Are you like me (or at least the way I used to be) and jump on the scale to check to see the number is the same or going down? After all, you feel lighter, right.
When it comes to monitoring your body for fitness there are callipers that test body fat by doing a pinch test, a bathroom scale that measures your body weight and your water and fat percentages and then there is the good old-fashioned calorie counting. But did you realize that by calculating your waist to hip ratio to determine health risk? Maybe your doctor is already using this method. And even better, all you need is a tape measure.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio
- Measure the circumference of your waist
- Measure the circumference of your hips
- Divide the waist measurement by the hip measurement
- Voila! This is your waist to hip ratio!
For a woman a ratio of 0.8 or above and for a man a ratio of 1.0 or above is a major sign that you are at risk for developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis (gout).
The waist numbers that take you out of the disease risk categories and back into the healthy categories are:
- Females: 35 inches around
- Males: 40 inches around
Tune in Thursday to learn of 3 ways to help reduce your risk by reducing your waist circumference.
Want help to cut your health risk? Why wait? Start today.
Give Brenda a call or drop her an email to schedule your FREE Discovery Chat.