Last updated on July 20, 2024
Question:
To start with, I just turned 16 recently. I was measured at 5’8. I took the Tanner Stage Calculator and got a stage indicator of 4.2. Below are my growth patterns from the past years, including pre-pubertal years.
- 8 years old – 4’3.5
- 9 years old – 4’5.25
- 10 years old – 4’7
- 11 years old – 4’9
- 13 years old – 5’1.25
- 14 years old – 5’5.25
- 15 years old – 5’7
- 16 years old – 5’8
The dilemma is that when I was younger, I had a higher height percentile and was higher up in the curve. Additionally, approximately 2.5 years ago, I used the Predict Your Adult Height calculator on your website and got a predicted height of 5’11 or 5’10.5. I just took it and got a predicted height of 5’9.4 with a sitting height of 35.5 inches.
My mother is 5’2, and my father is 5’5. My maternal grandfather is slightly shorter than me or around the same height. He is 5’8, but he used to be 5’9. My maternal grandmother is 5’1. My maternal grandfather has four brothers, all roughly the same height. The tallest is 5’9 right now and used to be 5’10. Their grandsons ended up being tall, in the lower 6 feet range.
Overall, I would like your estimate of how much I have left to grow and how tall I will be.
Answer:
The various height prediction calculators tend to narrow the estimated height as you age. If you noticed, each calculator gives a prediction and a likely range of possible heights. This is because the formulas are just reasonable guesses. The closer you get to your final height, the clearer that final height will be.
Assuming the Tanner Stage estimate is reasonably close, you are at the start of stage 4. If I use your growth pattern, you were in the middle of stage 3 when you were 13, and you reached stage 4 sometime when you were 15. Boys tend to grow 1 to 3 inches during stage 4. I suspect you will be closer to the lower end of that growth, so I would expect you to be close to 5’9 by the time you are finished growing.
Question:
Thanks for the clarification. However, based on my growth patterns, wouldn’t I be at the start of stage 3 at 13? Why would I be on the lower side of 1-3 inches? Is there a particular reason, like genetics, that causes this? Also, do I have 1 inch left to grow to have me at 5 ‘ 9-5’10? Is drinking milk twice a day and sleeping well potentially adding another inch or half an inch at most? I am just curious as it isn’t a big deal, but I want to know if I can increase my height as I am still in puberty (stage 4.2).
Answer:
You can’t force your growth. You can only give your body proper nutrition to grow to its full potential. You can’t increase the potential.
You grew the most when you were 13. Typically, that happens roughly in the middle of stage 3. Of course, I don’t know if most of your growth was at the beginning of your 13th year or near the end. Since you got 4.2 on the calculator and I have no way to see you to verify the estimate, I assumed that your midpoint was near the end of age 13. Since your recent growth has slowed down to an inch, I would expect it to continue to slow down, so you are probably only going to an inch or so more growth.