Waist to Weight Ratio

Training Bodybuilding
41

[quote]Tatsu wrote:
[photo]27037[/photo]
October 2008, 170lbs@5’8, waist around 30 inch.

[photo]26875[/photo]
[photo]26873[/photo]
Begin of February 2010, 202@5’8, waist around 35 inch.

Will shoot some new pictures this month. I’m now around 207lbs, body fat 17,5% and my waistline is still around 35". Shooting for 220lbs this year.[/quote]

Thats some nice gains bro. Keep it up. I have the same waist though im only 190. So from now on, im going to push even harder to beat you haha :wink: You gotta beat the rest if you wanna be the best.

42

so we’re on the same page here… where are you guys measuring your waist?

i do mine over the belly button.

43

I started a thread on waist measurement a while ago but we didnt get around to this specific topic.

I agree with what others are saying 5-10 pounds of weight gain for an inch on your waist.

As a fellow ozzy you might find it easier the way I think of it, I like to keep it under 1cm for every kg of body weight. Obviously you would wait untill you gain a couple of kgs before making the comparison.
Recently I’ve only gained 3cm going from 85-89kg so I know I’m doing well.

Looks like your doing well so far, good luck on 95kgs

44

On a side note, obvioulsy everyone is different and cant expect the same results. It is just good to see what other people have experienced and helps to have realistic expectations.

Tatsu is a great example of someone who gained a fair amount of girth on the waist while bulking, which can scare people off if they are not sure what to expect. However he made great progress and the waist size is not really noticable anyway.

45

[quote]ProjectX wrote:
so we’re on the same page here… where are you guys measuring your waist?

i do mine over the belly button.[/quote]

It is quite important to know this, there can be a big difference between your waist and stomach (belly button). For example, someone with a 40 inch stomach (largest part) may still be able to comfortably fit into 34" pants. Someone who has a 40 inch stomach may have a 37 inch waist.

Generally, you measure the smallest part for the waist; tall individuals may have to measure higher above the belly button than shorter people.

46

[quote]doubleh wrote:
I’m not so sure about the numbers when gaining weight, but I have a pretty good idea how they work for me in the opposite direction. I’m currently in a fat loss phase, and I’ve found that when I am losing weight, I lose 1.5 inches of waist size for every 10 lbs lost or so.[/quote]

I can kind of get on board with this estimation. Im currently on a cutting phase as well, and Ive gone from 199 to 189, and have lost right at 1.5 inches off my waist.

Also, as was mentioned just above the waist is done at the narrowest point, and I personally measure that point and at the naval. Consistency on the point of measurement is important because you could be either selling yourself short, or artificially inflating yourself in relation to where you actually stack up against other people depending on where youre taking your measurements.

47

[quote]its_just_me wrote:

[quote]ProjectX wrote:
so we’re on the same page here… where are you guys measuring your waist?

i do mine over the belly button.[/quote]

It is quite important to know this, there can be a big difference between your waist and stomach (belly button). For example, someone with a 40 inch stomach (largest part) may still be able to comfortably fit into 34" pants. Someone who has a 40 inch stomach may have a 37 inch waist.

Generally, you measure the smallest part for the waist; tall individuals may have to measure higher above the belly button than shorter people.

[/quote]

Yeah,nah not talking bout fitting into pants. Waist may have been the wrong word. But i think most would understand that your belly button is the place to measure you ‘gut’ to see whether it needs fixing or not.

48

[quote]Doyle wrote:
I started a thread on waist measurement a while ago but we didnt get around to this specific topic.

I agree with what others are saying 5-10 pounds of weight gain for an inch on your waist.

As a fellow ozzy you might find it easier the way I think of it, I like to keep it under 1cm for every kg of body weight. Obviously you would wait untill you gain a couple of kgs before making the comparison.
Recently I’ve only gained 3cm going from 85-89kg so I know I’m doing well.

