The Waist to Height Ratio – a Big Wake Up Call
Finding out the Limitations of my BMI Score!
The Body Mass Index, or BMI, is one of a number of different measures that have been developed over the years to try to monitor your state of health. Other measures include Waist Circumference (WC), the Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) and the Waist to Height Ratio (WtHR). They can all provide useful information about the state of your health but each measure has some limitations.
Of all the different measures, the BMI is probably the most widely used. Indeed this was, and still is, the preferred measure used by my own doctors’ surgery.
So for a number of years I wasn’t really taking any notice of my changing shape. At 181 cm or 5′ 11″, whichever you prefer, I weighed in at 76 kg or 167 lbs.
I was aware that I had a bit of a bulge around my waist but even so, I was probably only 5-6 lbs overweight given my slim build. And with those measures, my BMI Score was good!
OK, so my BMI score indicated I was probably in good health! But I knew something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel ill as such, but I was gradually becoming aware that I didn’t feel well either. I found that I tired easily both mentally and physically, I seemed to be losing my physical strength and my mental alertness.
I needed some other way to monitor my health. I was aware of the other measures and opted to use the Waist to Height Ratio. I was in for a shock.
Why your Waist to Height Ratio is so important
It is easy to measure and monitor your Waist to Height Ratio (WtHR). Perhaps it is this simplicity that causes us to underestimate it’s value.
Yet this simple measure can tell us so much about our state of health and our general fitness. And it can be used universally. It works for all adults no matter your gender, your ethnicity or your physique.
But I was in denial, I mean I still thought I looked like this!!
Measuring your Waist to Height Ratio is so easy and so important
But I didn’t look like that at all and this is the dark side to my story.
I didn’t have a “bit of a bulge” around my waist. I had a horrible bulging waist, the unsightly middle-aged spread.
And this is why your Waist to Height Ratio is so important.
A “large” waist measurement relative to your height indicates excess fat around your midriff. This will probably be quite obvious because of the sub cutaneous fat that collects just under the skin around the waist. This is not only unsightly, but more importantly, it also indicates increased levels of deep seated visceral fat in the abdomen.
It is this deep seated visceral fat that is the worrying health indicator. Excess visceral fat indicates increased health risks from a range of horrible diseases including risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes and more.
Even though my BMI score was comfortably in the “healthy range”, I was sleep walking into serious health problems. Please don’t ignore it like I did.
If you think you are carrying just a few extra pounds like I was, then read this:
Most health & weight loss warnings are aimed at people who are seriously over weight or obese which is important of course.
BUT the big message is that health and life issues start well before you get anywhere near obese level.
I was just about to get my big Wake up Call!
My Wake Up Call – How could I miss this Shocking Truth?
So, after stumbling around for months, I finally got the tape measure out to monitor my own Waist to Height Ratio. I was horrified to see that it was the wrong side of the critical 0.5 marker and getting worse. I was now at risk of a range of health issues including, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and more…..
The sad reality is that I could wear baggy clothes and pretend not to see this!
As I said, I wasn’t obese, I was only what you might call skinny fat. I weighed in at 76 kg or 167 lbs so was probably only 5-6 lbs overweight given my slim build. And with these measurements my BMI Score was good!
But I was in denial because I knew I had the dreaded middle-age spread. My waist was actually well over 37 inches but I was too embarrassed to write that down. This meant that my Waist to Height Ratio was well over 0.52. So I had a big problem!
Actually I had two big problems:
- The bulging waistline was a great big warning sign of increasing health risks for diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease
- I thought I was carrying a few extra pounds but ended up losing over 17.5 lbs (8 kg), that’s over 10% of my bodyweight! I was shocked at how much muscle mass I had lost. No wonder my fitness & strength were shot.
A sedentary lifestyle can impact on your weight in two different ways:
- You put on weight as Fat because you are eating too much energy
- You lose weight as Muscle Mass because your muscles are inactive
So if you think you are just carrying a few extra pounds then please don’t ignore it like I did:
Your Waist to Height Ratio is probably the simplest and most effective measure of your state of health. Everyone can monitor this, so if you only take one thing from your visit here, THIS IS IT!
If you want to find out how I got moving to turn this around, you can read more here:
I set out walking to reclaim my health & fitness AND fix my waist
My Waist to Height Ratio told me what my BMI Score Didn’t
So I have covered how a number of different measures, including both the BMI and the Waist to Height Ratio, have been developed to try to provide an overall measure of your health. They can all provide useful information about the state of your health but each measure has some limitations.
However, the Waist to Height Ratio does provide a measure that can be applied on both an individual level and universally by just about anybody, as I explain in my book. And the key marker is the 0.5.
A ratio greater than 0.5 indicates increased risk of a host of possible diseases. A ratio below, or sub 0.5, indicates decreased risk. This marker applies regardless of gender, age, physique and ethnicity. It has a universal application. We all need to be sub .5.
The Waist to Height Ratio affects us all and the .5 marker works for all of us
The measure does not cover every possible disease and must still accommodate individual characteristics. So two peoples’ individual level of risk may vary. A small increase for a naturally slim build like mine indicates a bigger increase in risk than it would for a more heavily built individual. But it is consistent in that any increase in the ratio above 0.5 indicates an increase in the level of risk for both of us.
So coming back to my BMI Score.
It was difficult to make sense of my BMI Score, so I looked a little deeper. You may be as surprised as I was to find that this widely used measure was developed over 200 years ago and it was developed specifically to measure obesity across whole populations. It wasn’t developed to be used to monitor the health of an individual.
And if that wasn’t enough, it was based on “the average man”. It wasn’t taking into account female attributes at all.
It remains a useful tool to measure obesity across populations but when used on an individual basis must be treated with a bit of care, well actually a lot of care. And quite how it became the measure of choice for the medical profession is quite a mystery.
I had already learnt this lesson, but it certainly explained the predicament of a family friend. He was a national level athlete in fine physical shape. But his BMI score indicated serious health problems, whilst mine indicated I was in good health. Quite a conundrum:
- My BMI Score indicated good health when my health was failing
- His BMI Score indicated failing health when his health was excellent
We can laugh about it now because we know the limitations of the tool.
But your Waist to Height Ratio is more specific and can be used on an individual level. A “large” waist measurement indicates excess fat around your midriff. This will probably be quite obvious because of the sub cutaneous fat that collects just under the skin around the waist. This is not only unsightly, but more importantly, this also indicates increased levels of deep seated visceral fat in your abdomen.
That deep seated visceral fat is the worrying health indicator. Excess visceral fat indicates increased health risks from a range of horrible diseases including risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, diabetes and more.
So my BMI score was comfortably in the “healthy range” which didn’t make any sense given my bulging waist. But my Waist to Height Ratio was over 0.52.
My Waist to Height Ratio was the wrong side of the key health marker and specifically identified the excess weight around my waist. I needed to get my WHtR back to sub 0.5!
Where do you sit on the Health Scale?
So when I finally took notice of my own Waist to Height Ratio I was shocked to find I was at the wrong end of the health spectrum.
Where do you sit on the Waist to Height Ratio Health Scale?
The serious nature of my declining health finally hit home and gave me the incentive I needed to change my lifestyle to “fix my waist”.
So let me ask you:
Where do you sit on this health spectrum?
Finally admitting I had a problem was tough, but trying to do something about it was even tougher. But maybe my experience of turning this around could help you along the way too. You can read more here:
I set out walking to reclaim my health & fitness AND fix my waist