Hiya, new here! =) I've just started losing weight, but I was curious about something...I noticed that one of the posters here (I forgot her name...goodness. I suck with names!) who mentioned that she always thought she had a large body frame, but as she started losing weight, it turned out her frame was actually tiny!

I guess what I'm leading into is this question: How do you know if you really have a small body frame underneath all the bulk you have? How can you figure it out? The reason why I'm asking this is because I always thought I had a large body frame, but now I'm not so sure. I've been overweight since I was roughly 12 years old, and well, I'm a very short person and the like.

My mother has a very small body frame on her....although my dad's family is half Irish, so they tend to be a bit more robust. I don't know how I can figure it out, though, save for losing all the weight I need to lose.

Is there any way you can possibly find out in advance?

there is the wrist measurement technique. I don't remember the exact measurements but under 6 inches ircumference is considered small frame. Maybe google it. And if you have a measuring tape you can find out right away what you are.

I think Mel is the one who said that she always thought she was big, then turned out to be tiny (and she is! I've met her )

The same thing happened to me! When I started, my hips were 57" and two sizes bigger than my top. I always thought that I had those sturdy peasant woman hips and that they would always be huge and out of proportion, even when I lost weight ....

... but now my hips are smaller than my top (after losing 22" off them). And I'm definitely small-framed. Who would have thunk it??

Unfortunately, I don't know of a way you can tell in advance, except maybe by shoe size? (though I wear a 9, which is big for someone my height) The problem with the wrist test is that I lost about 1 1/2 inches off my wrists too, so measuring them in advance wouldn't have been very accurate. Yep, got three links taken out of my watch and all my bracelets made smaller.

Maybe consider it one of the mysteries to be revealed as you lose weight? I was like you -- overweight from a very young age, so I had no idea what I would look like at a normal weight. But that was one of the motivations I had to keep going, because I really, really wanted to find out who I was underneath all the fat!

What happens when you don't recognize yourself any longer is a topic for a whole 'nother day!

Welcome to 3FC and we all look forward to getting to know you!

I'm the same. My rings got bigger, I buy smaller shoes, I bought new watches. I lost weight wherever you'd check.

I consider this a very pleasant surprise!

Probably part of the reason you can't recall who it was ... is because it's fairly common.

All right, thanks! =) I have a small feeling that my suspiscion that I am really in a small bone structure is most accurate. I mean, even the PLUS size clothes don't fit me. My hips are bigger than my breasts, and the tops never fit correctly. I usually had to get the straps readjusted to fit me more solidly.....it's such a pain to do it!

I'll keep that in mind as I keep working towards the goal...it'll take a little over a year, but I should make it. =)

Count me in as someone who thought she had a largish body frame.

My wrist was 8 inches at one point, now they are well under 7 inches. My ring size was an 11/12, now it is an 8. My shoe size was 10.5/11 and now it is 9/9.5.

I still don't think I have a small body frame but it certainly isn't as large as I once thought it was.

I think that I have a large frame.

I'm tall, and since I've never been extremely overweight, I've always been able to feel my hipbones and they're really pretty wide...but BOY would I (and my small chest!) be happy to find out that I'm wrong!! (Haha)

I think you will just have to wait and see. I have had people who have only known me as obese think I was large framed because of how I carried my weight but I have a photo of me when I was a size 6 and I was thin (not skinny-thin) and I have begun dieting here at a size 26W which started out tight. I look forward to the day when the old me will be revealed. I try to keep in mind the image of the Wicked Witch when she was doused with water, "I'm melting, I'm melting....." (not to reference her charming personality with mine, of course, just the meltdown part)

I haven't lost all of the weight that I need to but already I have been surprised (well, actually sort of shocked) that some shoes that I was planning on wearing are probably not going to be---much longer! It makes me wonder if my toes will shrink too. Did yours Meg? Is that possible?

I look forward to wearing a watch again. I used to have such a thin wrist (under 7") and when I put on weight all of my watches became too tight on me. Think of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Last summer, after having a lot of really beautiful rings three sizes too small sitting in my jewelry box for ages, I gave them to church to be put into a crown we were having made for Mary's crown. I'm glad I did but gee, I didn't think my hands might shrink too........ shoot, I didn't even think I would lose as much weight as I have so far and I haven't even scratched the surface yet!

I have once heard that if you have big bones you can tell in your facial structure but if you have a fat face like mine is that might not be so easy to tell. Broad shoulders is not a good indication either because again fat can fill out narrow ones and make them look broad.

I know all of this rambling doesn't help except to show you that I am learning what these ladies have already learned. YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS FAT COVER!
Stick around and then you can tell us what you find out.

