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Your Ideal Body WeightYou cannot find your ideal body weight by looking at a chart on your doctor's wall. If you are 40 and have been trying to get back down to your high school weight or if you long to fit into your wedding gown at age 50, you may have an unrealistic low target weight in mind.
Most weight charts advocate weighing a certain amount at a certain height, no matter what your age or sex. The thinking is that a certain height should support a lean body weight that does not change with age: that a healthy old age is a lean body. More enlightened diet doctors know that it is healthier to maintain a little more body fat as we approach our senior years. An old person with no fat reserves may be in trouble in a time of serious illness. As for women, from a hormonal standpoint, some fat is needed to support estrogen production. So how much body fat should you have? The following chart is from Michael and Mary Dan Eades' Protein Power. (See Recommended Books) Ideal Body Fat PercentagesFemales:Age 15-30------20-26% Age 31-40------21-27% Age 41-50------22-28% Age 51-60------22-30% Age 61 and older-----22-31% Males: Calculating BMIBMI = Weight (lb) / [Height (in)]2 x 703To calculate: Example: a woman 5’5” in height weighs 160 pounds. Calculate: 160 X 703 = 112480
Usual evaluation of this calculation would be: BMI Category [Below 18.5 Underweight] [25.0 - 29.9 Overweight] [30.0 - 39.9 Obese] [Over 40 Morbidly obese] This method of BMI calculation paints everyone with the same brush. It does not ask the sex of the person. It does not ask the age of the person.
The best thing to do is to not worry about what you weigh, but to get your body into the best shape that you can and carry an appropriate amount of body fat for good health. Whatever weight that turns out to be is perfect for you. It will be your ideal body weight.
Exercise
for at least 30 minutes. The more you exercise and the more intensely you exercise the more muscle mass you will build.
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