Looks like your doing well so far, good luck on 95kgs[/quote]

Interesting. I might see how that goes. Seems a lot to be gaining per kg. Considering ive gained just over 2cms and 3.5kgs. That means id get to a 38" waist or gain 8cm for 8kgs. Seems excessive. Ill let your guys know how it turns out. Maybe ill post in performance photos at the end of june. Good to see another ozzy on here :slight_smile:

49

[quote]pro-a-ggression wrote:

[quote]its_just_me wrote:

[quote]ProjectX wrote:
so we’re on the same page here… where are you guys measuring your waist?

i do mine over the belly button.[/quote]

It is quite important to know this, there can be a big difference between your waist and stomach (belly button). For example, someone with a 40 inch stomach (largest part) may still be able to comfortably fit into 34" pants. Someone who has a 40 inch stomach may have a 37 inch waist.

Generally, you measure the smallest part for the waist; tall individuals may have to measure higher above the belly button than shorter people.

[/quote]

Yeah,nah not talking bout fitting into pants. Waist may have been the wrong word. But i think most would understand that your belly button is the place to measure you ‘gut’ to see whether it needs fixing or not. [/quote]

A waist measurement is usually taken at the narrowest point, however I always measure at my belly button or just above as thats the narrowest point for me anyway. If someone was to have a large gut I guess that may not be the case.

50

[quote]pro-a-ggression wrote:

[quote]Doyle wrote:
I started a thread on waist measurement a while ago but we didnt get around to this specific topic.

I agree with what others are saying 5-10 pounds of weight gain for an inch on your waist.

As a fellow ozzy you might find it easier the way I think of it, I like to keep it under 1cm for every kg of body weight. Obviously you would wait untill you gain a couple of kgs before making the comparison.
Recently I’ve only gained 3cm going from 85-89kg so I know I’m doing well.

Looks like your doing well so far, good luck on 95kgs[/quote]

Interesting. I might see how that goes. Seems a lot to be gaining per kg. Considering ive gained just over 2cms and 3.5kgs. That means id get to a 38" waist or gain 8cm for 8kgs. Seems excessive. Ill let your guys know how it turns out. Maybe ill post in performance photos at the end of june. Good to see another ozzy on here :slight_smile:
[/quote]

It does seem like a lot but is comparitable with what others are saying (works out to be aroung 1 inch for 8 pounds).

Like I said I aim to keep the ratio better than that, and you can probably expect to as well based on your progress so far.

In the end it comes down to what level of bodyfat you are willing to accept in order to gain muscle, and also how confident you are that you can loose excess fat while maintaining the muscle you gained.

How quickly you gain the weight, how your clothes fit, what you look like and also whether or not your strength is increasing comparitively are equally important if your trying to assess the quality of your weight gain.
Good luck.

51

I think between 5 and 8 pound for an inch and you can be pretty sure you are gaining almost only fat. When I was loosing weight at first (I was 375 lbs), I was loosing around 7-8 pound for an inch on my waist while gaining some muscle.

Last year I gained 45 pound and 3 inches on my waist (215 to 260 lbs) and I still think I did get to fat too quickly ( around 15 pounds for an inch), but this is another story.

I think that if you are doing heavy deadlift and squat, you can expect to add size to your waist, no choice. Not everyone are storing fat the same way. I more a big ass big legs type guy.

52

[quote]ALX wrote:
I think between 5 and 8 pound for an inch and you can be pretty sure you are gaining almost only fat. When I was loosing weight at first (I was 375 lbs), I was loosing around 7-8 pound for an inch on my waist while gaining some muscle.

Last year I gained 45 pound and 3 inches on my waist (215 to 260 lbs) and I still think I did get to fat too quickly ( around 15 pounds for an inch), but this is another story.

I think that if you are doing heavy deadlift and squat, you can expect to add size to your waist, no choice. Not everyone are storing fat the same way. I more a big ass big legs type guy.[/quote]

That does not make sense :confused: Is there a typo in there or something?

We’re talking about gaining, not exactly the same as losing. I don’t think the waist goes down in direct correlation to gaining. For example, if a bodybuilder gains 40 pounds and puts 5 inches on his waist, he wouldn’t have to lose 40 pounds to shrink his waist to the same size as before, because out of that 40lbs, only about 30-40% of it was fat gain (assuming he did it right). Although, it must be pointed out that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an advanced person to shrink his stomach to the original size (assuming he wasn’t fat to start with).

53

[quote]Doyle wrote:

[quote]pro-a-ggression wrote:

[quote]Doyle wrote:
I started a thread on waist measurement a while ago but we didnt get around to this specific topic.

