Your waist-to-hip ratio combines two girth measurements to assess your body fat distribution. If you carry more fat in your waist, as opposed to your hips, you are at a greater risk for heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and other chronic...
The cardiovascular and exercise assessment protocols of the American College of Sports Medicine, ACSM, use weight-to-hip ratios to categorize your risk level for cardiovascular disease and safety at different exercise levels. Higher ratios are...
Your scale and tape measure can tell you so much more than how your clothes fit. Waist-to-hip ratio and Body Mass Index, also known as BMI, can take simple measurement tools such as these and arm you and your doctor with powerful information about...
You may pay little attention to your health until one morning you step onto your bathroom scale and gasp in horror that you have suddenly gained 5 lbs. Perhaps you recently changed your diet or exercise program. The number on your bathroom scale...
Measuring your body accurately is important in order to calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. You will need the flexible kind of tape measure that tailors and sewers use, or mark a string that you can measure on a yardstick. Keep the starting end of...
The number of overweight and obese individuals has reached epidemic proportions worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Obesity poses health risks including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer. There are...
Several different tools are available to help you determine if you are within a healthy weight range and what your risk for cardiovascular disease is. Just keeping track of your body weight on a scale only gives you part of the picture. While this...
Overweight and obesity are at epidemic proportions, and excess body fat is associated with coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, pulmonary disease and arthritis. Body composition, or the relative percentage of body weight that is fat or...
Your body shape is predetermined genetically, but that doesn't mean you are stuck with the apple belly. If you have an apple-body shape, it means you store your fat around your midsection. Learn how to slim down the belly, get a healthier...
When we talk about obesity it seems like we're most often talking about Body Mass Index (BMI). Certainly, I've been doing a lot of talking and writing about it. There's another tool that doctors use to assess weight that I've talked about, just...
The amount of fat you are carrying around on your body, and the exact location of most of that fat, tells you something about the state of your health. Your waist measurement tells you if you have too much abdominal fat. Body mass index (BMI) is...
It has long been understood that excess body fat is related to many chronic diseases, but more recent studies show that fat stored specifically in the abdominal region is of even more concern. In addition, visceral fat -- or belly fat that sits...
You fantasize about having toned abs, but your goal for right now is just to lose your belly fat. The kind of abdominal fat that you can pinch between your fingers (known as subcutaneous fat) is unsightly but not as unhealthy as the deeper...
No two people are the same, so the ideal body measurements for you may be quite different from those of your neighbor. In your quest for the ideal body, your hip to waist ratio and your body mass index are two measurements that can help you...
The body mass index, or BMI, is a tool that uses a patient's height and weight to determine the likelihood of that patient developing obesity-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. The BMI, however, isn't suitable for everyone. Some...
As people age, their metabolism begins to slow down, they lose muscle and their amount of body fat increases. For women, this is even more true than for men, especially after menopause. Men are not immune to belly fat, but theirs is due more to...
Doctors used to look at height and weight charts to determine whether someone was within a normal weight range, but this is no longer enough to determine whether someone is healthy. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,...
Anthropometry, the science of body composition analysis, makes use of dozens of methods for measuring and comparing human body types. While many complicated measurement systems are used, such as the somatotype distribution index and the O-scale...
Beer guts have several names and guises; they also are referred to as beer bellies or “spare tires," for instance. Although beer guts are not caused directly by drinking a lot of beer, alcohol can affect a lifestyle that is more likely...
Excess belly fat isn't just an issue of vanity. If you have too much abdominal fat, you may be at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and metabolic disturbances, according to Harvard Medical School. In fact, excess belly fat...
Your body mass index, or BMI, is a measurement of your weight in relation to your height. If you are heavier than your frame would normally dictate, your BMI will be higher. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, a BMI between...
Similiar to the waist-to-hip ratio, you can obtain your weight-to-waist ratio with a relatively simple calculation. Although not a common method for indicating health risks associated with obesity, knowing your weight-to-waist ratio can help you...
Your waistline is an indicator of your health; dividing your waist measurement by your hip measurement will show your hip-to-waist ratio. A hip-to-waist ratio greater then 1.00 for men and .80 for women classifies you as an "apple" shape, where...
Athletes come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Female athletes are often recognized for their athletic physiques. Female marathon runners and and female body builders are both very fit, yet they strive for very different body shapes and sizes....
Making your apple-shaped body shapely can be quite frustrating, but doing so is important for your health. Author Marie Savard, M.D., told CBS News that apple-shaped bodies have a higher fat collection around the abdominal area in comparison to...
There are many definitions of what constitutes a good body shape; however, there are medically sound definitions. Waist measurements over 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women, and a waist-to-hip ratio of greater than 0.8 for women and 1.0 for...
Each person is uniquely built and only you and your doctor can determine whether your measurements are healthy for you. The most common measurements used as barometers for health are height, weight, body mass index, basal metabolic rate and your...
When you are at the ideal weight for your height, you will not only look better but also enjoy at new level of health. Being overweight puts you at higher risk for many diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Over time,...
According to the federal government, more than 60 percent of Americans are considered to be overweight or obese. Although body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio calculators --- often found at fitness, health and government websites --- can help...