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.

[Pandora97]

I don't think you can always go by just waist and clothes size. I guess I "naturally" have a big waist. I remember measuring it when I was a teenager and 7 stone so very thin - but it was 27 inches! I was convinced this meant I must be fat. Now it's 28 inches and I'm 8 stone 3-4. I think that weight would still be classed as slim, at least I hope so anyway! I do have people saying I've got a small waist, it's an optical illusion as a pp said because I have big boobs and big hips so it does look small in comparison. If 27 inches is the biggest waist size I should have then I'd have to starve because there is no way in hell I'd be able to maintain a weight of 7 stone now. 8 stone is the lowest I can go and when I did get there I had people telling me I was too thin, I was gaunt and I'd lost too much weight. So I can't win either way.

My sister wears a size 12. She's 5ft8 but she's really skinny, I think she looks ill sometimes. She's 9 stone or just under but has a bit of a tummy from her pregnancies and is quite broad up top. But she's very gaunt in the face and her legs are like sticks.

But no, a 34 inch waist isn't slim but I wouldn't hold Kate Middleton up as a paragon of what women should look like either. IMO, she is very thin but she has a boyish figure. I'd never be able to look like her - even when I was 7 stone I still couldn't get into a size 6 top because of my boobs. People are getting fatter, that's true but I think cultural values on beauty have changed as well. My grandmother was born in 1915 and she said she was jealous of her cousin as a young woman because she had a "womanly stomach" whereas hers was completely flat. That would be the other way round now definitely.

[iloveeverykindofcat]

I know, it's very easy to become complacent. I can look around and go well, I'm skinnier than x y and z so I'm fine, but realistically I'm half Arab, small boned, there's diabetes in the family and I carry any extra on my belly so I clearly don't have a lot of leeway to give myself!

[2rebecca]

I'm 5 ft 8 with 33 inch weight and 10 1/2 stone. To me slim means normal BMI rather than thin which is low BMI so I'd say if you are tall and have 34 inch weight you can be slim. If you are 5ft 2 with 34 inch waist you'd be more apple shaped and not slim. The word slim means different things to different people though. Some see it as synonymous with thin.

[storynanny]

Scaevola, even further back in the day when I was a teenager (1960's) size 12 was actually a 24" size 14 was 26". We nearly all had really narrow waists and really wanted to be a 10 which was a ridiculous 22".
I've always been small and am 5'2" but was a real Apple shape before the term was invented. Back in the day I had to buy size 14 skirts as my waist was a whopping 26" totally out of proportion to my overall frame. I have struggled with increasing inches through adulthood and menopause, going up to 34" but still remaining smallish everywhere else.
I'm waffling a bit, can't remember what the original post was now! I've got my waist down to 30" which is still big for my frame, but think I am fairly healthy generally so am a bit sceptical about generalising the big waist as always being a problem if you see what I mean.
Re measuring waist, I thought true waist measurement was taken around the bit you found by bending over sideways.

[TheCatsMeow]

Re measuring waist, I thought true waist measurement was taken around the bit you found by bending over sideways.

That's what I thought too

[LaurieFairyCake]

Yeah it's rubbish. I'm 4 stone overweight with a 29 inch waist.

Definitely not slim, size 18.

[TheCatsMeow]

Re sizes that's why there's confusion about Marilyn Monroe being a size 14

[regenerationfez]

She is the same age, ethnic origin and waist size as me. It is common knowledge that south Asians are genetically more susceptible to diabetes than other ethnic groups, partly because of the way we lay down fat around our bellies. My parents are both diabetic and all the NHS literature says this. This woman should have just looked on NHS website. And she is not slim, no!

[DryIce]

Is it really changing that much? I know people are getting fatter in general, but I don't know if our perspectives are that changed, are they?

For example, I just did this ideal weight calculator I found online : www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html

For myself, I am below all the recommended 'ideal' weights (except the minimum BMI). I'm 5'9 and a size 10, I don't know what my waist measurement is but my jeans are a 28 or 29 waist. And while not fat, I definitely wouldn't describe myself or be described as 'slim'. Just...normal.

[TheCatsMeow]

DryIce I'm below them all too other than BMI. Seems too high to me

[SwedishEdith]

How to measure your waist with pictures

Note, "It will also be the narrowest part of your torso."

