The formula
How it works
Find the healthy weight range for your height, based on a normal body mass index. Enter your height to see the lowest and highest weights that fall in the healthy BMI band, and the midpoint.
FAQ
What makes a weight “healthy”?
It is a weight that puts your body mass index between 18.5 and 24.9, the range associated with the lowest health risks for most adults. Below it is classed as underweight and above it as overweight. The band is wide because a healthy weight depends on build, muscle and frame, not one exact number.
Does this apply to everyone?
It is a general guide for adults and does not account for muscle mass, age, sex or body composition. Very muscular people can exceed the range while being perfectly healthy, and it is not designed for children or pregnancy. Use it as a starting point and consult a professional for personal advice.
Why is there a range instead of one ideal weight?
A single “ideal” number would ignore natural differences in frame size, muscle and proportion between people of the same height. The range reflects that a healthy body can fall anywhere within the normal BMI band, not just at one point.
What if my weight is just outside the range?
Being slightly above or below the range is not automatically a problem — factors like muscle mass, bone density and overall fitness matter too. It is a useful signal to review your habits, but a single measurement outside the band is not a health verdict on its own.
Does this account for muscle versus fat?
No, it works purely from height and the BMI formula, so it cannot tell muscle from fat. Two people with the same weight and height get the same range even if one carries much more muscle, which is why athletes are often flagged as “overweight” despite low body fat.
How is the healthy weight range different from BMI?
BMI takes your actual height and weight and produces one number to classify you. This calculator works in reverse: it takes only your height and returns the span of weights that would place you in the healthy BMI band, which can be easier to plan around than a single BMI score.
Should children use this calculator?
No, it is built for adults. Children and teenagers are assessed with growth charts and age- and sex-specific percentiles, since their healthy weight changes as they grow, so an adult BMI band does not apply to them.
About the healthy weight calculator
This calculator shows the range of weights considered healthy for your height, derived from the normal body mass index band of 18.5 to 24.9. Rather than a single target, it gives a lower and an upper healthy weight, because a range better reflects the natural variation between people of the same height. It is a simple way to see where your weight sits relative to the healthy zone.
How to use it
Enter your height in centimetres or inches. The calculator returns the lowest healthy weight, the highest healthy weight and the midpoint, in kilograms or pounds. For example, someone 175 cm tall has a healthy range of roughly 57 to 76 kg. If your weight falls inside the range, it is in the healthy band for your height.
The formula
The band comes from rearranging the BMI formula. Since , a target weight is with height in metres. Using BMI 18.5 gives the lower limit and 24.9 the upper, so the healthy range is the pair of weights those two BMI values produce for your height.
Where it is used
People use it to set a realistic weight goal, to check whether their current weight is in a healthy range, and to understand the numbers behind a BMI reading. Health and fitness programs use the same band to frame targets. Because it presents a range rather than one figure, it discourages fixating on a single “perfect” weight and reflects that health spans a spread of weights.