I read this the other day on a site and was intrigued by the results.

To find out what size your body frame is wrap your thumb and first finger around a wrist.

If the fingers overlap = you have a small body frame

If the fingers touch at the tips = you have a medium body frame

If the fingers do not touch = you have a large body frame

I'm currently a 350lb man who will be having his sleeve hopefully next year. I was shocked to learn that my body frame is medium. I always assumed I had a large body frame.

5' 297lbs=large frame. Though I always knew this. Even when I was 150 lbs I looked a but heavier than my friends who were the same weight,..and probably a size bigger.

Well... I do t think that's accurate. Lol I'm 4'11.5". I weigh 245at the moment. But my hands are extremely small. My fingers do not touch. But I know I'm small framed. I couldn't even have my children naturally because even fully dilated my bones were just too small. But maybe my fingers would touch if I wasn't over weight. Hehe

How do obese people gauge that? When I was thinner, so was my wrist.

Well... I do t think that's accurate. Lol I'm 4'11.5". I weigh 245at the moment. But my hands are extremely small. My fingers do not touch. But I know I'm small framed. I couldn't even have my children naturally because even fully dilated my bones were just too small. But maybe my fingers would touch if I wasn't over weight. Hehe

I couldn't have my son naturally either but my OB said that was more because if my height than my frame. Im 5'. I've always thought I had a medium or large frame even before I gained all the weight. Something worth asking my doc about....if I remember lol.

That can't be accurate. When I lost weight before, my fingers overlapped. Now they don't touch. My frame hasn't changed sizes, I've just gotten fatter.

It's funny... When I did that test almost 100 pounds ago, I was lead to believe I was "large framed". Makes sense, right, I wear an 11 shoe and have large hands, 5'6" so height is pretty average. BUT, try it now, (90+ pounds off and at a healthy weight) and I'm "small framed" by that test. At 140-145 pounds I wear a size 4 comfortably. Personally, I think it's BS. I was FAT before. That is all.

Edited November 26, 201411 yr by bikrchk

Yeah, this doesn't add up for me either. I was sleeved 2 weeks ago. I'm at 287 right now and this "test" says I'm large framed. My doctor made a point to let me know that I was very small framed. He said operating on me was very tight, like operating in a tin can. Also, I had a c-section with my daughter 15 years ago because my pelvic bones were too narrow for her to pass.

This "test" only works with a normal weight person. Not sure how reliable it is even then, but it definitely doesn't work with overweight people because your measuring you're fat layer, as opposed to just your bone structure.

Edited November 26, 201411 yr by sprocket

I also have doubts about this...on my left wrist my fingers overlap, but on my right wrist they barely touch. My hands are small, (size 4 1/2 ring) and so are my wrists.

Well I've lost in my arms and wrists. That said, I can feel the bones in my wrist and they're small. So I don't know if that's accurate or not but I'm judging by the size of the bones that can be felt. I know when I was 18 I had a small frame, does that change with being obese?

The size that you were at a healthy / normal weight when you were 18ish is your body's natural inclination. The size of your bones do not change past that point (well until you get old!), especially for girls because we've quit growing by then. Females' growth plates have closed by 18, so whatever your bone structure was at that time in your life is what your frame size truly is.

With weight gain, childbearing, health problems etc., it may seem as though our bone structure changes, but it does not and can not. The extra weight gives us bigger shoe, clothes, and ring sizes and makes it seem as though our bones have somehow grown in mass, but it just doesn't work that way. It's fat and nothing more.

Btw, if anyone wants to see how much fat and tissue is really masking your bone structure, stick your hand (palm side down) underneath one of those high velocity bathroom hand dryers. It is crazy!