To think a 84cm / 34 inch waist is not "slim"

[apenny4]

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I'm very open to being told IABU, in fact I'd be quite relieved to be told I have a warped view. Right now though I don't think a 34 inch waist is slim. To me slim is no larger than a size 10 so around a 27 inch waist max.

Unless you are a much taller than the average woman (average being 5' 4"?) I think a healthy (in the general sense of the word) waist is less than 30 inches.

However I have a small frame and have felt overweight whenever I've needed to wear size 12 bottoms (and that's still not over a 30 inch waist).

The irony is that I still think I'm at high risk of developing diabetes because my father has it and whilst not overweight I have a diet quite high in sugar.

Genuinely interested in people's views on this and whether my own view is out of kilter with the norm.

Back in the old days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was but a young thing.

Size 12 was 26inch waist.

The 'easing' of sizing, but the persistent thought that those sizes indicate slimness (or at least acceptability) is a bit of a problem in losing sight of what is a healthy weight.

YANBU

I think people have totally lost sight of what's normal

No, it isn't, and the nutritionist tells her that it should be 31" to be healthy. The writer of the article thinks she is slim because she is comparing herself with her American friends who are all have a bigger girth than she does!

why are you talking about a 34 inch waist if this is not your size?

I would say 34" was pretty chunky for a woman. Slim to me would be around 25, 26" waist.

I just realised I read that yesterday and thought the same. Maybe not horrifically obese but not slim!!

34inch waist isn't slim by any stretch of the imagination. Quite the opposite.

No a 34 inch waist isn't slim.

I used to be a 22 inch waist.But I don't agree with you about the size 12.It all depends on how tall a person is,how they carry they're weight,if they're petite or big boned.

At a size 12 I look like I'm a size 8-10 because I'm 5ft 6,I'm an hourglass shape and very big boned.

It doesn't matter what size I am people always presume that I'm smaller and weight less than I do.

YANBU. If you have a straight up and down figure though you could be slim at 34" waist.

But on the whole YANBU

I often get told I have a small waist... 27.5 inches. BUT my waist only looks small due to HUGE boobs and hips. It's an optical illusion.

YANBU. I recall hearing from the doctor on This Morning that in terms of diabetes risk a woman's waist should be under 32 inches which I would presume means that isn't considered overweight. Maybe not slim though. I probably would say 30 and under is slim

For a man maybe.

In general I think we've lost sight of what is normal or slim.

Yanbu. Like another poster has said, our idea of body shape and size is really skewed these days.

I think that because there are so many larger people around now, we have lost sight of what is normal. Normal is slim. And I say that as someone that is a size 12, 5'9 woman so by no stretch slim myself.

I think she is reasonably slim (from the picture) but with a disproportionately large waist. An apple shape - and we all know by now that they are more at risk of diabetes etc than the classic English pear.

Sizing is confusing though. I wear a 10 or 12 and 27 or 28 "waist" jeans. But I don't have a 28 waist. Clothes sizes seem out of kilter with actual shapes and size so it's easy (ish) to think all is fine.

The fact that people go on about how 'skinny' Kate Middleton is, proves how much we have lost sight of what is a normal amount of weight people should carry. She isn't that thin, just not what the average British woman looks like.

Definitely under 30. I'm 32. That's too big even for a middle-aged woman like myself. I'm 5'4.

I also believe that we are generally bigger around the waist than we used to be, so maybe the 36, 24, 36 "perfect" measurement is genuinely a thing of the past.

I think I have approx a 32 inch waist. I think of myself as slimish, but I do carry excess fat around my middle though.

And agree with pp that straight up and down boyish figures mean larger waists without being "big".

Wouldn't it be great if your fat collected in your fingertips so you could just get it trimmed off every few years or so?

This is all probably true. Although I agree about the straight up and down women. Also where we measure out waist seems to have changed though. If I measured my natural waist, it wouldn't help me to know what size jeans to buy as they don't sit on the waist. I have a curvy bum and thighs so my waist size doesn't tend to determine what size jeans I can buy.

No, Kate Middleton isn't what the average British woman looks like - that's part of the problem.

The woman in the pic has a large middle, yes imho.

I think my waist is 28 - 30" at the moment. I would prefer it to be 28! I am 5'6" and consider myself slim with that size waist.