The core message is that the simplest predictor of ongoing good health is your waist measurement.
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hmm…
I suppose like all these things it’s a blunt instrument..
I wish I’d measured my waist at 35 as a skinny wholefood vegan cyclist off to a rave every week… I think my BMI was around 23.5… but I no longer have the elasticated waist combats I used to wear…
Then life took a detour and 7 years ago at the age of 59, I was laid out unusually badly by the flu and they decided I was diabetic.
That designation lasted only until my next Hba1c test 3 months later by which time I’d lost the first 10 kilos… though they still nag me to have eye tests and I was getting free covid boosters until last year - when they randomly wanted to test my feet even though I am clearly metabolically healthy.
At 112 kilos my BMI had been around 32 and my waist about 37 inches - but I cycled every day and had been doing regular long rides.. It only takes 500 extra kcals per day to gain 10 BMI points - that’s a slice of toast with peanut butter…
As with most people who have been heavy, it’s been a bumpy road, but for now I seem to have settled at 88 KG / BMI 25 - .. my LDL is likely at the target level for statins … they gave my aorta a clean bill of health last year, my BP averages 109/79 if my home device is to be believed…
But my waist obstinately refuses to get into the “safe” range
One thing I don’t understand is why trouser sizes are 2 inches bigger than they state -and it seems no one wears them around their actual waists.
To cut to the chase, according to the research by Roy Taylor at Newcastle University, I likely had excess visceral fat in the area of my liver if not also my pancreas and I likely cleared that by losing weight fairly rapidly .. I likely now have a decent amount of “safe” storage for excess nett calories…
Some people, some whole ethnic groups can be diabetic at very low BMIs whereas plenty of morbidly obese people have no problems in that area…
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Because nobody likes to be seen buying “fat boy trousers” 
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Alright, let’s imagine I’ve measured my waist - now what?
No doubt it tells me somwhere in the small print. I’d be grateful if we could have a precis. Thanks.
You plonk your height and waist circumference into NHS calculator and it tells whether you have edged into the higher risk area
I was completely fine until my new GP measured me and I have lost 2 centimetres in height 
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I know I’m not fine any more. I used to be. Two years of ill health and worry about OH and I’m comfort eating like fury. I’m hoping when I’m in the UK my comfort eating at least will be based on M&S salads and not the local patisserie, like now.
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So you are not overweight, you are under tall.
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Its mainly, but not all patisserie, as you said you have been worried and that makes you release more stress hormone which is a mechanism in times where food scarecity meant eat more. Also food companies know how to make a bliss point so we keep eating when we shouldn’t.
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Sadly due to a std test panel they can miss this. You are thin so you are not diabetic/ill etc. When my surgeon who had been inside my abdomen told me I had visceral fat around my organs its because he physically saw it. What many GP’s don’t do is an insulin test to measure how responsive you are, they take the easier route of fasted glucose. Of course you had your A1c tested which is far better as 3 month picture of your average blood glucose.
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They diagnosed me with Hba1C and confirmed with a fasting.
They never let you go with diabetes - even as in my case when it seems I have plenty of “safe” storage..I’m about 24 kilos lighter than when I was diagnosed seven years ago and all my subsequent HbA1cs place me bang in the middle for men under 50.
Last year I had to wash my feet and socks specially because a new surgery strategy insisted I needed my feet tested for peripheral neuropathy - they told me I should use moisturiser … I was told the “diabetes pharmacist” would then phone me at home to give me advice .. given my near-ideal state of health and a diet of maybe 15 “servings” of veggies a day, I cancelled that call.
But they also never put you into remission/cure.
That’s when I looked into the ketogenic diet. Its been successful for some friends too. Now I just cut out as much sugar as possible.
I have the same WFPB diet I always had, I simply eat fewer nett calories.
As I said upthread, my extra 10 BMI points can be accounted for by one generous slice of wholewheat toast per day.
My macros by accident appear to be roughly “Mediteranean”…
I simply am not “diabetic” by any stretch of the imagination and haven’t been for seven years - perhaps one day I will do a glucose tolerance test ..
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Happily, it is way way too long ago for me to remember what my waist measurement was at age 65.
But I did read enough to get angry, why oh why do so many adults these days use baby language to other adults? It is not a tummy it is a stomach !! Health people are especially guilty of this demeaning language. Phew, feel better now, just one of my radio rants.
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I agree David, it’s infuriating when they say tummy. I asked the surgeon to please say stomach as I’m an adult, pleased to say he did just that and corrected colleagues when they made the same mistake.
I noticed the same thing with people you are talking to who incline their heads downwards so much that they are forced to swivel their eyes upwards as far as possible in their sockets in order to look at you, Doesn’t happen to me personally but one that always makes me cringe is the doctor on Call The Midwife. Can’t remember the actor’s name but he is from a famous acting family.
It is a very literary example of talking down to people.
The one that married the ex-nun?, I find both of their characters sickly enough to induce vomiting.
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Finally decided to give this thread a whirl..
Drat it … we don’t seem to have a tape measure…
but I reckon my waist is the same as it was in my 40/50’s, as I can still fit into clothes I bought in UK donkey’s years ago and my Doc is OK about my weight.
Hopefully, that all means something Good re my health in Old-Age (whenever that might be)
Yes, and yes.
Didn’t BMI get discredited as a fitness metric a while back?
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BMI is crude, but I find it useful - not least because it flattens the curve compared to weight -the sharp cutoff at 25 for “healthy” is a bit silly . That’s where I currently am and looking at my brothers and remembering how I was at my fittest tells me I still need to lose 5 kilos…
The NHS calculator used to nag you a bit above 23.9 I think…
Apparently the average UK BMI in 1980 was 23 which is I think about average for elite swimmers - - it’s now getting on for 29 and we aren’t now a nation of power lifters…
Roy Taylor (NC Uni) says to try to be the size you were at 21…
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