Determine Your Body Frame: A Simple Guide

While your height may play the largest part in determining your ideal body weight, height is not the only factor involved. Additional factors that influence your ideal body weight include the amount of muscle mass on your body and whether you have a naturally small, medium or large body frame. Determining your correct body frame can be done by taking just a few basic measurements of your body.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure

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Instructions

• 1

  Take a height measurement. If you need to take the measurement on your own, stand up straight against a wall, hold a pencil directly on the top of your head with the lead pointed toward the wall and make a mark on the wall behind you. Then, use a tape measure to measure up from the floor to the mark you made.

• 2

  Measure the circumference of your wrist. To measure your wrist circumference, wrap the tape measure around your wrist at the smallest point.

• 3

  Use the following guide, provided by HealthCentral, for body frame size if you are female:
  If you are 5 feet 2 inches or shorter with a wrist size smaller than 5 1/2 inches, you have a small frame.
  If you are 5 feet 2 inches or shorter with a wrist size between 5 1/2 and 5 3/4 inches, you have a medium frame.
  If you are 5 feet 2 inches or shorter with a wrist size over 5 3/4 inches, you have a large frame.
  If you are between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 5 inches with a wrist size smaller than 6 inches, you have a small frame.
  If you are between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 5 inches with a wrist size between 6 and 6 1/4 inches, you have a medium frame.
  If you are between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 5 inches with a wrist size over 6 1/4 inches, you have a large frame.
  If you are 5 feet 5 inches or taller with a wrist size smaller than 6 1/4 inches, you have a small frame.
  If you are 5 feet 5 inches or taller with a wrist size between 6 1/4 and 6 1/2 inches, you have a medium frame.
  If you are 5 feet 5 inches or taller with a wrist size over 6 1/2 inches, you have a large frame.

• 4

  Consult this guide, provided by HealthCentral, for body frame size if you are male:
  If you have a wrist size between 5 1/2 inches and 6 1/2 inches, you have a small frame.
  If you have a wrist size between 6 1/2 inches and 7 1/2 inches, you have a medium frame.
  If you have a wrist size over 7 1/2 inches, you have a large frame.