This was originally posted in Useful Tips & Tricks as a reply to Sue943's post about drilling a hole in the wall! How quickly a post can change direction!

Let's have a contest for the shortest and tallest member. No contest for the heaviest and lightest. Nobody wants to admit their weight compared to their height.
I'll start it off for tallest at 6'2" although I'll be outgunned by some Aussie.

Well, Sue and I are still 5'1"

If you feel like giving me my weight in gold, I'll tell you how much. But only if.

sorry, fjohn, gonna top you quick on this one at somewhere between 6'4" and 6'5".

Four feet-ten and a half inches. Since I was about twelve...The half inch is very important!

lol VM that's exactly how tall my mom is... and she says the same thing about the half inch!

I'm on the short side, but definitely not the shortest it seems - a bit more than 5'3"

I was 5'2" when I was 18, but that was XX years ago, and I've heard we shrink as we age

I fall in the middle...5'10".

I can match Fjohn- also 6'2".

Join the club I'm 5'9'' it's kind of strange since my mom is 4'11"" and my dad is 6'3"".

I surprised Sue943 when I met her as she expected me to be 6 foot (not sure why but maybe it's my presence? ) and was only a little taller than her at 5'5''. As all four of my grandparents were shorter there wasn't a lot of chance I'd be much more. But I've proved you can't tell from what's written here though, until I just gave it away...

Am I the tallest girl so far? 5' 10" or just under. :-)

I'm the shortest man in my family for several generations at 1.79m which comes in at around 5'10.5". Most of the men on both sides of the family were over six foot (some of them well over) and my son's projected height is somewhere around Schoonie's height if you believe the growth charts. But I stopped growing (upwards at least) at 15 and so am the runt of the litter.

I'm about 5'5"

I'm squarely in between Schoonie and fjohn/ozzz. I think? I was, anyway --- odds are I'm shrinking, though ...

I guess I'm just average at 5'6". My "little"(younger) brother is 6'4" - maybe I should make him join FT .

I'm tied with Schoonie101.

I'm 5'10". I used to be taller, but now I'm compressed (apparently gravity works lol). I was 5'9" in Grade 9 and didn't get asked to dance at that "grad" because all the boys were shorter than me (good thing actually, since I can't dance to save my life LOL)

My mom is 5'2 3/4" (she's quite insistent on the 3/4 thing lol). Dad was 5'11". My only sister is 5'4". Maternal grandmother was 4'9". I must be a throwback to my paternal Scottish great-uncles who were all 6'3" or taller.

I'm about five foot I always hated netball etc for being quite short

I'm 5'10 joining Tizzabelle and Jakeroo in the girls department.

I am around 5'8". Not tall but not short either.

Now this is weird. Supposedly, at age 34 I should have stopped growing a while ago, right?

Well, was at a gettogether with some friends Friday night that I hadn't seen in several months and both my ex-boss and his wife independently commented that I had grown at least an inch in the meantime. I haven't exactly measured my height but friends of mine who are 6'4", I appear to have at least an inch or two on them.

Granted, since I have been out of work, I have been highly physically active, especially over the last several months, and out in the sun quite a bit too on top of it but is this possible?

It's been a while since I studied this properly but it's on the periphery of my field of expertise so I'll give you what I know on the subject. Technically it shouldn't be possible to grow at your age Schoonie. Your epiphyseal (growth) plates in your long bones (femur, tibia etc) fuse at around about 19 yrs of age. If you have an excess of growth hormone (GH) before that, you will grow to beyond what you would have normally (with normal amts of GH). Once the plates are "sealed", any excess GH will cause abnormal growth of other smaller bones such as in the feet, hands and jaw.

Perhaps all the exercise means you've stretched out all the verterbrae that would normally have been a bit compressed from sitting at a desk or slouching over a bench or whatever position you would would be in at work. Maybe you're just standing with a more erect posture because your back muscles are so strong? Maybe everyone around you is shrinking just that little bit because of inactivity? I don't know. Maybe we should just put you in the shade and not water you as much Now I'm going to have to Google this and try to find some medical literature (or drag out my textbooks). Hope I'm not allergic to dust

"Perhaps all the exercise means you've stretched out all the verterbrae that would normally have been a bit compressed from sitting at a desk or slouching over a bench or whatever position you would would be in at work."

You may have something here. And that's my suspicion. I'd been desk-bound for many years. But even at 22/23, I'm still taller than I was then and by a noticeable amount. Seriously odd. But I mean, it's not a bad thing, you know?

Seriously, though, it's odd and has me a bit weirded out - I mean, I KNOW this isn't normal. Then again, I'm a big giant kid in every other respect so...

Schoonie, having given it a few more minutes thought (but no research yet) I'm leaning towards the theory that you're standing straighter because your back muscles and abs are more developed now through all the surfing and other exercise you've been doing. Ever noticed some old military men and their posture? I can pick them sometimes with their ramrod straight back (esp if they have a moustache). I'll ask if they were in the military and sure enough they'll say something like "Yes, I was in the air force in the war." If they slouched they'd appear a good inch or so shorter. Ask people you know if they think your posture is better than previously. I'd put $5 on that being that answer.

That makes good sense and could very well be the truth. I don't discount what you are saying in the slightest - it holds water. I also did lose about 60+ pounds (shameful that I gained that kind of weight in the space of a year as it was) during the process of being out of work and surfing and all that. But even so, I was NEVER 6'5"+ even when I was in my early 20s and in great shape then too. So that's what's weird...