Your ideal weight depends on more than just your height. Sex, age, body frame, and muscle mass all shift the number. That said, the most widely used starting point is BMI (body mass index), which places a “healthy weight” between a BMI of 18.5 and 24.9. For a 5’6″ woman, that translates to roughly 115 to 154 pounds. For a 5’10” man, it’s about 132 to 174 pounds. Those ranges give you a ballpark, but the real answer requires a few more details about your body.
Healthy Weight Ranges by Height
The table below shows the approximate weight range that falls within a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 for common heights. These numbers apply to adults 20 and older.
- 5’0″: 97–127 lbs
- 5’2″: 104–136 lbs
- 5’4″: 110–145 lbs
- 5’6″: 118–154 lbs
- 5’8″: 125–163 lbs
- 5’10”: 132–174 lbs
- 6’0″: 140–183 lbs
- 6’2″: 148–194 lbs
- 6’4″: 156–204 lbs
Notice how wide each range is. A 5’8″ person could weigh 125 or 163 pounds and still fall in the healthy BMI category. That’s because BMI doesn’t account for whether your weight comes from muscle, bone, or fat. A muscular person and a sedentary person at the same height and weight will have very different health profiles.
Quick Formulas for a Starting Estimate
Clinicians sometimes use a simple rule of thumb called the Hamwi formula to estimate an ideal body weight. For men, it starts at 106 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, then adds 6 pounds for every inch above that. For women, it starts at 100 pounds for the first 5 feet and adds 5 pounds per inch. So a 5’7″ man would get a baseline of about 148 pounds, and a 5’4″ woman about 120 pounds.
These formulas were designed decades ago and produce a single number, which can feel misleadingly precise. They work best as a rough midpoint. Most guidelines add or subtract about 10% based on your body frame size, which brings us to the next consideration.
How Your Body Frame Changes the Number
People with broader shoulders and thicker bones naturally weigh more than narrow-framed people at the same height, and that extra weight isn’t unhealthy. You can get a rough sense of your frame size by measuring your wrist circumference with a flexible tape measure.
For women 5’2″ to 5’5″, a wrist under 6 inches suggests a small frame, 6 to 6.25 inches is medium, and over 6.25 inches is large. For men over 5’5″, a wrist between 5.5 and 6.5 inches is small, 6.5 to 7.5 inches is medium, and over 7.5 inches is large. If you have a large frame, your ideal weight is likely in the upper portion of the healthy range for your height. A small frame puts you closer to the lower end.
Why BMI Is a Starting Point, Not the Final Answer
BMI is easy to calculate: weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. That simplicity is its greatest strength for tracking population-level trends and its biggest weakness for any individual person. It cannot distinguish between fat, muscle, and bone mass. A bodybuilder with very low body fat can register as “obese” on a BMI chart, while someone who looks lean could carry a risky amount of internal fat and get a “normal” reading.
The American Medical Association acknowledged these limitations in a 2023 policy statement, noting that BMI loses predictability when applied to individuals and that its original cutoff points were based primarily on data from non-Hispanic White populations. The AMA now recommends using BMI alongside other measures like waist circumference, body composition, and metabolic markers rather than relying on it alone.
This matters especially for people of Asian descent. The World Health Organization has proposed lowering the overweight threshold for Asian populations from a BMI of 25 to 23, because health risks like type 2 diabetes and heart disease tend to rise at a lower body weight in these groups. If you’re of Asian heritage, a BMI of 24 might not be as reassuring as the standard chart suggests.
The Waist-to-Height Ratio: A Simpler Check
One of the most practical ways to gauge whether your weight is in a healthy range requires no scale at all. Measure your waist at the navel, then compare it to your height. The NHS recommends keeping your waist size to less than half your height. So if you’re 5’8″ (68 inches), your waist should ideally be under 34 inches.
This ratio works because it zeroes in on abdominal fat, the type most closely linked to heart disease, insulin resistance, and metabolic problems. Two people at the same BMI can have very different amounts of belly fat, and this simple measurement captures that difference.
Relative Fat Mass: A Newer Alternative
Researchers at Cedars-Sinai developed a formula called Relative Fat Mass (RFM) that estimates your body fat percentage using just your height and waist circumference. It’s more accurate at predicting actual body fat than BMI, particularly for women. Standard BMI misclassifies about 60% of women and 13% of men when determining obesity status.
The formulas are straightforward. For men: 64 minus (20 times height divided by waist circumference). For women: 76 minus (20 times height divided by waist circumference). Both height and waist need to be in the same unit (inches or centimeters). The result is an estimated body fat percentage, which you can then compare against healthy ranges for your age and sex.
Healthy Body Fat Ranges by Age
If you do get a body fat measurement, whether from RFM, a body composition scale, or a fitness assessment, here’s what the numbers mean. For women in their 20s, a “good” body fat percentage falls between about 14% and 19%. That range gradually shifts upward with age: by the 40s, “good” is roughly 20% to 24%, and by the 60s, it’s about 23% to 28%.
For men in their 20s, a “good” range is about 10.5% to 15%. By the 40s, that shifts to roughly 17.5% to 21%, and by the 60s, it’s about 20% to 23%. Women naturally carry more essential fat than men for hormone regulation, organ protection, and reproductive health, which is why their healthy ranges are consistently higher.
These ranges also illustrate something important: what counts as a healthy body composition changes as you age. The National Institute on Aging notes that older adults with a “normal” BMI may actually have more fat and less muscle than younger adults at the same weight. For people over 65, maintaining muscle through activity and adequate protein matters as much as hitting a number on the scale.
Putting It All Together
Start with the BMI-based weight range for your height as a general guide. Then refine it. If you have a large frame, aim toward the upper end of that range. If you’re of Asian descent, consider the lower BMI threshold of 23. Measure your waist and check whether it’s under half your height. If you can estimate your body fat percentage, compare it to the ranges for your age group.
No single number captures whether your weight is healthy. A combination of your BMI range, waist measurement, and how your body actually feels and performs gives you a far more reliable picture than any one metric on its own.