How weight are you

BMI healthy weight calculator

Use this calculator to check your body mass index (BMI) and find out if you’re a healthy weight. Or you can use it to check your child’s BMI.

Understanding your BMI result

Underweight

Being underweight could be a sign you’re not eating enough or you may be ill. If you’re underweight, a GP can help.

Healthy weight

Keep up the good work! For tips on maintaining a healthy weight, check out the food and diet and fitness sections.

Overweight

The best way to lose weight if you’re overweight is through a combination of diet and exercise.

The BMI calculator will give you a personal calorie allowance to help you achieve a healthy weight safely.

Obese

The best way to lose weight if you’re obese is through a combination of diet and exercise, and, in some cases, medicines. See a GP for help and advice.

Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups

Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups have a higher risk of developing some long-term (chronic) conditions, such as type 2 diabetes.

These adults with a BMI of:

Why waist size also matters

Measuring your waist is a good way to check you’re not carrying too much fat around your stomach, which can raise your risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

You can have a healthy BMI and still have excess tummy fat, meaning you’re still at risk of developing these conditions.

To measure your waist:

Regardless of your height or BMI, you should try to lose weight if your waist is:

You’re at very high risk and should contact a GP if your waist is:

Children’s BMI

For children and young people aged 2 to 18, the BMI calculator takes into account age and gender as well as height and weight.

Overweight children are thought to be at increased risk of a variety of health conditions, and they’re also more likely to be overweight as adults.

The BMI calculator works out if a child or young person is:

A child’s BMI is expressed as a «centile» to show how their BMI compares with children who took part in national surveys.

For example, a girl on the 75th centile is heavier than 75 out of 100 other girls her age.

Measuring waist size is not routinely recommended for children because it does not take their height into account.

See a GP if you’re concerned about your child’s weight. They may be able to refer you to your local healthy lifestyle programme for children, young people and families.

Limitations of the BMI

Your BMI can tell you if you’re carrying too much weight, but it cannot tell if you’re carrying too much fat.

The BMI cannot tell the difference between excess fat, muscle or bone.

The adult BMI does not take into account age, gender or muscle mass.

Pregnancy will also affect a woman’s BMI result. Your BMI will go up as your weight increases. You should use your pre-pregnancy weight when calculating your BMI.

Apart from these limitations, the BMI is a relatively straightforward and convenient way of assessing someone’s weight.

Eating disorders

If you have an eating disorder, the BMI calculator results do not apply. Please get further advice from a GP.

Next steps

You can use your BMI result as a starting point for further discussion with a GP about your weight and general health.

Find out how your GP can help you lose weight and check out the Change4Life website for practical tips on staying healthy as a family.

A BMI above the healthy weight range or too much fat around your waist can increase your risk of serious health problems like:

More in Healthy weight

Page last reviewed: 5 November 2018
Next review due: 5 November 2021

How to Calculate Your Ideal Weight

Use BMI data or weight-for-height charts to suggest a healthy weight

Wendy Bumgardner is a freelance writer covering walking and other health and fitness topics and has competed in more than 1,000 walking events.

Vanessa Nzeh, MD, is an internal medicine and pediatrics physician who is passionate about patient advocacy, the integration of maternal and child health, as well as increasing diversity and inclusion in medical education.

Adults can use the charts below to find the traditional ideal weight for their height and a healthy body mass index (BMI). While older methods used different equations for men and women, a 2016 study proposed a universal equation based on body mass index.

A BMI of 22 is in the middle of the normal weight range and is associated with the best health outcomes. These charts are not valid for children or teens.

Remember that ideal weight is not an absolute target for either appearance or health. The values in the charts are estimates and may not consider factors like muscle mass or health conditions that affect weight.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a dated, biased measure that doesn’t account for several factors, such as body composition, ethnicity, race, gender, and age.

Despite being a flawed measure, BMI is widely used today in the medical community because it is an inexpensive and quick method for analyzing potential health status and outcomes.

How Ideal Weight Is Calculated

The traditional ideal weight calculation is a rule of thumb rather than based on health research or a comprehensive study of population averages.

These equations were developed for use by doctors to calculate drug dosages. They tend to overestimate ideal weight at shorter heights and underestimate it at taller heights.

However, a 2016 study found that the results correlate well with the body mass index of 21 for women and 22.5 for men, which is near the middle of the healthy BMI range. The authors of the study suggest a different equation using body mass index.