I agree with what others are saying 5-10 pounds of weight gain for an inch on your waist.

As a fellow ozzy you might find it easier the way I think of it, I like to keep it under 1cm for every kg of body weight. Obviously you would wait untill you gain a couple of kgs before making the comparison.
Recently I’ve only gained 3cm going from 85-89kg so I know I’m doing well.

Looks like your doing well so far, good luck on 95kgs[/quote]

Interesting. I might see how that goes. Seems a lot to be gaining per kg. Considering ive gained just over 2cms and 3.5kgs. That means id get to a 38" waist or gain 8cm for 8kgs. Seems excessive. Ill let your guys know how it turns out. Maybe ill post in performance photos at the end of june. Good to see another ozzy on here :slight_smile:
[/quote]

It does seem like a lot but is comparitable with what others are saying (works out to be aroung 1 inch for 8 pounds).

Like I said I aim to keep the ratio better than that, and you can probably expect to as well based on your progress so far.

In the end it comes down to what level of bodyfat you are willing to accept in order to gain muscle, and also how confident you are that you can loose excess fat while maintaining the muscle you gained.

How quickly you gain the weight, how your clothes fit, what you look like and also whether or not your strength is increasing comparitively are equally important if your trying to assess the quality of your weight gain.
Good luck.
[/quote]

It all depends on age, training age, and genetics.

If you are young, and / or a beginner, you can expect to gain at the upper range (e.g. near 10lbs per inch on the waist). But as one gets older, or / and newbie gains dry out, or / and you genetically hold more fat around the midsection, you can’t expect that much muscle per inch increase.

54

[quote]its_just_me wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:
I think between 5 and 8 pound for an inch and you can be pretty sure you are gaining almost only fat. When I was loosing weight at first (I was 375 lbs), I was loosing around 7-8 pound for an inch on my waist while gaining some muscle.

Last year I gained 45 pound and 3 inches on my waist (215 to 260 lbs) and I still think I did get to fat too quickly ( around 15 pounds for an inch), but this is another story.

I think that if you are doing heavy deadlift and squat, you can expect to add size to your waist, no choice. Not everyone are storing fat the same way. I more a big ass big legs type guy.[/quote]

That does not make sense :confused: Is there a typo in there or something?

We’re talking about gaining, not exactly the same as losing. I don’t think the waist goes down in direct correlation to gaining. For example, if a bodybuilder gains 40 pounds and puts 5 inches on his waist, he wouldn’t have to lose 40 pounds to shrink his waist to the same size as before, because out of that 40lbs, only about 30-40% of it was fat gain (assuming he did it right). Although, it must be pointed out that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an advanced person to shrink his stomach to the original size (assuming he wasn’t fat to start with).[/quote]

I may be wrong or do not understand what you say. But let say, just for fun, a guy starting at 200 lbs, 6 foot and a wait of 32 inch. With a tape bodyfat estimate, he would have those stats:

Weight: 200 Lbs with a waist of 32
BF% 8%
Lean Body weight: 184 lbs
BodyFat weight: 16 lbs

Ok, remember this is pure broscience just for fun and I’m basing this on a standard bodyfat calculator with the waist, height and neck measure (the weight of course).

Lets say this guy gain 40 Lbs and 5 inches on his waist. Here is what I got from the body fat estimator:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 37
BF% 18%
Lean Body weight: 195 lbs
BodyFat weight: 45 lbs

This virtual guy would have gained 9 lbs of muscle and 29 pond of fat. This would be pathetic and chance are, that after the cut he may look the same. This is with a 8 pound for an inch.

To have gained as much muscle as fat 50/50, it would look like this:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 34.5
BF% 14%
Lean Body weight: 207 lbs
BodyFat weight: 33 lbs

This would be a gain of 23 lbs of muscle and 17 lbs of fat. 16 lbs for an inch on your waist.

This is all theory, but I think it’s appropriate, since this thread is based on speculation anyway.

55

[quote]ALX wrote:

I may be wrong or do not understand what you say. But let say, just for fun, a guy starting at 200 lbs, 6 foot and a wait of 32 inch. With a tape bodyfat estimate, he would have those stats:

Weight: 200 Lbs with a waist of 32
BF% 8%
Lean Body weight: 184 lbs
BodyFat weight: 16 lbs

Ok, remember this is pure broscience just for fun and I’m basing this on a standard bodyfat calculator with the waist, height and neck measure (the weight of course).

