Waist Measurements

carrietehbear

I've been getting some conflicting results on the best place to take your waist measurements. Originally, I was told to take it at your natural bend when you lean over. When I first started with the training program, that's where my first measurement was taken. The last few assessments I noticed that the person was taking my waist measurement at my belly button which has thrown my tracking off.

So where do you measure your waist?

cjcmrn

I take two measurements. one at my belly button and one at my love handles

MysticRealm

I take measurements at both my natural waist (smalles part of torso between chest and belly button) and abdomen (right around belly button)

bajoyba

I take my measurements where I naturally bend, which is the smallest part of my waist.

kganc001

I measure my waist at the smallest part of my torso and take a hip measurement at the widest part, about an inch or so below my belly button.

shadow2soul

I track both my natural waist (where I bend naturally) and my abdomen @ navel. I think I probably track more spots than most people. I track my abdomen @ navel, because I have a lot of fat in that area.

I can see where that could throw your tracking off. For me there is a few inch difference between the two spots, but again as I said, I hold a lot of fat around my belly button.

waist: 34.5"
abdomen @ navel: 41"

I mean for me that is a 6.5" difference. I would have asked the person if they could take the measurement where it had been taken previously for tracking purposes.

carrietehbear

Thanks everyone. I think I'll just ask her to measure both spots. It's like a 3-4 inch difference between the two spots.

__Di__

I've been getting some conflicting results on the best place to take your waist measurements. Originally, I was told to take it at your natural bend when you lean over. When I first started with the training program, that's where my first measurement was taken. The last few assessments I noticed that the person was taking my waist measurement at my belly button which has thrown my tracking off.

So where do you measure your waist?

Lean sideways, where the crease is, that is your waist.

Measuring around the belly button is a different measurement,

RPric1

I was told the smallest part of your waist is actual waist. The upper abd measurement is good to take also.

LivingtheLeanDream

at the narrowest point of your middle :-D

Zomoniac

If I measure my actual waist (round the navel) it's 34". If I measure round my hips, where my jeans sit, it's exactly the same 34". All my jeans and trousers are 29-30", anything bigger falls off. Even most 30"s need a belt to stay up. The moral to this story is clothing manufacturers make things up completely. If you're doing it for reference then disregard this entirely, but if you're doing this to size yourself then the answer is it doesn't matter because in reality it probably has no association with anything.

SoDamnHungry

I measure at the natural bend, which is the smallest point. My belly button is only like an inch below that so I don't bother measuring there.

Juliejustsaying

I take measurements at both my natural waist (smalles part of torso between chest and belly button) and abdomen (right around belly button)

^this

elainecroft

I measure at the smallest part so that I can keep accurate track - if I measure somewhere else (e.g. bellybutton) the tape could be positioned slightly differently at different times, messing up the measurements. If I do it at the smallest part, well, there's no where for it to go!

ElizabethKalmbach

MEN measure waist at the navel. WOMEN measure from the smallest point, which is typically a couple inches above the navel.

If you're referencing clothing measurements, at any rate.

MrsDangerousCurves

I measure at the smallest part just because it's so easy to see and consistently track

carrietehbear

This is just for tracking progress and not for clothing sizes. So if you were calculating your hip to waist ratio, you'd use natural bend/smallest part?