How To Shrink Your Waist - And Your Risk Of Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, And Death
“Old age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.”
What your waist says about your health.
As is usually the case, the answer is in your pants.
To estimate your risk of developing terrible conditions ranging from Type 2 diabetes to heart disease, just assess your pants size.
The size of your waist can tell you a lot about your health.
The magic numbers are 35 and 40. If your waist is over 35 inches - for females - or over 40 inches - for males - you’re at increased risk of death and disease.
Specifically, a larger waist makes you more likely to develop:
Heart disease
High blood pressure
Poor cholesterol levels
Joint pain
Metabolic disease, including diabetes
Cancer
Death from any cause (1).
As you can see from this laundry list of horrid conditions that I’d bet you’d like to avoid, carrying extra fat around your midsection is bad news.
Today, you’ll find out exactly what you need to do to lose belly fat and shrink your waist, once and for all.
In the article, you’ll learn:
Why fat around your midsection is more harmful than fat stored in other areas
The function of fat - it’s important!
The optimal ranges of waist size and body fat percentage for males and females
How to lose your belly fat safely, effectively, and quickly - and keep it off.
Why chronic stress might be the root cause of your large waist
Junk in the trunk? Where you store fat matters.
Fat distribution is so important that entire musical masterpieces have been written about it (2).
WARNING - I’m about to make a hard transition from Will.I.Am and Fergie to science speak - hold onto your hats!
A large midsection indicates increased fat storage in your intra-abdominal region (belly). Fat in this area is more likely to have harmful effects on your internal organs (bad).
Also, visceral abdominal fat is likely to have more inflammatory effects than other kinds of fat. Belly fat contains cytokines that are linked to systemic inflammation.
Chronic inflammation = increased risk for nearly every disease (also bad).
Even worse, belly fat releases a protein called retinol-binding protein 4 (RBPR) which impairs blood sugar control (3). Having high levels of this protein is linked to metabolic dysfunction including a higher risk for type 2 diabetes (bad thing #3).
This is why your waist can tell you so much about your health.
More than body weight or body fat percentage, your pants size tells you exactly how much of this “bad” fat you’re carrying around.
The function of fat.
Can you believe that fat does stuff? Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t just sit around being annoying and stubborn.
It actually has a job!
Multiple jobs, in fact, and each is essential for your survival and wellbeing.
The functions of fat include:
Acts as storage site for excess calories
Helps with absorption of vitamins
Can be broken down for energy
Keeps you warm
Secretes hormones (chemical messengers) to the rest of the body
All good things! Let’s take a closer look at function #5 - “secretes hormones.”
Fat cells are a lot smarter than you give them credit for.
Your fat cells.
They release hormones that impact hunger levels, blood sugar, and disease risk.
In particular, fat cells secrete hormones called leptin and adiponectin.
Leptin, the “fullness” hormone, suppresses appetite and regulates energy expenditure (4). When leptin does its job, it helps you eat the right amount of calories by making you feel full when you’ve had enough.
On the other hand, adiponectin:
Improves blood sugar regulation
Reduces risk of atherosclerosis
Reduces risk of diabetes
Here’s the kicker, though. The more body fat you have, the less adiponectin is produced.
The relationship between body fat and adiponectin is just one example of the health risks of a large waistline (5, 6).
To support good health and a long life, keep your waist size in check.
How much fat is too much?
As you learned, fat serves many important functions and is essential to survival. We need fat to be healthy - in the right amounts.
Fat, just like caffeine, water, or chocolate, is healthy in moderation. In excess, it can lead to sickness and death.
For you fellas, the optimal body fat percentage for men is generally between 8-18%. For all you ladies, the number is closer to 14-30% (women naturally have higher body fat for child bearing and such).
(7)
You may have periods in life when you fall above or below this range. Take prepping for a bodybuilding show, pregnancy, or, for you dads, sympathy pregnancy weight.
It’s nothing to worry about if your waist and overall body fat percentage occasionally shrinks or balloons outside the “optimal” levels.
That said, if over the long term, you’re a male and:
Your waist is larger than 35 inches and/or
Your body fat percentage is over 23-25%
Or if you’re a female and:
Your waist is larger than 40 inches and/or
Your body fat percentage is over 27-31%
…then you’re putting yourself at increased risk of health complications and death. No bueno!
Can I give you some tough love? If your waist size or body fat percentage falls outside the healthy range, you need to make some changes to improve your health.
Here’s some good news. I’m going to tell you exactly the changes to make to reduce the size of your waist and drastically improve your health.
Even better, you can start today.
How to shrink your waist.
To reduce your waist size, all you need to do is wrap your waist in plastic, pull really, really tight, and leave it there 48 hours. Or, if you have access to a corset, that will work just as well.
(Just kidding) Please, don’t do that.
The best way to lose fat around your waist is to:
Then, be patient.
Do the most important things right constantly for weeks/months/years and you will make progress. I promise.
Extra Tip - Large waist? You may need to chill out.
On a scale of 1 to waiting for your hair to grow back so you can pull it out again, how stressed are you?
If you’re constantly stressed, you’re not doing your waistline any favors.
Chronic stress is treacherous. Insidious. Malevolent, even (sponsored by Thesarus.com).
It worsens nearly every health condition and increases risk for disease. The real kick in the pants when it comes to stress is its effect on your waistline -
Chronic stress directly increases belly fat (9-11).
Are you on top of everything - diet dialed in, quality sleep, plenty of activity - and still struggling to make a dent on your waist line?
If so, assessing the root of your stress and finding more effective ways to manage it might be the puzzle piece you’ve been missing.
Need any help? It takes a village.
It makes me really sad.
Our best estimates tell us that by 2030, about half of all Americans will be obese (12). Not overweight. Obese.
Sad, yes. Surprised, not really.
I’ve worked with hundreds of people and I know how difficult it is to make effective, long lasting changes. For some, it can be nearly impossible.
Hopelessness, frustration, and anger are all common emotions that come up.
What I do is help people lose weight fast and keep it off. I simplify the process to make it do-able, enjoyable, and sustainable over the long term (that’s a ton of “ables”, but it’s true!)
My system is called the 3 Party Path. Here are four things I think you might find interesting about it:
You’ll learn how to lose fat, even if you wanted to eat pizza every night for dinner
You’ll learn how to get in the best shape of your life, even if dancing was the only form you exercise you performed
I’m going to ask you to throw me to the curb after 90 days. By that time, you’ll know exactly what you need to do to keep losing weight and keep it off for the rest of your life - without me by your side.
Results are 100% guaranteed - if you don’t make an eye-popping, life changing transformation in 3 months, you’ll get 100% of your money back. No strings attached.
To learn more about how I can help you transform your body and health, schedule your free assessment below:
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEe_eraFWWs&ab_channel=BlackEyedPeasVEVO
https://cen.acs.org/biological-chemistry/biochemistry/Hormones-reveal-secret-life-fat/96/i40
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/body-fat-percentage-chart#chart
GIF Sources: Patrick Keenan Kelly Chocolate River Waist Trainer Sheldon
(giphy.com)
