Waist size targeting

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fibula
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Waist size targeting

#1

Post by fibula » Mon Jun 14, 2021 12:44 pm

I dropped a good amount of weight in the past year (110lb), and am down to a 39/40 inch waist at 230lb and 5'9". 41yo. Lifts are in the okay zone, leaving me still able to grind out sets of 5 squats at 325lb.

Anyway, as I've gotten towards this weight, I've been giving more thought to whatever (somewhat) arbitrary numbers I want to maintain at, and it seems that waist size makes the most sense. Easy to measure, tightly correlated to body fat, health and appearance.

Figure 5 here suggests that 0.5 waist to height ratio (34.5in on me) is pretty close to ideal for health: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4157748/

So my thought is to attempt to hold steady at right around there, for at least a year or two, probably for good. I assume that I can use weight as a more exact proxy, once I'm there, as it's hard to measure small changes in waist size. But does anybody use waist size for their main maintenance goal? Any tips? I maintained at ~40 inches for a few years, in my early thirties, but 34 will be smaller for me than any other time in my adult life, so it's all new territory for me.

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mgil
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Re: Waist size targeting

#2

Post by mgil » Mon Jun 14, 2021 1:00 pm

Given your history of being heavier, target 38” for now and then possibly 36” if 38” seems stable.

FredM
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Re: Waist size targeting

#3

Post by FredM » Mon Jun 14, 2021 8:40 pm

I think waist size is probably the best proxy for most people to measure progress (fat loss or muscle mass gain). I wouldn't hold too much to a number though beyond "below 40 inches". If you really care how you look a better method is a mirror. If you really care about your general fitness a better proxy is walking a mile at a reasonable pace without getting out of breath. Or climbing a few floors worth of stairs. If you're squatting 325x5 I don't think getting stronger should be your main goal unless, you know, it's your main goal. If being "healthier" (general fitness) is your main goal I'd work on your cardiovascular health now until you reach whatever goals you have there -- whether it's keeping up with your kid on a hike or running a 7 min mile. Whatever waist size you end up with to hit your mirror or fitness goal, you can try to maintain that.

Personally I've found using waist measurements as a goal an exercise in extreme disappointment. Because what I really care about is not being fat. And even with a 31" waist I'm still fat. Some guys (like my Dad) are cut when they have a 36" waist. Genetics creates a lot of variance so looking at those charts and arbitrarily picking a number is probably going to disappoint you too when you get there.

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mgil
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Re: Waist size targeting

#4

Post by mgil » Tue Jun 15, 2021 9:03 am

^^^ good points @FredM

Some people are thick waisted for sure. And yeah, shifting goals to general fitness is a good idea as well.

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quikky
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Re: Waist size targeting

#5

Post by quikky » Tue Jun 15, 2021 11:03 am

FredM wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 8:40 pm I think waist size is probably the best proxy for most people to measure progress (fat loss or muscle mass gain). I wouldn't hold too much to a number though beyond "below 40 inches". If you really care how you look a better method is a mirror. If you really care about your general fitness a better proxy is walking a mile at a reasonable pace without getting out of breath. Or climbing a few floors worth of stairs. If you're squatting 325x5 I don't think getting stronger should be your main goal unless, you know, it's your main goal. If being "healthier" (general fitness) is your main goal I'd work on your cardiovascular health now until you reach whatever goals you have there -- whether it's keeping up with your kid on a hike or running a 7 min mile. Whatever waist size you end up with to hit your mirror or fitness goal, you can try to maintain that.

Personally I've found using waist measurements as a goal an exercise in extreme disappointment. Because what I really care about is not being fat. And even with a 31" waist I'm still fat. Some guys (like my Dad) are cut when they have a 36" waist. Genetics creates a lot of variance so looking at those charts and arbitrarily picking a number is probably going to disappoint you too when you get there.
I think the other component to knowing whether your waist size is appropriate for you is the measure of your main metabolic indicators, i.e. blood glucose, lipids, and pressure. If you have a waist size of say 38" and your blood lipids are not great and maybe you have some mildly elevated blood pressure, I would definitely work on reducing your waist and seeing if you can improve those metrics.

fibula
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Re: Waist size targeting

#6

Post by fibula » Sat Jun 19, 2021 4:57 pm

I appreciate all of the responses. The points brought up able finding the ideal weight are good. I think that the required specificity does make it a bit hard to target healthy weight with simply a blood test though. Mirror judgement is smart but also tough, as I generally feel pretty good about how I look at the time, but always think that I look fatter than I felt in older pictures.

However, what my question was really geared at was maintenance mechanics, if anyone has had much experience with it. My plan is to be very tight on maintenance diet and modify calories around a measurement target. My first thought is to hit the waist measurement I target, go five (?) more pounds, and add 200 (?) calories a week to daily calories until weight loss levels off. Longer term, I'd pick a high weight and a low (separated by 10 pounds? 5?) and try to cycle between them as slowly as possible, following the 200/cal a week change principle. (Or 100/cal?)

Anyway, those are my thoughts, but I'd love to hear about what works, or doesn't.

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Re: Waist size targeting

#7

Post by MarkKO » Sun Jun 27, 2021 3:21 am

I like waist size combined with waking weight. It seems to cover most bases really well.

