Facebook InstagramBlue Sky Social

Ideal Weight Range

1. Enter your height in inches or centimeters.
2. Enter your sex.
3. Press Calculate.

Height

Sex

Ideal Weight Range

   From
   To
   pounds
   pounds
   kilograms
   kilograms

CHECK YOUR WRIST SIZE

To determine where you should be in the range, check your wrist size. Wrap your middle finger and thumb around your wrist.

  • If the fingers overlap, you're small-boned and should be on the lighter end of the scale.
  • If your fingers just touch, you'll probably be best around the middle.
  • If your fingers don't touch at all, your ideal body weight is probably at the higher end of the scale.

UNDER THE RANGE

Thin may be in, but being too thin can be unhealthy. Women primarily fall in this category, but it's not unheard of in men. Extreme cases may lead to anorexia, muscle wasting, bone degeneration and even death. If you are under the range, visit a doctor or nutritionist to see what steps you can take to add muscle and put on some healthy weight.

WITHIN THE RANGE

Congratulations. You are in a very select group. Your weight is considered ideal. You should concentrate on proper nutrition and an exercise program to keep yourself in that range.

ABOVE THE RANGE

Talk to your doctor or nutritionist about starting a program to lose weight now. But don't just go on a diet. Studies have shown that losing weight through a combination of diet and exercise provides the best long-term results. Most people who only diet tend to gain back all the weight they lose, plus some, within two years. If you put the weight back on, you are wiping out the benefits of the weight loss.

CAUTION!

One thing standardized formulas fail to consider is people who have more muscle. If you're heavier than the ideal range that this calculator shows, it's OK as long as your body fat is within acceptable ranges. That means for men, your body fat should be at 17% or below and women 24% or below.

If you're more than 20% higher than the ideal range for your body, even with a low body fat, your odds of suffering from health related complications starts to increase. Muscle is good, but there's a point where even too much of that isn't beneficial.

Click Here to return to Fitness Calculators Main Page.

Updated 2/5/2016