waist-height-calculator

How to measure waist-to-height ratio at home

Main Content

Waist circumference

Acquire a flexible measuring tape or tape rule. Feel for your hip bone and your bottom rib, and place the tape measure evenly around your waist which is halfway between the last rib and hip bone. The waistline may lie directly above your umbilicus. (If needed, use a mirror to guide the tape straight around your waist and parallel to the ground.) Record the values in centimeters.

Height measurement

A tape measure, a flat surface, and a pencil are needed. Stand with your feet without shoes flat on the floor with your heels against the corner where the wall and floor meet. Ensure your head, shoulders, and buttocks touch the wall. Look straight ahead parallel to the floor. Have someone place a book or a ruler over your head and lightly mark the wall with a pencil. Then measure the distance between the marked point and the floor. Now calculate waist circumference (cm)/height (cm) and check the results against the categories provided below.

Agbaje Obesity Calc

Calculate your waist/height ratio

Select gender

/

=

0
1 inch = 2.54 cm

Result interpretation

Age Group

Childhood

Adolescence

Young Adulthood

Low fat

Male

|

Female

<0.40

|

<0.40

<0.40

|

<0.40

<0.40

|

<0.40

Normal fat

Male

|

Female

<0.50

|

<0.51

<0.50

|

<0.51

<0.50

|

<0.51

High fat

Male

|

Female

>0.50

|

>0.51

>0.50

|

>0.51

>0.50

|

>0.51

Excess fat

Male

|

Female

>0.53

|

>0.54

>0.53

|

>0.54

>0.53

|

>0.54

Obesity is a chronic relapsing disease of excess fat accumulation (adiposopathy) but not excess weight. To limit the stigma associated with obesity, we propose a new nomenclature of overweight as adiposopathy grade 1 (high fat) and obesity as adiposopathy grade 2 (excess fat).

Description


Waist circumference-to-height ratio had a very high agreement of 81 – 89% with DEXA-measured total body fat mass and trunk fat mass, but a low agreement with muscle mass (24 – 39%). BMI had a moderate agreement with total fat mass and trunk fat mass (65 – 72%) and muscle mass (52 – 58%). Since BMI had a moderate agreement with DEXA-measured muscle mass, it is difficult to specify whether BMI measures excess fat or muscle mass. The optimal waist circumference-to-height ratio cut points that predicted the 95th percentile of total fat mass in males was 0.53 and 0.54 in females. This cut point detected 8 out of 10 males and 7 out of 10 females who truly had excess DEXA-measured fat. The cut point also identified 93 out of 100 males and 95 out of 100 females who truly do not have excess fat.



“This study provides novel information that would be useful in updating future childhood obesity guidelines and policy statements. The average waist circumference-to-height ratio in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood is 0.45, it does not vary with age and among individuals like BMI. Waist circumference-to-height ratio might be preferable to BMI assessment in children and adolescent clinics as an inexpensive tool for detecting excess body fat or abdominal fat. Parents should not be discouraged by the BMI or weight of their children but can inexpensively confirm whether the weight is due to increase in excess fat by examining their kid’s waist circumference-to-height ratio.” says Andrew Agbaje

Waist to Height Ratio vs BMI Press Release

References