Ideal Weight Calculator

IDEAL BODY WEIGHT CALCULATOR

*Finding your frame size.
  1. Grip your wrist using your thumb and longest finger.
  2. If your finger and thumb don't touch you are a LARGE frame.
  3. If your finger and thumb just touch you are a MEDIUM frame.
  4. If your finger and thumb overlap you are a SMALL frame.
Your ideal body weight is where you are healthiest.

This isn’t meant to sound controversial or trite. Most ideal body weight calculators are based on simple measurements of height. However newer research suggests that health may not be correlated directly to weight, but to your perception of your weight.

Those that are happy with their weight tend to be healthier, compared with those who are unhappy. Even our definitions of what consititutes overweight is often questioned.

If you are under age 18, or want to find the BMI and appropriate weight for a child, please use the Childhood BMI Calculator.

Please note this calculator is only a very general estimate your ideal weight. For women it uses the Robinson formula. For men the Devine formula (see references below).

This kind of measurement does not take into account…

  • Bone density
  • Muscle mass
  • Fat proportion
  • Ethnicity

A better measure is a body fat percentage goal.

An ideal body fat percentage for men would be 10-14%, or 16-20% for women. See the body fat calculator for more.

If you are looking to lose weight – please read our simple guide to weight loss, and then find out our best rated weight loss programs.

Is this an Accurate Measure?

This calculator will estimate your ideal weight range. As with the BMI Calculator, these readings are very generalized.

As we mentioned above, this type of calculation doesn’t account for individual differences. Your ideal weight is where you are the healthiest, not where you fall on some scale.

Again, for a more accurate measure, find your Body Fat Percentage.

  • Robinson, J. D., Lupkiewicz, S. M., Palenik, L., Lopez, L. M., & Ariet, M. (1983). Determination of ideal body weight for drug dosage calculations. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 40(6), 1016-1019. Link
  • Muennig, P., Jia, H., Lee, R., & Lubetkin, E. (2008). I think therefore I am: Perceived ideal weight as a determinant of health. American Journal of Public Health, 98(3), 501. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2253567/
  • Kuczmarski, R. J., & Flegal, K. M. (2000). Criteria for definition of overweight in transition: background and recommendations for the United States. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 72(5), 1074-1081. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/5/1074.short
  • Duncan, D. T., Wolin, K. Y., Scharoun-Lee, M., Ding, E. L., Warner, E. T., & Bennett, G. G. (2011). Does perception equal reality? Weight misperception in relation to weight-related attitudes and behaviors among overweight and obese US adults. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 8(1), 20. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1479-5868/8/20