Your Shape Matters
Is your body shaped more like an apple or a pear? When it comes to weight and health, being shaped like an apple carries greater health risks than being shaped like a pear.
You are apple-shaped if your body fat has settled around your belly. Men are genetically predisposed to gain weight around their belly, although there are exceptions. Having an apple-shaped body means that you have too much abdominal fat. Abdominal fat increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and breast cancer following menopause.
Pear-shaped bodies store more fat in the buttocks and hips.Women tend to gain weight on the hips and thighs. Whatever your shape, however, BMI is still important because it is linked with overall body fat. Chances are, if your BMI is high, your waist circumference will be high too.
How to Evaluate Your Abdominal Fat
- Using a cloth measuring tape, like the one used by tailors, measure around the widest area between your belly button and the top of your hips.
- For men, if this measurement is more than 40 inches, you have abdominal obesity.
- For women, if this measurement is more than 35 inches, you have abdominal obesity.
Posted in Dieting, Tips and Advices
Related Articles you might be interested:
Why Metabolism Slows Down
Muscle determines how fast the body’s engine runs and how many calories the body burns over the course of a day. Muscle falls into the “use it or lose it” category—if your muscles are not ac...Read More
Weight Gain Is Also Due to Overeating
While reduced physical activity is a significant contributor to weight gain, we are also eating more. The average American adult eats about 300 more calories per day than in 1970. In studies...Read More
“I am not overweight, I just have big bones.”
This statement has its roots in body weight tables that were used over twenty years ago. Before BMI became the standard, people compared their weight to an “ideal body weight” using height a...Read More
Adele Will Only Diet If?
Many know her for her moving song “Someone Like You” and admire her for her very unique voice. Due to her exceptional talent and chart-topping hits which immediately brought in huge sales for her ...Read More
Justin Bieber Tried to Follow a Vegetarian Diet
Although the vegetarian diet is proven to be an effective method of losing weight, it isn’t something that could work for all types of people. Just like Justin Bieber, he was encouraged by his men...Read More
Get Healthy Bones by Following the Mediterranean Diet
Do you want to have healthy bones? If that is the case, then why don’t you try the Mediterranean diet? Research suggests that this diet can help you achieve healthy bones. Why is this so? It’s bec...Read More
Exercise: Train Smarter, Not Harder
You don’t have to spend hours a day in the weight room to get the body you’ve been dreaming of. In fact, when it comes to fitness, more is not always better. One of the biggest mistakes the ...Read More
Comments (3)
Good thing you posted this. I did not know you can actually measure your abdominal obesity with the tape measure. The last time I had measured mine, I was using some kind of a device with the help of an health expert.
Glad that this post of mine helped you but i don’t you will be worrying about this if your body is shaped like a coca-cola bottle. ^^..btw thanks for leaving a comment..=)
Thanks for making this information available. A helpful little guide with a good self test to get you started!