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What Your Ideal Weight Should Be

Determining your ideal weight is not as simple as you might think. Variables such as body-fat percentage, genetics, lifestyle risk factors, age and body type affect what your ideal weight should be. Health professionals have set up ideal weight guidelines in order to help you avoid working towards what may be unreasonable or unhealthy goals.

  1. Body Mass Index

    • Health professionals use a simple ratio called BMI, or Body Mass Index, to determine how much fat you have. A health advisory committee at UCLA offers a simple formula for determining BMI: First, multiply your weight (in pounds) by 705. Divide the result by your height (in inches). Finally, divide the result by your height one more time. The number you arrive at is your BMI.

    Interpreting Your BMI

    • The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) says that a normal BMI falls in the 18.5 to 24.9 range. A BMI between 25.0 and 29.9 indicates you are overweight. A BMI over 30.0 indicates obesity. These are rough guidelines, but NHBLI offers some advice on how to obtain a more accurate self-diagnosis. In addition to using your BMI to determine if you are overweight, compare a measurement of the circumference of your waist to an NHLBI reference table (find a link in the Resources section), and adjust your ideal weight for any risk factors you may have, such as high blood pressure, physical inactivity and smoking. NHBLI offers instructions for how to determine and interpret these variables on their website.

    Online Tools for Determining Healthy Weight

    • Rush University Medical Center offers two tools on their website (find a link in the Resources section) that can help you find your ideal weight. The first is a table of ideal-weight ranges in relation to different heights for both men and women. The second is a BMI calculator that generates an estimate of your BMI based on your gender, height and weight. Rush University notes that these tools only provide rough estimates.

    Ideal Weight and the Media

    • Your genetics determine your body type, but UCLA says that the media distorts our perception of what our ideal weight and appearance should be. They note that today's models weigh 23 percent less than the average American woman, but only 5 percent of American women have body types that can reasonably reach the ultra-thin model standard. UCLA adds that "in the past 25 years, the average Playgirl centerfold man has shed about 12 lbs. of fat, while putting on approximately 27 lb. of muscle." UCLA says accepting your natural body type is an important part of healthy weight management.

    Weight Guidelines and the Elderly

    • A 2001 Yale University report questioned whether the national ideal weight guidelines should apply to people over 70. Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine systematically reviewed medical literature, looking for evidence that excess weight causes an increased health risk in people over the age of 70. The researchers found that excess weight in people over 70 whose BMI fell within the mildly- to moderately-overweight range does not pose the same health risk as a similar amount of excess weight would for younger people. But the researchers warn that "obesity and near-obesity...[are] associated with an increased risk of death even among those who are 75 years and over."

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