Measure your Hips and Waist

Why measure your Hips and Waist?

Taking measurements of your hips and waist is useful for various reasons, such as finding the right clothing size and tracking fitness progress. Importantly, these measurements are key health indicators, stressing the need for accurate measurements to understand your current health status.

How to measure your Waist?

Checking your waist size is an easy way to see if you have too much fat around your middle. It shows if there’s extra fat around important organs like the heart, kidneys, liver, and pancreas, increasing the chances of heart disease and stroke.

Below are steps on how to measure your Waist:

1. Put on snug clothing or lift your top. If you’re measuring your waist solo, stand in front of a mirror for proper tape placement. Your waist is found between the top of your hipbones and the bottom of your ribs.

2. Wrap a soft tape measure around the narrowest part of your waist. If you don’t have a measuring tape, use a string and measure later. Don’t pull too hard; let the tape rest gently on your skin without squeezing it.

3. Hold one end of the tape at the front of your body. With your other hand, wrap the tape around until it meets the starting point. Note the measurement and check it again for accuracy.

How to measure your Hips?

Below are steps on how to measure your Waist:

1. Put on snug clothing or lift your top. If you’re measuring your hips solo, stand in front of a mirror for proper tape placement. Your hips can be located at the widest part of your buttocks.

2. Wrap a soft tape measure around the widest part of your buttocks. If not you don’t have a measuring tape, use a string and measure later. Don’t pull too hard; let the tape rest gently on your skin without squeezing it.

3. Hold one end of the tape at the front of your body. With your other hand, wrap the tape around until it meets the starting point. Note the measurement and check it again for accuracy.

Waist-to-Hip Ratio

The Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR) is a reliable measure of age, hormones, childbirth history, fertility, and overall health. Before puberty, boys and girls have similar ratios, but during puberty, girls’ hips widen, and fat accumulates on hips and thighs. Healthy women usually have ratios between 0.67 and 0.80, while healthy men fall between 0.80 and 0.95. Measure your hips and waist now to know healthy you are!