have a waist to height ratio of 0.5

I was just scanning my goals, thinking how hard it is to make any progress on anything when you can’t sit down, and can only stand up for 90 seconds at a time, and lying in bed leaves you either doped up or throbbing in pain. Then I noticed this goal, forgotten in the time-consuming races of running my business and becoming a writer for more than six months. On the bright side of a back injury, I’ve lost about 10 lbs, and my waistline is back down to 34” or a little less. That puts my WtHR at 0.511. I am only 0.75” away from my goal.

I wonder why I’m losing weight. I would have thought the inactivity would make my weight go up. But I suppose pain causes a higher heart-rate, which burns more calories. _{or it could be giving up alcohol because of the pain meds} Whatever. At least there’s an upside!

Since I implemented the control chart at the end of August, I’ve lost 4.5 lbs and a full inch on my waistline. At 34.25”, I’m now at a WtHR of 0.515. I need to take another inch off, but I’m better than half way to my goal.

My weight isn’t dropping that fast, but that could be because my exercise is a solid 2x per week, and I’m definitely trading fat for muscle mass. Still, I think another 5 lbs will need to melt away before I hit my goal.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

I’m such a geek. I made a control chart for this goal. Each day I track my weight, exercise, snacks, and alcohol, as well as any other key WtHR effecting comments.

Every week, I do a measurement of my waist. The goal is to get down to 33.25”. Tape-in day is Sunday morning.

Today I got to 34.5” I have a little more than an inch to go. My weight is down 3.5 lbs so far, and I suspect I need to get down at least 3.5 more to achieve this goal.

Ok, so it’s been a good month with this goal, even if it’s a little inflated.

I couldn’t figure out a way to get stable results, without using the same strategy I use for weight. I measure myself at the same time of day every week, and stand up straight and natural. The baseline moved from 36” to 35.5” as a result.

Today’s measurement: 35”. WtHR of 0.526. just under two inches to take off. It should synchronize with my weight being around 158 or so, assuming I get my level of exercise up to 1.5x per week.

Ok, so all the recent research about obesity points to the waist to height ratio as the best predictor of obesity related heart disease and type 2 diabetes. So it’s time to take the test.

Our circumference at the belly button should be 1/2 our height or less.

I’m 5’ 6 1/2”. That’s 66.5 inches. So I need a waist of 33.25 inches or less.

Current score: 36 inches. Ouch. I’ve got some weight to lose. WHtR = 0.5414