Ideal weight
calculator.
Enter your height to see the range of weights that give a healthy BMI, the measure CDC and NIH use. The four classic ideal-weight formulas are shown beside it as historical estimates, each with the BMI it implies, so you can see how they compare.
At 5 ft 5 in, a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 corresponds to 111.2 lb to 149.6 lb. The four historical formulas give 125.0 lb to 132.1 lb for a woman.
- Healthy-weight range (BMI 18.5 to 24.9)
- 111.2 lb to 149.6 lb
- Same range in kg
- 50.4 kg to 67.9 kg
- Devine (1974) estimate
- 125.7 lb (BMI 20.9)
- Robinson (1983) estimate
- 126.8 lb (BMI 21.1)
- Miller (1983) estimate
- 132.1 lb (BMI 22.0)
- Hamwi (1964) estimate
- 125.0 lb (BMI 20.8)
Range = 18.5 × 1.651² to 24.9 × 1.651² = 50.43 to 67.87 kg; Devine = 45.5 + 2.3 × (65 − 60) = 57.00 kgA healthy range,
not a single number.
- Healthy-weight range = 18.5 × height² to 24.9 × height² (height in meters, weight in kg), the NHLBI healthy BMI range for adults. It is the same for women and men.
- Devine (1974): men 50 kg + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 ft, women 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg. Robinson (1983): men 52 + 1.9, women 49 + 1.7. Miller (1983): men 56.2 + 1.41, women 53.1 + 1.36. Hamwi (1964), in pounds: men 106 lb + 6 lb per inch, women 100 lb + 5 lb. Coefficients as tabulated by Peterson et al. (2016).
- Weight at a BMI of your choice = that BMI × height². This is exact; Peterson and colleagues’ linear equation, 2.2 × BMI + 3.5 × BMI × (height − 1.5 m), is a close approximation of it.
- The four formulas are defined from 5 ft (152.4 cm) up. Below 5 ft they are not shown, rather than extrapolated downward.
- Exact unit factors are used (1 in = 2.54 cm, 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg). Results are shown to 0.1 lb or 0.1 kg, and nothing is rounded before that.
How do you calculate your ideal weight?
The approach used by CDC and NIH is a range rather than a single number: any weight that gives a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 at your height. Multiply 18.5 and 24.9 by your height in meters squared. At 5 ft 5 in (1.651 m, 2.7258 m²) that is 18.5 × 2.7258 = 50.4 kg to 24.9 × 2.7258 = 67.9 kg, or 111.2 to 149.6 lb. Where you sit within that range depends on muscle, frame and health, which height alone cannot show.
lowest = 18.5 × height (m)²
highest = 24.9 × height (m)²What is the Devine formula?
B. J. Devine published it in 1974 in a pharmacy journal, and it is still used to estimate ideal body weight for some drug doses. It starts from 50 kg for men and 45.5 kg for women at 5 ft and adds 2.3 kg for every inch above. A woman 5 ft 5 in tall gets 45.5 + 2.3 × 5 = 57.0 kg (125.7 lb), a BMI of 20.9. A man 5 ft 10 in tall gets 50 + 2.3 × 10 = 73.0 kg (160.9 lb).
men: 50 kg + 2.3 kg × (inches over 60)
women: 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg × (inches over 60)How do the Robinson, Miller and Hamwi formulas differ?
They all add a fixed amount per inch over 5 ft, with different starting points and slopes. Robinson (1983) and Miller (1983) were fitted to the 1959 and 1983 Metropolitan Life insurance height-weight tables. Hamwi (1964) came from diabetes diet guidance and is written in pounds: 100 lb for a woman at 5 ft plus 5 lb per inch, or 106 lb plus 6 lb per inch for a man. For a woman 5 ft 5 in tall they give Robinson 57.5 kg, Miller 59.9 kg and Hamwi 125 lb (56.7 kg). Some sites quote Hamwi as 48 kg + 2.7 kg (men) and 45.5 kg + 2.2 kg (women), a rounded metric version that differs from the pound form by 0.2 to 0.5 kg at common heights and more for very tall people; this calculator uses the pound form, as Peterson and colleagues tabulate it.
Why do the ideal weight formulas disagree with BMI?
Weight that keeps BMI constant grows with the square of height, but these formulas add a fixed amount per inch. So they drift away from BMI at the extremes: Peterson and colleagues (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2016) note that the formulas underestimate weight at short heights and overestimate it at tall heights. For a man 6 ft 4 in tall, Hamwi gives 202 lb, a BMI of 24.6, close to the top of the healthy range, while Miller gives 173.6 lb, a BMI of 21.1. Each formula is shown with its BMI so you can see this.
