The Metabolic Rebuild

The Waist-to-Height Reader

Your waist, read against your height, tells you more about your metabolic health than your weight does. You need a tape measure and two minutes.

How to measure your waist

  1. Find the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hip bone.
  2. Wrap the tape around your body midway between those two points. For most people this is just above the belly button.
  3. Breathe out normally and read the number. Keep the tape snug against the skin without pressing in.
  4. Measure in the morning before you eat. Your abdomen is wider after a meal.
Your units
cm
cm
cm

Nothing is saved here, so write today's number down with the date. When you measure again, enter the old number here to see the change.

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Waist ÷ height, both in the same unit.
Your result
0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.80+

The dark line marks a waist of exactly half your height.

Where this number fits

Your waist is one of five findings that tend to change together, with triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose. The Metabolic Rebuild by Anna P Shue, Clinical Nutritionist explains the mechanism that links them and what to work on first.

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The data you input on this tool is not saved or sent anywhere. It is worked out in your own browser and gone when you close the page.

This is an educational read of your own numbers, not a diagnosis. If a result concerns you, or your waist keeps growing, discuss it with your doctor.

Bands used, from the NICE guideline: 0.4 to 0.49 healthy central adiposity, 0.5 to 0.59 increased, 0.6 or more high. NICE applies them to adults of both sexes and all ethnicities with a body mass index under 35, including people with high muscle mass. Above a body mass index of 35 the ratio is almost always high, so it adds little. Do not use it during pregnancy, or with a condition that enlarges the abdomen for other reasons.

References

  1. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Overweight and obesity management (NG246): identifying and assessing overweight, obesity and central adiposity. London: NICE; 2025.
  2. Ashwell M, Gunn P, Gibson S. Waist-to-height ratio is a better screening tool than waist circumference and BMI for adult cardiometabolic risk factors: systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 2012;13(3):275–286.
  3. Browning LM, Hsieh SD, Ashwell M. A systematic review of waist-to-height ratio as a screening tool for the prediction of cardiovascular disease and diabetes: 0.5 could be a suitable global boundary value. Nutr Res Rev. 2010;23(2):247–269.
  4. Verheggen RJHM, Maessen MFH, Green DJ, Hermus ARMM, Hopman MTE, Thijssen DHJ. A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of exercise training versus hypocaloric diet: distinct effects on body weight and visceral adipose tissue. Obes Rev. 2016;17(8):664–690.
  5. Reynolds AN, Mann JI, Williams S, Venn BJ. Advice to walk after meals is more effective for lowering postprandial glycaemia in type 2 diabetes mellitus than advice that does not specify timing: a randomised crossover study. Diabetologia. 2016;59(12):2572–2578.