The healthy BMI range is the same for men and women, so the results apply to both. The healthy normal weight range is a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9; a body mass index of 22 is in the middle of that range.

Updated Equations for Ideal Weight

The biggest differences between the older equations and the newer equation come in the taller height range. Also, the ideal for women is the same as for men when using BMI, and the new equation allows a few pounds more at each height for women than the older charts. 

Why People Weigh More or Less

You can be healthy in a wide range of weights, but being underweight is associated with poor health outcomes and higher mortality for some conditions, as is being far above the healthy BMI range.

If your weight is above that of the ideal for your height on the charts, it is tempting to think that it is because you are lean but very muscular. This may be true in some cases, but most people usually weigh more because they have more body fat.

Your body mass index, calculated from your height and weight, is commonly used by health authorities to assess if you are overweight or obese.

Very muscular people may have a higher body mass index while still having low body fat. Meanwhile, people who have lost and replaced muscle mass with fat may appear to have a normal BMI when they have too much body fat and insufficient muscle for good health outcomes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends using both the BMI and your waist circumference to determine whether you are at a healthy weight. According to the CDC, a waist over 35 inches for non-pregnant women and over 40 inches for men indicates a higher risk of obesity-related conditions.

Bone Structure

One factor of why you may way more or less is based on bone structure. Those with thicker, more dense bones will naturally tend to weigh more than those with thinner, less dense bones at the same body composition levels.

You can take your body frame size into account, if you choose, by measuring your wrist.

How to Determine Your Body Frame Size

Women:

Men:

After determining your frame size, you can factor that into equations to determine your ideal body weight (IBW). ​For women of medium frames, the equation takes a baseline of 100 pounds, then adds 5 pounds for each inch of height above 5 feet. It looks like this: IBW (lb) = 100 + 5 x (Ht – 60 in)

The equation for men of medium frames takes a baseline of 106 pounds and adds 6 pounds for each inch of height above 5 feet, which looks like this: IBW (lb) = 106 + 6 x (Ht – 60 in). If you have a small frame, subtract 10%, and if you have a large frame, add 10% to the answer you get for medium frames.

Ideal Height Weight Chart for Adults

If you’re wondering what your ideal weight is based on your height, this chart which is based on the updated equations, can help.

Assessing Your Weight

A high amount of body fat can lead to weight-related diseases and other health issues. Being underweight is also a health risk. Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference are screening tools to estimate weight status in relation to potential disease risk. However, BMI and waist circumference are not diagnostic tools for disease risks. A trained healthcare provider should perform other health assessments to evaluate disease risk and diagnose disease status.

How to Measure and Interpret Weight Status

Adult Body Mass Index or BMI

Weight that is higher than what is considered as a healthy weight for a given height is described as overweight or obese. Weight that is lower than what is considered as healthy for a given height is described as underweight. 1

At an individual level, BMI can be used as a screening tool but is not diagnostic of the body fatness or health of an individual. A trained healthcare provider should perform appropriate health assessments in order to evaluate an individual’s health status and risks.

How to Measure Height and Weight for BMI

Height and weight must be measured to calculate BMI. It is most accurate to measure height in meters and weight in kilograms. However, the BMI formula has been adapted for height measured in inches and weight measured in pounds. These measurements can be taken in a healthcare provider’s office, or at home using a tape measure and scale.

Ideal Weight Calculator

The Ideal Weight Calculator computes ideal body weight (IBW) ranges based on height, gender, and age. The idea of finding the IBW using a formula has been sought after by many experts for a long time. Currently, there persist several popular formulas, and our Ideal Weight Calculator provides their results for side-to-side comparisons.

Result

The ideal weight based on popular formulas:

How Much Should I Weigh?

Most everyone has at some point tried to lose weight, or at least known somebody who has. This is largely due to the perception of an «ideal» body weight, which is often based on what we see promoted through various media such as social media, TV, movies, magazines, etc. Although ideal body weight (IBW) today is sometimes based on perceived visual appeal, IBW was actually introduced to estimate dosages for medical use, and the formulas that calculate it are not at all related to how a person looks at a given weight. It has since been determined that the metabolism of certain drugs is more based on IBW than it is total body weight. Today, IBW is also used widely throughout sports, since many sports classify people based on their body weight.

