Should I be alarmed if my waist size is over 34in?

[TapeMeasureBlues]

I just went on to the NHS website to check my BMI but saw text below on the webpage about waist sizes above 31.5in_ (in women) needing to lose weight (regardless of BMI) and being at 'very high risk' if it's over 34in_.

www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/
I've pasted the text below my post.

My BMI is fine at 22.2, I'm 5'6 and 63 kg, I'm late 30s, a size 10ish but usually need 14 in jeans. I've got kids but the youngest is 3 and always have a pregnant ish looking belly which has been making me miserable as I look totally out of proportion and lots of clothes look awful on me.

I've been doing core/cardio exercises for the past year or so (only 2-3 times a week) and pilates. My core is definitely stronger but nothing looks tightened up, presumably because I'm not losing any weight - this wasn't particularly my intention. I generally eat healthily ish from scratch, but probably too much. (NB I'm not particularly looking for diet/exercise tips with this post).

Anyway, depending on where I measure my waist it varies from 31.5in at the smallest, up to around 36-37in at the largest (this is around the 'spare tyre' bit including hips just above my belly button). Is this really worrying? Am I really at risk from heart disease etc? 31.5inches seems very small to me, for the average woman, yet anything above this should mean losing weight?

I'm going to go to a GP when I can and when I've had my vaccine.

Would be interested to hear if anyone else has done this (do they investigate anything or just tell you to lose weight?) and also nosily would be interested in what others' waist size is, when following the instructions below...

I think I recall reading this some time ago and being briefly worried but assuming it was still post-baby stretched tummy that would go back to normal once I started exercising a bit.

From the NHS site:

Why waist size also matters

Measuring your waist is a good way to check you're not carrying too much fat around your stomach, which can raise your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

You can have a healthy BMI and still have excess tummy fat, meaning you're still at risk of developing these conditions.

To measure your waist:

Find the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips.
Wrap a tape measure around your waist midway between these points.
Breathe out naturally before taking the measurement.

Regardless of your height or BMI, you should try to lose weight if your waist is:

94cm (37ins) or more for men
80cm (31.5ins) or more for women

You're at very high risk and should contact a GP if your waist is:

102cm (40ins) or more for men
88cm (34ins) or more for women

I can't even FIND the bottom of my rib cage. As for apple or pear - I'm more of a pink blancmange.

It's about visceral fat which collects around the belly as you get older. It indicated you are at a higher risk of heart disease and other nasty ways to die.

I need a month at a fat camp 🤬

My bmi is 22
I measured today and measure 36, 32, 37 (9 stone 8 lb)
I have a bit of excess fat, but basically just don't 'dip' in around my middle.
When I was 18 and under 8 stone I had a 28 inch waist.
I can't see that anything other than very skinny would meet the goal of waist size for me.

Maybe look at your waist to hip ratio.

My waist is 37 but my hip is 47. That puts me in the low risk zone....

I have very wide hips, that's the hip bones though. Not everyone is the same shape. These things make me angry!!!

www.diabetes.co.uk/waist-to-hip-ratio-calculator.html

Heh.

What I realised years ago was that many women (including me) look and compare the bits on other women that they don't like on themselves.

So I was looking at waist as I don't have one. And not noticing the arse and thighs..

And the girls/ women who worried about their arse and thighs were looking at mine and not noticing the tummy.

That was quite an interesting thing to realise.

I'm more of a pink blancmange.

HalfTerm - interesting to know I'm not the only one who saw this!

So, I have narrow shoulders, average size boobs, small bottom, average/slim thighs/legs. I just have this flying saucer shape around my middle - so narrowest point is just under bra wire area, then it balloons out in front but also I have flabby side bits too. Not brave enough to take a photo!

The thing is, lots of weight-loss programs etc are geared towards losing a certain amount of weight - well my actual weight is fine really, obviously being a bit lighter would be more appropriate for my frame/natural build, but I don't know how much I should be aiming to lose, or how.
First things first, will get checked for ab separation again and let a GP prod the blancmange... not sure whether to wait for my Covid jab though :( and secondly I do need to tackle my portion size.

Food is my absolute treat, not talking about loads of cake or takeaways or anything but I make nice meals, I look forward to them all day and it seems a real shame to have just a few mouthfuls - but I know deep down I eat more than I need to. I swear having babies changed my eating habits - there was a while when I was breastfeeding/overwhelmed with baby stuff that I felt if I was hungry I had to eat my meals quickly while the baby napped or something and it's sort of morphed into eating quickly and probably too much - especially when you don't have much else as a 'treat' with small babies (and lockdown, actually) so food and a sit-down becomes this nice reward - for both me and DH.
Bit of a tangent there but may as well put it out there... and do a bit of cardio tomorrow.

Just found this article which compares a few approaches:
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jul/25/whats-the-best-way-to-lose-abdominal-fat

That Graun article says:
"Visceral fat is said to be more “metabolically active” than subcutaneous fat, and researchers have found that the stress hormone cortisol significantly increases its storage. It has been strongly linked to both insulin resistance, inflammation and metabolic disease, even in those who have a normal BMI. But although it is considered more dangerous to our health, the good news is that it is easier to shift than subcutaneous fat."

Yay! I think.

Did you have a c section
As I did years ago and although I was slim I had a pouch from the section which made me look pregnant
I had a mini tummy tuck which removed the pouch - loose skin and tightened up my stomach muscles
Even when I put on a few pounds my stomach stays flat and I have a defined waist but I do have big hips & bum so that makes my waist look small

I'd be shitting myself inside out on 3 glasses of milk a day.

How old is your baby?

Asking doc about muscle separation is a good idea. Post natal things like this seem to be common but not really looked after by health service iyswim

Your shape sounds like mine! And it's how some women are built. And most men. It's not something you can change. I had a little tum even when my BMI was underweight.

I think the media reports on this are wonky. It's not that women shaped like us are at higher risk/ somehow wrong.

It's that women who have the classic pear shape have protection compared to other women and men.

I've known women who were very large but had a tiny waist. It's just where you put your fat which is out of our control.

"Baby" is 3!
I had remembered people mentioning the MUTU system so had a look at their website - it looks pretty informative, there's a free download - although obviously it's geared up to sell the course/whatever it is, but worth a look I think if you're in a similar boat to me as it's mentally ticking a lot of boxes.

Would be interested to know if anyone's used it....

It's funny, because I'm 5'4" have a bmi of 33.81 (might be due to muscle/bone density some what?)and a waist measurement of 38. But if my waist measurements were any smaller, I'd look like one of those after pictures of women who binded their waists with corsets, because even directly at my ribs (very little any skin or "fat" over my ribs) I measure at 38inches. Yes I've got a slight mama tummy down at the base, and I'm 3 months pregnant, but I'm no where near obese, I've compaired online to other women my hight and weight with larger measurements who are much wider than I am, I don't look like those pictures and the only way to decrease my waist size would be to break my ribs and bind them down.