[SwedishEdith]

Obviously, you don't use pictures to measure it. Paranoid about punctuation after the comma splicing thread

[zen1]

I'm finding this thread really interesting. My mum has always worn a size 14 (since the 50s), yet looking at pictures of her in the 70s (when I was born), by today's sizes she looks an 8. She still insists on buying a 14 though, but tbh since the late 90s when I think sizes changed, 14 clothes swamp her.

[TheCatsMeow]

thanks Edith. I was doing it right then!

[redhat]

This thread is really interesting. The thing about the waist being the point at which you bend is clearly going to confuse people into thinking there is no issue when there is.

I just posted below that I am 30inches around the waist. I meant the medical waist i.e. around my belly button. I am actually 27 inches if you measure just below my rib cage which is where I bend. I could therefore con myself into thinking I am skinny when I'm clearly not. I still fit into size 8-10 clothes but need to lose my "tummy".

My mother is obese. She is a weird shape and basically looks heavily pregnant. She can still get into a stretchy size 12 top though (and probably has a reasonably narrow part just below her rib cage) and so is absolutely convinced that she is fine. She really, really isn't.

[zen1]

So yes, I think being overweight has become acceptable because people don't take into account how sizes have changed (and I say that as someone who needs to lose a stone to have a healthy bmi)

[KondosSecretJunkRoom]

I am 5'5.5 and 10 stone flat with a bmi of 23. At my most narrow point I'm 29 inches but 33 inches at my belly ( 39 inches at hips and bust) . I actually don't look that weird irl!

[DryIce]

TheCatsMeow - yes, sorry I didn't explain myself very well. I think they are quite high for an ideal weight as well, but I note some of them are from calculations from the 60s or 70s so I was wondering if we really have lost perspective?

I am sure some people are in denial about their weight, but surely these people existed in the past as well.

Most overweight people I know are very aware that they are overweight, not deluding themselves they are slim

[TheCatsMeow]

That purely depends where your belly button is though. Mine is in line with where my hips start so if I measure there I'm getting bone

[Lancelottie]

I've just read this thread while absentmindedly eating the leftover sausage rolls from last night-s party.

Oops.

[TheCatsMeow]

DryIce yeah me too. I can't think of anyone who's overweight who thinks they're slim

[OneFlewOverTheDodosNest]

I think I must be the only person whose belly button's almost exactly in line with my natural waist - there's less than an inch difference between the two for me.

I think "slimness" is a concept that is dependent on your surroundings. In the past people used to be slimmer so only the truly petite were considered slim.

It's also geographical though - where I now lived I am considered super skinny because people tend to be more overweight. There is a real belief that having a BMI in the high 20s is normal and anyone in the healthy BMI range must be starving themselves.

Of course, when I go to visit my sister I feel positively fat because they're all so svelte and toned.

[Thefitfatty]

Does the 2 inch (was 5 inch) gap in my abdominal muscles skew things, after all it's right where I should be measuring my waist? What about my roll of loose skin over my c-section scar when I'm measuring my hips?

Waist size, like BMI, like any overarching generic measurement tends to lose it's effectiveness when you look at individuals.

I've said this before on here, but I work with one of the worlds leading Type II Diabetes researchers (particularly for the Asian population), and she says that the reason the focus is on weight is because generally being obese is a sign that you're leading an unhealthy lifestyle, but that is not always the case. Exercise, a diet low in sugar, and not being genetically predisposed to Type II Diabetes, are better ways to combat it then starving yourself or limiting your calories to get a 30 inch waist.

Only you and your GP can determine if you are unhealthy.

[noeffingidea]

I've never had a small waist, even when I had a BMI of 17.
That's because I don't have an hourglass shape, I go straight up and down.
When I was a teenager the belief was that your waist was supposed to be 10" smaller than your bust and hips. The biggest waist defecit I can ever achieve is 7", no matter how slim and fit I am.
For health purposes the waist should be half the height in inches, so a 5'4" women should have a waist of 32" or less.
I'm going to stick with that, ignore people who define size by dress sizes.

[ToastDemon]

The thinnest part of my waist is right where my belly button is. I didn't realise it could be elsewhere!