The older we get, the bigger our waistline gets. This is certainly nothing new.
But just because it’s considered a normal part of the ageing process doesn’t mean that it's risk-free.
In today’s post, we’ll be shedding light on expanding waistlines and the three serious health risks it poses so that you can be more aware of it.
What Is An Expanding Waistline?
An expanding waistline is synonymous with an increase in belly fat.
According to Mayo Clinic, It’s determined by three main factors:
- The amount of calories you consume during the day
- The amount of calories burned through daily exercise
- Your age
Wondering if your waistline really did increase?
To measure your waist size accurately, you can follow the steps on our website here.
Sigh...we know that it can be quite the reality check to see those inches 😥 But it’s important to know these numbers and track them for the sake of our health!
Now, let’s look at the health risks.
#1: Increased Risk of Heart Disease
Visceral fat, also known as belly fat, is found accumulated deep within our abdominal cavity around our internal organs.
When these fat cells die, they’re cleaned up and removed by another set of cells. However, this process releases inflammatory substances that can lead to serious health problems, eventually causing heart disease.
This is why belly fat poses a greater danger to your heart than fat accumulated at your hips and thighs!
You can read more about it in this article published by Harvard Medical School.
#2: Increased Risk of Diabetes
Ladies, it’s not looking good for us. Apparently, research suggests that waist size alone can predict the risk of diabetes, especially in women.
What’s scarier is that both overweight men and women with very large waists have the same risk of getting diabetes as obese people!
Furthermore, obese women with a large waist (35-plus) were nearly 32 times as likely to get diabetes than women of low to normal weight and a smaller waist (less than 31 inches).
They also found that most of these people had type 2 diabetes — a lifelong disease stemming from insulin resistance. People with type 2 diabetes are able to create insulin, but their cells don’t use it as well as they should.
#3: A Link to Breast Cancer
It’s still not looking good for us, ladies. Waist size is linked to breast cancer.
An expanding waistline puts women at higher risk of breast cancer because the fat tissue promotes estrogen production — this feeds the growth of breast tumors.
This study looked at data from about 93,000 overweight, postmenopausal women and gathered different types of health data, such as general health, cancer history, and...skirt size!
And here’s what they found: an increase in skirt size was the single most predictive measure of breast cancer risk.
“When women went up a single skirt size over a 10-year span between their mid 20s and mid 60s, they were shown to have a 33% greater risk of developing breast cancer after menopause.”
Expanding Waistlines Are Reversible
Just because your waistline is increasing doesn’t mean the battle is lost. If anything, this is the wake up call you need to make a lifestyle change!
You can’t spot-reduce fat around your waistline. That’s a fact.
What you should aim for is to lose overall fat through adopting a healthier diet, and an active lifestyle with exercise and strength training.
Waist trainers certainly do not prevent any of those 3 health risks discussed above. But they can help to amplify your fat burn and support you in your overall weight loss journey.