Note that IBW is not a perfect measurement. It does not consider the percentages of body fat and muscle in a person’s body. This means that it is possible for highly fit, healthy athletes to be considered overweight based on their IBW. This is why IBW should be considered with the perspective that it is an imperfect measure and not necessarily indicative of health, or a weight that a person should necessarily strive toward; it is possible to be over or under your «IBW» and be perfectly healthy.

How much a person should weigh is not an exact science. It is highly dependent on each individual. Thus far, there is no measure, be it IBW, body mass index (BMI), or any other that can definitively state how much a person should weigh to be healthy. They are only references, and it’s more important to adhere to making healthy life choices such as regular exercise, eating a variety of unprocessed foods, getting enough sleep, etc. than it is to chase a specific weight based on a generalized formula.

That being said, many factors can affect the ideal weight; the major factors are listed below. Other factors include health conditions, fat distribution, progeny, etc.

In theory, age shouldn’t be a large determinant of an IBW past the ages of 14-15 for girls and 16-17 for boys, after which most people stop growing. It is actually expected that human males and females to lose 1.5 and 2 inches in height respectively by age 70. It is important to remember that as people age, lean muscle mass decreases and it is easier to accumulate excess body fat. This is a natural process, though it is possible to lessen the effects of aging by adopting various habits such as monitoring diet, exercise, stress, and sleep.

Generally, females weigh less than males even though they naturally have a higher percentage of body fat. This is because the male body generally has higher muscle mass, and muscle is heavier than fat. Not only that, but women generally have lower bone density. Last but not least, males tend to be taller than females.

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

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.

A person who is large boned will naturally weigh more than someone who is small boned, even at the same height, making body frame size a factor that can affect measurements such as IBW and BMI.

Formulas for Finding the Ideal Weight

IBW formulas were developed mainly to facilitate drug dosage calculations. All of the formulas, have the same format of a base weight given a height of 5 feet, with a set weight increment added per inch over the height of 5 feet. For example, if you are a 5’10» male estimating your ideal weight with the Devine formula, you would add (2.3 × 10) kg to 50 kg to get 73 kg, or

The formulas differ in the values used based on the research of the scientists involved in their development, and their findings. The Devine formula is the most widely used formula for the measurement of IBW.

G. J. Hamwi Formula (1964)

Invented for medicinal dosage purposes.

B. J. Devine Formula (1974)

Similar to the Hamwi Formula, it was originally intended as a basis for medicinal dosages based on weight and height. Over time, the formula became a universal determinant of IBW.

J. D. Robinson Formula (1983)

Modification of the Devine Formula.

D. R. Miller Formula (1983)

Modification of the Devine Formula.

Healthy BMI Range

BMI is a commonly used metric for determining IBW. It is widely used in the medical field as a quick indicator of possible health complications. Generally, the higher the BMI, the higher the chance a person will suffer from health problems such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and many more. It is an indicator used by doctors to advise their patients of potential health problems, especially if there is a noticeable progressive increase in their BMI, and is currently the official metric for classifying individuals according to different obesity levels.

Healthy BMI Range for Children

All the formulas above are for adults age 18 or older. For children and teens, please refer to the following BMI charts published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recommends that children maintain a BMI between the 5 th and 85 th percentile based on their age.

Limitations of our IBW calculator

There are limitations to all the formulas and methods. Because the formulas are designed to be as applicable to as wide a range of people as possible, they cannot be highly accurate for every single individual. The formulas factor only height and gender, and there are no considerations for physical handicaps, people on the extreme ends of the spectrum, activity levels, or muscle mass to body fat ratios, otherwise known as body composition. Our Ideal Weight Calculator is meant to be used as a general guideline based on popular formulas, and its results are not intended as strict values that a person must achieve to be considered an «ideal weight.»

How Much Weight Should I Lift?

Verywell / Ben Goldstein

Wondering how much weight to lift is a common question for both beginner and advanced weight lifters, for good reason. Choosing an appropriate weight for your current fitness level is essential for achieving fitness goals and minimizing the risk of injury.

How Much Weight Should You Lift?

Figuring out how much your muscles can reasonably handle is often a process of trial and error. You don’t want to go too low and avoid the tension needed to build muscles. But you also don’t want to go too high and have to swing your body to lift a weight.

To pinpoint your ideal weight and know when it’s time to lift heavier weights, follow three rules:

A 10-exercise workout program involving three sets of 10 repetitions for each exercise is a good starting point for a general fitness plan. To determine the ideal weight for a specific exercise:

Determine Your Goals

The first step is figuring out which goals you want to achieve during your weight-training sessions, whether that is building strength, improving overall fitness, or increasing muscle size. For each goal, there are ideal rep ranges, set numbers, and weekly training schedules.

