What do you weigh? What should you weigh? In a manner of speaking, that is the starting point for this blog, yet answers from authoritative sources vary widely. Which one to use? It’s up to you, but an informed decision is better than a blind one.
Most folks Google ‘ideal weight‘ and punch in their height and weight to get the answer. Yet most ideal body weight websites use obsolete formulas or tables created in 1979 or earlier, according to Stephen B Halls MD.
Dr. Halls offers “Peoples Choice” ideal weight. That is, the average weight that other people of your age, height, weight and gender describe as their ideal weight. He points out that women tend to imagine their ideal weight as unrealistically low, so they diet too much. Men tend to allow their weight to be higher than medically recommended. Maybe we guys are acting a little macho there. Punch your numbers into his calculator at the link and see for yourself.
His medical recommendation is based on your Body Mass Index (BMI). Medical evidence suggests that all body weight in the BMI range of 19 to 25 are reasonably equally healthy for your height.
He offers the Metropolitan Life tables which were created for the Metropolitan Life Insurance company in 1979 although he doesn’t recommend it. He notes that the Met Life tables are very prevalent on the web. Yet, the values are too large for short people and wrong for tall people. They have no age modifiers and frame size is hard to understand.
In addition, Dr. Halls offers several other Ideal body weight formulas widely used with explanations.
I think the good doctor has provided a real public service here. Check it out.
Tony
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