Ship-Shape or Ship-Shaped?

Week 2

Current Weight: 82.4 kg/ 181 lb

Weight Lost: 0.9 kg/ 2 lb

Weight to Lose: 33.4 kg/ 73.5 lb

Like I promised in my first post, let’s talk about waist circumference. I measured mine and holy shit! My waist circumference is 41 inches i.e. 105 cm! I always shy away from the measuring tape and it’s been ages since I bought ‘real’ trousers. I’m ashamed to admit I still wear my maternity pants at times, and the rest of my pants have an elasticized waist. But this is about looking myself in the eye, so I dug out the tape and measured myself. I knew I had a paunch, but 41 inches!!!

And honey, it’s not just about not qualifying for Supermodel of the Year. Your waist says a lot about your health. And mine is saying I’m at a huge risk for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiac diseases, etc. Actually, I already have hypertension (high blood pressure), so that puts me at increased risk.

What is the desirable waist circumference?

Well, in case of men a waist circumference above 94 cm (37 inches) puts their health at risk, and above 102 cm (40 inches) at high risk. In case of women, their health is at risk if their waist circumference is over 80 cm (31.5 inches) and at high risk if it is over 88 cm (34.5 inches). Looks like I’m breaking all records here.

Find out how you measure up. The correct way to get the measurement is to undress so there is no restrictive clothing around your abdomen or hips. Let the bottom of the tape lie where your hipbone starts, and look in a mirror to make sure the tape is parallel to the ground on all sides.  Usually that will make the tape lie just above your belly button. Take 2-3 normal breaths and measure on the exhalation of the last breath. Don’t pinch the skin or pull too tight.

What does increased girth tell you?

A waist circumference above the normal cutoffs indicates central obesity which is more dangerous than overall obesity. Abdominal fat comes in different forms. Some of it is located just beneath the skin (subcutaneous fat). It’s not very different from the fat present elsewhere in the body. Of course it’s not good, but it’s not especially dangerous either.

But the fat inside the abdomen (visceral fat) is a different story. It wraps itself around the internal organs.  It is the scary fat. The mechanism behind its scariness is a concept called lipotoxicity (lipos = fat, toxicus = poisonous). Normally fat is stored in adipose tissue, but when there is excess of fat, it spills over and starts accumulating in other tissues such as the liver, heart, skeletal muscles, pancreas and kidneys. When the capacity of these cells to store fat is exceeded, they start dying. Visceral fat has properties that promote lipotoxicity. Ultimately, this results in a higher risk of heart disease, hypertension, insulin resistance, and Type 2 Diabetes.

And no, doing 100 crunches daily does not get rid of abdominal fat!