Is ideal weight the same as a healthy weight?
No. The formulas give one number for everyone of the same sex and height, and none of them is a health target. A healthy weight is a range, and the right weight for a person depends on body composition, age, health conditions and history. Use the range and the formulas as background for a conversation with a clinician, not as a goal. The BMI calculator gives your current BMI category, and for children and teens the CDC BMI-for-age percentile.
Worked examples.
Woman, 5 ft 5 in
Female, 5 ft 5 in.
111.2 lb to 149.6 lb; the four formulas give 125.0 lb to 132.1 lb.
Load this exampleMan, 5 ft 10 in
Male, 5 ft 10 in.
128.9 lb to 173.5 lb; Devine 160.9 lb, Robinson 156.5 lb, Miller 155.0 lb, Hamwi 166.0 lb.
Load this exampleMan, 180 cm, with current weight
Male, 180 cm, 90 kg, and the weight at a BMI of 22.
59.9 kg to 80.7 kg; 90 kg is 9.3 kg above the top of the range (BMI 27.8); a BMI of 22 would be 71.3 kg.
Load this exampleTall man
Male, 6 ft 4 in.
152.0 lb to 204.6 lb; the formulas span 173.6 lb (Miller) to 202.0 lb (Hamwi).
Load this exampleUnder 5 ft
Female, 4 ft 10 in.
88.5 lb to 119.1 lb; the formulas are not defined below 5 ft.
Load this exampleWhat this calculator
does not do.
- For adults only. Children and teens are assessed with CDC BMI-for-age percentiles, which the BMI calculator provides.
- BMI and these formulas use only height (and sex, for the formulas). They ignore muscle, frame size, age, ethnicity, pregnancy and health conditions, so they cannot say what weight is right for one person.
- The four formulas are historical estimates from pharmacy and diet literature and old insurance tables. They are shown for comparison and are not health targets; they are not defined below 5 ft.
- General information, not medical advice. Talk with a clinician before setting a weight goal.
Common questions.
What is the ideal weight for a 5 ft 5 in woman?
A healthy BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 at 5 ft 5 in corresponds to 111.2 to 149.6 lb. The classic formulas give 125 lb (Hamwi) to 132.1 lb (Miller).
What is the ideal weight for a 5 ft 10 in man?
A healthy BMI at 5 ft 10 in is 128.9 to 173.5 lb. The formulas give 155.0 lb (Miller) to 166 lb (Hamwi).
Which ideal weight formula is most accurate?
None of them measures what is healthy for a person. They were built for drug dosing or fitted to old insurance tables. The BMI range is the measure CDC and NIH use, and it is still only a screening tool.
Why does the healthy-weight range not depend on sex?
The adult BMI cutoffs are the same for women and men, so the weight range for a given height is too. Only the historical formulas have separate male and female versions.
Why are the formulas missing for my height?
They were written as a weight at 5 ft plus an amount per inch above 5 ft, so they are not defined for shorter heights. The BMI range still applies.
- Peterson CM, Thomas DM, Blackburn GL, Heymsfield SB. Universal equation for estimating ideal body weight and body weight at any BMI. Am J Clin Nutr 2016;103(5):1197–1203 (PMC4841935) — Table 3: Hamwi, Devine, Robinson and Miller coefficients; origins in MetLife tables; formulas misaligned with BMI
- NHLBI (NIH): Calculate Your Body Mass Index — healthy BMI range 18.5–24.9; BMI does not account for muscle mass or body composition
- CDC: Adult BMI Categories — healthy weight is BMI 18.5 to less than 25; BMI is a screening measure
- CDC: BMI Frequently Asked Questions — BMI formula; BMI cannot distinguish fat from lean mass
The range is 18.5 and 24.9 times height squared, with exact unit factors. Each formula is applied in its published unit (Hamwi in pounds, the others in kilograms) and converted once. Tests check hand-worked values for six heights, including the cases calculator.net and inchcalculator.com show (they agree to the rounding shown, except calculator.net’s rounded metric Hamwi), the 5 ft base values, the per-inch slopes, US and metric agreement over 400 random heights, the under-5-ft rule, the weight at a chosen BMI, and validation of every field.
Built and reviewed by CalculatorLab against the sources above; every worked example on this page is re-checked by our automated test suite before each release. How we build and check calculators. Found a problem? Tell us.