A woman standing 5’7″ falls within a healthy weight range of roughly 121 to 159 pounds, based on standard BMI guidelines from the CDC. That range corresponds to a BMI between about 19 and 25, which is the bracket associated with the lowest risk for weight-related health problems. But a single number on a scale doesn’t tell the whole story, and where your weight falls within that range depends on your frame, muscle mass, and how your body carries fat.
The Healthy BMI Range at 5’7″
The CDC defines a healthy adult BMI as 18.5 to just under 25. For a 5’7″ woman, that translates to approximately 121 to 159 pounds. Below 121 pounds puts you in the underweight category, while 160 pounds and above crosses into overweight territory. At 191 pounds, BMI hits 30 and enters the obesity range.
These cutoffs are population-level tools. They’re useful for spotting general risk patterns, but they weren’t designed to diagnose an individual’s health. A woman at 162 pounds with an active lifestyle and good metabolic markers isn’t in the same situation as someone at 145 pounds who is sedentary with high blood sugar. Still, the BMI range gives you a reasonable starting zone to work with.
What “Ideal” Weight Formulas Suggest
Doctors and dietitians have used clinical formulas for decades to estimate a single target weight. The most common one, the Hamwi formula, calculates ideal body weight for women as 100 pounds for the first 5 feet of height, plus 5 pounds for each additional inch. For a 5’7″ woman, that comes out to 135 pounds.
The Devine formula, another widely used clinical equation, produces a similar result of about 136 pounds. These numbers sit right in the middle of the healthy BMI range, which is intentional. They were originally developed for medication dosing and clinical assessments, not as personal weight goals. Think of 135 pounds as a midpoint reference, not a target you need to hit precisely.
How Body Frame Shifts the Range
Your bone structure genuinely affects what a healthy weight looks like on your body. A simple way to estimate frame size is by measuring your wrist circumference. For women over 5’5″, MedlinePlus categorizes frame size like this:
- Small frame: wrist under 6.25 inches
- Medium frame: wrist 6.25 to 6.5 inches
- Large frame: wrist over 6.5 inches
A small-framed woman at 5’7″ will naturally carry less bone and tissue mass and might feel healthiest closer to 125 to 140 pounds. A large-framed woman could be perfectly healthy at 145 to 159 pounds. This is one reason two women of the same height can look and feel completely different at the same weight.
Why Muscle Mass Makes BMI Less Reliable
BMI treats all weight the same, whether it comes from fat, muscle, or bone. As Harvard Health Publishing notes, muscle and bone are denser than fat, so BMI can overestimate body fat in women with high muscle mass and underestimate it in older women who have lost bone density and muscle. A woman who strength trains regularly might weigh 165 pounds at 5’7″, landing in the “overweight” BMI category while carrying a healthy amount of body fat.
If you exercise consistently, especially with resistance training, your scale weight becomes a less useful measure on its own. Body fat percentage or even just how your clothes fit over time can give you a better picture than BMI alone.
Waist Size as a Better Health Indicator
Where you carry fat matters more than how much you weigh in total. Fat stored deep around your organs, called visceral fat, is the type most strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol. The Cleveland Clinic identifies a waist circumference of 35 inches or more in women as the threshold where these health risks start to climb.
A more personalized guideline comes from the NHS: keep your waist measurement under half your height. At 5’7″ (67 inches), that means aiming for a waist under 33.5 inches. This ratio accounts for your frame in a way that a flat 35-inch cutoff doesn’t. You can measure by wrapping a tape measure around your bare waist at the level of your belly button, standing relaxed without sucking in.
A woman at 155 pounds with a 31-inch waist is in a very different metabolic position than a woman at 145 pounds with a 36-inch waist. If you’re going to track one number beyond the scale, waist circumference gives you the most practical health information.
Finding Your Personal Target
For most 5’7″ women, a weight between 125 and 155 pounds will align with good health markers, with the exact number depending on your frame and body composition. If you’re starting from well outside the 121 to 159 pound range, even modest changes make a difference. Losing 5 to 10 percent of body weight is enough to improve blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol in women who are above the healthy range.
Rather than fixating on a specific number, pay attention to the combination of your weight, your waist measurement, and how you feel physically. A weight that lets you stay active, sleep well, and maintain stable energy is more meaningful than one that simply falls within a chart’s boundaries.