What’s the Ideal Waist Size?

Are there benefits to reducing waist size? Increased risk of metabolic complications starts at an abdominal circumference of 31.5 inches in women and 37 inches in most men, though it’s closer to 35.5 inches for South Asian, Chinese, and Japanese men.

This is the final video in this series on obesity and weight. If you missed any of the others, check them out:

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

[danbrown]

Dr G is so physically animated when he speaks it practically counts as exercise, lol

[Anarcath]

I went vegan a couple of years ago. Since then I’ve lost 25 lb and all that fat came off from my waist. Went from 40” to 33”.

[educationcentral_]

Your advice saved my life. I've had everything from arthritis to bacne , neurological problems, back and joint pain . All the issues resolved in less than a week on a plant based diet. Unfortunately my bipolar disorder won't go away. Health anxiety, and hypochondriasis might have added years to my life. Because they lead me to a few of your study reviews

[elirothblatt]

My favorite nerd. You are the Carl Sagan of today’s health education!

[robertdavis]

Doctor wanted to put me on 1/2 dozen Pharma drugs + Surgery to correct health issues. I told her to get bent, became Vegetarian quit alcohol no GMO Foods and lost 100 lbs. Have corrected just about all health issues at hand. So now 155-160 lbs with 31" waist.

[kourtenayt]

Who loves Dr Gregor? Only doctor i listen to 😊

[ChrisOstreicher]

Good stuff! I would still like to see muscle mass discussed more though.

In my understanding, increased muscle mass will make you more insulin sensitive (and thus less likely to become diabetic) and increase your BMR (more so than fat). Also, resistance training improves bone density (less risk for fracture) and it is a good idea to carry some excess muscle mass because as Dr. Gregor pointed out, you loose some with age. So resistance training should help extend health span, but maybe not life span.

[peggyharris]

Where the ribcage ends and the hip bones start (long or short waisted) matter for waist circumference.

[laurenmelissaj]

Summary; less than 80cm for women or 94cm for men.

[Obez]

My BMI is 18.5 I've been struggling for years to get it higher - I'm not bulimic or anything like that - what's interesting is there isn't a lot of information of the risks of being underweight

[stargazerbird]

I am a 68 year old women. I take hrt, lift weights, run, have lost 29 lbs over the last year and got to a BMI of 22. My waist is still 36. I think Dr Gregor needs to re think his stance on easy visceral fat lose for my age and gender. It’s insanely hard to get it off. The only thing I can try is more weight lose until I get to a BMI of 19. When I was that weight in my thirties my waist was still around 30/31 though. Some of us are just that shape. Maybe that means apple shapes need to dig down deeper into the lower BMIs? It’s hard work. Especially when your calorie burn goes so much lower as you age, despite increased activity.

Basically you have to be extremely active and only eat 1400 calories a day to drop to the desired fat mass. You risk malnutrition doing this long term and I can inform you it’s not any fun being that tired all the time.

So less with the breezy ‘It’s easy!’ . It’s not. It sucks. To add to the confusion I am very tall for a woman - five eleven and I have wide shoulders. I find it hard to believe I should have the same waist as my five foot three sparrow boned friend as much as I expect to have the same fat mass at the same BMI as a man. They used to have different charts for the sexes.

[NORMLfan]

Why isn’t chest circumference taken into account in women? Someone with a size a cup is going to have a much smaller BMI than a double d and that should make a difference in waist size too you can’t expect those same women to have the same waist size and be stable walking around

[Bjifan]

I don't get why we don't have measures for different heights. At 5'11", I'm supposed to have the same waist size as someone 5'1"? I realize it won't make a HUGE difference, but it must make some difference.

[sharit]

Thanks for doing the research and posting! Good to know that even a relatively small weight loss [if needed] can have huge health benefits. [5:50]

[hynjus]

I seem to be catching up to Dr Greger's age while he appears to be ageing backwards.

[gerardoesquivel]

Dr greger only told us the cutline where increased mortality goes up, but not a way to calcultae ideal waist size.

The best metric is this:
WAIST should be LESS than HALF of your HEIGHT

Example, a men at 180cm tall, his waist should be equal or less than 90cm

[dudleyhardial]

I am 5' 4'' and had a waist size of 37 inches. How the hell was that OK. Dr Greger should be more precise and advise that the waist size should be related to height - i.e, your waist size should be less that half of your height. So in my case, it should be 32'' or less. When I had a 37'' waist size, my BMI was over 30 (i.e obese) and I was pre-diabetic, and had problems going up the stairs. I have since reduced my weight by over 55lbs and my waist size is now 30''. So, Dr Greger, please do not give incorrect information.

[MikeG-jsjt]

Dr. G!! for: ges·tic·u·la·tion
/jeˌstikyəˈlāSH(ə)n/

noun
noun: gesticulation; plural noun: gesticulations

a gesture, especially a dramatic one, used instead of speaking or to emphasize one's words.
"he punctuated his speech with WILD gesticulations"

[DionysisGalanis]

Waist circumference doesn't take account people wearing corsets to change their waist shape! 😂😂😂

[kimdavis]

The smartest dude in the plant based world!