How much should I weigh for my height? This is a popular question as body weight has enormous health implications. Below is an ideal weight calculator for interests sake. Simply enter a gender and height and press “Calculate”. After the ideal weight calculator is an explanation on how it works.
Please note that for particularly tall or short people, then only the last result (BBMI) will be relevant. Other limitations for people of all heights include: No regard for ethnicity, age, nor fat-muscle ratio. Really, this ideal weight calculator is just for interests sake and not for individuals for health purposes.
Please also note that this calculator is for adults. For children, see these growth charts.
The methods for the above results fall into three categories. These are described below.
Ideal Weight Calculator Formulas
Ideal body weight formulas have been developed for a variety of purposes. These range from determining drug dosages to insurance premiums to healthiness of one’s body weight. Below are some examples of formulas that have been developed over the years. Note how weight increases linearly with height. This is an incorrect assumption as people get wider as they get taller. The error will be small for near average height people, though significant for short and tall people.
G. J. Hamwi Formula (1964) Men: Men: 48.0 kg + 2.7 kg per inch over 5 feet Women: 45.5 kg + 2.2 kg per inch over 5 feet |
B. J. Devine Formula (1974) Men: 50.0 + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet Women: 45.5 + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet |
J. D. Robinson Formula (1983) Men: 52 kg + 1.9 kg per inch over 5 feet Women: 49 kg + 1.7 kg per inch over 5 feet |
D. R. Miller Formula (1983) Men: 56.2 kg + 1.41 kg per inch over 5 feet Women: 53.1 kg + 1.36 kg per inch over 5 feet |
Ideal Weight Calculator by Body Mass Index
Another common approach for calculating ideal body weight is to assume a mid-range BMI value and then calculate weight for a given height. A recent method by Lemmens does this with a BMI value of 22. The above calculator actually uses 21.7 as that is the actual midpoint. A problem with this approach is that it assumes the body scales with the square of height. While this is better than the linear assumption, it still underestimates the height-weight relationship. In actuality, the body scales somewhere between height squared and height cubed. Once again, the error introduced by this approximation is small for near average height people, but is significant for particularly short or tall people.
Underweight | BMI (BBMI) <= 18.5 |
Normal weight | BMI (BBMI) = 18.5–24.9 |
Overweight | BMI (BBMI) = 25–29.9 |
Obesity | BMI (BBMI) >= 30 |
Ideal Weight Calculator by Better Body Mass Index
The better body mass index (BBMI) assumes a default scaling power of 2.5, halfway between square and cube. Additionally, you can change the scaling power to see what your ideal body weight would be under the square or cubic assumptions.
How Much Should I Weigh for my Height?
As you can see, there are many conflicting approaches for determining ideal weight. So you might be wondering which one to go with. As a general suggestion, particularly tall and short people should prefer the BBMI. Otherwise, the Miller and Robinson formulas may be better given they account for gender while the BMI and BBMI do not.
A problem with all of these methods though is that they do not account for ethnicity, age, nor body composition (muscle fat ratio). This means that a muscular person might be incorrectly labeled as of unhealthy body weight. A better option for determining the healthiness of one’s body weight is to use a fat caliper or body composition analyzer.
References
National Institute of Health, Assessing Your Weight and Health Risk.
The origin of the “ideal” body weight equations
Determination of ideal body weight for drug dosage calculations
Estimating ideal body weight–a new formula
Damn…. looks like I need to drop about fifty pounds.
Me too but I knew that already but at 46 and having delivered 2 babies in my lifetime the skin doesn’t bounce back and gets lax even on areas that have little weight to drop such as calves. Plastic surgery skin tightening is expensive and who wants scars so I am debating staying a little plump yet healthy as it looks better vs aging me.
Yikes! That was depressing. Luckily I’m headed to the gym.
I’m not overweight, I am just much too short.
I hope you’re all looking at the BBMI, as the other formulas incorrectly account for how people actually scale.
Thanks!
Fun tool. I get to pick my ideal weight 🙂 Thanks Sam. I love you fun and insightful posts about our tallness!
Thanks, glad you like it!
While I LOVE the attempt to include us tall folks, I really don’t believe that true health can ever be measured by a tool. No offense to the institution who put this together, but it’s just too hard to put a number to health. According to this, I need to lose 22 pounds to be healthy…that weight for me is SO unhealthy. This picture of me is my ideal weight (which is 215 pounds by the way) and I think we need real conversation around what healthy looks like for tall women. Ladies & Gents, don’t let things like this discourage you, get you down, or feel bad about yourself! Your bodies are beautiful ❤️
Just because I think this is hilarious, my husband (in the picture) needs to lose close to 40 pounds to be considered healthy…not possible!