Although, the way I do it is I look at my waking weight, what I look like (I use the same mirror, same lighting, same distance from mirror) and then look at waist circumference on waking. Once I reached a look I was happy with as a minimum I look at the waist circumference and that then becomes by baseline waist. My weight can go up, provided my waist circumference stays the same. If my weight goes up and waist increases, then I need to dial back the calories.

I'm still playing with this approach but it's been working pretty well for the last few months.

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Re: Waist size targeting

#8

Post by JohnHelton » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:46 pm

I like the idea of bulking and cutting within a target waist size range. That range with vary by individual. There is probably a top end that isn't too healthy, but I think there is probably a fairly large range that is healthy (or healthy enough).

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Re: Waist size targeting

#9

Post by Inverstone » Mon Jun 28, 2021 4:44 pm

I'm in agreement with John Helton. K.I.S.S. method. I've driven myself crazy with lighting, mirrors, calculations, whatever for years and just assigning a cut off pants waist size of a known brand/style (consistent) is enough, effective and...simple. It lets me put all of my obsession(s) into workouts instead of mind "f"ing myself to the nth degree.

I can't keep myself from weighing myself daily even though it's not the best path in general,If you catch me mirror-ing, lighting for shadows in my daily weigh ins, it's just an illusion turn away :lol:

fibula
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Re: Waist size targeting

#10

Post by fibula » Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:49 am

So far my weight belt feels like the most honest way to track waist size. I've got a size large Steel Sweat, 35-40 on their chart, but with holes measuring 33-42 with a tape measure. Right now I fit the 4th notch (almost 5th). There's some error, since it goes over workout clothes, but it's not bad. Importantly, there isn't a lot of variation from day to day. My myo tape, on the other hand gives me 39 when I pull a little, and 41 when I try to maximally relax, which seems too big a range to be useful.

I really wish that I had waist measurements from the last time I was this size. I think I'm a bit leaner now. I do have DXA numbers, but the place I used before is still closed for covid.

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Re: Waist size targeting

#11

Post by Tommy1507 » Wed Jun 30, 2021 3:31 am

Is also weigh myself every morning and take my waist size since around 6 months. Takes 30 seconds and seems helpful. But i also think that the waist size is very individual. With an 32,5 inch waist i don't look very lean.

I use an excel sheet and calculate my body fat with the YMCA-method but i think this sucks.
For example:
Waist 84cm, 80kg -> 13,6%
Waist 84cm 95kg -> 10,2%
Only 3% differenxe so the weight seems not the have a big impact. Maybe only looking at the waist would be sufficient.

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Re: Waist size targeting

#12

Post by Tommy1507 » Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:46 am

Just came across this, which says that the fat content of people with the same waist size can greatly differ.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.resear ... 060033/amp

Nothing new as this was mentioned before here. I was curious because waist size on bodybuilders with the same height and fat percentage seems to differ by 10cm/4inch in extreme cases. So maybe an individual with 37 inch could carry too much fat and should not expand the waist over 35 inch.
My goal is to never exceed 85cm again.

fibula
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Re: Waist size targeting

#13

Post by fibula » Sun Jul 04, 2021 5:55 pm

Oh wow. I guess DXA (and the mirror) are necessary. By the way, I use the Army tape equation on my excel sheet. The YMCA numbers are wildly inaccurate for me. YMCA currently gives 20% BF while Army gives (a much more believable) 26%. My BMI is 33, which seems fairly useless.

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JohnHelton
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Re: Waist size targeting

#14

Post by JohnHelton » Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:10 am

Tommy1507 wrote: Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:46 am the fat content of people with the same waist size can greatly differ.
I think this is true. I measured 12.4% with the calipers the other day (probably 16% with DEXA) and have a 34-35" waist. Thick core plus I carry all my fat on my waist.

dw
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Re: Waist size targeting

#15

Post by dw » Tue Jul 06, 2021 12:57 pm

JohnHelton wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:10 am
Tommy1507 wrote: Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:46 am the fat content of people with the same waist size can greatly differ.
I think this is true. I measured 12.4% with the calipers the other day (probably 16% with DEXA) and have a 34-35" waist. Thick core plus I carry all my fat on my waist.
I measured 31" and my impedance meter gave me 19.5% bf which feels about right, so +1 to this.

I have always been described as skinny regardless of my bf% which I think is due to having a narrow skeleton.

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Re: Waist size targeting

#16

Post by JohnHelton » Tue Jul 06, 2021 1:08 pm

I may be thicker because of my spine being fused when I was still growing. I'm like a 6' guy packed into 5'8". I have the shoulders, arms and legs of a much taller person with a very short torso. Short but thick. We are all differently shaped.

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Re: Waist size targeting

#17

Post by snah » Fri Jul 30, 2021 8:20 am

Tommy1507 wrote: Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:46 am Just came across this, which says that the fat content of people with the same waist size can greatly differ.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.resear ... 060033/amp

Nothing new as this was mentioned before here. I was curious because waist size on bodybuilders with the same height and fat percentage seems to differ by 10cm/4inch in extreme cases. So maybe an individual with 37 inch could carry too much fat and should not expand the waist over 35 inch.
My goal is to never exceed 85cm again.
The difference can be huge. I currently have a 73cm waist and I'm not lean at all. There's not even a hint of abs showing even if I'm flexing in favorable lighting.

Navy method puts me at 10% bodyfat but I'm probably around 15%.

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