BMI and Waist Measurements

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LynseyJx
LynseyJx Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've just done a BMI test and it says i'm obese at 30.5, I'm 168lbs and 5'3''. But my waist measurement is 32'' and apparently that's a good size. My waist and hip ratio is 7.6 which again is supposed to be a good number. So I'm really confused. I have quite big shoulders, which I absolutely hate and big boobs. What kind of exercises can I do to reduce the size of my shoulders and boobs. I walk a lot and use an exercise bike so I think I need to start working on the top half of my body. I'm confused about bmi and the waist hip ratio, how can one be so bad and the other is supposed to be good?

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  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
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    Being overweight affects your body in different ways. Most attention (IMHO) focuses on what's called visceral fat, which is fat deep within your abdomen and chest that surrounds your organs. (Subcutaneous fat is what we see--jiggly thighs, bingo wings, tummy pooch, etc). Visceral fat is the, well, more harmful fat associated with higher risks of heart attack, stroke, etc. Having a smaller waist relative to your hips and a lower waist size means you have less visceral fat than someone who is also your weight but has a chunkier waist. That means you are at lower risk of those specific complications of being overweight/obese than Person B. Probably still at at a higher risk than someone with your same waist:hip ratio but a lower overall BMI and smaller waist measurement.

    In your case, I bet your chest is also throwing off the BMI. Boob fat is not as metabolically dangerous as visceral fat.

    Other types of complications from being overweight/obese apply across the board--think knee and joint problems simply due to moving more mass through space.

    There isn't a good way to "spot reduce" your chest and shoulders. Overall weight loss will help, but in general, the weight comes off first where the weight comes off first, not where we want it to. :s You might have to lose a significant amount of weight before you see the changes you want--or maybe you'll get lucky! Only way to find out is to try!
  • LynseyJx
    LynseyJx Posts: 22 Member
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    I'm glad that I don't carry so much weight round my stomach because as you say that's quite dangerous but I hate having a big chest. Boobs are just fat at the end of the day and fat is fat! I guess I just have to keep going to try and lose weight until it comes off there. I worry if I try doing exercise on my arms, or bingo wings lol, I'll just end up making them muscly and I don't really want to. I just feel like I have a weird body type and all top heavy
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Aw, I think what you describe sounds great and lucky. I am a complete block. With calves, hehe. Honestly, it's hard to imagine that very many women out there are just "naturally" happy with our body types without putting in serious effort at recomposition and/or plastic surgery--we get such conflicting messages from celebrities and magazines, and it all boils down to we don't look like them.

    Also, boobs aren't *just* fat--the amount of breast tissue in there differs from woman to woman, though. ;)

    It won't help when you're naked, but r/femalefashionadvice has a pretty good and sensitive guide to dressing to camouflage body parts we want to camouflage: On Dressing Your Body Type
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
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    toucans84 wrote: »
    I've just done a BMI test and it says i'm obese at 30.5, I'm 168lbs and 5'3''. But my waist measurement is 32'' and apparently that's a good size. My waist and hip ratio is 7.6 which again is supposed to be a good number. So I'm really confused. I have quite big shoulders, which I absolutely hate and big boobs. What kind of exercises can I do to reduce the size of my shoulders and boobs. I walk a lot and use an exercise bike so I think I need to start working on the top half of my body. I'm confused about bmi and the waist hip ratio, how can one be so bad and the other is supposed to be good?

    If you decide to lose weight to get within a statistically healthy range for your height (chart says 107-135) you will reduce size over-all. The BMI charts are based on population averages and are not so helpful for individuals who may have more "boob-age" in comparison to the national average.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    You can't spot reduce. You lose the fat and it will come from where it wants to.
  • My_Butt
    My_Butt Posts: 2,300 Member
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    I'm 5'7" and weigh 153lbs.
    I'm 36-23-39, and all BMI calculators on the Internet say I'm at the high end of healthy. I go by what I eat and how I feel. If I eat healthy options, and can run a mile easily, I don't care what the charts say.
  • KrisAZ000
    KrisAZ000 Posts: 76 Member
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    If you decide to lose weight to get within a statistically healthy range for your height (chart says 107-135) you will reduce size over-all. The BMI charts are based on population averages and are not so helpful for individuals who may have more "boob-age" in comparison to the national average.

