Because abdominal obesity is an independent risk factor for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and liver disease, measuring your waist circumference provides key information about your risk profile. Though it's not entirely clear why abdominal fat, or visceral fat, is more dangerous than the subcutaneous fat that accumulates elsewhere in the body, scientists think this may be related to the pro-inflammatory properties of visceral fat, or the fact that these visceral fat cells release their metabolic byproducts directly into the circulatory pathway to the liver, where they can lodge and accumulate.
To measure your waist circumference, use a flexible tape measure placed just above your iliac crest (aka the top of your hip bones) then bring the tape measure all the way around your body, level with your belly button. A waist measurement of 35 inches or more in women (or 40 inches or more in men) is considered high and is associated with increased weight-related health risks.
