Frame size and BMI

[switchname]

I love hearing about the positive stories on this board, and hopefully I can have one to add.

I’ve been on wegovy for eight months now and have lost over 20% of my body weight and my current BMI is 21.6. I’m post menopausal and still have flabby bits left on my stomach, thighs, arms, etc. I’ve been working out daily and have increased my skeletal muscle so my body composition has also improved.

I am quite small boned, so I’m keen to hear what other small framed people advise for BMI. I’m thinking that a BMI of 21 would be acceptable. I have a health condition which means excess fat is not recommended.

With thanks 😊

There used to be a formula which was something like ratio of your height to your wrist circumf, some way of defining big-medium-small from that ratio. I used to be "big" frame on that measure but am now "medium" frame. Because I'm much older and other circumfs have also shrunk (under ribs too), and my feet a little even.

Thing is, I don't perceive my optimal BMI range has changed at all. Frame size literally makes no difference for me.

Although I may now have smaller rib circumf I still have big shoulders. Why does no one ever mention shoulders in frame size estimation.

I have a small frame. I’m 5’4 and have a bmi of 25 but wear a size 8-12 (12s in jeans everything else 8s or 10s) at my weight I should wear a bigger size but I’m quite tiny all over, little hands and feet too.
I’ve lost 3.5 stone this last year and will be stopping after another 6lbs as I’m looking a bit too thin on top already!

You don't, it's bollocks. Your skeleton only accounts for 15% of your body weight and don't vary much in size. Of course taller people will have larger bones but really no such thing as small or big 'frames'.

I very much doubt you looked anorexic with a BMI of 24.

I disagree.
I am 5'8" and small-framed - crudely measured by my thumb and little finger meeting when I wrap them around my wrist.
I am slim and pretty low in weight but look perfectly healthy and in proportion.
My friend has a larger frame and her healthy weight sits naturally higher than mine. We don't discuss weight really, but I'm pretty sure she'd look unhealthy if she weighed the same as I do. This is why (the blunt tool of) BMI has such a wide range.
I agree that skeleton weight doesn't impact weight as much as many people believe it does ie believing being overweight is due to 'big bones'

I disagree too.

I’m 5’7” or a little more, head circumference 59cm, feet ultra wide size 41, gloves size 8, bra 34 at BMI 23.6. Wide shoulders and hips, hourglass.

That just is quite a big frame. At this BMI I look slim, also because I train a lot. I at nearly 50 now weigh just two kilos more than I did as a fit 17 year old. My body fat is (just) under 25%.

Two of my best friends each weigh about 8kg less than me and it suits them, but although they’re around the same height, they’re much slighter and more gracile, with narrow feet, narrow hands, small joints, small heads.

I’d look ill much thinner. The lower half of the healthy BMI range isn’t for me. As a PP said, that’s why the healthy range is quite wide.

I've wondered about this as well.

I think I'm small framed as my wrists are small and my bra band size comes out as 29 inches. My BMI is 23 so I should be healthy but my legs are big and my arms and stomach are wobbly.

I know that for some people a BMI of 23 would be toned and slender but I definitely don't have that appearance.

Not from weight loss injections but this did appear in active conversations...

My BMI is currently 21.4 - I'm definitely small boned (was always told a measure is it you can put your hand around your wrist bone with significant overlap), 5'2", 8st 4, size 6 although with a 32 band size as I have a large ribcage, ring size I 1/2 - I recently lost a stone due to medication side effects and am much happier where I am now, although I wouldn't mind losing a couple more pounds before a blowout holiday next month...

I hated being bigger but had put on weight in the last few months due to a hysterectomy last year

Ooh, can I play!?
My Big frame evidence: 170 cm tall; Head circumf = 62 cm; feet are UK size 5.5H or 6G; can't get my thumb & any finger to meet around narrow part of other wrist. I have little hands though; broad shoulders; chunky thighs.

My Little frame evidence: Under boobs circumf is 29.5".

I look the same which I find fine, whether my BMI is 19-22. When I was young I had BMI around 24-25, I look chubby in those pics.

My thumb and forefinger can meet around my wrist but when I was 10 stone heavier - guess what - they couldn't.

I rather suspect that frame size is a bit of an excuse that people trot out: want to lose more weight ‘well I have such a small frame’ don’t want to lose more weight ‘I have a large frame’. This thread entirely bears that out.

I honestly think that muscle mass and body fat percentage is what makes a whole hell of a lot more difference than what size your wrists are. If you have a decent amount of muscle you’ll look better at a heavier BMI than someone with none.

Yeah not sure about that, we do all have different frames, and you look better with muscle at any weight. Not just heavier ones.

