A simple question re waist measurement.

TimLaws

Active Member
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29
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Where do you measure your waist? Is it across your belly button or where a normal pair of trousers would fit.
Thanks for any answers and thanks for putting up with a really simple question
 

muzza3

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1,789
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Diet only
Dislikes
Cauliflower pretending to be rice and any vegetable pretending to be pasta
Hi @TimLaws
Not such a silly question. I had to look it up myself. Yes around the belly button
Cheers
 

Lamont D

Oracle
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15,793
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Reactive hypoglycemia
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I do not have diabetes
Unless you're wearing hipsters!

Or like my ex foreman, polo neck trousers!
 

trinity0097

Well-Known Member
Messages
211
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
My normal trousers waistband goes across my belly button - why would they not?
 

TimLaws

Active Member
Messages
29
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi Thanks for the replies interestingly tape measure says 38" M&S trousers say 34", with no "overhang", if you can get my drift, so 38 it is!
 
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KayeStevenson

Well-Known Member
Messages
92
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
Diet only
Agree it is confusing. I am 30 inch waist in jeans but waist measurement at belly button is 34 inches. Hmmm.
 

ExD

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208
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I'd measure around the smallest part, and I'd say its above the belly button.
 
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Snapsy

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2,552
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
Had just this discussion with my husband recently - 'but my trousers are 34, so my waist measurement must be 34'!
Quod Est Demonstrandum by way of a tape measure gently but insistently handled by the wife - 'oh, it's 38'.

I'm really pleased that this has spurred him on in joining me (without being made to!) more often in exercising, and he has lowered his cheesecake intake significantly.

It's confusing, though - I've spent so many years wearing jeans around my hips that I'd completely forgotten where my actual waist is located - it's waaaaaay higher than my trousers!
 
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TorqPenderloin

Well-Known Member
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1,599
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Jeans are not a good measurement for waist size. They're generally 2-3" smaller than a true waist measurement in inches.

Waist size is generally measured either at your navel or 1-2" above it. Trouser size is irrelevant because modern style is to wear them lower on your waist while in the 80s-90s you traditionally wore them higher towards your navel.

To put it in perspective, I wear a 33 in jeans, my suit pants are all cut for 36.5" (I wear them lower on my hips), but my actual waist size is 35.5"-36"
 

SunnyExpat

Well-Known Member
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2,230
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
It's a good marketing ploy. People buy clothes that make that feel good, and 32" feels better than 36".

Also, designer cloths deliberately limited their clothing to a target market, which didn't include the fuller figure. So the mass market copied them, so the customer could say, 'I can't fit in xxxxx's jeans, they don't make them in my size. But I fit the M&S copy in the same size I can't fit into there'
But even that is going slightly by the wayside, as the designer's target market in starting to expand around the waist, and their sizes are becoming slightly more generous.
 

Snapsy

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,552
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Pump
Sizing is just so difficult, isn't it - I'm sure there isn't a single person alive who conforms exactly to 'normal' clothing proportions - I know I certainly don't!

:banghead:
 

AloeSvea

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,051
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
OK - the best answer - due my friends to the fact that a waist line is not a simple issue! Some have short waists and torsos - some have long ones. As the queen of 'natural variation' in humans on the forum :) (well - I'm calling myself the queen of variation here at least), this is the best bet to find your own natural waist line -

Stand in front of a mirror. Lean over to one side. Where the 'crease' is - where you bend in other words - is your very own unique waist line.

Mine, for instance, is way higher than just above my belly button (as some people say), and indeed, just below my rib cage - as others say. And the narrowest place around my middle, alas, is not exactly my waist line, ie where the crease/bend is, sadly for me. But totally fitting for a diabetic with tendancies to 'truncal obesity' or 'abdominal obesity' (ie getting fat around the middle very easily). (All I need to do is look at a brioche!). (And of course as a low-carber now I don't even look at brioches anymore!)

Hope this helps!
 
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