Hip to waist ratio and body fat percentage

[ellie1962]

Could I please seek your advice concerning a 'hip to waist ratio' count and 'body fat percentage' calculation I have recently received. I live a fairly healthy lifestyle, I work out in the gym up to 3 times a week for about an hour each session. I presently do stretching exercises and spend 40 mins on the cross trainer, which is approx 3 miles, and burns around 300 calories. I eat a mixture of 5 pieces of fruit and veg a day and always cook from scratch and cook with olive oil. I do not eat ready meals. I do not drink sweetened drinks and drink Green and Earl Grey tea, when I drink breakfast tea and coffee this is with soya milk. I do not use salt in my cooking. I only eat meat once a week and mainly eat chicken stir frys or meals involving fish. I also do not each much dairy.

I have however, been told that I have a 40% body fat percentage and .6% over the hip to waist ratio in relation to my age (I am 50). The only things that I consume that may be considered bad are :

I drink about 14 units of alcohol a week of red wine
I eat dried fruit and nuts - dates, figs, almonds, cashews
I have a full fat latte once a day

I also do not do any weights as part of my exercise regime.

I am concerned about the body fat percentage and would like to seek some advice as to how to reduce this.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[Denise Kennedy]

Hi ellie - thanks for your question.
Body fat percentage or hip to waist ratio are not measures that I use on a regular basis in NHS clinical practice, but there are guidelines on these measures. In general for a woman healthy body fat percentage is thought to be around 25 - 31%, but it does go up with age. For waist to hip ratio in a woman higher than 0.85 is thought to be a sign of increased risk. So on the measurements you gave your waist hip ratio is excellent but your body fat is higher than it should be!!

These are just other measures of looking at the risk of being overweight. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) suggests we calculate Body Mass Index and if necessary then look at waist circumference. This is because for a few individuals they will have a high BMI but a slender waist. Weigh deposited around the abdomen is thought to increase the risks to health because that is where our major organs are.

From your post I am unclear if you consider that you are overweight or if your BMI is high, or if you feel you would like to or need to lose weight. How you feel about yourself is really important.

It certainly sounds as if you are trying to live a healthy life. I would suggest to decrease your body fat percentage you aim to lose a little weight. You can do this by cutting your calorie intake and increasing your cardiovascular workouts (where you get breathless and hot). Remember that your calorie intake is the total from all your foods and drinks.

A few thoughts about the foods that you said you are eating. Olive oil has as many calories in it as any other oil - around 120kcals in a tablespoon - so aim to reduce the amount you use in cooking. Red wine has around 170kcals per glass. A full fat latte is 200 - 250kcals per cup (depending on size) and nuts are around 200kcals per handful. So in your 2 glasses wine, 1 large cafe latte and a handful of nuts per day you have got nearly 900kcals!!! Adds up doesn't it!!! Can you try swapping some of these - for example 1 glass of wine, 1 Americano coffee with milk and a banana instead of nuts would save you around 600kcals per day. This could result in significant and sustained weight loss. and therefore fat loss.

Hope this helps. Denise

[Lisa Holmes]

Hello,
I agree with Densie that you are trying hard with your diet and exercise, and that it can be hard to understand why the measures arent coming up with the numbers you want when you have been putting in so much effort.
I think from your post you are very aware of your body, diet and exercise and the problems you identify are the aspects that you need to adjust to change your body fat reading and waist:hip.
We sometimes get into a routine of having foods out of habit or feel that we have been trying hard and therefore deserve a treat, and these dont need to be excluded just adapted to still feel like you are having a treat but just with less calories and fat. I think the suggestions Denise makes wont make you feel like you cant have treats but will make big differences to your readings.
Lisa