Enter your height, age and gender to see your ideal body weight range from four trusted medical formulas (Devine, Robinson, Miller, Hamwi) — plus a healthy BMI range for your height.
Your ideal weight depends on height, gender and frame. This calculator averages four medical formulas (Devine, Robinson, Miller, Hamwi) to give one reliable number, plus the healthy BMI range.
Devine is the classic clinical standard; Robinson and Miller are refinements. Averaging all four, as this tool does, smooths out each formula's bias.
Not exactly. Ideal weight is one number from a formula; healthy weight is a range (BMI 18.5–24.9). Both are shown so you can see where you stand.
Yes — athletes and very muscular people can weigh more than their 'ideal' and still be healthy. Formulas assume an average frame.
Each formula was derived from a different study population and era — Hamwi from 1960s insurance data, Devine for clinical drug dosing, Robinson and Miller as later refinements. The differences are usually just 2–4 kg, which is why this calculator averages all four into one steadier number.
For men: 50 kg + 2.3 kg for every inch over 5 feet. For women: 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg for every inch over 5 feet. A 5'6" woman, for example, is 6 inches over 5 feet, so 45.5 + (2.3 × 6) = 59.3 kg. It remains the most widely used formula in clinical settings.
Not as a target. Muscle is denser than fat, so muscular people routinely weigh more than their formula ideal while being very healthy. Athletes get more from body-fat percentage, waist measurement, and performance markers than from any height-weight formula.
Ideal body weight (IBW) formulas all answer the same question — what should someone of a given height and sex weigh with an average frame — but they were built from different data, so they disagree slightly. The four classics are: Devine (1974, originally for drug dosing): men 50 kg + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet; women 45.5 kg + 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet. Robinson (1983): men 52 + 1.9 per inch; women 49 + 1.7 per inch. Miller (1983): men 56.2 + 1.41 per inch; women 53.1 + 1.36 per inch. Hamwi (1964): men 48 + 2.7 per inch; women 45.5 + 2.2 per inch. In each formula, "per inch over 5 feet" means your height in inches minus 60.
5 feet 10 inches is 70 inches, which is 10 inches over 5 feet. Devine: 50 + (2.3 × 10) = 73.0 kg. Robinson: 52 + (1.9 × 10) = 71.0 kg. Miller: 56.2 + (1.41 × 10) = 70.3 kg. Hamwi: 48 + (2.7 × 10) = 75.0 kg. The average of the four is (73.0 + 71.0 + 70.3 + 75.0) ÷ 4 = 72.3 kg — the single number this calculator shows, which smooths out each formula's bias.
These formulas assume an average frame and average muscle. Athletes, very muscular people, and the elderly can be perfectly healthy well outside their "ideal" number — pair it with the healthy BMI range (18.5–24.9) shown above. Ideal weight is a screening starting point, not a diagnosis; trends over time matter more than any single number.
Ideal weight is a single target; BMI (body mass index) is a range, and the two answer different questions. BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m)2; the healthy band is 18.5–24.9. For our 5'10" (1.78 m) example at 72.3 kg: BMI = 72.3 ÷ (1.78 × 1.78) = 72.3 ÷ 3.17 ≈ 22.8 — comfortably mid-range. Use the formula average as an anchor and the BMI band as the acceptable zone around it. If your weight sits inside 18.5–24.9 but above your formula ideal, you are almost certainly fine — the formulas describe a population average, while the BMI range describes where health risk stays low. The two together beat either alone: one number to aim at, one range to stay within.
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