Is There Such a Thing as Ideal Weight?
In a recent poll, I asked readers to vote on how close they are to their goal weight. This idea got me thinking about ideal weight...that mythical number we all aspire too and that, often, coincides with our goal weight. But is there really such a thing as ideal weight? I suppose that depends on your definition of 'ideal'.
When it comes to health, weight is just one measure we use to assess how healthy we are, but most of us don't use the scale as a measure of health - we use it as a measure of how thin we really are. So, is coming up with an ideal weight the best way to set a weight loss goal? While there are certainly ideal body weight calculators out there, most experts agree that there really is no such thing as an ideal weight for most of us.
There's no magic weight at which you will be perfect in every way and I think that's what we're after when we talk about ideal weight. If you abandon the idea of setting an ideal weight as a goal, that may open the door to other goals you can set for yourself, perhaps even throwing out weight loss completely and focusing on other things like health, energy and self-confidence. Think about that and then use these resources to come up with other ideas for setting goals:
- How to Set Weight Loss Goals
- How to Set Fitness Goals
- Setting Realistic Goals
- Giving Up the Weight Loss Obsession
If you have some experience struggling with ideal weight and have some insight, leave a comment and tell us how you're dealing with it.
Comments
I think that when it comes to weight numbers, there’s no formula that will work for everyone. Someone’s ideal weight can fluctuate depending on their age, gender, physical activity, body structure, etc., etc. I think when someone’s healthy mentally and physically and happy with their body, then they are at their ideal weight.
i’m 5′0″ tall and i weight 143lbs i walk allot and have allot of muscle i don’t look or feel overweight except a little pouch in the belly (iv’e had 3 kids)but when i go to the doctors he says that my bmi is too high and that i’m overweight and have to lose it. now i agree that i could lose about 10lbs but with my bmi setting me in a such a high range it makes me feel fat why doesn’t the bmi take other things into consideration
That’s why I say one formula doesn’t work for all. BMI gives you a good range to work with though, and I’ve read about a lot of studies that show a high BMI leads to greater health risks, but I don’t think you should look at the number as telling you if you are fat or not. Try to look at it as a number that is telling you if you are as healthy as you can be!
Mind if a guy “weighs” in? (pun intended) Last April I quit smoking. At the time I was 49yrs. old, 5′6″ and weighed 162lbs. After six months of patting myself on the back with one hand and reaching for a snack with the other, I realized that extra 25 lbs. was not going to drop off on its own. I bought a gym membership and have been going 3 times a week for the last six months. My pants are starting to fit a little better now and I can say I feel alot better than I did a year ago. My present weight is 185 lbs. The only reason I climb on a scale at the gym every two weeks or so is for a laugh! Tone your muscles and your heart, eat healthy and everything will fall into place.
I feel my body talks louder than any number. If I feel good and I look good and I am looking for healthy lifesyle changes and surrounding myself with people who have the same thoughts in respect to health, You will be healthy!
I struggled for 7 years with bulimia, striving to reach an ideal weight. I fluctuated between 110 pounds at my thinnest and 165 at my heaviest… I was just as miserable at 110 as I was at 165 proving that the ideal number wasn’t about the number at all, but strictly about my own mental perception. May 10 will be my 10 year anniversary since quitting my destructive habits and in that time I’ve had 2 children, about to deliver my 3rd. I feel better about my body today 9 months pregnant than I ever did back then… I’m healthier in mind, body, and spirit regardless of the number on the scale. Good luck to everyone in finding peace with their body image… it’s the first step to health!
I go by how my clothes fit. I don’t like scales! I’m 5′6″ and weight 160lbs. People who know me don’t believe I weigh this as I don’t look it. Because I’m working out, I am losing fat but increasing my muscle mass..so the scale isn’t moving that much. Which can be discouraging but at the same time…it’s not realistic! I’m a size 9 and am almost at my ideal size 7 (ok..that also depends on the maker of the clothes!) What I really go by is how I feel and what I see in the mirror. Remember that we put too much of our identity into what we physically look like (how wrong is that?)I am woman, I am beautiful inside and out and hear me roar!!!!
BMI, body fat percentage and generally how you look are all useful tools for estimating an ideal weight. Too many people discount BMI and body fat percentages because they don’t appreciate being told they are overweight. So many Americans are now overweight that we have moved our standard for what constitutes “overweight”. If your BMI is too high you are likely overweight unless you really are a well condition athlete with a lot of muscle on your frame. This is rarely the case.
I want to be 125 lbs. I am 185 lbs. i am 5 foot 5. this isnt unrealistic for me since that was my wieight for years… then I had kids. Now it seems my body wont lose the weight. The Bmi and all charts say I should be at around 130 but its so hard to even get to 150. What is a person to do.by the my kids are not babys anymore,so its not baby fat.
I am a 6′-3″ man in my mid 50’s. In my late 20’s I read a weight chart that said I should weigh about 170 lbs. It seemed right since that was about what I had weighed in my late teens. However I could never get comfortably down to that number. At the time I was very active. Looking at pictures of me at that time I realize I was probably a bit underweight even at a bit over 170. Trying to stay at that weight meant eating very little in spite of being quite active and being hungry all the time, and it probably brought about a binge mentality of when I ate I felt like I would never have enough. In reality my body was trying to tell me something. I should have listened.
A few years later I realized that what felt right (a weight I could hike about 20 miles a day in the mountains without getting too tired or hungry) was about 180 to 185 lbs. I stayed that weight until I got married. What I realized was that the weight charts were just wrong (I had a lot of muscle, especially in my legs) and that if I was looking for a chart to tell me I was officially attractive I was going to have to keep looking forever-there ain’t no such piece of paper. Unfortunately those years of trying to be thinner than was right for me left me with a bunch of attitudes about eating and food that never did disappear, and when I settled down my eating didn’t change.
I watch what the twin obsession with thinness and marketing of junk food does to my teenage daughters and I want to kill someone. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the same people that make potato chips and cookies are getting rich off of diet books.
Now in my 50’s I have arthritis in both knees. They tell me every 15 lbs I lose will be a 50% reduction in pain. Most doctors agree I should loose about 35 lbs, down to 200 lbs, and that the more muscle I get in my legs to protect my knees the better. I don’t really care that much what I look like at this point but I would love to be in less physical pain. My wife tries to help with this by getting the family ice cream and cookies. Dysfunctional behavior around food or what?
Curt