For a 57-year-old woman of average height (5’4″), a standard “healthy weight” falls roughly between 108 and 145 pounds based on BMI guidelines. But that range shifts with your height, and research suggests the ideal BMI for women in their late 50s may be somewhat higher than the standard recommendation. Your best weight at 57 depends on your height, body composition, and where your body stores fat.
Healthy Weight Ranges by Height
The most common way to estimate a healthy weight is through BMI, which the CDC defines as “healthy” between 18.5 and 24.9. Here’s what that translates to in pounds for several common heights:
- 5’0″: 95 to 127 pounds
- 5’2″: 104 to 136 pounds
- 5’4″: 108 to 145 pounds
- 5’6″: 115 to 154 pounds
- 5’7″: 118 to 159 pounds
- 5’8″: 122 to 164 pounds
- 5’10”: 129 to 174 pounds
Clinical formulas give a narrower target. One widely used formula (the Devine formula) sets ideal body weight for women at about 100 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, plus roughly 5 pounds per inch after that. For a 5’7″ woman, that works out to around 136 pounds. These formulas were designed for medication dosing, not as personal health targets, so they’re best treated as a rough midpoint rather than a goal.
Why the Standard Range May Be Too Low at 57
Standard BMI categories were developed for adults of all ages, but a growing body of evidence suggests they’re too restrictive for older adults. A large study published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health tracked thousands of men and women and found that among older adults, those in the “overweight” BMI range of 25 to 29.9 actually had the lowest mortality rates. For women specifically, the lowest mortality was found in the BMI range of 25 to 32.4, which is technically overweight to mildly obese by standard definitions.
The same study found that a BMI below 25, the very threshold considered “healthy,” was associated with increased mortality in elderly men and women. The researchers concluded that being moderately overweight should not be a concern for older adults and that more attention should go to those in lower BMI categories. For a 5’4″ woman, a BMI of 27 translates to about 157 pounds. At 5’7″, it’s about 173 pounds. Both numbers would be flagged as “overweight” on a standard chart, yet they fall squarely within the range linked to the best survival outcomes for women past middle age.
Why Weight Alone Is Misleading After Menopause
At 57, most women are postmenopausal, and the hormonal shift changes the equation in two important ways. First, declining estrogen causes fat to redistribute toward the abdomen, even if total body weight stays the same. The Mayo Clinic notes that many women notice an increase in belly fat as they age without gaining a single pound. This matters because abdominal fat carries health risks that fat stored in the hips or thighs does not, including higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke.
Second, muscle mass declines steadily with age. You can lose as much as 8% of your muscle mass per decade after midlife, a condition called sarcopenia. Muscle is denser than fat, so two women who weigh 155 pounds can look and feel completely different depending on how much of that weight is muscle versus fat. A woman who strength trains and carries more muscle may weigh more on the scale but have a healthier body composition than someone lighter who has lost significant muscle.
This is why the number on the scale tells an incomplete story. A 57-year-old woman weighing 160 pounds with strong muscle mass and a trim waist is in a very different health position than someone at 140 pounds with low muscle and excess belly fat.
Waist Size May Matter More Than Weight
Because of how fat redistribution works after menopause, waist circumference is one of the most useful measurements you can take at home. For women, a waist measurement over 35 inches signals an unhealthy amount of abdominal fat and a greater risk of heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, fatty liver, and early death from any cause. Harvard Health Publishing recommends an even stricter guideline: your waist circumference should ideally be no greater than half your height. For a 5’4″ woman, that means keeping your waist under 32 inches. For someone 5’7″, the target would be under 33.5 inches.
Measuring is simple. Wrap a tape measure around your bare waist just above your hip bones, at roughly the level of your belly button. Take the measurement after breathing out normally. If your waist is under these thresholds, your weight is less of a concern from a metabolic standpoint, even if BMI charts say you’re overweight.
The Risk of Weighing Too Little
For women in their late 50s, being underweight carries real dangers that are easy to overlook. Low BMI is an independent risk factor for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Research published in Frontiers in Endocrinology confirmed a direct relationship: the lower the BMI, the greater the loss of bone mineral density. Body weight literally helps maintain bone strength, partly through the mechanical load your skeleton carries every day and partly because fat tissue produces small amounts of estrogen even after menopause.
A BMI below 18.5 (about 108 pounds at 5’4″ or 118 pounds at 5’7″) puts you in the underweight category. At 57, dipping into that territory raises your risk of fractures, muscle wasting, and the higher mortality rates seen in the research. If you’re naturally small-framed and have always been on the lighter side, this may not apply to you in the same way, but it’s worth being aware of the tradeoff.
A Practical Target for a 57-Year-Old Woman
Putting the evidence together, a reasonable weight range for a 57-year-old woman is somewhat higher than what standard BMI charts recommend for younger adults. For a woman of average height (5’4″), something in the range of 130 to 165 pounds aligns well with the research on longevity in older women. At 5’7″, that window shifts to roughly 140 to 175 pounds. These ranges correspond to a BMI of roughly 22 to 28, which captures the zone associated with the lowest mortality in studies of older adults.
More important than hitting a specific number is paying attention to your waist circumference, maintaining muscle through regular activity (especially strength training), and watching for gradual shifts in where your body stores fat. The scale is one data point, but it’s not the most important one at this stage of life.