    I think BMI is more unhelpful in the case of muscular individuals. Honestly, I don't see how "extra boobage" would account for 30+ pounds over the top of the weight range. It's already a pretty wide range for a reason. I agree that OP may not be obese, but I do think that unless she is incredibly muscular, 168 is definitely still pretty overweight for her height.
  • LynseyJx
    LynseyJx Posts: 22 Member
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    Yep I'm pretty overweight and I'm not very tall, my thighs are quite big, not really wobbly or anything but my arms are. My boobs are an F at the moment.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    You need to lose fat and it will come off where it comes off

    My BMI on starting was just over 30 too so clinically obese, only I'm tall and hourglass so never felt particularly fat. It's only after losing 48lbs and hit the maximum healthy BMI range of 25 that I've stopped fooling myself and realised that hell, yes I was fat. My 38DD/E boobs have dropped to a 34D.

    I'm not a strong believer in BMI for me, I always considered myself one of the outliers as I seem to weigh heavy for my size (I wear a size 10-12 UK ..a 6-8 US now)
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    toucans84 wrote: »
    I've just done a BMI test and it says i'm obese at 30.5, I'm 168lbs and 5'3''. But my waist measurement is 32'' and apparently that's a good size.

    Your Waist-to-Height Ratio is : 50.79% Overweight
    Ratio 42 to 46: Slender and Healthy
    Ratio 46 to 49: Healthy and Attractive
    Ratio 49 to 54: Overweight

    168 is heavy for a woman, esp at 5'-3". No ratios required. 110 - 130 would be healthy.

    Your waist is right at the top of the "healthy" range ie borderline too big http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/849.aspx?CategoryID=51

  • LynseyJx
    LynseyJx Posts: 22 Member
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    yarwell wrote: »
    toucans84 wrote: »
    I've just done a BMI test and it says i'm obese at 30.5, I'm 168lbs and 5'3''. But my waist measurement is 32'' and apparently that's a good size.

    Your Waist-to-Height Ratio is : 50.79% Overweight
    Ratio 42 to 46: Slender and Healthy
    Ratio 46 to 49: Healthy and Attractive
    Ratio 49 to 54: Overweight

    168 is heavy for a woman, esp at 5'-3". No ratios required. 110 - 130 would be healthy.

    Your waist is right at the top of the "healthy" range ie borderline too big http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/849.aspx?CategoryID=51

    I know it's right at the top of the healthy range and my weight is not good. I was just surprised that 32'' came in to the healthy range at all, especially as my bmi is terrible and I'm classed as obese. I guess I was just wondering if there were any exercises that I could use to focus on my arms and boobs, but like everybody is saying that's not really possible.

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    32 is either the top of the range of "healthy" or just above it depending on where you look. Health authorities don't like to label people unhealthy without good cause.

    It's unfortunate you can't control where the fat goes from, you can have a six pack hiding behind an inch of fat and you can't fix that by exercise alone.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    I gain weight evenly so my waist is always 10 inches smaller than my hips. You can't always go by the data.
  • LynseyJx
    LynseyJx Posts: 22 Member
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    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    I gain weight evenly so my waist is always 10 inches smaller than my hips. You can't always go by the data.

    I think I'm going to try and reach a healthy weight, I'd like to get down to 130 - 140lbs, don't know if that's possible!! But I'm not going to take so much notice of bmi and ratios anymore :)
  • LynseyJx
    LynseyJx Posts: 22 Member
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    qmd07m804mm2.jpg

    Well anyway that's what I look like at the moment at 168lbs, and I think my waist does look quite big
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    toucans84 wrote: »
    47Jacqueline wrote: »
    I gain weight evenly so my waist is always 10 inches smaller than my hips. You can't always go by the data.

    I think I'm going to try and reach a healthy weight, I'd like to get down to 130 - 140lbs, don't know if that's possible!! But I'm not going to take so much notice of bmi and ratios anymore :)

    Go for it. It's definitely possible, and more doable than you think.

    I started at 5' 3", 142 lbs. Would have never thought that losing 25 lbs was reasonable and would look good on me, but it did.

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