How fat are you?

So when a headline says, 'Where are you on the nation's fat scale,' I've got to do it obviously.

Equally obviously I am right in the middle of the healthy weight/height scale with a BMI of about 22. So far so good. It also says I am slimmer than 60% of women in my age group in Wales. But then it says, 'But your waistline might tell a different story.' Click again.

This time I fill in my waist measurement (not holding my tummy in - let's get the worst over) and I find that the NHS says I am at increased risk of disease because my waist is 32". But - it gets more complicated - this general statement from the NHS doesn't take into account height. 

The video that goes with it, which tells you how to check your waist measurement using just a piece of string, is much more helpful. Basically if your waist is more than half your height your risk increases.

My waist is almost exactly half my height, so I'm fine. Probably. Until they change the guide lines again.

In the meantime I shall keep up my exercise because being fit is a much better guide to health.
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I am a compulsive people watcher and a hotel restaurant is a good place to practise. We stayed in a hotel where most of the guests were 'people like us' i.e. retired, comfortably-off couples. One thing I noticed is that while the women came in all shapes and sizes the men were much more homogeneous. You could have swapped them around and no-one would have noticed. (Except Husband of course who is marginally better looking and fitter than George Clooney.) And almost all of them had a belly.

It's typical for men to put on weight around their tummies while for women it's more generalised chubbiness but the excess weight around the waist is associated with fat build-up on the internal organs and it's not good for you. And, yes, there were plenty of overweight women in the hotel but women I suggest tend to be more aware of their weight. 

There are a few men who attend the Slimming World class I go to but they are far outnumbered by women.

Maybe it's time to have a campaign: Shame the belly! (No, not really. Shaming is never a good technique.)