I always heard we measure at our waist, where it bends. So bend over to see where that bend in your waist is at, then stand up and put the measuring tape around that section.

I am apple shaped and that makes it really hard to determine where my waist is! I have more of an indent in my back than I do in front, so I start by placing the tape measure across the indent and around to the front, looking in the mirror from the side to be sure I am keeping it level all the way around.

I always take two measurements - a "natural waist" measurement around the thinnest part of my waist and a "belly" measurement around the thickest part. I figure I've got it all covered that way.

Thanks again everyone!

Runningfromfat--that's a good point about the waist to hip ratio. Some women simply have bigger hips than others...

EmmaD--this is fairly disturbing to me too.

I think I'll just focus on being healthy--and will not expect to get below .6 on the waist to hip ratio.
I'll also keep an eye on the glycemic index when I eat, since women who tend to gain visceral fat are "predisposed" to insulin resistance (according to the all-knowing Wikipedia). And I have several close relatives with Diabetes.

To preserve my sanity, I measure two measurements:

my natural waist- smallest part about an inch above my navel, or the the natural bend when I go sideways, this is 27 inches while around my navel which is my widest and this is 29 inches

I try to see how they both change as I realize I put on weight faster around the navel. If they both keep going up, then I know I have a problem (doesn't matter if I am using the correct one- I am actually using two and one must be correct..lol)

My hips are down from 42 to 39 and as a pear shaped, i can my weight in my hips and thighs. For me, Waist-to-Hip ratio is between .71 and .74 depending on the weight measurement I use. However the weirdest thing is that my Waist-to-Hip ratio was under 0.7 BEFORE I lost 37 lbs, so I am not sure I believe that it is an accurate measurement. I tend to keep me shape even as I get bigger but i find it hard to believe that with more weight, I was more healthy!