Healthy BMI but waist measurement worry

[IlluminatiParty]

Just got back from my gym where I took the opportunity to get weighed and measured.

I'm a bit anxious because despite being a healthy BMI and reasonably fit, (10st 5 / 5 foot 7) my waist measurement is 35 inches plus and it'd certainly be more than that when I get PMT!

I've been told and NHS website says anything above 31 puts me at very high risk of heart disease, stroke etc. so much so that I should contact my GP!

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/why-is-my-waist-size-important/

Do all the other reasonably fit people out there have 28/30 inch waists? Is my tummy freakishly disproportionate? I don't feel like I look it, I've got 38 inch boobs and hips, they've not changed much over the years so it's not like my stomach is sticking out weirdly...

I know first world problems and I should just do some bloody sit ups!

You can’t possibly be measuring at the right place if you are only 10 st 5 and have 38 inch hips surely!

I carry all my weight in my belly but I’m hideously overweight.

It's not really about degree of fitness, or having toned stomach muscles from lots of sit-ups. It's about not having fat surrounding your organs, as the link you posted points out.

If you want to reduce your chance of developing one of the conditions outlined in your link, then I guess you'll need to lose weight until it comes off your stomach. It may take a while; I carry most of my fat on my thighs, and it comes off the rest of me first, annoyingly.

I don't understand how that can be right. Do you have a freakishly wide frame?

Are you mixing up your waist and hip measurements?

I don't think I'm measuring in the wrong places and one of the gym staff did it earlier?... Here are a couple of pics!

I do have very skinny ankles and wrists and quite skinny legs so I think I'm just carrying all my weight in my torso. I have been eating more crap than usual thanks to school holidays so I reckon this is a wake up call to cut down...

Well I don't know. You don't look particularly fat or large-waisted. So maybe you actually have a very small frame and your ideal weight should be quite a bit less, and that you also carry your extra weight round your torso.

So yes, general weight loss should sort it out (like it that's easy!:)). I would never have guessed at your waist measurement from those photos though.

I’m also 5’7 and 10s5. I have a slim waist and wear size 12 dresses/jeans. But Just measured myself and my waist is 32” and hips 39”. So the NHS website is also saying I’m at risk and need to contact my GP. Ridiculous, No wonder the NHS is so busy.

My mistake it's only "high risk call your GP" if over 34 inches. Over 31 inches you just need to lose weight apparently!

I have a small frame with tiny wrists etc. So maybe if I had a bigger frame, then at the same weight my waist would be slimmer?

I am almost exactly the same, OP. 10 stone 3 and 5"7. My waist is over 35 inches. I absolutely hate it. Women much heavier than me can wear dresses which skim their stomachs but I look pregnant if I do the same.

My legs and arms are slim though so I don't know if it's just that all the fat goes to my stomach. I hate it so much.

I'm an apple shape, my BMI is 27.3 and I'm working on it, I do all sorts of exercise and am fairly fit. But I also have "threat level midnight" waist measurement! That's the last place it will come off, and I have a stone to lose to get to normal BMI. I am working on it but not worrying about it.

I don't understand why my jeans and shorts are all 3-4 inches smaller than my actual waist measurement? If you measure your waist and then look at your jeans size etc, it doesn't add up? Why?

You bloody fibber! That’s 34 and 39 for a start!

It looks like maybe you’re just more Apple shaped. No, not like an iPhone thanks. Only losing more weight will help that, sit ups will give you strong abs but if they’re covered up with fat you won’t see too much difference in waist size.

Weight training is good if you’re not doing that. Helps speed up your metabolism and if you do compound moves (got that from the Shred!) then you work lots of muscle groups.

I wish people would stop saying that BMI isn’t a good measure. It’s fine for getting a general idea where your healthy weight sits for most of the population that aren’t pro athletes

"threat level midnight" I was alarmed and I am taking it seriously but honestly I thought I was doing alright! I can run 5k easily, hike up and down Snowdon... BMI was always alright... just goes to show, not least how as people have pointed out BMI's a bit of a blunt instrument at best.

I like sugar free pop and that's known to cause bloat so I think I'll be ditching that as a first step... Hoping I just deflate back down to safe perameters...

In my defence the lady at the gym had a more accurate tape measure, mine probably came in a cracker

Well you are neither measuring your waist or your hips in either of those photos! Your waist is lower than the pic on the left and your hips are significantly lower than where you are measuring on the right.

For you weight and height 35 inch waist is a big measurement. I am a similar height and weigh a little more than you and have a pretty straight up and down figure and my waist is 28 inches. I suspect your hips are rather more than 38 inches if you measure around the widest part.

What size clothes do you wear? a 35 inch waist would put you at a 16/18 but a 38inch hip is more like an 8/10! So something isn't adding up!

As a shortie with minimal bust, I'd look flabby and rounded around the middle before getting to BMI 25. My sensible and realistic happy zone is 22-23. Get above 23.5 and it sits on my thighs/hips/ and squidgy mum tum, especially if bloated from hormones/ food choices. Never on my bust to counter balance it and stay proportionate. My waist is usually 27-28 inches, but bust only 32 (hips 35-36)

The plus side of a very unforgiving build is that it means that I'm regularly working at maintaining it, rather than discretely gaining and getting a shock that there are stones to lose.

It depends if you measure your true waist, or your 'waistband' waist- they aren't the same thing. I'm 5'7, 10.3 8 and my true waist, narrowest part between ribs and belly button, is 28in. My bellybutton is about 32 in. I'm a bmi 23 and I'm a size 8.

I'm not sure whether the bmi waist measurement test looks at true waist or waistband but to find your true waist, tilt slightly to the side and it's the place where you crease between your hip and your ribs

I've heard that another measure is if your waist is more than half your height then that's a concern?

www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/lifestyle/why-is-my-waist-size-important/

Yes this was me, OP. My BMI is now just under 24 and I've just got my waist down to 31" .
it's annoying as hell. I'd love to go in at the sides but I don't. I also seem to carry a bit of fat round my back for some reason, though I'm pretty toned in most other areas and even my belly is almost ok.
Also, someone suggested on here that it's to do with being short waisted, if your legs seem quite long for your height. Mine do. Anyway, I'm carrying on and going to attempt to lose another stone, ideally I'd like to lose at least one more inch from my waist.

Yes it does make you more likely to get diabetes etc as Asian people, despite having low BMIs, often have huge waist measurements. I know several women with 35 inch waists at 9-10 stones and 5 ft 7! The GP’s advice in these situations is to use Asian BMI scales (even if you aren’t Asian) and that might help you - in a lot of them people are considered overweight with a BMI of over 22. So it might be that you just have a lower BMI than other people of your age / race

The waist measurement thing is interesting. If you are a body shape that stores fat in the middle then you are indeed at higher risk... But this means almost all men and quite a lot of women.

If you're an apple there's not a lot you can do about it. I mean, you can't move where on your body any extra weight goes.

I think it would be more accurate to say pear shaped women have some protection, which is how it is sometimes put.

And i mean losing weight is all well and good but I had a tum even at 7 stone.

lemonsandlimes123 oh crap well my waist will be even bigger then! Oddly my hips don't get much bigger as they go down around the thigh as like I say I've got quite slim legs, weirdly...

I wear 12-14 and although waistbands aren't ideal anything bigger would look like clown trousers on me.

This is so interesting. I definitely think I'm prone to a tubby middle I can't remember ever feeling "curvy", the weight definitely sits there.