How to Figure Out Your Ideal Body Weight

Type "ideal body weight" into a search bar and you'll get several different formulas, each giving a slightly different number for the same height. That's not a bug — it's because "ideal weight" formulas were built for different purposes, and none of them is a universal, individually precise answer.

Step 1: Understand what these formulas actually do

Most ideal weight formulas — Devine, Robinson, Miller, Hamwi — were originally developed for clinical purposes like drug dosing, where using a population-average "ideal" weight avoided over- or under-dosing patients at the extremes of height. They were never designed to capture individual variation in frame size or muscle mass.

Step 2: Calculate using a standard formula

This site uses the Devine formula, one of the most widely referenced:

Men: IBW(kg) = 50 + 2.3 × (height in inches − 60)
Women: IBW(kg) = 45.5 + 2.3 × (height in inches − 60)

The Ideal Weight Calculator runs this automatically and also shows a ±10% range rather than a single number, which is the more honest way to use the result.

Step 3: Treat the result as a range, not a target

Because the formula only uses height, two people of the same height with very different builds get the identical "ideal weight" — even though their genuinely healthy weights might differ by ten kilograms or more. Using the ±10% range, and weighing it against how you actually feel and perform, is far more useful than chasing the exact number.

A better combination than any single formula

Pairing ideal weight with BMI and, if you want a frame-size adjustment, a body frame size check gives a more complete picture than relying on one number-only formula in isolation.