What’s Your Perfect Weight?

Ah . . . the age-old question! Unfortunately, there is no “perfect” answer. But while there may not be a magic number for what your weight should be, there are a couple of widely accepted guidelines that will tell you if your weight is within a healthy range.


The gold standards of weight measurement are the Body Mass Index and the Waist-to-Hip Ratio.

Body Mass Index (BMI)
BMI is a calculation based on weight and height that is commonly used to screen people into weight categories that may signify the likelihood that health problems will develop. There are dozens of BMI indexes available on the internet that will give you a quick calculation, but if you’d like to plug it into a calculator at home, the BMI formula is:

Weight (lb) / [height (in)]2 x 703

For adults, a BMI of 18.5 or less is considered underweight, between 18.5 and 24.9 is normal, 25.0 to 29.9 is in the overweight range, and anything above 30 is considered clinically obese. But if you’re using BMI to determine if you need to lose (or gain) weight, bear in mind that women and men can have the same BMI but the women will be more likely to have a higher percentage of body fat; that older people with a BMI equal to that of younger adults will have more body fat; and that athletes or other individuals with muscular builds may have higher BMIs due to their higher than average muscle mass.

Waist-to-Hip Ratio
It’s been well documented that people with apple-shaped bodies—a high waist to hip ratio—are at increased risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. To measure yours, take out a tape measure and put in around the widest part of your hips. Write down that number. Next, measure your waist at its smallest area (usually right above your belly button). Divide the waist measurement by your hip measurement to get your ratio. The significance of the ratio varies according to gender: for men, 0.95 or lower is considered a low health risk, 0.96 to 1.0 is the range for moderate risk, and 1.0 or higher is an elevated risk.  For women, 0.80 or below is a low risk ratio; 0.81 to 0.85 is a moderate risk, and 0.85 or larger is a high risk.

These guidelines give you a range to shoot for to reduce your risk of illness and medical conditions that are caused or affected by carrying around excess pounds or by being underweight.