[Northernrose]

My frame size is large according to wrist measurements (20 cm), and I have always put on lots of bulky muscle easily, particularly on my legs.

Does anybody know much about frame size and ideal weight / BMI? Has it hel true for you?

[sontaikle]

The BMI range for my height is 104-140lbs.

I always thought I was large framed because when I measure elbow breadth I get large frame. However my wrist measurement gives me a small frame, while my ankle measurement gives me a medium frame.

As I lost weight, I really think I have a medium frame, maybe even a small (or somewhere in between). Especially when I compare myself to my brothers—who clearly have large frames!

Anyway, if you're curious what a healthy weight range for you is, there are a couple of ways you can figure that out.

You can check out this chart:
http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweightchart.htm

Or there's the rule where you are supposed to be 100lbs for the first five feet and then 5 pounds for every inch above that. In your case that would be 135 pounds. You then add 10% for a large framed person to get 148.5lbs (if you are small framed you would subtract 10%)

[seagirl]

I'm 5'9" (I was always 5'8" and then I grew an inch, in my late 30s! I blame yoga.) Anyway, "skinny" for me is around 145. I'm 185 right now. I have a huge chest, so probably a good 8 pounds is chest, so I can carry more weight but the rest of me looks thinner.

Losing 10 pounds would be great, 20 would be better, 30 would be amazing, 40 probably isn't doable. 145 was hard to maintain and I think I had an eating disorder back then (or was in law school and eating less because of being busy and walking everywhere.)

For now I'm just plugging along 1 pound at a time, and loving watching my new arm muscles emerge.

[Teacher2B]

While you can see I record my BMI, I take it with a pinch of salt, as it really doesn't work for me (I keep it because I like being able to say I am no longer obese :P). Actually, at my goal weight of 77 (169.5 pounds), my BMI is either 25 or 24.9, and I can't go under 75 or 76 kilos (165-167 pounds) at the most, because I look pretty bony My dad has the exact same problem. He was 6'2" in his youth (I think he has lost an inch due to weight), and around the time he started going out with my mom, he got on a diet. He got to his supposed "ideal weight" of 87 kilos (191 pounds)...and he was fainting all the time (and by the diet he did, it wasnt' that he was not eating enough).

I have always had a big frame, as well as being very tall; as a kid, I was always bigger and taller than even the biggest parameters for my age. As an adult, I am 5'10'', with big feet and big hands (my hands are only slightly smaller than my 6'1", big framed dad, and my 6'1" boyfriend with pianist hands). When I was 10, as I was clearly overweight, mom took me to a nutritionist, who used BMI to set a goal...even when I was already thin (as can be seen on pics of me at the time), she kept on insisting that I lost more weight, as my BMI index was still high. Well, as a result, I was VERY thin and actually not looking that nice. I found pictures of our 6th year end of year trip, and my arms and legs look like sticks

Many years after this (I was around 19), I went to the nutritionist again, and I got the same woman. Again, she measured my wrist to get my BMI, and she said I was a medium frame (when I told that to my parents, they laughed :P), and that meant that I had to reach 66 kilos (145 pounds). Of course, I ended up quitting that diet because everybody home believed it was unhealthy. Btw, it turned out that my wrist is just pretty tiny for my body frame (last time I measured it, it was 17 cms, and 17,5 is the minimum for big frame)...probably the only small joint I have in all my body!

I should mention that BMI is pretty accurate for my mom and sister, who are medium frames.

So, at least from my experience, if you are big framed, you should take the BMI with a pinch of salt.

[Northernrose]

That's all really helpful (and comforting) - thanks guys. I am never going to be slender in the way a lot of girls are, I think - just not built that way - but I can be lighter & stronger & fitter than now! So, I think I will adjust my goal to 150, and see how I look / feel when I get there!

As an aside, I had a friend who was obsessed with the fact she was over-weight. She really wasn't - she was just very toned / muscular from lots of sports. You know what she did? Gave up sports & crash dieted! She lost ALL her muscle and is now very skinny but really does not look half as good as she did before! Mad.