What’s Your Ideal Body Weight?
Gallup Poll’s Annual Health and Healthcare Survey in 2011, showed that the average US adult’s ‘ideal weight’ has moved upward. Individuals ideal body weight estimates have increased by approximately 10-20 pounds since 1990. When Americans’ actual weights shift upward, the perception of our ‘ideal’ body weights do too, leading to our current obesity crisis and healthcare system overload.
Americans’ have put on weight over the decades with the average woman saying her ideal weight is 138 pounds — up from 129 pounds reported in 1991. Men, on average, said their perfect weight is 196 pounds up from 180 pounds reported in 1991. Studies further showed that men, on average, were 15 pounds over their declared ideal weight. Women were 22 pounds heavier than the ideal weight they reported.
Calculating Your Ideal Body Weight
If you’re unsure what your ideal weight should be, there is a simple way to calculate it. As you do this calculation, keep in mind that we all have different body types, and you don’t want to aim for a specific number on the scale but rather a healthy target range to keep your weight in check.
Physicians like to use (body mass index) BMI to categorize people based on their weight and height, but few of us calculate our BMIs as we lose weight. Instead, we look for that a number on the scale, indicating our actual weight.
So instead, the calculations below give you the same height-to-weight ratios, but in a way, you can understand. (Remember these ideal weight calculations do not hold for athletes, as they carry more weight in lean muscle mass.)
Click here to view the Ideal Body Weight Calculator and check out what your ideal body weight is: