Healthy weight calculator: the weight range for your height

Enter your height, choose your units and press Calculate to see the healthy weight range that fits your body length.

How to use the healthy weight calculator

This is the simplest tool on our site: it needs just your height. You do not have to step on a scale, which many people appreciate.

1. Choose units. Centimetres for metric, or feet and inches for imperial. The answer comes back in the matching unit, kilograms or pounds.
2. Type your height. Measure barefoot, standing tall with your back against a door frame. A rough guess of a few centimetres changes the answer by only a kilo or two.
3. Pick the cut-offs. “Standard (WHO)” suits most people. “Asian (lower cut-offs)” is for people of Asian family background, as explained further down.
4. Press Calculate and read the three lines of your result.

Curious where you stand right now? Pair this result with the BMI calculator listed at the bottom of this page, which also asks for your current weight and places it in a category.

What your result means

You will see three weights. Each one marks a boundary, and together they give you a simple map of the weights for your height.

The last two lines always use the standard BMI values of 25 and 30, even when you pick the Asian option. That way you can compare both views side by side.

Why a range and not one ideal number

Search engines are full of “ideal weight” tools that give a single figure down to the gram. That precision is false. Bone structure, muscle, age and where fat is stored all differ between people of exactly the same height.

Large studies back up the idea of a band. When researchers pooled data from more than 10 million adults, the lowest death rates sat across a whole stretch of BMI, from about 20 to 25, rather than at one point.

A range also gives you room. Someone with a broad frame and a lot of muscle may feel and function best near the top of the band, while a person with a slight build may sit lower. Both are healthy.

What is a healthy weight for my height? Chart in pounds

Many people still think of their size in feet and pounds. The chart below gives the healthy band in pounds for heights from 4 ft 10 in to 6 ft 4 in, with both sets of cut-offs.

Figures are rounded to the nearest pound. For a chart in kilograms and centimetres, see the BMI calculator page.

When should you choose the Asian cut-offs?

Choose the Asian option if your family background is South Asian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Southeast Asian or from another Asian population. With this setting, the healthy band ends at a BMI of 22.9 instead of 24.9.

The reason lies in health risk, not culture. An expert group convened by the WHO reviewed evidence that many Asian populations carry more body fat at a given BMI and develop type 2 diabetes and heart disease at lower weights.

For a person of 1.65 m, the switch lowers the top of the healthy range from about 67.8 kg to about 62.3 kg. The lower boundary stays at a BMI of 18.5.

Later research in England suggested that people of Black African, African-Caribbean and Arab background may also face higher risk at lower BMI values than white adults. The calculator does not offer a separate setting for this, so discuss it with your doctor if it applies to you.

How the calculator works, and older “ideal weight” formulas

Our calculator turns your height into metres, squares it, and multiplies the result by the BMI boundaries: 18.5, 24.9 (or 22.9), 25 and 30. If you entered feet and inches, it converts to centimetres first and gives the answer in pounds.

For example, at a height of 1.58 m the square is 2.50. Multiply by 18.5 and you get 46.2 kg; multiply by 24.9 and you get 62.2 kg. So the healthy band for that person runs from about 46 to 62 kg.

What about the Devine, Robinson and Miller formulas?

Many “ideal weight calculators” online use older formulas named after doctors such as Devine, Robinson and Miller. They start from a fixed weight at five feet and add a set amount for every extra inch, with separate versions for men and women.

A review in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy traced their origin. The Devine formula, the best known, was proposed in the 1970s mainly to help calculate doses of certain medicines, and the review found little evidence that it was ever meant to define a healthy weight for a person.

These formulas give one number per height and sex, and they tend to work poorly for very short or very tall people. That is why we use the BMI-based range instead.

A newer equation that matches BMI

A team led by Courtney Peterson and Steven Heymsfield proposed a simpler “universal” equation: weight in kg = 2.2 × BMI + 3.5 × BMI × (height in metres − 1.5).

It was designed so that clinicians could quickly find the weight at any chosen BMI without squaring numbers. For most heights it gives almost the same answer as our calculator; at 1.70 m and a BMI of 22, both land within a quarter of a kilo of each other.

A realistic goal is often well above the range

If your current weight is far above the healthy range, that range can feel like a mountain. The good news is that you do not have to climb all of it to feel better and lower your health risks.

In the large Look AHEAD study of more than 5,000 adults with type 2 diabetes, people who lost between 5 and 10 per cent of their weight in a year were much more likely to see better blood sugar, blood pressure, triglycerides and “good” HDL cholesterol than those whose weight stayed the same. Those who lost more saw bigger gains.

