So as the title suggests, I know that I am on the cusp of heightened risk for obesity-related diseases based on my waist circumference of 31.4 inches.
I guess my basic question is, as long as I keep my activity up and my nutrition healthy, is this still a big risk?
My stats are as follows:
height: 5’6
weight: 161 lbs
sex: female
ethnic background: white (mentioning this because I know that there are different standards for different ethnic groups)
maintenance calories: 2300 (aiming for 150-160 g of protein; 40-50g fiber)
activity level: relatively active (4 powerlifting sessions/week; commuting 30 min/day via bike, 8,000 daily steps; 1-2 intense 30 min cardio sessions per week)
Background:
I was an overweight teenager and was pushed into Food Addicts Anonymous about 10 years ago. It really damaged my relationship with food and inspired a lot of orthorexia/disordered eating habits, but I guess I am lucky in that it brought me away from the standard American diet. I have about 10-15 servings of veggies per day and eat a lot of skyr, tofu, and beans (+ 1 protein bar and 1 protein shake daily) to hit my protein goals. I don’t eat meat or eggs. Except for a severe problem with insomnia (currently sticking to CBT-I but some nights it just doesn’t work), I feel relatively healthy, but I am not sure if I should be worried about my waist size. I have succeeded in eating in a deficit for months at a time, but have never really been able to get below 155lbs or reduce my waist size by more than an inch. I do notice a steep increase in disordered thoughts when trying to stick to a deficit as well. For these reasons, plus needing a lot of energy for my training and maintaining a busy schedule (studying full time, working 30hrs/week) I like eating at maintenance. But if this is something that could really put my health at risk, I guess I would do what I could to attack the problem in a way that wouldn’t hurt my mental health.
Yes, this is a significant enough risk to warrant a change, if possible, to produce weight loss and waist circumference reduction to < 31". After that, I wouldn’t worry about it outside of personal preference.
Looks like your diet checks the health-promoting criteria, but it’s just a little high on energy right now. That said, you might not be a good candidate for weight loss right now with some of the thoughts, feelings, etc. you mentioned regarding weight loss. I don’t pretend have a simple solution to that without more info.
This is helpful information. I definitely wouldn’t say that weight loss would be helpful to me right now, but I will at least keep in mind that slowly moving away from maintenance and into a deficit at sometime in the near future would be a goal that I should strive for. Hopefully once I get my sleep in check, this might be easier.
Ps: if you have time to answer, what other information about me would you find helpful to start working toward a solution? I understand that you charge for nutrition coaching so I don’t want to take too much of your time, but I am just generally interested!
Yea, I think sleep is important here- particularly with the body composition resulting from an energy deficit and environmental triggers.
As far as what I’d need to know, I think you mentioned some items regarding your views towards energy restriction that would benefit from professional intervention. I think exploring these things more in depth, going through your history, identifying automatic thoughts, behaviors, etc. would all be part of that level of care.
Thank you again for your answer! I hope to one day work through this with someone - I am in therapy and the answer seems to alwaysbe “INTUITIVE EATING”, which, as someone who was (has been?) overweight for their whole lives, is really hard. I would love, at some point, to work with a dietician in the future who can really go through the nuances of all of this with me.
Knowing that I need to at some point work on losing weight is honestly fairly distressing but probably something that I needed to hear. It’s definitely frustrating when I feel like my whole life revolves around trying to create and live out health promoting behaviours. In the meantime, would other metrics, like resting heart rate and blood pressure, be adequate indicators of good health? At my last appointment, my GP mentioned that my resting HR and my BP were both textbook good (not sure what they are) or is the waist circumference thing one of the most pressing indicators of future health problems?
PS: I will say that I am sorry if it sounds like I am pushing back or being defensive - this is an area that is highly sensitive to me and I understand the emotion behind a lot of what I write. I would just like to figure out what sort of metrics I need to be looking toward to assess my health and know that I can easily blow up the waist circumference thing in my mind until it’s a great anxiety (which may or may not be necessary).
In terms of what I mentioned with therapy - I am really not sure if theraputic intervention is helpful in this field, especially given the plethora of therapists I have spoken with and the ease with which they dismiss my eating troubles (because I don’t look like someone who follows an extremely restrictive eating pattern). I often wonder if a dietician couldbe helpful in this arena.
Yea I think there are different approaches that may empower one person and distress another. Sussing out an individual’s preferences, creating a healthy environment, and developing strategies to work within that definitely takes some skill.
It is great that your BP and resting HR are apparently good. As far as the risk of the WC, 31" is not an agreed upon cut point for increased risk. For example, the AACE sets the cut point at 34", whereas other country’s national organizations have set theirs at 31" for women. I don’t know that I’d describe this as a pressing matter for you, but I do think it would be worthwhile to address at some point.
In medicine, we tend to use a combination of risk factors to assess risk of certain diseases and determine what steps may improve these risks (and by how much). I don’t feel too strongly that your waist is too high, even though I’d prefer it to be < 31". Why don’t I feel too strongly? Well, the data there is not quite as robust as a 34" cut-off and you’re pretty close anyway. I feel much stronger about continuing a health-promoting dietary pattern, avoiding weight gain, and continuing to build a healthier relationship with food. A professional (RD or other clinician) may be useful here, though it does sound like you’ve had some bad luck in the past.