Fifty-five inches is a good height for a pre-teen. Fifty-five inches is not a good waist measurement for anyone, but that’s what my waist was when I measured it AFTER I had lost a bit of weight. Unfortunately, I never took the measurement at my highest weight, because quite frankly, I didn’t want to know. All I knew was that store bought pants didn’t fit me anymore, I needed 6 yards of fabric to make a skirt for myself, and loose-fitting dresses were my best friend. That, and chocolate of course.
I remember one time, while attending a baby shower for a friend, where the hostess got up and announced a game. We were to pass around a roll of toilet paper and rip off the number of squares we thought it would take to fit around our friend who was almost 9 months pregnant. There was a lot of laughter as the roll was passed around, and people were guessing how many squares it would take. I took the roll, and ripped off 15 squares. Finally, they had the poor girl stand up and wrap the toilet paper around her belly. Her pregnant belly took up about 11 pieces, which if toilet paper is standard, would have been about 38 – 39″! Someone else won the prize, but it got me thinking about my size once again. I looked more pregnant than she did, and I wasn’t pregnant. Being a glutton for punishment, when I got home I tried it on myself. With my toilet paper, it took 16 squares, which would have been about 56″ unofficially. That wasn’t good.
There are a lot of ways to measure our health potential besides just our weight on the scale. I’ve talked about BMI calculators before, but haven’t showed you what the medical community thinks about waist size. I like the website WebMd, so that’s where I got this information.
The first study was called: Belly Fat Doesn’t Bode Well For Women. The study followed over 44,000 nurses for 16 years. Over time, the researchers noted that “women with larger waists and greater waist-to-hip ratios had higher death rates from all causes, including heart disease and cancer, which are the top two killers of U.S. women.” The bottom line for this study was that waist matters more than weight. It also noted that abdominal fat isn’t “lethal”, but should be considered as part of each individuals health assessment. In fact they said that is a woman’s waist measurement is more than 34.6 then that woman is three times more likely to die of heart disease.
The second study was called: Belly Fat Doubles Death Risk. This was one of the largest, longest health studies in the world. The researchers studied over 360,000 Europeans. They found that, “people with the most belly fat had about double the risk of dying prematurely as people with the least amount of belly fat.” The summary of the article states:
“Men and women with the largest waists (more than 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women) had roughly double the risk of premature death as men and women with the smallest waists (less than 34 inches for men and 28 for women). Each 2-inch increase in waist circumference was associated with close to a 17% increase in mortality in men and a 13% increase in women. Waist-to-hip ratio also strongly predicted mortality.” “The most important result of our study is the finding that not just being overweight, but also the distribution of body fat, affects the risk of premature death,” Pischon says.
How’s your waist doing these days? Yet another calculation to determine overall health is the waist to hip ratio. To calculate yours, perform the following three steps and then use the calculator to figure out where you are.
→ Measure your waist at the smallest part
→ Measure your hips about 8″ down from your waist
→ Divide the waist number by the hip number
For men: Risk for conditions like diabetes & heart disease, per WebMd
.95 or below Low Risk
.96 to 1.0 Moderate Risk
1.0 or more High Risk
For Women: Risk for conditions like diabetes & heart disease, per WebMd
.8 or below Low Risk
.81 to .84 Moderate Risk
.85 or more High Risk
My waist to hip ratio with a waist of 55″ and hips of about 64″ was a very unhealthy .86 which put me in the high risk category. I feel very fortunate that I was able to lose the weight and get more healthy all the way around before I seriously affected my health. You know I’m not a doctor, so please see your doctor about any health or weight issues. Read these studies, and use all the tools at your disposal to see where you are not only on the scale, but when using some of the other means to measure your health.
For me, the more tools you have in your arsenal of knowledge, the more reasons you will have to lose weight, get fit, and stay that way!
How about you? How is your waist doing? It can be exciting to see changes in your body along the way! Diane
I still need to lose 9cm (3.54″) and then I will be good
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The only problem with the ratio of hips to waste is that in women like myself with PCOS, we have no hips. Waist and hip measurements are the same, as is the chest measurement. If the hip , waist and chest measurement is the same and my weight is still high, using this guideline I can rest in the inaccurate belief that I am not at risk because the numbers say I am not at risk . Once again, I think numbers are the worst judge of health . My measurements are all the same because of PCOS, which is a metabolic condition that puts me at very high risk for Diabetes, heart disease and much more, but using this numeric formula, I come off as a very low risk.
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I had to lose ALL my fat to get my waist smaller than my chest and hips. When I say ‘all’ I mean all. Every single bit had to go for my waist to be proportional to the rest of my body. And I still do not have an hour glass shape, but my waist is now the smallest part of my torso. (When I read the above comment, I thought, I wonder if I have/had PCOS and didn’t know it. And if I did/do, it might be better that I didn’t know, because I might have self sabotaged thinking I couldn’t get it off because of the diagnosis.) I am very definitely insulin resistant. I have to be super careful about carbs, even healthy carbs. I have written before, for me, the bmi calculator was very helpful because it told me what I was going to have to do to get rid of the belly fat. I had to get to the lower range of normal. That meant I had to lose 20 lbs more than I originally thought (difference between high end of normal and lower end of normal). But I did get rid of the whole belly. In the beginning, my pilates instructor was THE ONLY ONE who thought I could get rid of it ALL (all the belly fat) and I believed her. And because I believed her I took action and did.
Very good post. It is important.
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Dr. Oz talks about waist size a lot. I’ve always had a much smaller waist than my hips. But a couple of years ago, in one of my yo-yo “at goal again” phases, I realized my waist was larger than it used to be. My pants fit in the butt and thighs but were tight in the waist. My mom was right – middle aged spread!!!
