Height & Weight Charts for Men

You can stay healthy by eating right and maintaining an active lifestyle. This will help prevent obesity, heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses associated with being sedentary or overweight. Each gender has its own recommended weight for a certain height. It is difficult to pinpoint an exact number for this, but health care professionals have developed height/weight charts to provide a healthy weight range for the public.

Body Mass Index

• The height/weight chart range provides a numerical measurement known as the body mass index or BMI. BMI is calculated by measuring your weight at a specific height. This number is an estimate of body fat and a good indicator of obesity. A man will want to be in the healthy range with a BMI of between 19 and 24.9.

Risk Factors

• Doctors look at this number to gauge a man's risk for diseases that can occur with an increased amount of body fat. The higher a man's BMI, the higher risk he has for certain diseases such as heart disease and certain cancers. Some men will already have a higher risk because of hereditary and lifestyle factors.

Considerations

• Not every man will fall in the healthy range, but before becoming concerned it is a good idea to assess the other factors in body composition. Bone and muscle mass play a key role in total body weight. Muscular athletes may fall in the higher range because their lean mass is greater than that of the average person. Muscle weighs more than fat and can therefore create unnecessary worry.

Reference Charts

• Height/weight charts or BMI charts can be found in doctor's offices, health clubs and nutrition centers. Several websites also provide charts that can be printed for self-monitoring. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has a BMI chart posted on its website (see Resources).