Ideal Weight Calculator
Your healthy range from the 4 most-used clinical formulas in medical practice. Not one isolated number, a real range.
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4
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How the ideal weight calculator does the math
Each formula starts from a fixed value at 5 feet and adds a per-inch amount above that, with a different coefficient for men and women.
All 4 were built for medical use, not aesthetics: Devine (1974) was created to calculate drug dosing by body weight. Robinson (1983) and Miller (1983) came later to fix distortions Devine had for people who were very tall or very short. Hamwi (1964) is the oldest of the four and still the most cited in clinical nutrition.
For the same height and sex, the 4 formulas usually land several pounds apart. That is not rounding error. Each one was built in a different decade, in a different hospital, for a different job, as a pharmacotherapy history of these equations documents.
Why the result is a range, not a single number
Because treating ideal weight as one fixed number hides the real variation between bodies of the same height.
If you have run two ideal weight calculators and gotten two different answers, both were probably right, each inside its own logic. The mistake is using just one and treating the result as a rigid target.
That is why this ideal weight calculator shows the full range. If you want to understand exactly why the formulas disagree by several pounds for the same person, the guide on the ideal body weight equation and why 4 formulas disagree walks through the math step by step.
What ideal weight does not see in your body
None of the 4 formulas looks at muscle mass, body fat percentage, or where fat sits on your body.
Two people of the same height and weight can have completely different body composition. Someone who trains for strength tends to weigh more than the range suggests without carrying excess fat. Someone with little muscle mass can fall inside the range and still have a high body fat percentage.
If you want a reading that accounts for body composition, the body fat calculator uses a tape measure and gets closer to that. And to understand the healthy range through BMI, the guide on what is BMI explains how to read the number.
When to ignore this calculator
The range matters less in these 4 cases.
- Athletes and anyone who trains for strength regularly: muscle mass adds weight the formula cannot tell apart from fat.
- People who are pregnant or breastfeeding, whose body composition changes for healthy reasons.
- People who are very tall or very short, where all 4 formulas lose accuracy.
- Children and teens, who need an age-based growth chart, not an adult formula.
What to do with the number after you calculate it
Use the range as a compass, and the actual calorie deficit as what moves you inside it.
The guide on calorie deficit explains how to build that cut without going hungry, and the calorie calculator sets your daily target from your real energy expenditure.
The part most people get wrong is not the formula, it is counting the plate. Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows most people underestimate what they actually eat by nearly half. ContaCal closes that gap from a photo →
Frequently asked questions about ideal weight
Tap each question to see the answer.
What is the most accurate ideal weight formula?
None of the 4 wins outright. Each one fits a specific profile best. For adults of average height, Devine and Robinson tend to return reasonable values. For people who are very tall or very short, all 4 lose accuracy, which is why the full range matters more than one value.
Does the ideal weight calculator work for people who train hard?
With a caveat. Since the formulas add muscle and fat into the same number, people with above average muscle mass often show up above the range without carrying excess fat. Body fat percentage and waist circumference describe that body better.
Why does the calculator show 4 results instead of 1?
Because no single formula is definitive. All 4 were built in different decades for different clinical uses, and showing the full range keeps you from treating one isolated number as a rigid target.
Does this calculator work for children?
No. All 4 formulas were designed for adults. Children and teens need an age based growth chart, tracked with a pediatrician.
Are ideal weight and healthy BMI weight the same thing?
Not exactly. BMI gives you a healthy range from height and weight. Ideal weight by formula gives you one point within that logic, built on a different calculation. Running both gives a fuller picture than trusting just one.
You know the range. Now close the day's numbers.
ContaCal reads your plate from a photo, shows calories and protein instantly, and tracks your progress toward your range.
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