To measure your belly, wrap a flexible, non-stretchy tape measure around your bare midsection at the level of your navel or just above your hip bones, keeping the tape horizontal and snug without compressing the skin. The whole process takes about 30 seconds, but small details in where you place the tape, how you breathe, and how tight you pull it can shift the number by several centimeters.
Where to Place the Tape
There are two widely used landmarks, and both are considered valid. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends measuring at the top of your hip bones (the bony ridge you can feel on each side of your lower abdomen). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the midpoint between your lowest rib and the top of your hip bones, which typically falls right around or just above the belly button. For most people, these two spots are only a centimeter or two apart. If you’re tracking changes over time, just pick one location and stick with it.
To find the NIH spot, place your fingers on the top edge of your hip bone on one side. That bony crest is your reference point. For the WHO spot, feel for your lowest rib, then feel for the top of your hip bone, and aim for the halfway point between them. Either way, the tape should sit in a perfectly horizontal line all the way around your torso.
Step-by-Step Measurement
Stand upright with your feet about hip-width apart and your weight evenly distributed. Remove or lift any clothing around your midsection so the tape sits directly against skin. Wrap the tape around your torso at your chosen landmark, making sure it doesn’t twist or dip lower in the back than the front.
Breathe normally, then let a gentle breath out. Read the number at the end of a normal exhale, not while holding your breath or after a deep sigh. The tape should be snug enough that it stays in place on its own but loose enough that you could slide a finger underneath. Don’t pull it tight enough to press into your skin, and resist the urge to suck in your stomach. Both of these will give you an artificially low number.
Common Mistakes That Skew Results
Research on measurement error identifies several factors that consistently throw off readings. Measuring over clothing, even a thin shirt, can add enough bulk to change the result. Compressing the skin by pulling the tape too tight is another frequent problem, especially when people are hoping for a smaller number. A tilted tape that rides higher in the front than the back (or vice versa) creates an inaccurate path around the body.
Posture, the phase of your breathing, and even the time since your last meal all contribute to variation. For the most consistent tracking, measure at the same time of day, ideally in the morning before eating, and use the same technique every time. Your body can fluctuate by a centimeter or more across the day due to food, water, and bloating alone.
Choosing the Right Tape Measure
Use a flexible, non-stretchy tape. The best option is a vinyl-coated fiberglass tape, the kind sold as a sewing or body tape measure. These materials won’t shrink, tear, or stretch over time, so you get consistent readings month after month. Metal construction tapes and elastic fabric tapes are both poor choices: metal tapes don’t conform to your body’s curves, and elastic tapes stretch under tension, giving you a different number depending on how hard you pull.
What the Numbers Mean for Health
Your belly measurement is one of the simplest ways to estimate how much fat is stored around your internal organs. This visceral fat behaves differently from fat under the skin. It functions almost like an endocrine organ, releasing inflammatory compounds and free fatty acids into the bloodstream. Those substances raise blood pressure, promote insulin resistance, and increase cholesterol levels. A systematic review in the Journal of Public Health Research found that high waist circumference is linked to increased risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, obstructive sleep apnea, joint pain, and low back pain.
For people of European descent, widely used thresholds put elevated risk at 94 cm (37 inches) for men and 80 cm (31.5 inches) for women, with substantially increased risk at 102 cm (40 inches) for men and 88 cm (34.5 inches) for women. These cutoffs vary by ethnicity. Research suggests that for African American women, the optimal threshold for identifying cardiovascular risk is closer to 97 cm, about 9 cm higher than the standard guideline of 88 cm. For Asian populations, health risks tend to accumulate at lower body measurements overall, so standard thresholds may underestimate risk.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio
If you want a fuller picture of how your body distributes fat, you can calculate your waist-to-hip ratio. Measure your waist as described above, then measure around the widest part of your buttocks. Divide your waist number by your hip number. The WHO considers a ratio above 0.90 for men or above 0.85 for women to indicate significantly increased risk of heart disease and other metabolic conditions.
Waist-to-Height Ratio
Another useful metric divides your waist circumference by your height. A ratio of 0.5 or higher is the commonly cited threshold, meaning your waist measures half your height or more. A meta-analysis in Current Developments in Nutrition found that waist-to-height ratio outperformed both BMI and standard waist circumference in screening for metabolic syndrome in adults, with particularly strong accuracy in men. Optimal cutoffs in studies generally fell between 0.50 and 0.59, with specific thresholds of around 0.51 for identifying abnormal cholesterol levels and 0.52 for hypertension.
This ratio has one practical advantage: it automatically adjusts for body size, so a single threshold works across a wider range of people without needing separate cutoffs for men and women. If your waist measures less than half your height, you’re generally in a lower-risk category.