How to use it
Pick cm / kg or in / lb, enter your height, and choose your sex. Your healthy weight range appears straight away — no calculate button. The green band on the scale is the span of weights that keep you at a healthy BMI for your height; the small ticks are the four classic ideal-weight formulas. Tap Go advanced to enter your current weight — a marker shows where you sit and how far you are from the range — and to set a body frame size, which nudges a target weight higher or lower within the healthy band.
How much should I weigh?
There isn't one right number. The most defensible answer is a range: the set of weights that place you in the healthy BMI band (18.5–24.9) for your height. Anywhere in that band is considered a healthy weight — there's no benefit to being at the bottom of it. A 5 ft 5 in woman has a healthy range of roughly 111–150 lb; a 5 ft 10 in man, roughly 129–174 lb. Where you aim inside the range depends on your build, muscle mass and preference.
The old idea of a single "ideal body weight" comes from insurance and drug-dosing tables, not from health research. It's a useful shorthand, but a range reflects reality better.
The ideal weight formulas
Four formulas are still in common use. They share a structure — a base weight at 5 ft, plus a set amount per inch above that — and differ only in the constants. All are height-and-sex only.
| Formula | Year | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Hamwi | 1964 | Dietitian dosing reference — the most generous |
| Devine | 1974 | Drug-dosing standard — most cited in medicine |
| Robinson | 1983 | Revised Metropolitan Life insurance tables |
| Miller | 1983 | Also from the 1983 Metropolitan Life data — the most conservative |
For the same person the four spread across about 5–10 lb. That spread is the point of the scale on this page: rather than pick one, we show all four inside the healthy range so you can see none of them is "the" answer.
Ideal weight vs healthy weight range
The formulas give a single figure. The BMI approach gives a band. This calculator leads with the band because it's what health bodies actually use, then plots the formula figures on top so you have both views. If you want to understand the BMI side in depth, our guide What Is BMI? walks through the formula and its limits.
Does age affect ideal weight?
Not in the standard formulas — none of Robinson, Devine, Miller or Hamwi use age, and the adult healthy BMI range is the same at 25 and at 65. What changes with age is body composition: muscle tends to fall and fat tends to rise, so two people at the same "ideal" weight decades apart can look and function very differently. That's why a body fat estimate is a useful second measure as you get older.
Body frame size
Frame size — small, medium or large — reflects how much of your weight is bone and structural lean mass. It's the one adjustment worth making, because it moves your sensible target within the healthy range rather than changing the range itself.
| Wrist circumference | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Small frame | under 6.75 in | under 5.5 in |
| Medium frame | 6.75 – 7.5 in | 5.5 – 5.75 in |
| Large frame | over 7.5 in | over 5.75 in |
Measure around your wrist just below the bone. In advanced mode the calculator places a target in the lower, middle or upper third of your healthy range to match.
Ideal weight for men vs women
Every formula gives women a lower base weight than men at the same height — Devine and Hamwi start women about 4.5 kg (10 lb) lower. This reflects average differences in frame and lean mass. The healthy BMI range is not adjusted by sex, so the calculator applies the sex difference only through the formula figures and the frame adjustment.
Why "ideal weight" is a guide, not a target
The formulas know only your height and sex. They can't see muscle, so a lean, trained person often reads as "over" their ideal weight while carrying little fat — check a body fat percentage if that's you. They also can't see where fat is stored, and waist circumference predicts health risk better than total weight. Use the range as a sanity check, not a number to chase. Once you have a target, our calorie calculator turns it into a daily intake with a realistic timeline.
The healthy weight range, by height
| Height | Healthy range (BMI 18.5–24.9) |
|---|---|
| 5 ft 0 in / 152 cm | 97 – 128 lb / 44 – 58 kg |
| 5 ft 4 in / 163 cm | 110 – 145 lb / 50 – 66 kg |
| 5 ft 8 in / 173 cm | 125 – 164 lb / 57 – 74 kg |
| 6 ft 0 in / 183 cm | 140 – 184 lb / 63 – 83 kg |
| 6 ft 4 in / 193 cm | 156 – 205 lb / 71 – 93 kg |
Enter your exact height above for your own range and the formula figures.
Common questions
How much should I weigh for my height?
Use the healthy weight range — the weights that put you at a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 for your height. A 5 ft 5 in woman is roughly 111–150 lb; a 5 ft 10 in man roughly 129–174 lb. The Robinson, Devine, Miller and Hamwi formulas each give a single number inside that range.
What is a healthy weight for my age?
The adult healthy weight range doesn't change with age, and none of the common formulas use age. Body composition shifts over time, so pair the number with a body fat estimate as you get older.
What is the ideal weight for a woman?
It depends on height. The Devine formula gives 45.5 kg (100 lb) at 5 ft, plus about 5 lb per inch above that — so a 5 ft 6 in woman lands near 132 lb, within a healthy range of roughly 111–154 lb.
Is the Devine formula accurate?
It was built in 1974 for drug dosing, not as a health target, and it uses only height and sex. It's still the most cited ideal-weight formula, but treat its output as one reference point inside the healthy range, not a goal to hit exactly.
What is the difference between ideal weight and BMI?
BMI turns your height and weight into a category. Ideal weight fixes your height and returns a weight or weight range. The range this calculator shows is the BMI 18.5–24.9 band converted back into pounds or kilograms for your height.