What is a healthy waist circumference for women?

At present, our country's general healthy waist standard for adult women is that it is best to control it within 85 centimeters. The WHO's recommendations for Asian women set the critical value at 80 centimeters. If it is lower than this value, the risk of hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease will be much lower. Don’t underestimate the difference of a few centimeters. Waist circumference is essentially the easiest self-measurement barometer of visceral fat. It can explain more problems than the cold number on the scale. Many people think that their limbs are slender and their waist feels soft to the touch. In fact, the fat is hidden in the internal organs, and the risk is higher than that of people who have evenly grown fat all over their bodies. A while ago, I accompanied my cousin, who is 162cm and only weighs 96 pounds, for a physical examination. She was always praised for her good figure when she wore a waist skirt, and her waist circumference was 83cm. The B-ultrasound examination showed that she already had mild fatty liver. The doctor said that she had been sitting for a long time and kept milk tea and desserts in her hands, which was a typical invisible abdominal obesity. Later, she insisted on waist and abdominal core training for three months, and her waist circumference dropped to 77cm. When she went for a follow-up examination, all indicators had returned to normal.

However, this does not mean that if your waist circumference exceeds 85, you must be unhealthy. Different groups have different clinical references for their judgment standards. For example, women who insist on strength training all year round have much higher waist and abdominal core muscles than ordinary people. Their waist circumference may be just over 86, but their body fat rate is only 19%, and all blood lipid and blood sugar indicators are very good. In this case, there is no need to worry about numbers. If you insist on starving to slim down your waist, you will lose more muscle than you gain. Many geriatric doctors will also give more relaxed suggestions. Women over 65 years old do not have to meet the standards of young people. Muscle mass will be lost naturally as they age. As long as the waist circumference does not exceed 88 centimeters, and they do not have basic diseases such as high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia, they do not need to deliberately diet to shrink their waists. Instead, they should be wary of malnutrition and increased risk of falls caused by excessive weight loss.

Oh, by the way, you should also pay attention to the method of measuring your waist circumference at home. Don't suck your belly for the sake of a good number. Take off your thick coat on an empty stomach in the morning and circle it horizontally 1 cm above your belly button. The number you get is the most accurate. If you are really unsure, it will be safer to look at it together with the waist-to-hip ratio - the value of waist circumference divided by hip circumference is less than 0.75. Even if the waist circumference is slightly higher, the health risks will not be too high.