How Much Should You Weigh, Really?

The advice has moved beyond the old BMI (body mass index) measure

- Beth Weinhouse

IT’S THE NUMBER we all want to know: the magic number on the scale that would make us look great in clothes (or out of them!) and keep us healthy. Often, we set a goal for ourselves based on a feeling. Or a weight we remember being happy with when we were in high school. Or maybe we consult one of the many different charts and formulas to help us calculate that number. Unfortunately, none of these methods on its own can prescribe a number that’s healthy and—just as important—possible to attain and maintain. So how can you determine your “best” weight? It’s more complicated—and simpler—than you think.

The Problem with Charts and Formulas

Formulas for determining a healthy weight range can easily be found online. But none can accurately recommend a healthy weight for everyone, since formulas can’t take more than a few factors (like height and weight, for example) into account.

“These formulas can be useful in a doctor’s office as screening tools to help consider health risks,” says Yoni Freedhoff, MD, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa and the founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute. But, he adds, they’re not really useful at giving individuals a target weight.

For decades, we’ve been told that Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard. To calculate BMI, you plug in your height and weight, and then a formula spits out a number that falls on a scale from underweight to healthy to overweight to obese, based on an estimated percentage of body fat.

Simple, right? Too simple. And so the latest thinking is that we need to consider more than this number.