Find your healthy weight range for your height
Weight range guidelines for given heights are typically derived from epidemiological studies that identify BMI thresholds associated with increased health risk at population level. They are useful population-level screening tools and deeply imperfect individual measurements — for the same reasons BMI is imperfect.
Height alone determines less than 40% of ideal body weight variance. Other significant factors include frame size (bone density and skeletal structure vary considerably), muscle mass (a kg of muscle and a kg of fat occupy different volumes and carry different metabolic implications), age (body composition changes through the life course, and ranges that are appropriate at 25 may not be at 65), sex (women naturally carry higher body fat percentages than men at equivalent BMIs), and ethnic background (Asian populations have been shown to carry higher metabolic risk at lower BMIs than European populations).
Waist circumference is increasingly included alongside BMI in clinical screening because it measures visceral fat — the fat stored around abdominal organs — more directly than BMI does. Visceral fat is more metabolically active and carries higher cardiovascular and metabolic risk than subcutaneous fat. Clinical guidelines generally flag increased risk above 80cm waist for women and 94cm for men (European standards).
Weight tools can be distressing for people with complicated relationships to food or body image. If you find yourself frequently checking weight-related tools and feeling anxious or distressed afterward, that pattern may be worth discussing with a healthcare professional or therapist. The goal of any health tool should be to inform, not to generate anxiety.
Related: BMI Calculator · Calories Burned Calculator · Biological Age Estimator