I do have a small frame, I could not give birth naturally, and knew I had to have a c section at 36 weeks, as my pelvis was too narrow for my baby to be delivered safely, to be blunt, she’d have got stuck.

my shoulders are narrow, my hips are narrow, my rib cage is narrow, my wrists are very small, my feet long and thin, but I’m quite tall at nearly 5ft 7. My daughter is the same, my mother and grandmother on my maternal side the same,

when I gained weight I became quite unwell the more over a healthy bmi I was. When I got to my peak at 32, my blood pressure was uncontrolled and I was on the max meds, I had sleep apnea, it wasn’t till my bmi got to 24 did I approach the healthy bp range again, and at bmi 2o its optimal. My body can’t cope with additional weight as my frame is small. It was the same in pregnancy

my friend is an inch taller than me, her bmi the same. A size ten will pull across her shoulders as they are wide, her rib cage wide. I can put a size 6 round mine, easily, I’m an eight, but my shoulders, ribs and hips can easily take a 6. We both have a lot of muscle.

so yes, frame is a thing, I can see it in my daughter, she is very narrow, it’s the only way to describe it, when born she was the top 5 percent for height. The bottom ten for weight, and she’s the same as a young adult.

it maybe an excuse for some, but thinking we all have the same skeletal structure I think is wrong.

I have two horses. Both are the same height. One is a thoroughbred and weighs 600 kilos, the other is a draught (cart horse) cross. He weighs 740 kilos. He has a bigger frame. My Labrador is the same height as my friend’s whippet. He weighs almost double what the whippet weighs. He is not fat. He has a bigger frame…. It really isn’t rocket science!

No bloody idea what my frame size is, but my wrists measure under 6” and I’m 5’6”. I also have big, wide feet (UK7) so make of that what you will.

Current BMI is 22 (62kg) and I look average-sized, a BMI of 21 (59kg) is slim for me, and 19.5 (55kg) is the absolute lowest I can go before looking skinny. Might be worth noting that I’m top and bottom heavy.

OP, a BMI of 21, maybe even 20 would be perfect for your frame.

Another way to show frame differs is our body composition. You can take two people the same height and one will have shorter legs than the other. One will have a shorter torso than the other.

I have a 32 inch inside leg, at under 5ft 7. And a short body. Me and em trousers fit me perfectly. Where as someone else at 5ft 6.5 will put them on and think they are too long.

if I buy full length jeans at H&M, they look cropped on me, and are about two inches above my ankle, as their legs are 30 inches normally. Any retailer selling cropped length at a 26/27 inch and I look like I’m wearing peddle pushers or plus fours.

walk down any busy street and you can see it. All different frames, short legs, long legs are the most obvious. Wide hips is what gives the thigh gap, as another example.

i really don’t think it’s the case our skeletons are all the same.

I have a thigh gap, not because I'm extremely thin, I'm size 14, it's because of my bone structure, it does mean I never get that chub rub which some very slim people can also get because they have a narrow frame

I do think everybody has different frames, but I also think that in general most (all?) people will better if they are toned with muscle rather than fat or “skinny fat”.

ive posted my measurements and weight etc previously in this thread. I’ve lost 2 stone. I used to be fixatxed purely on weight and dress size but there really is more to it.

I’m 5 ft 6 and was a size 14. Massive spare tyre round my middle. Looked fat and frumpy. Just under 13 stone.

but I have a friend who is probably only an inch or two taller than me but just completely different frame.

I have a long torso and short legs. She has much longer legs than me. Much wider shoulder, much bigger boobs. She must surely be a 14, and has curves, but nothing about her looks “fat”. She looks statuesque.

My BMI is 18.5 and sometimes below.

I still have a belly, and my legs wobble. I look very, very thin with clothes on. I don’t care.

I’m petite at 161cm (5’3) and very narrow wrists, waist 25in etc. at BMI 20 I look a healthy size 8. BMI 19 I’m a slim 6. I wouldn’t go lower than that. I still have a little belly no matter what because I’m eternally bloated (IBS). But I looked healthy at both smaller sizes and at a size 10 around BMI 22 too. Meanwhile at BMI 23+ I look actively puffy and overweight.

I agree with the previous poster that fat almost becomes ‘looser’ as you lose weight. My inner thighs were a bit jiggly and flabby but now I’ve maintained they’re firm and muscular again.

Me! Even as a size 6 I got chub rub! My pelvis curves inwards so I’d need to have my muscle chopped out to stop my legs from touching. My step mother is like you - thigh gap at every size.

I am small framed, with a BMI of 28.9, and have been refused weight loss treatment. I carry my weight around my mid-section, with a huge belly and fat back.
Do you suppose that if I deliberately put on another few pounds, despite actually trying to lose weight, I could qualify? I really don’t want to risk it, as I feel bad enough about my body as it is.

If you have any weight-related problems you should be prescribed WLIs with a BMI of 27+. Have a good look at the criteria? It’s likely you do have one or two of the problems, they’re common ailments.

Which pharmacy refused you?

@BuntyBeaufort there are a couple of providers, Voy and MedExpress, who will prescribe to people with a BMI over 25 on an off licence basis. Have you tried them? Rather than actually gain weight with the intention or hope of losing it again.

I’m 5ft 5 weigh 7st 6 and have a bmi of 17.5 ish. I also have size 3 feet need a 28 inch bra and can easily pinch an inch around my waist when standing.

so I would say that my bmi is very unhelpful and based on a woman with a much larger frame than me. I’m definitely slim but not under weight in my opinion.

I’ve tried MedExpress, Boots, the online pharmacy where I get my HRT, and Juniper. They all
said no. Am now considering Voy, although I don’t know whether they’re dodgy or not.