We've all heard people call themselves or others "big-boned," usually to explain themselves for putting on a little weight. Like most clichés, it's easy to think this has no solid scientific basis, but it turns out you can actually have big bones. The thing is, your bone size actually has nothing to do with your weight. According to a Huffington Post interview with Claudette Rajam, MD, there isn't actually a medical term for "big bones" because it's not abnormal. If you think about it, this is actually common sense: People of different body types have different sized bones. Science disappears and everything becomes logical again. If you're really tall, it might add some extra weight, but other than that, your weight is mostly made up of your soft tissues (organs, fat, etc. - all the fun soft stuff). About 15% of people have larger bones, and as you might guess if you've ever taken a statistics class, the other 15% have smaller bones. This puts 70% of people completely in the middle, so your bones are most likely normal. Even if you turn out to be a weirdo like me, having bigger or smaller bones shouldn't affect anything other than your height and body type. You can now close the Web MD tab.
However, there is one important exception: People who are thin are more likely to develop osteoporosis, a disease that causes bone loss as we age. If you're a woman, you're also already at high risk for this disease, so make sure you're getting extra vitamin D and drinking plenty of milk (or your calcium-supplemented milk substitute of choice). If you 're really worried, you can exercise more like the Mayo Clinic recommends, but in this case, you're a much stronger person than me. As always, pun definitely intended. If you're interested/worried/just plain bored at work, the National Library of Medicine has a handy chart to help you figure out your bone size. have fun!
Photo: Olly Scarfe/Getty Images; Jiffy ; Adam