For someone who weighs 120 kg, 5 per cent is 6 kg and 10 per cent is 12 kg. Those are steps you can picture, and the weight loss percentage calculator works out your own milestones.

Waist size counts too. An expert consensus noted that exercise and better eating can shrink the waist even when the scale barely moves, which is real progress that a weight range cannot show.

How do you set a weight goal that suits you?

Your healthy weight range is one input for a goal, not the goal itself. A good goal fits your health, your history and your daily life, and you can change it whenever you like.

1. Start from where you are. Write down today’s weight and, if you like, your waist size. That is your baseline, without any judgement attached.
2. Pick a first milestone. For most people living with obesity, 5 per cent of current weight is a sensible first marker. It is reachable and already linked to health gains.
3. Add a goal that is not about weight. Walking to the shop without stopping, climbing the stairs with less effort, or sleeping through the night are goals you can feel.
4. Choose a gentle pace. Around half a kilo (one pound) a week is realistic for many adults. Our weight loss calculator shows roughly how long a goal might take.
5. Review after three months. If the goal feels too hard or too easy, adjust it. Plateaus are normal and do not mean you have failed.

Keeping a new weight

After weight loss, the body tends to push back, with stronger hunger and slightly lower energy use. That is biology, not a lack of discipline.

So the habits that help you lose weight are also the ones that help you stay there: regular movement, filling meals, enough sleep and support. Our page on weight regain explains more.

A healthy weight can change through life

The same height gives the same range at 25 and at 60, but your body changes in between. Muscle mass tends to fall with age, and fat tends to shift towards the middle, especially around menopause.

That is why staying active and eating enough protein become more important as the years pass. A stable weight with good strength is often a better aim for an older adult than a lower weight.

Limits of this tool, and who should be careful

A height-based range is a helpful guide for most adults, but it does not suit every situation. Please read these points before you set any goal.

• Older adults: a review of studies in people aged 65 and over found the lowest death rates at a BMI around 27.5, with higher risk below 23. Losing weight late in life can also mean losing muscle, so aim for strength first and talk to your doctor before trying to lose weight.
• Very muscular people: athletes and people in heavy manual jobs can sit above the range with little body fat.
• Children and teenagers: the range is for adults only, because young people are still growing.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding: this is not a time to aim for a lower weight. Use our pregnancy weight gain calculator and follow your midwife.
• Height loss or amputation: if your height has changed through spinal problems, or you have lost a limb, the range will be off. A dietitian can adjust it.

Mind and medicines

If you have, or have had, an eating disorder, a number like the bottom of a weight range can become a dangerous goal. Please work with your care team rather than this calculator, and remember that the lower end of the band is a limit, not a prize.

If you take insulin, other diabetes medicines or tablets for blood pressure, losing weight can change how much you need. Tell your doctor before you change your eating, so they can adjust your medicines safely.

A healthy weight range is a guide drawn from population data. It cannot say whether you, personally, are healthy. Blood pressure, blood tests, fitness, mood, sleep and how well you can do daily tasks all count.

Using the range without judging yourself

Seeing a large gap between your weight and the healthy range is hard for many people. You are not behind, and you have not failed. Weight is shaped by biology, life events and surroundings, as our page on the causes of obesity explains.

Think of the range as information on a map, not a finish line you must cross. Your own route might stop at 5 per cent lower, or simply at being fitter, stronger and sleeping better. All of those are wins.

What to do next

The most useful next step is a small one you can keep doing. Check with your doctor first if you have a long-term condition, then pick one of these three places to start.

Food that fills you up

Meals built around vegetables, beans, whole grains and a source of protein keep you full for longer on fewer calories. You do not need special products or strict rules.

Our free eating plan shows how that looks over a normal week. Request your copy and try one new meal at a time.

Walking and gentle workouts

A daily walk is one of the most reliable habits for health at any weight. Our walking guide starts at five minutes and builds up over twelve weeks.

On days when walking is hard, the Start level of our workout videos offers seated and supported exercises that build strength without strain on your joints.

Someone to talk to

If you are unsure what goal suits you, book a free video meeting (in English) with our team. We help you pick a first step that fits your health and daily life.

Then use the free Obesity Foundation Club account to note your walks and workouts, so progress becomes visible long before you reach any range.

Related calculators

• BMI calculator: places your current weight in a category, with a kilogram chart.
• Weight loss calculator: estimates when you might reach a goal at a steady pace.
• Waist-to-height ratio calculator: adds the belly-fat check that a weight range leaves out.

All tools are listed on our free calculators overview.