Ideal Weight Calculator

For most adults aged 20 and older, a healthy BMI falls between 18.5 and 24.9. A 5'6" person weighing 150 pounds has a BMI of 24.2, which is in the healthy zone, while the same person at 160 pounds hits 25.8 and moves into 'Overweight.' The range translates to a weight window of about 115–154 pounds at 5'6", or 137–183 pounds at 6'0". BMI doesn't distinguish muscle from fat, so very muscular people may register as overweight despite low body fat. Athletes, pregnant women, and adults over 65 should interpret BMI with extra caution. If your BMI is outside 18.5–24.9, the next step is to check your waist circumference: over 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women signals elevated risk regardless of BMI. For a more complete picture, pair this result with the calorie calculator to see how many calories you need to reach or maintain a healthy weight.

The quickest manual method uses BMI. Square your height in inches, multiply by 18.5 for the low end and 24.9 for the high end, then divide by 703. For a 5'8" person (68 inches): 68² = 4,624. Low end: (4,624 × 18.5) ÷ 703 = 121.7 pounds. High end: (4,624 × 24.9) ÷ 703 = 163.8 pounds. So the healthy range is roughly 122–164 pounds. Another common formula is the Devine equation: for men, 50 kg + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet; for women, 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet. At 5'8", that gives men about 154 pounds and women about 143 pounds as a single target. Both methods are estimates — frame size, age, and muscle mass shift the true ideal by 10–15 pounds in either direction. The calculator here does the BMI math instantly, and the BMI calculator on this site shows the same result with category context.

No — BMI overestimates body fat in muscular individuals. Muscle is denser than fat, so a 6'0" athlete at 220 pounds has a BMI of 29.8, just under the obese threshold, despite possibly having 10% body fat. Compare that to a sedentary person of the same height at 220 pounds with 30% body fat: identical BMI, very different health profiles. Studies of NFL players found that over half classified as 'obese' by BMI had body fat percentages under 20%. If you lift weights more than three times per week or play a contact sport, use body fat percentage or waist-to-height ratio instead. A waist-to-height ratio under 0.5 is a good target for most adults. For athletes, tracking lean mass and performance metrics matters more than BMI. If you want to estimate how many calories you burn during training, the TDEE calculator gives a more relevant number than BMI alone.

BMI is a single number that describes your current weight relative to height; ideal weight is a target range derived from a healthy BMI. For example, a 5'5" woman weighing 170 pounds has a BMI of 28.3, which is 'Overweight.' Her ideal weight range — based on BMI 18.5–24.9 — is about 111–150 pounds. So BMI tells you where you are; ideal weight tells you where the healthy zone lies. The two are mathematically linked: ideal weight = (BMI target × height²) ÷ 703. But ideal weight is a range, not a fixed goal, because healthy bodies come in different shapes. Two people at 5'9" with the same BMI can carry weight very differently depending on muscle, bone density, and fat distribution. Use BMI as a screening tool and ideal weight as a rough destination. The calorie calculator can then translate that destination into a daily calorie target for losing or gaining weight safely.

Subtract your current weight from the top of your healthy range. A 5'7" person weighing 185 pounds has a BMI of 29.0; their healthy range tops out at 159 pounds (BMI 24.9), so they'd need to lose 26 pounds. For a 5'10" person at 210 pounds (BMI 30.1), the top of the healthy range is 174 pounds, requiring a 36-pound loss. A safe rate is 1–2 pounds per week, which means 13–26 weeks for the first example and 18–36 weeks for the second. That pace comes from a daily deficit of 500–1,000 calories. Losing just 5–10% of body weight — 9–18 pounds in the first example — already improves blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol, even if you don't reach the full healthy range. The TDEE calculator helps you find your maintenance calories, and the calorie calculator subtracts the deficit to give a daily target.

BMI has known limitations for both groups. Adults over 65 tend to carry more body fat at the same BMI as younger adults, so a BMI of 25–27 may be healthier for them than for a 30-year-old; some research suggests a slightly higher BMI (23–28) is protective against frailty and bone loss in seniors. For ethnicities, thresholds differ: the World Health Organization notes that many Asian populations develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease at lower BMIs, so some guidelines use 23.0 as the overweight cutoff and 27.5 as the obesity cutoff for people of South Asian, Chinese, or Japanese descent. A 5'6" Asian adult at 145 pounds has a BMI of 23.4 — 'Normal' by standard cutoffs but 'Overweight' by adjusted ones. Black adults may have higher muscle mass on average, slightly inflating BMI. For any of these groups, waist circumference and metabolic markers like fasting glucose give a clearer risk picture than BMI alone.