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

[apenny4]

Here's a link to the article

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.

I am 5'5", 7 stone 5 and a small person generally - little wrists and shoulders etc. But my waist is 27. I have not an ounce of fat on me (in fact I look a bit gaunt tbh). So I definitely don't think 34 inch waist is slim but I also don't understand how you can be so arbitrary - I could never have a 24 inch waist and I'm already underweight. Maybe I'm measuring incorrectly?!

Have just looked at the article though, and what she says makes more sense in context.

Kate Middleton is a size 4-6 how is that not thin?She's not a short girl neither.

I have a 28"-29" waist but I'm almost 5ft3 and a size 6-8, 8 stone etc

Pregnancy took my waist it seems

It's a bit stupid to say 'only size 10 and under is slim'.

I am pregnant atm so usual rules don't apply but I have 32GG breasts so I am a size 16 up top but a size 10 bottom.

People's body shapes are different. My sister has no waist and no arse but teeny tiny legs.

LittleLionHeart I too am wondering if I'm measuring incorrectly?!

Measure around the belly button or the smallest part of waist?

Kate is thin but she's not unhealthily skinny like people seem to think.

I'd be measuring the smallest part for the waist?

I just wish we could stop passing judgement on each other based on how fat/thin we are FGS!

There are lots of people who probably feel quite shit about themselves who would come on here and think 'oh bollocks, I'm at 31 inch waist, people must think I'm fat'.

Is this kind of thread really necessary? Really?

34" waist is not slim, no. www.myvmc.com/investigations/assessing-central-obesity-waist-circumference/ this explains about waist circumference and its relationship to type II diabetes.

I have never had a waist, as such - I'm an ironing board shape (broad shoulders and no waist) but now I'm middle aged, I have a spare tyre and am well aware that I am causing myself health risks - need to do something about it. But when I was slim, I mean properly slim, my waist was below 30".

It's just a discussion not personally attacking anyone maybee

That's true maybebaby which shouldn't base our judgments of people on weight. It's incredibly foolish, and men don't judge another man's character based on size.

I think the OP is talking about health though, and at what weights people should have a concern for their health. What is optimum healthwise, and who might be at risk of diabetes or other illness.

Waist measurements (for health) should be taken around your middle so that the measuring tape is on your belly button. For women this measurement should be 80cm (31.5 inches) or less in order to be healthy.

YY to It's a bit stupid to say 'only size 10 and under is slim'. and People's body shapes are different.

In the past I have had a BMI of about 20 and body fat of 17% and my waist never got any smaller than 28". Like some pp's I now generally wear a size 8 (26" skinny jeans) and consider myself slim but waist hovers between 28-29".

You should measure smallest part of waist, usually about an inch above belly button but closer if you are short waisted.

And re KM - it is pretty impossible to judge someone's health just by looking at them!

The author is an apple shape, I am too - I have quite slim-looking arms and legs and my BMI is in the normal range but my waist measurement indicates I am at risk of heart disease and diabetes

So I guess I am disagreeing with you (maybebaby) as to whether this thread is sensible, which I think it is, but agreeing with the principle as to judgment on character.

That said, I don't think anyone is making those judgments on this thread. However, it's something I've noticed in rl alot recently.

Waist measurements (for health) should be taken around your middle so that the measuring tape is on your belly button.

How is that the waist though? I have a tiny torso so my belly button is almost on my hips, my waist is much higher

And judging health applies whatever size people are. Just because someone has a high BMI doesn't automatically mean they are unhealthy either - it means that statistically they are at higher risk for certain health issues. That is all .

To measure your "Natural waist" you measure above your belly button but below your rib cage - if you bend to the side it's where your body naturally creases. I don't know whether the woman in the article measured her natural waist or around her belly which to be honest is where most of us carry out extra weight. My natural waist is 29" which is still a little high for my height (although I am very comfortably in the normal weight category) but around my belly I am 31.5". 3 pregnancies, 4 babies, too much chocolate and not enough abdominal exercises stole what I would consider to be my waist. I am a healthy weight and I run regularly, however I know that without core strengthening exercises I will never lose my belly.

"". To me slim is no larger than a size 10 so around a 27 inch waist max.""
""I have s small frame""

I don't think the use of "Slim", means anything and it shouldn't.

We should just be concerned about how much body fat we are carrying (and how active we are).

My DD has a waist of around 30 and big hips, she can be a 10-14, in jeans, but she carries no excess body fat. She exercises and lifts weights, daily.

We're mixed heritage and all the women have big hips (and big thighs in a Beyoncé, way) we've all been bullied through our teen years, because of this.

The issue for people of Asian origin is their bodies laying fat around their 'middles' and you can visibly see that, so they tend to have bigger waists.

The issue for them (and everyone living in a developed country), is what they eat and how they exercise.

Looking at her, she's only bordering on being overweight, which for most Mothers, in their 40's, who have to work full time, is quite usual.

If you go on the thread about aging, most women like turning 50, because they have the time to exercise and they haven't got hormonal stuff going on.

Your high sugar diet, is more dangerous to health, than a woman being less than a stone overweight.

If your concern is health.

Is this kind of thread necesarry to make people feel bad about themselves? - no

Is some sort of cultural adjustment required of people have to question if a 34" waist on a woman is slim? - damn right

People are getting fatter and we are all just getting used to it and accepting it, to the point that people whole were previously normal are viewed as skinny.

40 years ago you would have had to look had for a man with a greater than 34" waist. No we are discussing it as normal for a woman

She's apple shaped - so I bet she is skinny everywhere else but her belly. I expect if she was dressed in normal flattering clothes rather than skin tight lycra, you'd describe her as slim.
I am an hourglass - even when I have put on lots of weight and have big boobs, massive butt and thighs and look overweight in anything I wear my waist is still under 30. I once went to a Bupa Health check where I was informed that my waist was too small for the rest of my body - wtf!

I think slimness depends on your overall body shape/size.

I am 5ft 5 and weigh 85kg, which is certainly too much. At my absolute thinnest in my teenage years (where I would eat 1200 calories a day and be starving) I weighed 70kg - that was the only point in my life where my BMI was in the healthy range, and my waist was 30 inches. I looked as slim as it is possible for me to be without having ribs on display.

Contrast that with someone who is tall and naturally has a more petite bone structure - I imagine that on them, a 30 inch waist would look big indeed.

It's all relative.

5'8 with a 30 inch waist and wear size ten. Stuff that up your judgemental backside.