How do you measure yourself?

kaned_ferret
kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
With a tape-measure yes I know haha!

But my question pertains more to the hips - I can do everything but this measurement! I am an hourglass pear, but I have this bizarre "saddlebag" thing going on with the outsides of my upper thighs. Now your standard hip measurements is "around the widest part of your hips" Well my HIPS are 40 inches around but that's not the widest part of my anatomy, the aforementioned saddlebag area is! So which measurement should I be using? I feel like it should be the saddglebags, even though realistically they're 4-6 inches below my hips, but they ARE my widest point. I think the standard "measure your hips at the widest point" makes the assumption that the widest point of the hips, must be your widest point.

Thoughts? What would you measure?

Replies

  • foster59803
    foster59803 Posts: 439 Member
    I totally understand what you are saying. I am a type A person so I made myself a spreadsheet... literary wrote down waist, lower waist, hips, saddle bags.... etc and took measurements of everything. I have the same saddlebag issue!!! So, I wanted to measure them... so far the darn things are still there!
  • ErinBeth7
    ErinBeth7 Posts: 1,625 Member
    If these "saddlebags" (using your terms) are on your upper thighs then that would count as a measurement for your THIGH, which is a totally different thing. As for the hips, you are doing the right thing, measuring around the widest part on your hips....not thighs. You could keep track of progress on your things as well, just don't count it as a hip measurement.
  • Squidgeypaws007
    Squidgeypaws007 Posts: 1,012 Member
    Think the "widest point" there is the widest point of your hips - not your whole body (might be wrong but that's my understanding). But I think the key is whatever you do, just make sure it's consistent. Like any scientific measurement it'll mean nothing if it changes all the time, pick a point and keep to it :) I personally take the widest point of my hips, including my bum!

    Oh, and I read something the other day on waists - apparently halfway between navel and the bottom of your ribs is the "right" place!
  • BruteSquad
    BruteSquad Posts: 373 Member
    I measure myself in awesomeness.......

    I was trying to measure you that way, but the scale doesn't go high enough.......

    Anyway, the answer I think you were looking for is be consistent. That is why there are specific points to measure. Same place every time. Pic one and stick to it.
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
    hmm they don't quite count as thigh material either lol! More like... Butt-thigh perhaps!

    But I have just discovered something wonderful, and that is our dear MFP once more accomodates by letting us put in custom measurements - so now my saddlebags can have their own measurements, and my hips are allowed to be hips :)
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
    I go for the widest thigh-level bit, after all that's what I'd most like to see the results in! So long as you're consistent, there's no problem. Unless, of course, you need your official vital statistics for your Miss World entry :happy:
  • kaned_ferret
    kaned_ferret Posts: 618 Member
    I go for the widest thigh-level bit, after all that's what I'd most like to see the results in! So long as you're consistent, there's no problem. Unless, of course, you need your official vital statistics for your Miss World entry :happy:

    They already told me they wouldn't let me in on account of how awesome I am ;)
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
    I have the hardest time figuring out where my waist is so I feel your pain!
  • TheNewDodge
    TheNewDodge Posts: 607 Member
    By height
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
    With pants. Preferably ones that don't stretch. :bigsmile:
  • azazelrabbit
    azazelrabbit Posts: 137
    I measure myself in awesomeness.......

    So you rank pretty highly then?
  • butterfly10398
    butterfly10398 Posts: 176
    The general rule of them that I have heard is take your thumb and place it at the top of your hip bone, then stretch your fingers down your leg.... where your longest finger (usually middle finger) reaches to is where you should measure your hips.... (source: my seamstress)
  • krnlcsf
    krnlcsf Posts: 310
    the important thing isn't how to classify your saddlebags - i have them too... they are an entity unto themselves... and are resistant to fat loss it seems. :angry: but i digress... the important thing is to consistently measure the same area whatever you choose to call it, and that way you can accurately track progress. :) for example i do 3 measurements around my waist - @ belly button, 2" above (natural waist for most people), and 2" below (i.e. muffin top).
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    If personal measurements, wherever you want to see improvement and can be consistent.

    For use in like bodyfat % calculations, the hips. The formula's are doing cylinders/cones for avgs, and the truly widest part not the hip would be incorrect.
  • nebulinda
    nebulinda Posts: 120 Member
    I read somewhere that it's ok if you measure your "hips" a few inches lower, if that happens to be your widest point. That's where I measure my hips, and it happens to be more around my butt. The great thing about MFP is you can have custom measurements, so I may add one for my actual hips as well. But, as others have said, it doesn't matter exactly where you measure as long as you always measure the same place.
  • Bviera
    Bviera Posts: 106 Member
    I think for the purposes of measuring yourself for clothes, it makes sense to find the widest part because whatever you are putting on needs to fit that area or at least get past it in the case of pulling up pants. It's usually around your butt, right over the area where your thighs start. That's the measurement I usually take, but I also measure right above it as well. It doesn't really matter that much unless you are doing it for the purposes of getting/making an article of clothing. Otherwise, measure where you want, just make sure you know exactly where it is and are consistant so you know whether you are actually losing inches.
  • Julzanne72
    Julzanne72 Posts: 468 Member
    I measure my hips and my aductors(which is the saddlebag area)
  • BruteSquad
    BruteSquad Posts: 373 Member
    I measure myself in awesomeness.......

    So you rank pretty highly then?

    Not as high as I would like. I am working on improving my awesomeness quotient.
  • JustJennie1
    JustJennie1 Posts: 3,749 Member
    You measure the fullest part of your hips which is the portion you sit down on.
  • Happymom12
    Happymom12 Posts: 114 Member
    The general rule of them that I have heard is take your thumb and place it at the top of your hip bone, then stretch your fingers down your leg.... where your longest finger (usually middle finger) reaches to is where you should measure your hips.... (source: my seamstress)


    I just did this and that is right about where i have been measuring which on me gets those "saddle bags" as they have been called :) and the fattest part of the butt too.

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