The string test. Aibu to think this is a pretty clear way to show you're overweight?

[africanprincessinscotland]

I caught a bit of a BBC programme earlier where they were doing the string test. I've never heard of it before, but it makes perfect sense. If your waist measurement is more than half your height, you are overweight. And because it's around your waist, it indicates how much visceral fat you have. That's the really bad type.

So, you get a piece of string, cut it to the length of your height (heel to head), fold it in half and put it around your waist. If it doesn't meet, you're overweight. Very simple.

I know that BMI is controversial, but with this, you can't really argue against it, can you? Unless you're pregnant!

Seems a bit shortist to me 😂

While I’m sure it’s a good gauge for those who are average height it may be out of whack for the very short and very tall. I also have diastasis still 19 months after my twins were born so my upoer abdomen is quite bulgy!

Agree, they do vary, i was going on what should be standard, but standard to be fair is ludicrous.

For example I think next is hugely guilty of vanity sizing, where as if you go into somewhere like top shop or H&M you'd be lucky to pull the same size over your arse.

I don't think bmi is great either, but at least it's cautious and doesn't make people think they are fine when they are not, that's my point. This string test will make a huge amount of people think they are not carrying too much visceral fat when they are. And that's dangerous.

I do agree Bluntness. The thing is, most overweight people do know in their heart of hearts that they are overweight, even if they are in denial outwardly. I know I did know, even if I chose to ignore it for a long time.

Gwenhwyfar I can assure you that my post menopausal waist is 11 inches smaller than my hips. I do pilates, HIIT, walking and running. I have no intention of letting myself go.

11 inches! Do you struggle to buy clothes? That's quite a substantial difference. You must have to get them altered?

I used to but it is a lot easier now as there are more clothes cut for women with waists and hips.

DH found it quite helpful. He’s 5 ft 11 and wears a 32 inch pair of trousers plus within normal BMI so assumed he was fine. But what he hadn’t factored in is his trousers sit under his belly . The string did meet but it nowhere near the slack he was expecting so useful for him and a bit of a wake up call.

I am slightly overweight by BMI but significantly within half my height on my waist. I have a 13 inch difference from waist to hip!

serendipity im a 32HH i was a 46G before the weight loss.

i get remarks about how small my back is.

NHS website says:

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

"I think it might work on apple shapes but not pear shapes or even hourglasses "

Well no, because it's actually supposed to tell you whether you're too much of an apple i.e. your waist is too big. The point they're trying to make is that your waist size is also a health indicator in addition to BMI. Being an apple is riskier for your health than being pear shaped.

"I have no intention of letting myself go."

I didn't think post menopausal women 'let themselves go'. I thought the changing hormones changed your shape.

"Re size inflation. When I first got a bra in the mid 70s the smallest back size you could get was 32. Now adult back sizes start at 28. Does that mean that a 28 in today's sizing is a 36 in old sizes?"

No, it means that (with exception of M&S) fitters no longer add 4/5 inches to your actual band measurement.

So if you measure 30 under your bust and 36 at fullest point, in the olden days, they would recommend a 34B. Which has the same volume as the size you'd be recommended now is 30E - but a totally different fit/support.

Some overweight people don’t carry the fat on their waists so it wouldn’t work for all.

6 x 12= 72
72 \ 2 = 36in waist

M&S are bloody awful at measuring for bras. It's a bloody revelation when you finally get measured correctly!

M&S are utterly ridiculous with their insistence on measuring the old way

My under-bust measurement is 28"

Yet M&S tell me I'm a 30 or 32 because they don't sell a 28

When I was younger they told me I was a 34B - that's 3 back sizes too big!

Just get on some scales usually works for me ... and type into a bmi calculator (the calculator of dooom ) in Google and cry*.
hides her chocolate from you in disgust

Hi
Has anyone heard of a disease called Lymphodema or lipolymphodema? It is known as the disease they call fat. Anyone who has a pear shape with big legs that when they loose weight this area of their body does not reduce, then they should consider that they may have one or both of the conditions mentioned. This type of disease that is called fat, is usually connected to hormonal changes in puberty after having a baby or the menopause, it develops over years slowly with adipose fat being deposited in odd places like the saddle bag area, large deposits on the side of the knees and of course the familiar lumps on the hips. It can also appear on the shoulders and the tops of the arms, never on the lower arm and usually when it is on the legs the feet up to the ankle are usually slim almost always the upper body is and waist is slim in comparison to the lower body and legs.

It is distressing because no amount of dieting will shift this disease, often it can be helped with hormonal treatment, or a specialist type of liposuction. It should be said that normal liposuction makes it worse and it will return will a vengeance so get the right advice if that is a route you go down.

There are four stages to this disease which develops over decades and believe me you do not want to get to the fourth stage, when the deposits of adipose fat begin to hang down first the stomach then the legs and the upper arms. The only way to keep it at bay is compression early. So seek advice, look it up on line, some GP's are not aware of this. But there is lots of support and there are Lymphology clinics in most area's so if you think you have this and have been in despair about what is happening to you, get on line and find the experts.

Don't suffer in silence, thinking and being told that you are fat, you most likely eat less than most. Keep your normal fat down by a good diet and exercise as much as you can but you won't ever be able to shift the other type of deposits, so get the help that is available. There is a lot of help out their so don't suffer in silence.

Someone upthread mentioned that but actually you can look pretty normal and still have a big difference in fat distribution.

My BMI is 24, my total body fat percentage is 26% but my legs are 35% and my trunk is under 20% (dexa). I don't even look particularly pearish.

@bananafish81 I could have written your gripe about M&S bras word for word. Right down to the utterly unbelievable 34B measurement as s teenager. I was probably a 24 back in those days (I was short and tiny). I suspect he just pretended with the measuring and put all the teenagers in 34B.

They aren’t the only shop that are unable to believe that 28 is a perfectly reasonable band size for an adult woman to be. I’m not even thin (at upper end of healthy bmi, which isn’t thin on me), which makes it all the more confusing.

Haha, I was put in 34b too

Must have been the "standard teenage ,one size fits all"

The string test works out for me at half my height equals what waistline should be or is this just a coincidence? eg 5'6" = 33"for waistline I would say for a woman over 30 years old. An easy example to test.

DuchyDuke fat on your rear and hips is the ‘good’ kind, brown fats. So you’re ok and bang on trend for the new fashion of bigger bums. It’s the fat round our bellies that kills us.
Tragically, my arse and legs have wasted away with age. But my belly and boobs just keep getting bigger..yet I still weigh the same. Need a lipo suction machine to move it lower down.

"bang on trend for the new fashion of bigger bums."

I'm not sure the average British pear-shaped woman has the kind of Kardashian big bum that's in fashion. It's supposed to be big but high isn't it?