waist-related stories
Enviga, Fitting Rooms and Healthy Fast Food - Week in Review - March 9 to March 15
Calorie-burning drink Enviga got burned this week when makers Coca-Cola and Nestle settled out of court for false advertising claims. Now Enviga will carry the very obvious claim that even if you drink it, you still have to diet and exercise to lose weight. We all know belly fat is unhealthy, but do you know what your waist size should be? See how you size up with some famous celebs, and find out if your waist is stretching the healthy limit.
Squeezing that workout into a busy schedule? Try Oscar Blandi's new dry shampoo -- tried and true by Kristen -- when you just don't have time to primp after a workout.
Water and weight loss -- can it really help? Jonny thinks so. A recent study found that drinking 16 oz. of water before breakfast can cut down on calorie consumption.
Clothing stores use all kinds of tricks to make us feel fit and firm in their fitting rooms. With swimsuit season on the way, they're going to need all the help they can get.
Looking for a long-term fitness goal? Try a half-marathon. It's the fastest-growing road race right now.
Think diet fads are bad today? How about smoking yourself thin or that terrible cabbage soup diet? Maggie shares crazy diet trends through the decades.
Fast food -- is it getting healthier? If it is, I'd say it's about time. Bev dishes on the fish on Long John Silver's new Freshside Grille menu.
"Change your mind before you change your matter," says Laura. Reaching your goals requires the right mindset, so discover the seven secrets of champions.
It's hard to believe, but even super-fit celebs with great genes have trouble squeezing into their jeans some days. Charlize Theron admits that she has "fat days" when her pants just won't fit.
How Does Your Waist Measure Up?
Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment
Belly fat is undesirable, to say the least. It's unsightly, but more importantly, it's unhealthy. So really, shouldn't we all be doing everything we can to get rid of it? But then, we hear things like," Marilyn Monroe wore a size 14," or "Kate Winslet has a crumbly stomach," and we think maybe we're not in such bad shape after all.Well, if you're going to compare your figure to a celebrity's, you should at least have the correct information, and the March issue of "Fitness" magazine has it. Check out these waist measurements and see how you measure up:
- Marilyn Monroe was super curvy, but had a 22-inch waist (clothing sizes have changed drastically since the 1950's).
- Audrey Hepburn weighed in at 103 pounds and had a 20-inch waist.
- Farrah Fawcett, one of America's greatest sex symbols, had a 24-inch waist.
- Jane Fonda, fitness queen, also had a 24-inch waist.
- Princess Diana's weight fluctuated widely, but her largest waist measurement was 27 inches.
- Kate Winslet has no problem baring her body, and she looks amazing, but surprisingly, she has a 29-inch waist.
Water - It's a Dieting Do
Hourglass Figures - Headed for Extinction?
In the days when Marilyn Monroe was the ultimate pin-up girl, the ideal figure was an hourglass one: Big in the bust, small in the waist, big in the hips. You don't see that kind of shape much on the red carpet these days. Instead, the bobble-head look seems to take precedence. But even out of the spotlight, in the homes of the average folk, it seems the hourglass is disappearing -- we're carrying more weight in our tummies than our hips, according to recent studies, and our hip-to-waist ratios are going down, especially in cultures where women tend to be more financially independent. And our jobs are to blame.
Men: This chemical might make you fat
Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products, Men's Health

Phthalates (pronounced THAL-ates) are the problem chemicals, and studies found that men with the most exposure to them were on average about three inches larger in waist circumference than other men. Their insulin resistance levels were notably higher as well.
Don't stress too much about this news, because there's something you can do about this dangerous chemical: Avoid it. Maybe one day, the government will regulate it too.
For more on phthalates, from the folks who think they are not so harmful, click here. For some scoop on where else phthalates might be hiding and how to avoid all traces of the them, click here.
Do you measure up for heart health?
Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Nutrition & Supplements
Really, all I can do to keep my heart strong now is to continue on a wise eating and exercise path. Which is what I plan to do. I can also take a few measurements to chart my heart health.
The folks at Reader's Digest say if I measure around my waist, above my belly button, and divide it by the circumference of my hips, I'll end up with a telling number. If it's 0.8 or less, I'm all good. Men: You want 0.9 or less.
Slim your waistline with whole grains
Womens Health, HealthWatch, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Nutrition & Supplements, Men's Health
Just in case you didn't get the memo, it's perfectly okay to eat carbs. In fact, you should be eating plenty of them; that is, you should be eating plenty of "good" carbs. Falling into that category are fruits and vegetables, as well as whole grains.
Why is it important to eat a diet rich in whole grains? Because results from a recent study, conducted at Penn State University, revealed that doing so may help slim your waistline while lowering your risk of heart disease.
Researchers divided 50 obese adults with metabolic syndrome (a collection of risk factors that increases risk of diabetes and heart disease) into two groups. Members of both groups cut back on their calorie consumption for 12 weeks. Only one group was instructed to eat only whole-grain products, whereas the other group was instructed to not eat any whole-grain foods.
At the end of the 12 weeks, both groups had lost weight,. But, there was a disparity of about 3 pounds between the average weight lost by each group (11 pounds vs. 8 pounds). Moreover, although both groups experienced a decrease in overall body fat, the whole-grain group lost significantly more body fat from the abdominal region than the refined-grain group.
