08 Apr 2013

What is your waist to hip ratio?

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For men, the location where body fat is stored is just as important for their health as total body weight.

Weight management

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For men, the location where body fat is stored is just as important for their health as total body weight. That's because fat stored around the abdominal area (an apple shaped body) may be a strong predictor of lifestyle related diseases and potential health problems. In other words, a tape measure is equally, if not a more effective health monitoring tool than a set of bathroom scales.

Waist to hip ratio measures the difference between your waist and your hip circumference, and is thought to be a more accurate measure of health risk than a weight to height ratio (the body mass index or BMI). Waist to hip ratio is also a good way to get a gauge on your level of visceral fat, the dangerous type of body fat stored around your internal organs.

To calculate your waist to hip ratio, follow these steps.

1. Using a tape, measure your waist at its narrowest point, and the hips at their widest point.

2. Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement. This is your waist to hip ratio. For example, someone with a 95 centimetre waist and a 100 centimetre hip circumference has a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.95 (95/100 = 0.95).

3. Determine your level of health risk. The table below can help estimate your level of health risk based on your waist to hip ratio.

Waist to hip ratio (men)	Risk rating of lifestyle diseases
Less than 0.85	Very low - an excellent result
0.85 - 0.89	Low - a good result
0.90 - 0.94	Average
0.95 - 0.99	High - increased risk
Greater than 0.99	Very high risk

What is your waist to hip ratio? What steps are you taking to reduce abdominal fat, or maintain it at a healthy level?

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