I thought, and was made to believe that I had big bones and a large frame, even though I was pretty proportionate.

Not so much, no. I went from a size 7 ring to a size 4, a size 9 shoe to an 8 and I actually have my mother's teeny tiny bones- and I am very bony to boot.

I am still somewhat convinced that I have wide hips, but my chiropractor thinks I'm nuts, too.

Pamatga, everything will shrink, even parts of you that you didn't think could shrink (fingers, feet, wrists). And strange things will happen like you get caves in your underarms instead of nice flat surfaces that are easy to shave. Nothing fit me after weight loss, except for socks. Absolutely nothing, including shoes! So yep, I think you maybe saying goodbye to your shoes.

Funny shoe story ... I bought a gorgeous pair of navy satin pumps with bows for my sister's wedding in 1999, in a 9 1/2 W. I didn't wear them often, so they were in perfect shape after I lost weight. My feet went from a 9 1/2 W to a 9 regular, but I couldn't bear to get rid of them because they were so pretty, so expensive, and virtually brand new.

Fast forward to last year. DD was getting married and my dress was navy blue. The shoes were a perfect match, so I decided to try to wear them. I bought insoles to try to fill them up and thought I was all set. So it's the day of the wedding, I put my dress and shoes on, and discover that they're falling off my feet when I try to walk! I guess I didn't walk in them enough after I tried out the insoles. So I ended up walking DD down the aisle with the toes of my shoes stuffed with tissues!

The upside of nothing fitting is ... whole new wardrobe!!! Bet you can't wait!

Meg, you give me hope with getting rid of the W in my shoes. I've worn W and WW shoes since I was a kid.

The funny thing is when I had 8 inch wrists, i thought my wrists were bony only to discover that I don't know what bony is regarding wrists

You can sort of get an idea by looking at a lot of places. Look at the width of your shoulders compared to others around you. Look at the width of your neck, wrist, and the size of your hands.

Of course, these things will get smaller as you lose weight-but you can get a bit of an idea.

At my absolute heaviest, my ring size was about a tight 7 on my ring finger...when I am at my ideal weight, it is less than a 6. I have narrow shoulders, thin neck, etc. I am taller (5'7") and my shoe size is a 9 which coordinates well with my height-but frame wise, I am smaller.

My SIL and MIL are both shorter than me with smaller feet, but they are both larger framed-wide broad back and shoulders, large wrists and fingers, broad neck, etc.

I am also one of those who thought they had a largeish frame but I am now discovering that I have a very small frame!
Even my friend who is a size 6(UK size) cannot wear any of my rings or bangles because they are so small. I have to buy children's watches to fit me as well!
I still have a heck of a way to go but it is so exciting to see all these changes gradually occur and get a feel for how you really look under the fat!

Count me in as another person who thought they had a large frame and ended up being a tiny-framed person. Technically, I did always have smallish wrists and fingers (compared to my body size) but I didn't really SEE that. I also went from an 8 1/2 shoe size to an 8 and I can usually wear narrow shoes (which helps if there's a big sale, I have more choices!). I have tiny little bird-like wrists (they are so small, people comment) and I wear a size 4 ring finger. I can wear petite tops and some petite bottoms (if they are 3/4 sleeves or cropped pants - since I am petite in size, not length).

I thought I was built like my dad, but I am actually built like my mom, who I always thought was a tiny woman. We have the same shoulders, legs, small ribcage - it's really kinda cool.

Whoa - about the underarm "caves" I thought it was just me!

I posted it, but I'm really not tiny. The wrist measurement is a myth- as nelie noted, her wrist circumference has changed drastically. I never measure mine, but I took at least 3-4 links out of my watch band.

The site that is used by physical anthropologists to determine "frame size" is the measurement between the two distal epicondyles of the humerous; in English, that is the distance between the two bony protuberances that you can feel just above your elbow, on the back side of your upper arm. Fat loss will not change the measurement of the actual bone. You need anatomical calipers and comparison charts to do this.

I'm not sure frame size is a useful description for anything. At 5'3", you just are not going to look big not matter how thick your bones are. For my height (I'm almost as tall as you are ), I have very wide shoulders, a large rib cage, and narrow hips. I wear a size 6 1/2 shoe (down from 7 1/2), but my collar bones look about twice as thick as my athletic and slender 25 year old daughter's. Do I have a small frame or a large one? Depends where you look. IMO, just not a really useful guage of much of anything.

I know that I used the term "big boned" as a justification. Some of my bones may be bigger than someone else's my height, but I was also just fat.

Mel