Lets say this guy gain 40 Lbs and 5 inches on his waist. Here is what I got from the body fat estimator:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 37
BF% 18%
Lean Body weight: 195 lbs
BodyFat weight: 45 lbs

This virtual guy would have gained 9 lbs of muscle and 29 pond of fat. This would be pathetic and chance are, that after the cut he may look the same. This is with a 8 pound for an inch.

To have gained as much muscle as fat 50/50, it would look like this:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 34.5
BF% 14%
Lean Body weight: 207 lbs
BodyFat weight: 33 lbs

This would be a gain of 23 lbs of muscle and 17 lbs of fat. 16 lbs for an inch on your waist.

This is all theory, but I think it’s appropriate, since this thread is based on speculation anyway.[/quote]

The problem is that your assuming that this person’s bodyfat is directly and linearly related to their waist size. Nothing in your theory accounts for a thickening of the muscles in the core or the simple fact that certain people may store most of their fat in the waist. That’s why the more accurate skinfold body fat tests are taken from at least 7 different points on the body.

56

[quote]ALX wrote:

[quote]its_just_me wrote:

[quote]ALX wrote:
I think between 5 and 8 pound for an inch and you can be pretty sure you are gaining almost only fat. When I was loosing weight at first (I was 375 lbs), I was loosing around 7-8 pound for an inch on my waist while gaining some muscle.

Last year I gained 45 pound and 3 inches on my waist (215 to 260 lbs) and I still think I did get to fat too quickly ( around 15 pounds for an inch), but this is another story.

I think that if you are doing heavy deadlift and squat, you can expect to add size to your waist, no choice. Not everyone are storing fat the same way. I more a big ass big legs type guy.[/quote]

That does not make sense :confused: Is there a typo in there or something?

We’re talking about gaining, not exactly the same as losing. I don’t think the waist goes down in direct correlation to gaining. For example, if a bodybuilder gains 40 pounds and puts 5 inches on his waist, he wouldn’t have to lose 40 pounds to shrink his waist to the same size as before, because out of that 40lbs, only about 30-40% of it was fat gain (assuming he did it right). Although, it must be pointed out that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for an advanced person to shrink his stomach to the original size (assuming he wasn’t fat to start with).[/quote]

I may be wrong or do not understand what you say. But let say, just for fun, a guy starting at 200 lbs, 6 foot and a wait of 32 inch. With a tape bodyfat estimate, he would have those stats:

Weight: 200 Lbs with a waist of 32
BF% 8%
Lean Body weight: 184 lbs
BodyFat weight: 16 lbs

Ok, remember this is pure broscience just for fun and I’m basing this on a standard bodyfat calculator with the waist, height and neck measure (the weight of course).

Lets say this guy gain 40 Lbs and 5 inches on his waist. Here is what I got from the body fat estimator:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 37
BF% 18%
Lean Body weight: 195 lbs
BodyFat weight: 45 lbs

This virtual guy would have gained 9 lbs of muscle and 29 pond of fat. This would be pathetic and chance are, that after the cut he may look the same. This is with a 8 pound for an inch.

To have gained as much muscle as fat 50/50, it would look like this:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 34.5
BF% 14%
Lean Body weight: 207 lbs
BodyFat weight: 33 lbs

This would be a gain of 23 lbs of muscle and 17 lbs of fat. 16 lbs for an inch on your waist.

This is all theory, but I think it’s appropriate, since this thread is based on speculation anyway.[/quote]

I think I understand where you’re coming from, and going wrong.

The tape bodyfat estimator is not taking into account the fact that that 40lbs is not just a general weight gain (like in a normal inactive person), but weight gain from bodybuilding. As I said earlier, 40lbs gain in a bodybuilder would be like 20-25lbs of muscle. Whereas, in your general inactive person, a 40lb gain would be like at least 90% fat (yes, believe it or not, you can gain some muscle even without exercise if you eat enough). So, that tape bodyfat estimator, is not taking into account muscle gains from a bodybuilder.

Also, what Sam said has to taken into account aswell.

