 What is Your Ideal Body Weight?
Are you looking to be a lighter you in the New Year? Well, you may want to think twice about your ideal body weight, as these numbers have shifted upward in recent years.
According to Gallup Poll’s annual Health and Healthcare Survey given in 2011, our perceptions of our ideal body weight have increased. Women, on average, said their ideal body weight would be about 138 pounds—up from 129 reported in 1991. Men’s ideal body weight also increased, jumping up to 196 versus 180 in years prior.
Even though these numbers represent an average, it doesn’t mean that these numbers are a right fit for you. Here are some tips on how you can figure out your ideal body weight.
Finding What Fits…
Despite what you may have heard, there are some simple ways to figure out your ideal body weight.
First tip: Don’t aim for a specific number on the scale. Because of different body types and small, medium, and large frames, it’s not beneficial to aim for a specific number.
Most physicians like to use the BMI scale, which is very effective. In fact, BistroMD has a BMI test you can use to determine your ideal body weight.
If you are looking for another alternative, you can still get the same height to weight ratios, but in numbers you can understand. If you are an athlete, though, these numbers do not hold true simply because you carry more weight through lean muscle tissue.
You can use the Ideal Body Weight Calculator to skip the calculations and to view your personalized body weight instantly.
To give you a better idea of what you should be looking at, here are the ranges of ideal body weights based upon height for adults.
If you want to determine your ideal body weight on your own, here’s how to do it…
Women:
The first step is to see how many inches over five feet you are. If you are less than five feet tall, you will want to calculate how many inches under five feet you are.
Take this number and multiply by 5.
Once you get this number, add 105 to get your ideal body weight. For women less than 5 feet, subtract this from 105 to get your ideal weight.
Take 10% above that and 10% below this number to create your ideal weight range.
Example: (Height difference from 5 feet) x 5+105=ideal weight in pounds
If you are a 5’6” woman, your ideal weight would be 6”x5=30, and then +105=135 pounds.*
Since we are not all built the same, there is a range surrounding your ideal body weight, which is plus or minus 10%. So, the ideal weight for a woman who is 5’6” would be 135 pounds, but the ideal range for that woman would be 122-149 pounds.
Men:
The first step is to see how many inches over 5 feet you are. For men who are more than 5 feet tall, you will want to calculate the number of inches over 5 feet you are.
Take this number and multiply it by 6.
Then, add 106 to get your ideal body weight. For men less than 5 feet, subtract this from 106 to get your ideal weight.
Then take 10% above this number and 10% below this number to get your ideal weight range.
If you are 6 foot tall man, your ideal body weight would be 12”x 6=72, and then +106=178 pounds, plus or minus 10%. So, the ideal body weight range would be 160-196.*
*Both of these calculations were based upon the Devine(1974) and Robinson(1983) formulas for calculating a healthy body weight.
For more weight loss tips from our experts, please visit our healthy facts section for more information.
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