Healthy Weight Calculator: Healthy Weight for Height
Find the healthy weight range for your height from the WHO BMI band of 18.5 to 24.9, in kilograms and pounds, and see how far your current weight is from it.
Enter your height to see your ideal and healthy weight.
About the Healthy Weight Calculator
The Healthy Weight Calculator shows the range of weights that is considered healthy for an adult of your height. It uses the body mass index (BMI) band that the World Health Organization calls the normal range, a BMI from 18.5 to 24.9, and turns it into kilograms and pounds for your exact height. Enter your current weight as well and the calculator tells you whether it sits inside the range, or how many kilograms and pounds it is below or above it.
Under the range you also see four classic ideal body weight formulas, Robinson, Miller, Devine and Hamwi, for comparison. They give single numbers rather than a range, so the healthy BMI range is usually the more useful guide for everyday health.
This is an estimate, not medical advice. BMI does not tell muscle from fat, and the healthy range is not meant for children, during pregnancy or for very muscular adults. A doctor or registered dietitian can tell you what a healthy weight means for you.
How to use it
Steps
- Choose Metric for centimetres and kilograms, or US customary for feet, inches and pounds.
- Enter your height.
- Optionally enter your current weight.
- Read the healthy weight range at the top of the results, and the distance from it if you entered a weight.
How the range is calculated
BMI is weight divided by the square of height in metres. Turning the formula round gives the weight for any BMI at a given height:
The bottom of the range is the weight at a BMI of 18.5 and the top is the weight at 24.9. The calculation is the same for men and women.
Worked example
At 165 cm, the height in metres squared is 1.65 × 1.65 = 2.7225. The healthy range is 18.5 × 2.7225 = 50.4 kg to 24.9 × 2.7225 = 67.8 kg, or about 111 to 149 lb. A weight of 72 kg is therefore 4.2 kg (9.3 lb) above the range.
Below or above the range
A BMI below 18.5 is classed as underweight, and the WHO further grades it as mild, moderate or severe thinness. A BMI of 25 or more is classed as overweight, and 30 or more as obesity, in three classes. Being outside the range is a reason to talk to a health professional, not a diagnosis.
Limits of BMI
BMI was designed to study populations, not to judge one person. Two people with the same BMI can carry very different amounts of body fat. Waist size, fitness, blood pressure and family history all matter too, and some health bodies use lower cut-offs for people of South Asian, Chinese or Black African and Caribbean heritage.
Privacy
Nothing is uploaded. Every calculation runs in your browser, and your height and weight never leave your device.
Related tools
See your current BMI and WHO class with the BMI Calculator, or compare all four ideal weight formulas on the Ideal Weight Calculator. Convert units with the Mass Converter and the Length Converter.
Sources
- World Health Organization. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. WHO Technical Report Series 894, 2000.
- World Health Organization. A healthy lifestyle: WHO recommendations, BMI classification for adults.
- Robinson (1983), Miller (1983), Devine (1974) and Hamwi (1964) ideal body weight formulas, as cited on the Ideal Weight Calculator.
Open-source credits
The calculations are implemented in-house in TypeScript, with no third-party library. They follow the WHO adult BMI cut-offs and the published Robinson, Miller, Devine and Hamwi formulas.