Help with Waist Measurement

B

Ben2

New member
Does anyone know where I measure my waist? I looked it up and it said to measure it at your belly button...and/or your "smallest point". I don't get it. There is no way my waist is 46" when I wear 36-38" jeans. Can anyone help me? :banghead:
 
measure it where you wear you pants (hoping you dont wear it low)
 
Technically not that simple .. the waist is measured higher than where you wear your pants, which to me is kinda not logical more so if your overweight

Here is some more info

Measuring your waist and hips accurately is a bit more difficult, but it can be done. Here’s how:


  • The first thing to determine in measuring your waist is whether you have a waist. If your body is narrower above the hips than below, you want to measure at the narrowest part.
  • If you are overweight and your waistline is not noticeably narrower than your hips, where to measure? The experts say to let your arms hang at your side, and measure at the place where the point of your elbow falls. (This is easier to do if you have three arms.)
  • As for your hips, turn sideways and look at yourself in a mirror. The widest part of your buttocks, as seen from the side, is where you should measure your hips.
  • In both measurements, the measuring tape should be snug, but should not be biting into your flesh. When you measure your waist, you should first breathe out, and then take shallow breaths as you measure.
Now that you have the numbers, what do they mean?

A waist measurement of 40 inches or more is dangerous for men (37 inches or less is best). Women should aim for 35 to 31 inches.

To determine your waist-to-hip ratio, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. Men are at risk if the result is 0.9 (90%) or over, and women are at risk if the result is 0.8 (80%) or over.
 
So you're saying I measure where my elbow drops? Thats a little lower then what I did. It's obvious that im obese, but wtf? My waist is 46in then...ugh...:\
 
I'd just like to check this too...

I have been measuring my waist at the smallest bit, which is a LOT higher than my belly button. I've been measuring my hips at my belly button...even though it's miles from my actual hips it's the widest bit.

I'll attach a beautiful picture I made in paint to give you all an idea of my shape.

~Selina~
 
AR 600-9 The Army Way to determine Body Fat

:nopity:From the military stand point and in accordance with AR 600-9, The Army Weight Control Program, the waist is measured at the belly bottom forming a parallel line. Please refer to the before mentioned full regulation; it explains how the US Army determines body fat and provides all the forms and formulas. For an easy to fill form I recomend a small application from 550 cord do a google search, it can be use for male and female and does the calculations for you. I do the measurements in the morning and also before going to bed to comparte and see how my diet affects my measurements. I am not concern with weight, rather use body fat as a measurement of progress. I am at a point where I am replacing fat with muscle so my weight has actually increased while my measurements and body fat are getting better. This mornis I was at 21.05% and I am 41 yrs old, and somewhat active. I hope this information will help you.
 
In dressmaking you tie a piece of elastic around your waist so it finds the narrowest part. Obviously you don't tie this too tight! Then you measure where the elastic sits.
 
Likewise in pantsmaking ... ie where you naturally wear your pants
 
my elbows fall below my hips :p but i have a shortish waist and long arms, my waist is quite defined though, so thats ok.

And for my hips i just measure around the widest part of my hips which is above 'The widest part of your buttocks, as seen from the side' lol, dunno if it's different for a girl and a boy, but any lower than where i measure isn't my hips :S
 
Thanks for this! I'm going to buy some measuring tape this weekend and I wanna track solely by measuring and the mirror.

The only scale I want to use is when I visit my doctor. My weight is going to jump up when I go in 2 weeks because I know my home scale is low, but I won't worry too much (since I knew this from the start.) I'm going to base my pounds loss off that weight and so I will only update my actual poundage every 2-3 months. If I'm taking inches off I won't worry so much about no lbs lost this week or last week or whatever.
 
I measure my waist at its biggest point, not its smallest. Maybe that's not the way you're supposed to do it, but I'm really interested to see how much smaller my spare tire is getting.
 
jeffisbig said:
Thanks for this! I'm going to buy some measuring tape this weekend and I wanna track solely by measuring and the mirror.

The only scale I want to use is when I visit my doctor. My weight is going to jump up when I go in 2 weeks because I know my home scale is low, but I won't worry too much (since I knew this from the start.) I'm going to base my pounds loss off that weight and so I will only update my actual poundage every 2-3 months. If I'm taking inches off I won't worry so much about no lbs lost this week or last week or whatever.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the scales are out to get you. Your measurements will give you a better idea. As long as you do it at the same point every time, I guess it doesn't really matter where you measure.
 
I measure across the belly button,I dont think it matters where you measure as long as you measure the same place every time.If it goes down thats all that matters.

My son wears 36" trousers and when I measured round his belly button at 44" he immediately went on a diet:)

I measure the gut purely because I have seen men with a waist about 60" telling me they are in 38s fastened under the belly.when I eventually tell people I am in 38s I want it to look like it as well.
 
I measure my waist at the narrowest point, and hips at the widest. The measurement taken at the belly button level is, to me, the lower core measurement.
 
I do mine across the belly-button (good reference point, it does not move much). I think the most important thing is to be consistent. I have been tracking my waist measurement in a notebook over the past few months. Its kind of nice to be able to see how it changes (shrinking so far, knocking on wood!). A few weeks ago I found a free tracker at , kind of cool (graphs it out and stuff).
 
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The narrowest point of my waist is a good couple of inches higher than my belly button, so that's where I measure. My waist is 31", but if I measure across the belly button it jumps to 36". I know which number I prefer! LOL
 
:seeya:Whodathunk finding your waist would be so dang complicated?! LOL

I have always considered my narrowest point to be my waist. For me, this lies below my bottom ribs and above my belly button.

Good luck with the search!
ABBA
 
I guess that if you're male and overweight witht the weight usually around the belly then if you wear low waist jeans, of course the jean size will be smaller than your actual waist size.. I think that's why you measure your waist at 46" but wear 38" trousers. o_O
Being a female, it's my hips that count most for trouser size, my waist is a 25-26inch (before or after lunch) but I wear 27-28" trousers because of my hips that never fit in smaller jeans! snif snif
 
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