Ideal Weight for Height

A lot of people are concerned about their appearances today and more commonly, their weights. People wonder what is the ideal weight for men and ideal weight for women. Unfortunately, there is no such number which lays down the ideal weights. An ideal number for weight is very incomplete and needs to be compared with another variable, height, to have a more accurate comparison. So here's the ideal weight for height for women and men.

Ideal Weight for Height and Bone Structure

Now why do we need to compare ideal weight and height? For the simple reason that the ideal weight of someone who is 5 ft tall and someone who is 6 ft tall will obviously be very different. Why? Because there are a lot more bones, blood and other matter in a taller individual. So it becomes unfair, or rather, inaccurate to give an ideal weight for people who are so different. Hence a new parameter has come up, which helps judge the ideal weights for women and men, known as the Body Mass Index (BMI). A body mass index gives a comparison between height and weight of a person and hence it is possible to have an ideal BMI count for people of all ages and heights. How to calculate BMI? The body mass index is calculated by the formula -

BMI = mass (kg) / height² (m²) or
BMI = mass (lb) × 703 / height² (inches²)

The ideal BMI is said to be between 20 and 25. The lower end of this range is ideal for women and the higher end of the range is ideal for men. So, based on the BMI calculation, here is a combined chart for the ideal weight for height for men and women.

Height (inches)	Weight for Men (lbs)	Weight for Women (lbs)
66	106 - 130	99 - 121
63	112 - 136	104 - 127
64	117 - 143	108 - 132
65	122 - 150	113 - 138
66	128 - 156	117 - 143
67	133 - 163	122 - 149
68	139 - 169	126 - 154
69	144 - 176	131 - 160
70	149 - 183	135 - 165
71	155 - 189	140 - 171
72	160 - 196	144 - 176
73	166 - 202	149 - 182
74	171 - 209	153 - 187
75	176 - 216	158 - 193
76	182 - 222	162 - 198
77	187 - 229	167 - 204
78	193 - 235	171 - 209

The ideal weight as per the ethnicity of an individual too differs a bit, but more often than not, stays within the range which is given in the chart above. Make sure that you remain in the above weight range. There is no relationship between ideal weight and age. Remember, a higher BMI does not necessarily mean that you will have health problems, but the chances of the same are quite high. A BMI is merely an indicator of the ideal weight range.