Healthy Weight for Women
Healthy Weight for Women
Like many women, you may be struggling to lose enough pounds to obtain a “healthy weight.” It’s hard for women to lose weight and in many cases – you may not even know what you should weigh to be considered at a healthy weight. So the question is, what is a healthy weight for women?
Being at a healthy weight is determined by a few things. First, your height is important. A taller woman should obviously weigh more then a shorter woman. Your frame should also be considered. Some women just have more fat cells then other women. It isn’t to say that these women are unhealthy, it’s just part of their genetics.
BMI
BMI, or body mass index, can be a valuable tool to help you figure out a healthy weight range. The BMI metric uses your height and weight to give you a numeric value. Your numeric value then determines whether you are underweight, at a healthy weight, or are overweight.
Now, BMI isn’t perfect and you can find some of the problems with BMI here: BMI
In general, BMI can establish a healthy weight for women, but it is not a definitive tool. You can be considered “overweight” but still be perfectly healthy.
Healthy Weight Ranges for Women
Now, onto some actual data. Below are a few examples using different tools to determine a healthy weight for women at specific heights:
5′: 104-127 pounds
5’3″: 112-140 pounds
5’6″: 123-154 pounds
5’9″: 135-168 pounds
6′: 147-183 pounds
Just by using this information you can determine a few things:
1. The taller you are – the more you should weigh.
2. The taller a woman is, the greater the range of what is considered a “healthy weight”.
3. In terms of pounds/inch – a healthy weight for women is about 1.6-2.2lbs. per inch of height.
Ideal Weight vs. Healthy Weight for Women
The ideal weight for women is a little different then a healthy weight. The simple difference is that the ideal weight is essentially the middle number in the healthy weight range. So for example, a women who is 5’3″ has an ideal weight of 126 pounds. Likewise, a women who is 6′ has an ideal weight range of 165 pounds.
Overweight Women
Now, after reading all of this, you may have established that you need to lose a couple pounds to be considered at a healthy weight. That’s no problem, because here are some tips especially made for women, to help women lose weight:
-Add foods, instead of subtracting them. By this, we mean that you should add healthy fruits and vegetables to your diet, instead of removing foods from your diet. In other words, focus on what you should be eating as opposed to what you shouldn’t be eating.
-Skip the Gym. Women think that they need to spend hours on end at the gym running tirelessly on a treadmill. This simply isn’t true. A healthy diet alone will maximize your weight loss – exercise only adds to it. Instead of going to the gym, take a walk with your dog or spouse, ride bike with your children, or get your exercise some other way.
-Stop Stressing. All women can relate to this. Women stress about their kids, their marriage, their job, their financial situation, their this, their that, etc. etc. Stress is a known diet killer and also plays an important role in fat production in the body. If you feel stressed, take a deep breath, maybe go to the spa or spend some time doing yoga. Whatever you do, go to a quiet, peaceful place and allow your mind to unwind so you can forget about the stress.
Summary
We hope you have learned something about your weight and having a healthy weight. We encourage women to come back to our site frequently because we update our website with the latest news regarding women’s health, specifically involving weight loss. Below are some recent posts from the news, which you may find enticing and may even learn another thing or two about how much you should weigh.
An intleligent point of view, well expressed! Thanks!
The healthy weight for a woman 5’3 seems large to me. I am at the lower end of the 5’3 ideal weight and still feel that I could use to lose a couple of pounds. The only way for me to to this is either starve or exercise more. The latter is surely my choice. That will keep it off as well. This also relieves stress. Mort of this is great information
Marta, from my understanding it seems that these only recommendations. I personally assume that a healthy weight depends on body structure, but that these are only guides.