Gain or Maintain Overall Fitness

For beginners or people looking to maintain overall fitness, a good goal is to do 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps. This means choosing a weight that allows you to complete this many reps without struggling to finish the set.

A strength training session that works all the muscles of the body, including the hips, legs, abdomen, chest, back, shoulders, and arms, two to three days per week is plenty for maintaining overall fitness.

Improve Muscle Strength

For building strength, any rep range will work, but for best results, be sure to include 2 to 5 heavier sets of 3 to 5 reps. To build strength, the goal should be fewer reps at a higher weight that challenges you during each repetition. However, it is wise to establish a solid overall fitness level before moving on to heavier weights, since heavier weights come with more risk if your form is not correct.

Aim for 2 to 4 days of strength training per week, and be sure to take rest days in between. The heavier weight will break down your muscle tissue, and you will require rest and recovery to repair that damage. That repair process helps build stronger muscles.

Increase Muscle Size

Increasing muscle size, also called hypertrophy, will occur whether you train at the lower rep range with higher weight or a higher rep range (8 to 12 reps per set) with a moderately challenging weight. The key to increasing muscle size is volume, meaning adding more sets and reps to your workout over time. You can spread these additional sets and reps over your weekly training sessions.

For beginners, 1 to 3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions per exercise with a moderate load (70% to 85% of one-rep max) is ideal. More advanced individuals looking to further develop muscle mass can perform 3 to 6 sets of 1 to 12 repetitions at 70% to 100% of one-rep max. Aim for 12 to 28 sets per muscle group per week, spread over 3 to 5 training days, for optimal muscle growth.

One-rep max (1RM) is a measure of the amount of weight you can lift for a particular exercise for one repetition. It is often calculated using a 1RM calculator where you can input max weight lifted for multiple reps and it will provide you with an equivalent 1RM estimate. For instance, the amount of weight you can lift to fatigue for 8 repetitions is approximately 80% of your 1RM.

Ensure Proper Form

One of the things people fail to realize when lifting weights is how much their bodies move to assist in moving the weight. Unfortunately, this can undermine the very goal of an exercise, which is to isolate and contract a particular muscle or muscle group.

When lifting a weight, you always need to focus on isolating a muscle during the movement. If you swing your body, you are using momentum to lift the weight. By doing so, you are dispersing the energy meant for one muscle to many muscles.

This is why people who grunt, arch their backs, or drop their weights are doing themselves a disservice (and likely annoying others in the process). By simply lowering their weight to a reasonable level, they can achieve so much more with so much less.

Maintain this focus when doing any weightlifting exercise. Keep your back flat, shoulders square, hips level, abdomen taut, and head and neck relaxed but lifted. Not only will this help you maintain proper form, but it can also help direct which weight is appropriate for the exercise you are doing.

If you cannot lift your chosen weight with proper form, it is too heavy, and you should use a lighter weight. Seek the guidance of a personal trainer if you are unsure about your form.

When to Increase Weight

If you find you can do the last lift with little effort, then it’s time to increase the weight. Progressive overload (adding more weight over time) is a fundamental principle of weight training. If you don’t continually challenge your body by increasing your weights, you will eventually plateau even if you increase the number of exercises you do.

If your current weight is not challenging enough, but the next one up is too heavy, you have two choices for reaching the right fatigued state:

Here’s a trick that can help: Instead of lifting a weight standing unsupported, try pressing your back against a wall or post while doing an exercise. Try it with a bicep curl as an example. You’ll be surprised how much more difficult it is to lift a weight when your back and core muscles are not allowed to assist.

A Word From Verywell

If in doubt, work with a personal trainer for a few weeks to learn proper form and technique. Exercise is not always intuitive. Learning good habits at the start is always better than correcting mistakes later. You should always listen to your body when performing any exercise when lifting weights. If it feels like too much or if you are experiencing pain, stop immediately.

Hunter GR, Fisher G, Neumeier WH, Carter SJ, Plaisance EP. Exercise training and energy expenditure following weight loss. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2015;47(9):1950–1957. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000000622

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How much physical activity do adults need?.

Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, et al. Resistance training volume enhances muscle hypertrophy but not strength in trained men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019;51(1):94-103. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764