57

To put your example into perspective (from bodybuilding point of view), here is how it could look:

Guy starting at 200 lbs, 6 foot and a waist of 32 inch. He would start off with these stats:

Weight: 200 Lbs with a waist of 32
BF 8%
Lean Body weight: 184 lbs
BodyFat weight: 16 lbs

This guy gains 40 Lbs and 5 inches on his waist:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 37
BF 13%
Lean Body weight: 209 lbs
BodyFat weight: 31 lbs

This virtual guy would have gained 25lbs of muscle and 15lbs pounds of fat. Not bad for 5 inches on the waist. Some people (e.g. older ones, people who store a lot of fat around the waist) would have to gain 8+ inches on their waist for these gains. Like I said earlier though, when this guy goes to trim down the “excess” fat (may take about 12 weeks), he shouldn’t expect to get down to exactly a 32 inch waist again (due to thickening of the midsection etc)…or at least, I think it would be quite unlikely/difficult without losing quite a bit of muscle.

To be more realistic though, your average person wouldn’t start off as lean as that (8%).

58

I’ve put on 30 lbs since July and have put on about 3 inches on my waist.

59

[quote]its_just_me wrote:
Guy starting at 200 lbs, 6 foot and a waist of 32 inch. He would start off with these stats:

Weight: 200 Lbs with a waist of 32
BF 8%
Lean Body weight: 184 lbs
BodyFat weight: 16 lbs

This guy gains 40 Lbs and 5 inches on his waist:

Weight: 240 Lbs with a waist of 37
BF 13%
Lean Body weight: 209 lbs
BodyFat weight: 31 lbs

This virtual guy would have gained 25lbs of muscle and 15lbs pounds of fat. Not bad for 5 inches on the waist. Some people (e.g. older ones, people who store a lot of fat around the waist) would have to gain 8+ inches on their waist for these gains. Like I said earlier though, when this guy goes to trim down the “excess” fat (may take about 12 weeks), he shouldn’t expect to get down to exactly a 32 inch waist again (due to thickening of the midsection etc)…or at least, I think it would be quite unlikely/difficult without losing quite a bit of muscle.

To be more realistic though, your average person wouldn’t start off as lean as that (8%).[/quote]

Not to mention I dont think most people would have such linear gains at one time. If you spread that weight gain over a few years through a cycle of bulking and cutting you could probably achieve such results. Personally Ive found that during any given bulking cycle my body seems to pack on muscle and strength in the first half of it, and then just starts putting on fat as time progresses. This might just be my imagination, or me being paranoid about getting to hefty though.

60

[quote]pro-a-ggression wrote:

[quote]mr popular wrote:
When I first started lifting weights (picture: before lifting) I was somewhat lean and had a waist less than 30 inches (@ 5’9, 130lbs).

At my fattest it was around 38 inches (there is a picture of me in that state somewhere in my post history if anyone cares, as well as my first competent bulk up to 180lbs). I think most of the muscle mass I gained in my core was directly correlated with the fast progress I made with my thighs - which is a personal theory of mine, that you can pretty much maintain your normal/small waist until your thighs get significantly large. Or rather, don’t expect to have a small waist in the middle of a large upper body and a large lower body… most bodies don’t seem to want to work that way, and you can even see this in the case of someone like Flex Wheeler when his thighs were at their largest, and he has arguably one of the best waists in bodybuilding history.

Also maybe worth mentioning, my waist shape has stayed relatively the same, and I think this is true for most people. If you have flaring obliques, or a very straight waist, or a tapering V-type waist, the shape is going to be visible at any reasonable bodyfat percentage (just bigger or smaller obviously), until you get upwards of 20% bodyfat or lower than 10% bodyfat… then things change a little.

But if I got back down to the level of bodyfat I was before lifting weights, I can’t imagine my waist being much larger than 31 inches or so. However, like I said, once my thighs are over 28 inches I think that is going to change.

Woops, I don’t think I answered your question at all![/quote]

No you didnt! But interesting none the less. What ya weighing these days? Without being a nut hugger, I must say you are probably one of the least-bullshit people on this site. I would like to shake your hand one day. Haha. Carry on.[/quote]

Thanks for the compliment. I’m around 190-195 these days.