Waist Circumference

Nutrition Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hi Jordan

Thanks for all your excellent material and everything you and the team do at Barbell Medicine. You’re really making a difference to peoples lives.

I have a question about waist circumference (WC).

I’m a 35 year old, 6ft man at c106kg bodyweight with a 42 inch WC. I recently squatted 100kg for 3 sets of 5 and pulled 130kg for a set of 5. My goal is just to be generally fit and healthy.

I’ve been particularly influenced by your video and article on waist circumference, and have recently decided to make it a priority to reduce my WC to under 40 inches.

I’ve read some other stuff on WC, and note the National Health Service England website says a man should try to lose weight if his WC is above 37 inches (as well as weight loss being an even higher priority if WC is over 40).

And I noted in your article you also say:

“Additionally, if someone is within an inch or so of the cut-point, I’ll typically recommend either maintenance level calories if they are relatively untrained, as the waist circumference tends to decrease readily in this population with training. If the person is more advanced and has been gaining weight, I’ll usually reverse the process at this point unless additional contextual factors are present, e.g. a meet very soon.”

So my question is: how much under 40inches should I look to get my WC? Should it be 39inches or so, or should I ultimately be aiming for 37?

Or, is it more a case of:

  1. firstly, get WC below 40;
  2. and only then decide what to do next based on other data (body weight, lifts etc) and goals? Many thanks in advance for all your help

John

2

Yea I would get your waist under 39" and then reassess what you want to do. I don’t know if I can say reliably that a 37" waist is better than a 38" waist, but flirting with 40" is Flirting With Disaster.

2 Likes
3

Thanks very much

And can I just double check this means I should go on a small calorie deficit so I lose 1-2lbs per week, while lifting and doing some conditioning, until my WC reaches 39?

Any rough idea how long this might take for someone like me (stats in opening post) assuming I do lose 1-2lb per week? Or is it too specific to the individual and nuanced

And am I right in thinking I should be able to do this and still get a bit stronger, like the fluffy novice in to be a beast? (Assuming intelligent bridge-like programming)?

very much appreciated

and P.S. I’m now using the word “nuanced” at work all the time, and it’s starting to catch on with my colleagues. This wasn’t even deliberate.

4

John,

Yes, start losing some weight and keep reassessing. The rate at which you lose weight and waist circumference by are dependent on many variables and at present, don’t follow a reliable trend I can tease out. It’s…nuanced :wink:

I would expect you to get stronger if your programming is appropriate, yes. This may be something like the bridge, but may also require further modification.

5

Thanks again. Will crack on with the WC loss and let you and the forum know how it goes.