Hi,

This came up in a conversation with a friend a few days ago, and I just was reminded of it by the mention of "big boned" in another thread here. Can someone really be "big boned" enough to make a real difference in how they appear? At one point I thought I was just a "bigger-boned" person, but come to find out after the weight came off that I wasn't really different from everyone else. Just thought I'd check out people's thoughts on this concept. You hear the term a lot, so I thought it might be interesting to put this up for discussion. Is big-boned just a politically correct term, or is there really something to it?!

Any people out there who thought they were big boned then found out the opposite? Any that "big-bonededness" was confirmed after weight loss? General comments?

I am big boned.. size 11 1/2 shoes.. but that isn't why I weigh so much. I am also fat and big boned!

I know no matter what I do I will never be a petite slender little thing.. that's not possible.. but I also know that I will be healthy happy and me.. all my big bones too.

I was told contantly when I was younger that I was big boned and that this came from my father. Well, I have discovered that I actually take after my mother and am quite bony and small framed.

I have heard (and been told by doctors) that there is no such thing as big boned. I mean, at least the way I look at it, can our bones really differ in thickness so much that we can appear so much larger?

A friend of mine is someone I would consider as "big boned", but more so having a larger and broader structure- broad shoulders and hips, etc...I have seen her fluctuate 30 pounds and I really couldn't tell a diffference. She's all of an inch taller than me, but 160 on her looks like 130 on me and it would take quite a bit for her to appear overweight. I have another friend with the same exact structure, but no muscle, and they don't look large or fat, even though they outweigh me by about 25 pounds each, respectively. They just look like they could pound me into floor if they wanted to.

I was called "big boned" all the time when I was a child, which leads me to believe that that was a kinder way of describing me than saying I was fat, therfore supporting your politically correct theory. I'm definitely going to be asking my mother about this when I talk to her next. It's an interesting topic.

I'm big-boned but I've never fooled myself into thinking that's why I'm big. I'm big because I have a lot of fat on my body! When I say "big-boned" I'm not sure that I mean the same thing other people are talking about. In my family, you can weigh a lot and look thinner than most people would at that weight, and I'm not sure why. My sister teaches aerobics and owns a gym and looks quite small, but she weighs 160 or so and is 5'6" ish. My other sister is 5'3" and about 180 and if you look at her you'd only say she's slightly overweight, though the numbers seem much worse. Maybe we just have dense bones? Haha...I don't know.

But no...there's no fooling myself. I'm big because for years I ate FAR too much and now there are layers of fat on my body. Has nothing to do with bones.

Since I was always so heavy, I thought I had a large frame as well, but since I lost weight, I think my frame is medium. I do have big feet (9 1/2 Wide), but my wrists are 5 3/4 inches and my fingers overlap when I wrap them around (and this is at 20 pounds over goal weight, 15 pounds over "normal" weight). When I lie down, my rib cage feels SO tiny. And my hip bones feel really tiny too.

I don't know if actually bone sizes are different, but I'm positive our frames (i.e. bone spacing) can vary. But bones can come in different lengths, why can't they come in different sizes too?

I'm also big boned: 5'11" inches tall, broad shouldered, size 11 men's shoes, no women's watch has ever fit without a replacement band, the whole deal. When I do the "wrist test" (try to make a ring around your wrist with the thumb/middle finger of the other hand) I come up a good cm short.

However, my excess weight isn't because of my big bones: it's because of all of the fat hanging off of these big bones!

There is no way I will ever fit in a size 4 or 5- I would just look freeky thin, and probably need to shave my hip bones a bit to do it. When I hear about people having a goal weight of 120 I have to chuckle a bit- this wouldn't be possible for me short of amputation. However, I do look "in balance" in a size 8 or 10 and a weight of 160-180 is quite healthy for me. It's just a matter of being in balance with your body size.

I believe that there are natural variations in home people are structured that can have an effect on appearance. However, there is a difference between being big in frame and overweight - I have too much fat on my body, in addition to being bigger-framed.

I figure with a wrist circumference of just over 7.5 inches and size 11 feet, I qualify as having a wide frame (I also have a problem with the width of my shoulders - they're so wide that they are completely disproportionate to the rest of me and no jackets fit properly without alterations). This doesn't mean I don't have plenty of fat on me, but I think that once I lose the fat, my frame is still going to be big.

Don't know if I would call myself big boned but I am curvy. I remember in high school I got down to 115lbs but my chest was so large and I always had a set of hips so I never looked stick skinny. I also carry weight in my thighs. Maybe bigger thigh bones???

I had always thought I was "big-boned", but after losing weight, I see that my bones aren't outstandingly big. I do have wide shoulders , but my hips are narrow. My wrists , hands and ankles are very slender. I would guess that I am medium framed. I just had too much fat on me.

Hmm. Good question to ponder.

When I was a girl I always considered myself "big boned". Meaning, slightly larger than other "average" young ladies. I had a bigger appetite, and carried my weight differently. Very curvy in the hip area for a girl.

But then... when I was 22 years old, I became very small. 110 pounds, and looked what I felt to be just right for my height. I was more proportionate than ever before, and I felt like I moved so much more easily.

That was when I asked myself the same question. Was I just used to how I looked at a larger size? Did I just assume that was how I was born to look? Was it a clever excuse for being bigger than I should be? I don't believe in my case I was ever "big boned". I think I have a body frame that puts the weight in areas besides my face,therefore I look like I am built this way, but really it is just fat- not bone structure. I am speaking only of my own experience of course. I have a sister that is 4 inches taller than me with big cheek bones and I think her frame is bigger and can of course sustain more weight and look balanced and healthy.

There is definitely such a thing as big boned! I, too, am just over 5'10", wear a size 11w shoe, and can't wear womens' watches. I have a coworker who is taller than me yet smaller boned - she wears a size 11 shoe but has a narrow foot, has much more delicate looking hands and wrists. I can put on a good 20 pounds and nobody notices. Nobody ever guesses I weigh what I do. My thinnest would probably be a size 12.

I would also say I'm big boned, maybe in addition to something else? I have size 9 feet, wrist measures like 7-7.5. I did this test thing in University and it classified me as big boned when they measured various parts of my body, wrist, elbow..

I would say at my smallest I was 163, about a size 8. My best friend wore the exact same size, same height, same size of feet, everything, only she weighed 130. There's got to be some explanation for that!

-Aimee

Phantastica's shoe size reminded me of the width.. so I'll correct mine.. its 11 1/2 WW.. hard to find good shoes without spending a lot.

From http://www.medindia.net/patients/cal..._ForAdults.asp

To tell your bone (frame) size

Place your thumb and index finger around your wrist. If your finger overlaps the thumb, your frame is a “Small Frame”. If they touch, your frame is a “Medium Frame”. If they do not touch, your frame is a “Large Frame”.


By this measure, I am a medium frame. But, I've always called myself "big boned" because that was so much better than simply saying "fat".

Lol, I always thought it was thumb and middle finger. With my index and thumb there is about an inch gap (squeezing). Is there such a thing as Huge Boned?