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Great post Diane. My waist has always been a bit bigger than people think.. my ribs come right down into it & I widen my back to make it appear smaller BUT it is not a bit bigger due to belly fat so that is the good thing & it still measures out OK but it just is a bigger waist for a smaller me..
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Great post that got me thinking and running for my tape measure. Sadly I am in the moderate risk category. My waist is under 35 so I was hoping for a better result, but it’s that waist hip ratio factor. I have a majority of my weight in my middle/stomach, so I guess my ratios will not be good until close to my goal weight. This information inspires me to keep going!
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Its been a while since I’ve been here and I’ve missed reading your posts, Diane. I have heard this waist to hip ratio before, and I am looking forward to watching my risk drop, once and for all.
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Wow. Scary Stuff. My waist is smaller than it has ever been but I still have quite a panni of loose skin and fat. I need to lose more but my surgeon told me not to go lower. I can’t find my tape measure so I’m not sure about my measurements right now. I will bookmark this post so I can come back and check out the stats.
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What a fantastic post! I love these kinds of posts that not only include opinion, but INFORMATION to back it up. I’ve personally never been a huge fan of the BMI or body mass index. I think it favors just weighing as little as possible… which doesnt do wonders for the people who have a commitment to weight lifting. Muscle DOES weigh more than fat..
Controlling bodyfat is essential to staying healthy!!
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This is something I worry about since I am really prone for belly fat. It is really hard for me to lose the weight there. I have heard about all the cardiovascular issues that can come from it, too. I am currently at my low weight, but still have belly fat. My problem right now is that I’m not exercising again, which I know I need to get back into doing. I wish there were more time in the day!
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I always find it odd that they use absolute values for waists, as in 40 inches for men and 35 for women being the “largest”. I know tall, large framed women who could probably be perfectly healthy with a decent waist-to-hip ratio with a 35 inch waist.
At my heaviest, I still had a “low risk” waist to hip ratio because I carried a lot of weight in my rear end… but I had really high blood pressure and borderline glucose levels. They probably should put in some sort of tie-in to height and frame size. I look pretty chunky if I’m a size 6 or larger–and someone tall with big bones would look pretty unhealthily skinny at the same size.
I thank you for the waist to hip calculation figures though. I was concerned because my body shape changed once I passed age 45 and entered perimenopause. I have a bigger waist and thinner hips than I have ever had when I was younger. 20-odd years ago at a similar weight, I had an extra two inches on my hips and a couple inches less on my waist… I guess it’s comforting to know I still have a low risk ratio even if I’m carrying more abdominal fat.
I bought one of those electrical impedance devices with the handles you hold to pass a mild current through your body, which you use either first thing after emptying the bladder, or at some other time NOT within an hour after eating/drinking/exercise/bathing. I’d love to be a little leaner but I’m basically between 26 and 27% bodyfat which is fine. It’s a great tool for gauging how I’m doing exercise and eating-wise since I’m not trying to move the number on the scale, but I am trying for more tone.
I can understand your consternation about measuring your waist when it WASN’T at peak and finding it where it was, because I remember going to the gym and having one of the guys there use one of these impedance devices on me after I had dropped 13 pounds off my peak–and I was at 32% bodyfat which is not a healthy percentage (and I was so proud that my BMI had just become a “normal” 24.8)–ha, not so normal after all. I hate to think what I was before (and actually I’m glad not to know the number…it would have been discouraging)
Great reminder post! Thank you. I have a great waist to hip ratio. I buy pants to fit my thighs (lots of redundant skin) and hips. I wear a 12-14 pant (occasionally a 10). But it I bought pants according to waist size I would be a size 6-8. I have this skin problem with long sleeve blouses, too. To fit my bust I can wear a small but to fit my arms I often need a medium/large shirt JUST to fit the skin hanging from my arms.
Jane
Keepingthepoundsoff.com
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“Fifty-five inches is a good height for a pre-teen.”
Yeah you’re lucky unfortunately fifty-five inches is still too big for me…
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This is excellent information, Diane. I hope it will motivate some people to make those important changes.
(29′ here
The only flaw I see in these calculators is so many folks store fat so differently. Hips, butt, gut.
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My ratio is not good, but falls into the “high risk” category. I am not overweight and I exercise about an hour a day (walking, stretching, some weights). I eat a very healthy, low carb diet high in vegetables and lean proteins. I’m 59, and have never really had hips to speak of. I wear size 6 jeans if they’re hip huggers, size 10 if they’re waist height. I’m just under 5-5 and weigh 135, I’m thinking if I can get down to 125 maybe my waist will shrink a bit. This is a big concern because my husband’s company, provider of our insurance, has asked everyone to report their numbers. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I’d sure love to hear them!
Perhaps you could lose a little weight, but in my opinion, your insurance company should be very happy with your numbers and lifestyle behaviors.
My waist to hip ratio is about .78, which is good, but I still definitely need to lose the excess pounds as my waist is 37 inches. Slowly but surely I am trying to lower my risk, it’s such an important thing and the studies are not ambiguous on the dangers of persisting on obesity. Thanks for the reminder!
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Great post.Thanks for your sharing.I don’t dare to reveal my ratio,hixhix.I think it’ time I lost the excess pounds as my waist
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This is very important information for ourselves and our families. One day, my husband was ribbing me for always watching my food, but still, having some weight I want to lose. I replied to him very honestly, “I’m not the one with the can of Crisco in my gut.” That comment made him decide to go exercise! That visceral fat–the layer under the ab muscles is an indicator of dangerous health habits. Great post!!