Apple-shaped women - how much did you have to lose to get to a healthy waist circumference?

sew205

I'm short and carry my weight around my middle, more so after two pregnancies. I've lost 30 pounds so far, and am approaching the healthy BMI range (hurrah!). I get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise almost every day, and am generally healthy. However, my waist, while 6 inches smaller than before, is still over the 35-inch circumference that is associated with higher risk of lots of illnesses of which I would prefer not to be at higher risk. (I've also read in less-credible places that you should try to have a waist circumference of half your height, which would mean I'd need to get down to 32 inches.) I thought my waist would automatically get below that threshold as my weight dropped below the healthy BMI threshold, but I now don't think it will.

Others who have this issue - how much did you have to lose to get below that magic 35-inch threshold? Any thoughts or suggestions?

jemhh

I'm slightly under 5'6" and have gone from 202.5 to 147 and my circumference around my navel is between 35.25 and 35.75 depending on the day. My bf is in the 26% range. I have skin issues that I think throws of the measurement. My lingering stomach fat is definitely subcutaneous (I can grab it easily) as opposed to visceral, which is the fat that packs around your organs and indicates a higher tendency toward certain health issues.

Lounmoun

sew205 wrote: »

I'm short and carry my weight around my middle, more so after two pregnancies. I've lost 30 pounds so far, and am approaching the healthy BMI range (hurrah!). I get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise almost every day, and am generally healthy. However, my waist, while 6 inches smaller than before, is still over the 35-inch circumference that is associated with higher risk of lots of illnesses of which I would prefer not to be at higher risk. (I've also read in less-credible places that you should try to have a waist circumference of half your height, which would mean I'd need to get down to 32 inches.) I thought my waist would automatically get below that threshold as my weight dropped below the healthy BMI threshold, but I now don't think it will.

Others who have this issue - how much did you have to lose to get below that magic 35-inch threshold? Any thoughts or suggestions?

I have lost 25 lbs and my waist is 36" today. My starting waist measurement was 40.5". I am 9 lbs above a healthy BMI still.
It looks like my waist got about 1" smaller around each 5 lb loss.

emdeesea

I'm 5'6" and have lost about a total of 57 pounds and I STILL have a thick waist. Ugh. Last time I measured it's about 33 (which is half my height) inches but I definitely have a layer of fat covering my waist - the subQ not visceral - and I think it took until I got to the maybe 50 pounds lost that I got below that magic number of that threshold.

jemhh

I have no idea why but I never took starting measurements. I could kick myself for it.

Traveler120

I started at 152 lbs, 31 inch waist, 40 inch hips . I'm 5'4.5". So even though my waist was less than half my height, and waist to hip ratio was also less than 0.8, I was still carrying excess belly fat. I lost 34 lbs and now maintaining at 118. I dropped 6 inches off my waist and 6 off my hips.

I am (was) so apple shaped that even after dropping to a 25 inch waist, and my stomach is now flat, when I tighten my abs, I can STILL feel a good inch of excess fat left between the muscle and skin. I just wish the universe/genetics had allocated those fat cells to my flat butt instead. I also tend to store a lot of fat in my upper arms. I lost a whole 3 inches or so.

My advice is to just keep doing what you're doing, it will eventually go away. I did a lot of cardio and still do. I think that's the most efficient exercise for belly fat. I'm still working on it, and won't be done until I see some proper abs.

RoteBook

I don't have anything to add, but I'm subscribing because I'm also Apple shaped. I'm just starting out.

Francl27

I'm not an apple (I'm a rectangle) but I have a thick waist. I finally got under 30 inches but I don't think it's possible for me to go lower because I really don't have that much fat there anymore... my ribcage is 34 inches. I'm just a large frame and I have a high waist (I guess the loose skin above my belly button might mess up the numbers a bit too). And I'm 15 pounds under the 'overweight' BMI.

So I'd take all those 'ideal weight measurements' things with a grain of salt, but you'll lose inches as you lose weight.

sew205

Oh, I definitely have subcutaneous fat. Today while doing pushups and wearing a baggy shirt, I made the mistake of looking down my shirt, and seeing the sack of fat hanging off my abdomen. I actually gasped in horror. However, I imagine there's still a visceral fat issue under that. (Like a fat variety pack! Yay!)

I think I'm just coming to terms with the fact that for me, a "healthy" BMI isn't going to be enough to decrease my health risk. I started losing weight because I don't want to die earlier than I have to - I'm not interested in a perfect bikini body or anything really beyond good enough. So I'm kind of irked by the thought that my fat gut could try to kill me even if I'm at a 23 BMI. Stupid apple. If only I could pick where the fat would come off...

I love hearing from other people with the same issue - thanks for chipping in with your stories!

charlieandcarol

sew205 wrote: »

Oh, I definitely have subcutaneous fat. Today while doing pushups and wearing a baggy shirt, I made the mistake of looking down my shirt, and seeing the sack of fat hanging off my abdomen. I actually gasped in horror. However, I imagine there's still a visceral fat issue under that. (Like a fat variety pack! Yay!)

I think I'm just coming to terms with the fact that for me, a "healthy" BMI isn't going to be enough to decrease my health risk. I started losing weight because I don't want to die earlier than I have to - I'm not interested in a perfect bikini body or anything really beyond good enough. So I'm kind of irked by the thought that my fat gut could try to kill me even if I'm at a 23 BMI. Stupid apple. If only I could pick where the fat would come off...

I love hearing from other people with the same issue - thanks for chipping in with your stories!

Apple here too. I used to worry about my waist, it never seems to shrink much and with 20 odd kgs of weight loss I think it only shrunk my 12cm and was still way over the recommended amount but then I read about a moderate waist loss (10%) actually sees a significant amount of visceral fat lost that reduces your risk factors by a lot. Visceral fat is actually wrapped around (and in the case of the liver within) your organs so a reduction in the amount of visceral fat doesn't necessarily show up as a change in your waist measurements.

rosebarnalice

I find that calorie counting/ weight loss alone doesn't really do much to change my torso shape. But I do get a wastline and some torso definition with core exercises. As a swimmer, for me that's 10 lengths of the pool doing dolphin (butterfly) kick, which really works the abs and core.