Looks to be perfect bodied per my standards. These charts are wacko encouraging anorexia/bulimia and self loathing.
Thank you so much Erica! I know I speak for a lot of tall women specifically when I say that BMI measurements of all kinds have led to negative body image and self-loathing. The sad thing is that not many people understand the inaccuracy. Thank you for helping to spread a positive message!
With the calculations, I would be stick man (worse than “bean pole!”)
Yeah still doesn’t look right.
Calculation is way off, good thing I have never lived my life by the scale. too depressing
According to all caclulators I am statistically OBESE at 30 BMI. Yep!!! You be the judge but I will be damned to call myself that! Sitting so not looking tall…was trying to decide which Land’s End Tall Aerobics swimsuit color to pick. Pink won over blue;)
LOVE this confidence Erica!! you go girl ❤️
167-188 is healthy range from all the calculators listed for my height of 6’2″ yet @ 235lbs plenty of guys still think I have desirable curves and wouldn’t have a clue I am considered medically obese. It would be fun to get a more accurate measure including muscle mass. I bike intervals level 10-18 at the gym and do 50 minute water aerobics classes not bad for an obese chick! Lol I never tell guys what I weigh as they have no idea what a 6’2″ female is supposed to be. Under 2bills finds me happiest yet hungriest while being @ gym 4-6x wk;) Trying to convince a fat cell that has expanded to enjoy returning to and staying flat without my becoming a vegan is madness!
I’m 6’6″ If i only weighed 212lbs, I’d be like a tooth pick.
My son is this height/weight and he is a toothpick. This scale is crazy.
I’m supposedly about 20 lb overweight at 6’4″, male (210-212 lb, vs. 189-190 with BBMI). That just isn’t realistic or, I think, desirable for me. I am at the gym 4-5 days/week. My normal workout is 60 minutes on the erg (aka Concept2 indoor rowing machine) at 220 watts (if I’m taking it easy) to 250-275 watts (if I’m cranking). If anybody here ergs, that’s 1:56-1:57 pace on an easy day and 1:48-1:52 when I’m going harder. That’s 90th percentile for my bracket (50-59 men’s heavyweight) on an easy day. Let’s just say I’m quite comfortable that I’m not overweight. At 190 lb there’s no way I’d have the energy reserves to do that. Much less during the spring and fall challenges, where the goal is simply to rack up meters for a month and I’m doing about 1/3 more.
(btw I read somewhere that the median build for top MHW rowers both on the water and on the erg is about 6’4″, 210 lb!)
Furthermore…muscle weighs more than fat. You could weigh less technically, but have less muscle mass.
I don’t personally have a problem w the number on a scale…my focus with fitness is building muscle. I would hope that my number increases in the process of gaining a “tighter” body. ( if that makes sense).
I don’t even remember what my info shows up at…but my employer has us do the annual physical thing as part of our health insurance requirements. Fine.
What is NOT fine is me getting taken into a separate room by a nurse to be counseled about my weight.
I am 175 lbs, 6’2″…athletic. I wear prob a size 10 most of the time…I mean, this is fine as far as I’m concerned.
I got counseled bc I’m obese.
WHAT? I was pissed.
The bmi scale is definitely not accurate for is tall folk!
Your stats are when I thought I was perfect…still had great boobs, butt and curves. You are not overweight. Shame on that company and the nurse!
The other thing that really bothered me about it is the fact that this kind of behavior could have prompted me to begin an unhealthy lifestyle.
I could have taken this criticism to heart and then end up with an eating disorder or something.
I just think that overall health should be taken in to consideration! So frustrating.
6’2″ and 175 lb sounds quite low if anything.
Tells me I weigh 90 lbs too much. Ridiculous… another site that calculates basic mass instead of muscle mass.
Uuummm no if I weighed this I would be a size 4..I actually enjoy my curves..I am healthy and happy..if I lose a little woo hoo but I’m not out to be a walking skeleton
I was blessed with a female physician who is six feet tall.
Omg I would have to lose over 100 pounds smh I know I’m overweight but I don’t want to be a bean pole
Like pretty much every BMI calculator, there is no consideration for those of athletic or muscular build. I assure you that many people of similar height that fall within the ideal weight have higher levels of body fat and lower levels of musculature than those of us who feel well outside of the upper limits.
