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Q: It's a statistic we hear frequently: Two out of every three Americans are overweight or obese, carrying enough excess fat to compromise their health. How do you know if you're one of those people? Do you need a body-fat test? A calculator? A blood work-up?

A: Actually, the best tool is a tape measure. Simply measure your waist circumference. If you're a woman and the number is greater than 35 inches, you're at higher increased for disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. For men, the magic number is 40.

Research indicates that waist circumference is a good reflection of how much abdominal fat is packed around your internal organs. It's this deep abdominal fat, known as visceral fat, that endangers your health. Visceral fat molecules head directly to the liver, compromising its ability to control insulin in the blood. Excess insulin can cause high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels, high triglycerides – conditions that typically foreshadow diabetes and heart disease.

Good Fat and Bad Fat ... Again
By contrast, fat that sits close to the skin – whether it's the jiggly inch you can pinch around your waist or the saddlebags on your thighs – doesn't seem to pose health risks. That's why body-fat testing – common at health clubs – doesn't tell you much about your health. Getting pinched by skin-fold calipers or zapped by an electrical-impedance gizmo can certainly inform you about your progress; if you're losing body fat and gaining muscle, you're heading in the right direction. The information is more useful than stepping on a scale. However, body-fat tests won't tell you about the location of your fat. With body fat, just as with real estate, location is everything.

Still, your waist circumference doesn't offer a definitive assessment of your health risk. It's also wise to have your doctor test your blood pressure, blood fat levels and blood sugar. If these measures suggest a problem, it's time to become more active and improve your eating habits.

If your tape measure or blood tests suggest that you are at risk, take heart: The type of fat that does the most damage is also the easiest to lose. Thigh fat tends to stubbornly cling to the body, but with lifestyle changes, deep abdominal fat can quickly melt away.

Small Changes
The best approach is to combine a moderate increase in exercise with small, manageable dietary changes. Also, since stress has been linked to abdominal fat, it's also important to minimize anxiety by getting enough sleep and taking time out to relax, whether in a yoga class or a daily five-minute meditation session at home.

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About Our Expert: Suzanne Schlosberg is the author of The Ultimate Workout Log and The Essential Fertility Log and coauthor of Fitness for Dummies and The Fat-Free Truth. She's a health and fitness writer living in Bend, Oregon.