Let's Waste the Waist!!

Waist girth and waist-to-hip ratio vs BMI

Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) assesses health risk based on where a person carries their weight. Carrying weight in the midsection (known as an android or apple-shaped body) can have adverse health consequences because it indicates a greater accumulation of visceral fat surrounding the vital organs.

Carrying weight in the hips, buttocks and thighs (called gynoid or pear-shaped bodies) means that the fat content is coming from subcutaneous fat, which is on the outside of the muscles.

Regarding health, it’s much better to carry weight as subcutaneous fat in the hips and thighs than as visceral fat in the belly.

These body size measurements can give us valuable information without being as invasive as other anthropometric measurements.

Wrap a tape measure around your waist at the narrowest point, typically around the belly button.

Next, wrap the tape measure around your hips at the widest part of the buttocks.

Divide. Use a calculator to divide your waist size by your hip size.

Why Waist Size Is Important

Carrying excess weight around your waist can lead to health issues. Your health is affected by where you store body fat, even if you have a healthy weight or a normal body mass index (BMI).

Abdominal obesity- excessive fat around the waist is known as abdominal obesity. This type of fat is called visceral fat because it surrounds the liver and other internal organs. Visceral fat sends hormones, fatty acids, and other chemicals that cause inflammation into your body.

This leads to higher cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose. It also leads to higher levels of triglycerides, a type of fat, in your blood.

Fat around your waist can make you more likely to have other health problems, including:

Heart disease

Cancer

Stroke

Type 2 diabetes

This can affect both men and women, but men are more likely to have too much fat around the waist.

Women are more likely to carry fat around their hips and thighs.

Waist to Hip Ratio vs. Body Mass Index

A waist-to-hip ratio compares waist size to hip size. By contrast, your body mass index measures your weight in relation to your height.

The waist-to-hip ratio may provide a more accurate picture of your health than your weight or BMI. You can be at a healthy weight but have too much fat around your midsection.

The waist should be smaller than the hips, regardless of weight or BMI.

You can influence your fat distribution through lifestyle changes, such as engaging in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, adopting a healthy diet, and incorporating resistance training. Unfortunately, gimmicks like drinking water before a meal and pulling up on the centers of your ears five times a day are not evidence-based methods for losing belly fat. Water is important, but when it comes to reducing body fat, the water content of the foods you eat is more important than the water you drink.

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