There’s no single number that works for everyone. Your ideal weight depends on your height, sex, age, muscle mass, and even your ethnic background. But there are several reliable ways to estimate a healthy range, and most of them take less than a minute to calculate.
A Quick Estimate Based on Height
The simplest formulas for ideal body weight have been used in medicine for decades. For men, start with 106 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, then add 6 pounds for each additional inch. For women, start with 100 pounds for the first 5 feet, then add 5 pounds per inch. So a 5’6″ woman would land around 130 pounds, and a 5’10” man around 166 pounds.
These formulas give you a midpoint. Most clinicians consider a range of roughly 10% above or below that number to be healthy, which accounts for differences in frame size and body composition. Someone with a naturally broad, stocky build will reasonably weigh more than someone with a narrow frame at the same height.
What BMI Tells You (and What It Doesn’t)
Body mass index divides your weight in kilograms by your height in meters squared. The CDC defines a healthy BMI as 18.5 to 24.9. Below 18.5 is underweight, 25 to 29.9 is overweight, and 30 or above is considered obese. You can use these cutoffs to reverse-engineer a weight range for your height. A 5’6″ person, for example, falls in the healthy BMI range at roughly 115 to 154 pounds.
BMI is useful as a population-level screening tool, but it has real blind spots for individuals. Muscle and bone are denser than fat, so BMI can overestimate body fat in athletes and people who strength train regularly. It can also underestimate body fat in older adults who have lost muscle and bone density over the years. Two people with identical BMIs can have very different amounts of actual body fat and very different health profiles.
Ethnicity Changes the Thresholds
Standard BMI categories were developed primarily using data from European populations. For people of Asian descent, health risks like cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes begin rising at lower BMIs. The Asia-Pacific classification reflects this: normal weight is defined as 18.5 to 22.9, overweight begins at 23, and obesity at 25. That’s a full five points lower than the standard obesity cutoff of 30. If you’re of South Asian, East Asian, or Southeast Asian background, using the standard chart may give you a falsely reassuring picture.
Why the Number on the Scale Isn’t Enough
Where you carry your weight matters as much as how much you weigh. Fat stored around your midsection, the kind that wraps around your organs, is more strongly linked to heart disease and metabolic problems than fat stored in your hips or thighs. A waist-to-hip ratio above 0.90 for women is associated with elevated triglycerides, higher blood pressure, and lower levels of protective HDL cholesterol. For men, ratios above 0.90 to 0.95 carry similar risks. You can measure this yourself with a tape measure: divide your waist circumference at the narrowest point by your hip circumference at the widest.
Researchers have also identified people who fall into seemingly contradictory categories. Some individuals with a BMI over 30 have normal blood pressure, healthy blood sugar, and good cholesterol levels. They’re sometimes described as metabolically healthy despite their weight. Meanwhile, some people with a BMI under 25 carry excess abdominal fat and show the metabolic abnormalities usually associated with obesity: higher blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, higher blood sugar, and lower HDL cholesterol. Your weight alone doesn’t tell you which group you fall into. Blood work and waist measurements fill in the gaps.
Healthy Weight Shifts as You Age
The ideal BMI range appears to shift upward after age 65. A large meta-analysis covering nearly 198,000 older adults with an average follow-up of 12 years found that the lowest mortality risk sat around a BMI of 23 to 24, which is at the upper end of the “normal” range. Being slightly overweight by standard definitions carried no increased mortality risk in this age group. But dropping below a BMI of 23 did. Older adults with a BMI of 21 had a 12% higher risk of death compared to those at 23, and a BMI of 20 carried a 19% higher risk. Mortality risk didn’t start climbing on the upper end until BMI exceeded 33.
This means that for older adults, the conventional advice to stay in the 18.5 to 24.9 range may actually be too aggressive on the lower end. Carrying a few extra pounds appears protective, likely because it provides reserves during illness or recovery. If you’re over 65 and losing weight unintentionally, that’s worth paying attention to rather than celebrating.
How to Find Your Own Target
Start with the height-based formula or a BMI calculator to get a ballpark range. Then refine it using what you know about your body. If you carry significant muscle mass from regular training, your healthy weight will sit higher than the formula suggests. If you’re of Asian descent, aim for the lower end. If you’re over 65, the middle or upper portion of the healthy range is likely your sweet spot.
Beyond the number, pay attention to the markers that actually predict health outcomes: your waist circumference, your blood pressure, your blood sugar, and your cholesterol levels. Two people at 180 pounds can have completely different risk profiles depending on how that weight is distributed and what their bloodwork shows. The best “ideal weight” is one where your metabolic markers are in a healthy range, you can move comfortably through daily life, and your weight is stable without extreme restriction.