I've always been somewhat confused by the whole frame thing. I have small hands/feet/wrists and according to my wrist size I fight squarely in the "small" frame category. However, my fingers are nowhere near touching around my wrist because my hands are so small... I also have a smallish ribcage (around 32.5-33" at the moment and I'm guessing it'll easily get close to 30" by the time I'm done losing weight).

However, I have very broad shoulders too, which doesn't seem to quite match. But I wonder if that is more to do with lifting then my actual frame? I've always been pretty muscular too and at my lowest (140) I never felt remotely fat. However, for my frame size it says I should be more in the range of 121 - 125 lbs, which seems really, really small to me! Looking back at pictures from that time there's no way in the world that I'd say I would've still needed to lose another 20lbs!! :dizzy:

ETA: One thing that's strange, though, is that even though I'm still 47 lbs above my goal, I can already feel my ribs/hip bones poking through. I still have plenty of weight that's hanging around my lower belly/thights/upper arms but it's crazy already feeling those bones!

Now I am large framed by whatever measure you use and I weigh 197 and you can feel my individual ribs and hip bones without having to search for them - run your hand across my back and you'll feel them. Same with my chest. However, I still have a lot of blubber in the gut, upper arms and thighs.

I am 5'1" and pear shaped. At 187 lbs today I am a size 16 to 18 pant and a size Medium shirt. I wear a size 38D bra on the tightest hook and it's a bit loose. I am probably a 36C. My wrist is exactly 5.5" and my fingers just meet (I have very small hands - I wear a size 5 ring). I have proportionally shorter arms and legs and a longer torso. By all of that, I would say that I should be on the lower side of the weight range for me which is about 110lbs. (The outlier has always been that I wear a size 9 shoe)

But, I build muscle really easily and have always looked like I have a larger build because of it. I'm sure the extra muscle on my legs makes me look larger built as well. If I lean out and keep lifting, I think 125lbs will put in a size 2 or 4 pants and small to extra small shirt. It would be ridiculous to go lower than that on the scale. I may decide I am done when I reach 135. I would be a size 6 or so.

I am always amused that some people consider themselves at goal weight or close to it when they are under 200lbs. I am still morbidly obese at that weight. We all are really so different.

As for the hunger question: I have been averaging about 1000 to 1200 calories a day even on days I exercise. I was worried about it at first, but because of my size I have accepted that I am a small person and need to eat accordingly. Ironically, the less I eat over time, the less I want food. Once I stabilized my blood sugar by cutting out all of the excess carbs and my stomach got "used" to eating less, I feel better with less food. My greek yogurt in the morning really does fill me up. A half chicken breast and some veggies leaves me stuffed at night.

I have recently had a time period where my calories went really low for about a month (600 to 800) due to a personal crisis. I was worried about starvation mode at one point because the weight loss slowed down. When I ate back to 1000 calories/day, it came back to normal losing in whooshes and stalls. I don't know if I believe in starvation mode or not. I take thyroid medicine so maybe that skewed it and kept my metabolism going?

I would say that we are all so different and to do what works for you. Like a previous poster said, if you find eating less leads to binges or snacking and ultimately a higher calorie intake for the day, you might raise your morning calories. Or if you are having other side effects. For example, I know when I am not eating enough because I get insatiably thirsty. Or my stomach starts cramping when I do eat. If you are doing fine with what you're doing - keep it up! Don't change because of a website. You know what works best for you. :)

And we all have different types of goals. My goal of 175 is not my ideal weight - the one a doctor would set for me, but I feel it's an attainable weight. When I get there, I'll see if I want to do more or not. Actually, it will be more like this: I'll see where I eventually stall out with doing what I'm doing. Basically, I'm not willing to go to the gym or workout for more than an hour a day and I'm not willing to go down below about 1200-1300 calories. Once I can't l lose with that effort, I am done with this journey and will work on maintenance.

Other people here want to go from flab body to fab body. Some others just want to get from really heavy to 'not quite so heavy'. It's all movement in the right direction, and that's all that really matters as losing ANY weight is still healthier than losing none or gaining. And of course, some people don't even really need to lose pounds, but just need to tone up!

Amused is what you call it? :D Being short, I'm always a little frustrated by how much further I have to go to get there, where ever there is, than so many people.

And speaking of all being so different: In 1997, I was at my goal weight, 135. I was running a lot, and was quite muscular. I was a size 12. I could never dream of being a 2 or even a 6.

Reading back through my post, I realize that it could've been taken a way that I really didn't mean it!! I'm sorry!!

I wasn't referring to anyone in particular with that comment. I see lots of ladies on here that are almost 6' tall or just a lot taller than me (everyone seems tall from my perspective) that have that goal. I don't mean to belittle the goal at all!! My thought couldn't be further from that!! I think it's great - it just highlights our body differences. That's all I meant. My amusement isn't that the goal is "wrong" but just that it's so different because we are so different. I could say jealous or frustrated that it seems so hard for me to have to go so much further, but I'm trying to be positive and smile about it. I only brought it up because we were talking about body frame and how it changes our journeys.

I use it to remind myself that I am a little person (short and small framed) and the calorie requirements that I hear all the time really don't apply to me as much. My 11 year old daughter weighs 95lbs and is just my height. I wouldn't feed her 1800 calories/day even as a growing child.

Again, I'm sorry if that came accross poorly!

Oh, I didn't take it poorly, because it's true! We are all so very different.