Another measure by which to judge your healthy weight is by the body mass index (BMI) chart.  This is the method most often used in your primary care physician’s office, because it is a good tool to use for the general public.  It is also very quick and simple to use.  Based on a your height and weight, you can either calculate via a formula, your BMI, or you can simply follow the BMI chart. 

However, the important thing to remember about BMI is that it ONLY takes into account a person’s height and weight, and does absolutely no assessment of body fat composition.  This is one limitation of using BMI.  When a person is very physically active, and has a significant amount of muscle mass, the BMI may misclassify them into on overweight or obese category.  Due to muscle weighing more than fat, a physically fit person may weigh more by the scale, however the weight is not due to fat, but muscle mass, and is therefore very healthy.  This type of individual should consult a body fat composition measurement for a more accurate measure of body fatness, such as a bioelectric impedance, skinfold measurement, underwater weighing, or a DEXA.

With that said, much research has been done using BMI, since for the general public BMI is a good indicator of a person’s healthy weight.  You should maintain a BMI of less than 25, for increased health, and decreased risk of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease.  To calculate your BMI, click here.