If you're interested in reading further, the results of this study can be found in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Daily Fit Tip: Know your numbers
Daily Fit Tip, Diet & Weight Loss
- Blood pressure: It's a major driver of heart disease risk. The lower it is, the better off you are. In a perfect world, yours would be under 115/75 mm/Hg.
- Cholesterol: HDL is the important type and the higher the better on this one -- strive for over 40mg/dL. While LDL is less important, you should ideally keep it under 100 mg/dL.
- Blood sugar: Keep this one under 100 mg/dL too. If you can't maintain this, it's likely you'll acquire some form of diabetes.
- Waist size: Measure at the level of your belly button and make sure it's half your height or less. That's 33 inches if you're 5'6".
4 heart-healthy facts
- Your belly and how it measures is more important than your body mass index (BMI) because it's a better indication of atherosclerosis (artery hardening). A healthy waist should total less than 35 inches.
- Do you know what your cholesterol is? You should. It's a major heart attack risk factor and should be checked at least every five years -- more often if it's high or you have risk factors.
- Antioxidant supplements won't mend a broken heart. In fact, the American Heart Association recommends against taking vitamins A, C, and E because there's just no proof they do any good. A multivitamin is fine, however.
- Losing weight will cause a drop in your blood pressure. If you need to slim down, then, do it for your heart.
How do you know if you're the right weight?
Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness
Get a tape measure and see how you're doing: A waist that's 35 inches or more puts you at risk for what's known as the metabolic syndrome, which is a deadly combo of obesity, high glucose levels, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. And remember, there's no such thing as 'spot reducing.' You need to lose fat all over to lose inches around the middle. Try cardio activities like walking, swimming or dancing.Does having an hourglass figure mean you're more intelligent?
Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment, Nutrition & Supplements
It all comes down to high levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the extra padding around the hips and waist of women with a hourglass figure. Not only are omega-3s good for a woman's own brain power, but they're essential to the development of baby's brain during pregnancy.
So next time you loathe your curves, consider this study and count yourself lucky.
Hydrostatic weighing is the way to go
I could go for a waist-hip ratio -- a tape measure is used around the waist and hips -- but this won't tell me exactly how much fat I'm carrying around. That leaves one method -- hydrostatic weighing. It happens to be the only route recommended by the fitness trainer I spoke with on the phone, and it involves a whole lot of water and a whole lot of exhaling.
Hydrostatic weighing works like this: After expelling all of the air from the lungs, a person is repeatedly submerged in water for five to 10 seconds. It's a very reliable measure, the gold standard really for assessment of body composition. It can be scary for those who fear the underwater world, but it works and is available at various health and fitness centers.
What do you think -- would you get dunked to capture the essence of your own body fat?
Bigger waist = Bigger risk for colon cancer
Diet & Weight Loss, Men's Health
Being a little thick around the middle may do more than just increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes, new research shows that bigger waists are connected to bigger colon cancer risk.This new data comes from one of those "study of studies" where researchers compiled information from 30 previous and separate sets of research on colon cancer. Obesity in general was already known as a rectal cancer risk factor, but it seems abdominal fat is particularly dangerous. For every 4 inches a man gains around the middle his risk for colon cancer jumps up by 33%, and for women it goes up by 16%.
One more good reason to get your butt on the treadmill!
"Pear", "hour glass" or "ruler": Which celebs share your body type?
Celebs & Entertainment, Alternative & Green Health
While a lot of stars have bodies that the rest of us can only dream about, they're not all cut from the same cloth. Female celebrities have different body shapes just like the rest of us -- I guess they just know how to work with what they've got.
This set of pictures divides some of today's most famous stars -- with the most-envied bodies -- into three shape categories: The pear, the hour glass and the ruler. According to the text, pear-shaped women are smaller on top (breasts and shoulders) and larger through the bum and thighs. Examples given include Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Lopez, both of whom are known for their "bootylicious" butts.
Considered by many to be an "ideal" female body shape, women with an hour glass figure tend to have larger breasts and hips with a small waist. Often recognized for their sexy curves, Scarlett Johansson and Salma Hayek fit into this category. Often envied by those of us who wish we could eat ice cream and chocolate without putting on weight, women boasting a ruler shape are long and lean. Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley both sport this body type.
So where do you fit in? Which celeb's body most closely resembles yours?
Is denial holding you back?
Healthy Aging, Healthy Habits, Womens Health, Healthy Kids, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Motivation, Nutrition & Supplements, Men's Health
Elastic waist pants are the enemy to everyone trying to stay fit. Isn't it amazing how they allow people to gain tons of weight without having to acknowledge it? Are you one of those people in the stretchy pants? If so......go jean shopping. Jeans rarely lie. Neither does the scale.
I've had several new clients come in lately who underestimated their weight by well over ten pounds. How does that happen? Elastic waists. No.......I'm not writing this to pick on pants. I'm writing this, because lately I've experienced an influx of people who just have no clue where they are at physically. When they tell me they 'think' they weigh 146, but then find out they weigh159 when they land on my scale...alarms go off in my head.
Thirteen pounds isn't an enormous amount of weight to gain, but it's not irrelevant either. Do you think if they had weighed themselves weekly or even biweekly they would have put the breaks on before they gained that much? Yeah. I think so. I'm not a proponent of obsessing about weight. If you've read my blogs in the past you'll know that I NEVER concern over a clients appearance. That is their issue to deal with...























