Whats Your Body Shape - Are You Overweight: Obesity
Content provided by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School
What's your body shape?
Your body shape depends largely on where you tend to carry your weight, usually centered on either your waist or your hips and thighs. If you carry fat mainly around the middle of your body (known as "apple-shaped"), you're more likely to develop diabetes and related health problems than if you tend to be heavier around your hips and thighs ("pear-shaped"; see Figure 1). To measure your waist circumference, place a cloth tape measure around your bare abdomen just above your hipbones. Make sure the tape is snug and parallel to the floor. A waist circumference of more than 35 inches for women and more than 40 inches for men indicates a higher than normal risk. (See "Do you have metabolic syndrome?")
Figure 1: Apples and pears
 People who are "apple-shaped," or who store fat in the abdomen rather than the hips, are more prone to diabetes and cardiovascular disease than are those who are "pear-shaped," who tend to store fat in the hips and thighs. |
| Last updated: | June 20, 2007 |
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Medical content reviewed by the Faculty of the Harvard Medical School. Harvard Health Publications, Copyright © 2007 by President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Used with permission of StayWell.
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