Dumb question:

**msmil** · November 20th, 2009, 11:31 AM

Ok, so alot of 'ideal weight' body calculators will ask you about your bone structure.. like small frame, medium frame, etc... And to determine that, they usually ask you to measure your wrist and breadth between your elbows. Now here's my issue. I think i just have really skinny wrists and elbows.. according to any body frame measuring thing, i have a small frame. But when i look at my wide old child birthin' hips and tree trunk kness, im like mmm, not small.

So what do i do? I feel like i'm cheating if i dont adhere to what the measurements say but every calculator things says im a small frame. Which is totally bad news for me bcz then my ideal weight is somwhere in the 120's. i havent weighed 120 since i was a child.

Idk ladies, what do you think?

**BonnieJo** · November 20th, 2009, 11:39 AM

I think you should go by the wrist thing. I don't think you don't have to set your goal to what it says. You know what weight will make you comfortable and what your able to do.

**Jon3sgte** · November 20th, 2009, 11:55 AM

How tall are you? most people (male and female) would be really skinny if thay adhered to those charts. Single digit body fat isnt ideal for most people. That chart puts me at about 160. I would be a pencil at that point. lol

**luvinmybabies** · November 20th, 2009, 12:02 PM

Girl, I am right there with ya!!
My wrists and ankles are the only small things on my body...except for my boobs...but I took care of that years ago!

My fingers totally overlap when I measure my wrists...but my @ss begs to differ with the "small" body frame category. They should have us measure our hips...that would be a totally different chart!

**Pinkkity97** · November 20th, 2009, 12:12 PM

If you look at that website that Jasp posted under 'realistic BMI calculators', and check your BMI it gives you a number. Scroll down, in light blue writing it say take the at home body fat test, click on that and fill in the blanks. This gives you your body fat %, how many pounds are fat and how many pounds are lean muscle and water weight. I think it is a little more accurate.

**luvinmybabies** · November 20th, 2009, 01:19 PM

UGH...I have 50lbs of fat!!!
So basically a third of me is yellow, gooey, lumpy looking stuff...(have you ever seen fat??)
Gross!!!

**msmil** · November 20th, 2009, 01:32 PM

Dude! My wrist is only 5.5 inches. That's abnormally small. Im 5 7 so anything under 6.25 inches is considered a small frame. Jasp's calculator puts me at 138-151. Cool. i can do that... i think.

**Jon3sgte** · November 20th, 2009, 05:14 PM

5'7'' - 140 would be a good place to be. It may end up being more or less depending what you want your end BMI to be.

**mvanhara** · November 20th, 2009, 07:57 PM

ya, I would go by what makes YOU feel comfortable! If your happy when you look in the mirror at yourself, then screw the calculator! lol Also, keep in mind that your measurements are more important than what the scale says. I used to be 120 and I'm 5'1".....and depending on the brand, I wore a size somewhere between 1 and 5. If you are 5'7" and 120 I personally think that would look too skinny. But like I said, it's not what others think.....it's what makes YOU happy. I want to lose weight, but I still want to maintain some curves. I'm built larger on the lower half of my body and I love having butt, hips, and thighs! I think curves are what makes women so feminine and beautiful!

**OOlala** · November 22nd, 2009, 08:03 AM

UGH!! All those charts and crap can drive you insane!! I'm a midget! So I am sure the charts say I should be 110 or something! But there is no way.. for some weird reason I am muscular even when I don't work out so weights I look good at are between 135 and 150.... Basically I look in the mirror.. if I'm ok with what is happening there .. that's all I need!

**s_mkalfred** · November 22nd, 2009, 05:21 PM

So I tried the % body fat at home test mentioned above and it says I have 27.3% body fat. My only concern is that it doesn't take into consideration my height at all. I know it's more accurate than the traditional BMI test but how accurate do you all think it is? My Wii says my BMI is 30.26 (obese) but I know by looking at myself I am far from obese but am I truly only 5.3% body fat away from the "perfect healthy Weight'? It says I have 45 pounds of fat in my body. So I need to lose 26.5 pounds if all of this is accurate meaning my "perfect" weight will be about 138lbs! I guess that sounds about right, my goal weight is set for 140! Hmm.. this is all pretty cool! Thanks for posting the info! I think I'm going to change my goal weight now!

**kelmhand** · November 22nd, 2009, 08:36 PM

girl-go with what make you feel good!!!
cause if you don't feel good about yourself then what's the point...right!
however, I do feel the same way about those stupid charts. I have ALWAYS considered myself a medium build even though I am 5'6" but the charts say I am a small frame. At first I was like WTF, but now I'm like coooool! On Friday my hubby and I had been married for 10yrs so we went out last night. The outfit that I wore was a small-I just about flipped out when I tried it on. I was so proud of my self. I haven't wore a small anything since probably grade school. lol