Question:
How MUCH more dense weight-wise are our bones?

I am 1 year out, down 160 lbs. Now, at 185, my body size is what is was when I was 150 (A LONG TIME AGO) I wear 12/14... So my question is: Are clothes sizes bigger now or do my bones weigh 30 pounds more than they used to?    — Debby M. (posted on September 1, 2003)

September 1, 2003
Clothes sizes are bigger, manufacturers found they sold better when larger. Bones are denser too. To carry around all that weight. Bones of astronauts onboard the space station get thiner less dense fast with zero gravity. <P> You are seeing the effects of both. Weight is just a number on the scale what really matters is ARE YOU HEALTHY?
   — bob-haller

September 1, 2003
My MD says an average of about 10 pounds can be accounted towards bone density- so if you weigh 170, its really 160- which is why we "look" smaller than our numbers.
   — ~~Stacie~~

September 1, 2003
I sure wish there was a study out there showing that morbidly obese people have denser bones than other people (if there IS one ... could somebody post a link?). I worry a bit about whether, as posties, we're destined to lose bone density simply because we lost weight, regardless of whether we're also supplementing properly for calcium (in other words -- if our bones got bigger as we got heavier, will they necessarily get smaller as we get smaller?). I know my post-op Dexascan showed my bones were twice the density of most women my age, which is a good thing, and I'll have one once a year from now on to see what's what, but I never had one before, so I don't know whether my bones got thicker with my weight over the years. Betcha somebody else knows their history better, though. <P>Practically every postie notices that they are wearing smaller sizes at a higher weight than before -- I wear a size 4 now, at 130 pounds and 5'7 1/2", and I know that when I weighed 130 in my early 20s (okay ... 25 years ago!), that put me into 10s and 12s back then (maybe the occasional 8 ... if it was pricier -- 'cause of course, the more you spend, the smaller they'll mark your size to get you to buy it). On the other hand, my waist is maybe one inch smaller now than it was at that same weight back then. I'm sure clothing manufacturers have changed their clothing sizes over the years to make them read "smaller" so we'll buy them more readily, and I really think that explains most of the difference in sizes now ... but not all of it. And, the smaller the sizes get, the slighter the change in your measurements it takes to slip into the next lowest size. That's why you can wear a 2x for maybe a couple of months on the "way down," albeit loosely, but then it feels like you're in a 10 or 12 for five minutes if you're still losing fairly quickly at that point.
   — Suzy C.

September 1, 2003
ORIGINAL QUESTION-ER TO ORIGINAL ANSWERER: Bob, thanks.....you always have a way of putting it all in perspective....gosh, YES, I feel healthy AND good, AND "sexy" (WHAT a luxury.....) that's all that matters.....
   — Debby M.