I know that these are not your constructs, so that is not a criticism of your site or calculators.
A recent study claims that America is now the fattest nation in the world. If we were at healthy weight this wouldn’t be the case. Stop making excuses on why your overweight. Wether it’s I would be too small or I would look gross or I would be unhealthy. When in reality being overweight, wether it’s fat or muscle is hard on your heart. Look at photos of your grandparents when they were younger. Odds are they were thin. But were they unhealthy? Absolutely not. Recent generations are the first ones who are expected to die younger than their parents despite advances in medical technology. Yet we are at healthy weights? Theres enough food on the planet to feed everyone yet millions go to bed hungry or die from starvation every year. While America keeps getting fatter. Portion control is a huge issue here. I’m able to go to almost any restaurant and split a meal with my fiancé and both of us leave satisfied because of the giant portions. We need to stop making excuses for ourselves. Instead of trying to make excuses for our weight we need to address it. Obesity has become so normal we shame anyone who mentions another persons weight. This is rediculous. Weight is something we control. It’s not something we are born with like eye color or facial structure so it isn’t wrong to mention it. We shouldn’t get to a point where we are holding people to unreasonable standards such as trying to be the same weight as a super model. But we shouldn’t just allow our country keep eating more than our fair share every single day. You can keep saying you healthy or your at a happy weight but who are you trying to convince, others or yourself?
An old rule of thumb for women was 100 pounds at five feet tall plus 5 pounds per inch. That’s pretty darn close to the Hamwi and Devine formulas.
BMI is largely nonsense. A guy who is 5’10” and 175 pounds is not generally overweight despite being just over 25 BMI. OTOH, a 5’4″ woman with a 25 BMI is about 145 pounds, which tends to be a bit chunky.
At 6ft 6in and going to the gym every day, riding my bike almost 30 miles a day and two advanced step classes. My insurance co raised my premiums in CA saying that i was obese at 240.
I was aware insurance companies can be mislead by the BMI, but I’d never heard from anyone who personally may have been affected by this. Perhaps you could get more detailed measurements of body fat percentage by a medical practitioner and take this to them? There are all kinds of much better ways to calculate the healthiness of one’s weight. At 6’7″ and 220lbs in my prime I was extremely fit but even then I was classified as boderline overweight! For the same reason they don’t make cars that fit us, they don’t make guidelines either. Good luck and thanks for writing in about this!
I think your FOS, I weighed 190 @ 25 yrs of age and I was a kickboxer. My body was in great shape ( ok, fine I’m old and fat now). Your website says I should weigh 165, without considering age, that cannot be correct. You should consider bone structure in your analysis, mine is especially thick and supports me just fine even with my pot belly.
Consideration of age, fitness level, and body composition are outside the scope of the calculator and the formulas used, and this is clearly stated in the article.
According to the BBMI, my 11 year old daughter needs to GAIN about 16 pounds. What?
She’s 4″8.7 inches tall and 11 years and 6 months old. She weighs around 75 pounds. She’s a little on the skinny side but so is her brothers who are nearly 6 and 8 and they’re a little OVER the “average weight”.
I’m not sure what to think about this. Is my daughter healthy?
This article is for interests sake only and the calculator has many limitations. It’s best to see a medical doctor for questions regarding health.
What I found interesting was the spread of how much a man should weigh depending on which method you used. A 6’5″ male was from 176 to 206. A thirty pound difference. It also varies for females but not to such an extreme. If you go by the Miller method anyone over 6ft would be toothpick thin.
I am short in stature, with height of 4.8ft and 46 years old. what is suppose to be my ideal weight?
Can’t say; this calculator isn’t specific to any one person.
so im 17,5″7 and weight 34kg apparently thats pretty underweight(biologicaly female)
The taller the person, the more muscle mass and body fat they have, which results in more weight. A male at a similar height to a female should weigh about 10-20% heavier. Body frame size is another factor that can have a significant impact on the measurement of ideal weight. Body frame size is typically categorized as small, medium, or large boned. It is measured based on the circumference of a person’s wrist in relation to their height, as shown below.
Everyone is complaining about how they would be a stick and how they need to loose so much weight…..can y’all give me some of your weight please
Looks like I need to drop 14 kilos, I have already lost 6 kilos by using low salt and not overeating sweets 🙂 now I am stuck at 93 kilos.
I also think your age group should come into it. At 57, I don’t move like I used to?
am I considered obese if im 200 lbs with no fat but im 6 2