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There are many reasons to want to be one’s ideal body
weight. In addition to looking attractive, being at an
ideal weight helps mitigate risk factors for heart disease,
certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, arthritis,
breathing problems, and psychological disorders such as
depression. The following is provided to help you
determine your ideal body weight.
Measurements
The following measurements are needed for the various
calculations in this article:
Body Mass Index
Body Mass Index (BMI) is perhaps the most popular one in the
medical community at this time. BMI is a measure of
weight in relation to height as follows:
BMI = weight (kg)/height (m)2
or
BMI = (weight (pounds)/height (inches)2) x 703
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BMI Range
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Your BMI
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Weight Ranges Given Your Height
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Underweight
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< 18.5
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Healthy weight
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18.5 - 24.9
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Overweight
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25.0 - 29.9
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Obesity - Class I
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30.0 - 34.9
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Obesity - Class II
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35.0 - 39.9
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Obesity - Class III
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> 40.0
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Hamwi Method
Another popular method of calculating ideal body weight is
the Hamwi method developed by Dr. G. J. Hamwi. His method
was first published by the American Diabetes Association in
1964. The formulas are:
For men: 106 lb for the first 5 ft; 6 lb for each inch
over 5 ft
For women: 100 lb for the first 5 ft; 5 lb for each
inch over 5 ft
The resulting number is the midpoint of a normal range. To get the endpoints,
add and subtract 10%.
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Midpoint
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Range
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Your ideal weight:
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Waist/Hip Ratio
Another measure of health is the Waist/Hip Ratio.
Cardiac Risk has been correlated to where fat is stored in the body.
A greater level of cardiac risk is associated with abdominal fat.
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Health Risk Based Solely on Waist/Hip Ratio
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Male
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Female
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Your Waist/Hip Ratio
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Low Risk
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0.95 or less
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0.80 or less
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Moderate Risk
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0.96 - 1.00
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0.81 - 0.85
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High Risk
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more than 1.00
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more than 0.85
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Waist/Height Ratio
Another measure of abdominal fat is the Waist/Height Ratio.
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Health Risk Based Solely on Waist/Height Ratio
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Your Waist/Height Ratio
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Low Risk
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less than 0.5
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High Risk
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0.5 or more
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Navy Method for Percent Body Fat
BMI and the Hamwi method are not always the best
determinants of what ideal weight should be. Neither of
them take into account the composition of the body. Athletic
people in particular may weigh a lot because they have a lot of muscle,
but BMI does not take this into account. The
Navy recognized this problem. Hodgdon and Beckett at the
Naval Health Research Center came up with a way to determine if
someone whose BMI was 25 or over was actually overweight or if
they were just muscular. This method uses metric
measurements for height and selected circumferences to
calculate an estimated percentage of body fat as follows:
Men:
%Fat=495/(1.0324-0.19077(log10(waist-neck))+0.15456(log10(height)))-450
Women:
%Fat=495/(1.29579-0.35004(log10(waist+hip-neck))+0.22100(log10(height)))-450
The American Council on Exercise uses the following
categories based on percentage of body fat:
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Women
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Men
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Your Percentage of Body Fat
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Your Weight Ranges*
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Essential fat
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10 – 12%
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2 – 4%
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Athletes
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14 – 20%
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6 – 13%
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Fitness
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21 – 24%
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14 – 17%
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Acceptable
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25 – 31%
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18 – 25%
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Obese
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32% or more
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26% or more
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*Weight ranges assume that your lean body mass remains
constant at all weights. This will likely not be the
case. You will need to recalculate these ranges as your
weight or measurements change.
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