bad things start happening to your body.  If I weighed the 'median' number of 108  they suggested, my BMI would be 18.5 - - which is actually exactly the lowest BMI level for someone of my height  -- not the median.  My lowest was 115 briefly in my early 20's and I can not imagine being thinner than that without being all skin and bones.  At this stage of life, I'm going for 125-130, which is a mid level BMI range but appropriate b/c I'm very toned  - - which is WAY above the recommended range this tool recommends.  

So yes, use the wrist measurement as a guide to your body type, but noone should use the attached tool to determine healthy weight ranges -- stick to the standard BMI calculators. 

Just to clarify, I don't mean to insinuate that the poster is not aware of using the BMI standards and realize the link was focused on the wrist size tool - seems quite the opposite from previous posts and I recognize she is focused on health.

But this site does also attract a significant number of people who are struggling with eating disorders and looking for reasons to justify going lower than is healthy -- I just didn't want this tool to be used in that matter for others who may come upon this post.

I think the wrist measurements on the attached link is also way off. Its telling me I am a large frame....

Although I am not a small frame, I am definitely not large. Maybe I just have big wrists.

Well, along with the 50 lbs., I also lost 1/2 inch off my wrist!  Shrinking bones?????????

Original Post by makphl:

Just to clarify, I don't mean to insinuate that the poster is not aware of using the BMI standards and realize the link was focused on the wrist size tool - seems quite the opposite from previous posts and I recognize she is focused on health.

But this site does also attract a significant number of people who are struggling with eating disorders and looking for reasons to justify going lower than is healthy -- I just didn't want this tool to be used in that matter for others who may come upon this post.

 BMI is not the be all and end all.  There is also body fat (weight) and body fat percentages. It was to provoke thought. I take your posts as a personal attack. It was a random website I came across while looking up health sites after trying to figure out an update on my reccomended daily caloric intake. 

Calorie count website advocates wrist measurements when you enter your personal weight goal information, so I am not pulling it out of the air, or promoting poor health or ED's. 

Makphl: take it easy

That's why I specifically clarified it in the follow-up email and perhaps it wasn't clear - -I recognize that you personally weren't promoting the weight ranges in the link and were using it to connect to the wrist measurement part. And that such measurement is standard in determining body type. And that's why I additionally added that none of your previous posts had ever suggested anything unhealthy, and if that is not clear to all, I apologize - it was never intended as an assault on your intentions.

My concern is strictly that the tool itself provides recommended results that are unhealthy. No, BMI is not end all be all, but I think you would agree as well that anything that recommends a weight range starting as low as 16.6 BMI still likely does not fall in the healthy range.  If anything, the more tone and muscular you are, the higher the BMI would be despite looking smaller.  So again, I didn't mean to imply that you were promoting these results by any means. I just wanted to make sure that anyone else who used the tool out of curiosity (like I did when the post popped up) didn't look at the results it provided and factor it in to determine their goal weights.. I just wanted to point out that the results are too low.  You've been on this site long enough to see some of the dynamics ...there are quite a few (often pretty young) people on this site who are just starting to learn about balancing healthy lifestyles with their weight goals ...my post was genuinely directed towards those who weren't fully aware of what those healthy ranges are already.