Measuring your waist is simple and important for more than just knowing your clothing size. Your waist circumference can indicate if you're at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease. All you need is a tape measure to check your waist size. A healthy waist size varies depending on gender, height, frame, age, and ethnicity. Different health organizations have different methods to assess abdominal fat, also known as abdominal obesity. To measure your waist, place a tape measure around the smallest part of your middle. Your waist size is a good indicator of belly fat. Studies show a strong link between abdominal obesity and higher risks of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes, even in people with a healthy BMI. Visceral fat, which surrounds organs in your abdomen, is metabolically active and releases fats, hormones, and inflammatory chemicals into your blood, contributing to chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. High belly fat levels increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol. Visceral fat can lead to insulin resistance, resulting in high blood sugar, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes. Major health organizations use different methods to determine healthy waist size. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and American Heart Institute (AHI) consider only waist measurement. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the waist-to-hip ratio, defining abdominal obesity as a ratio of more than 0.85 for women and 0.9 for men. Some experts believe the waist-to-height ratio is the most consistent way to measure belly fat. A ratio over 0.5 indicates a higher risk for health problems. BMI is another measure but can be inaccurate for people with lots of muscle mass or those who are very tall or short. Waist size, together with BMI, can be a better measure of health risks. To reduce waist size, focus on losing weight through diet and exercise.