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Ideal Weight Vs. Height

With the number of serious health risks associated with being overweight or obese, knowing your ideal weight can help you prevent health complications. Height is a factor in many of the standard formulas used to estimate ideal weight. But are such formulas the best way to assess health risk?

  1. Hamwi Formula

    • The Hamwi Formula takes into consideration an individual's gender and body frame size, contrasting this with height to arrive at an ideal weight range.

    Body Mass Index

    • Body Mass Index (BMI) is another way of assessing your ideal weight. BMI is equal to your weight in pounds, divided by the square of your height in inches, the total multiplied by 703. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.99 is considered healthy.

    Misconceptions

    • Neither BMI nor the Hamwi Formula takes into account the lean muscle composition of an individual. With a few extreme exceptions, muscle contributes to improved fitness. But since muscle weighs more than fat, people with above-average lean muscle mass tend to register inaccurately as overweight.

    Solution

    • Since excessive body fat leads to health risks and complications, the best way to gauge if your weight is healthy is to measure your body fat percentage.

    Method

    • The most accurate way to measure body fat is underwater with Hydrostatic density testing. (Res. 1.) An easier, but less accurate method is a formula that uses skinfold measurements. (Res. 2.) There are also scales on the market that use Bioelectrical impedance to estimate body fat percentage. (Ref. 3.)

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