How do you tell how much someone is supposed to weigh?

Answer 1

The so-called "Average Weight" tables were developed by the Insurance Companies in the late 1950's or early 1960's, as a means of identifying risk of death from obesity-related conditions in adults of that time. It was a first effort, and flawed in a number of ways.

The first problem with these tables was that they weren't intended to be a scientific examination of weight-to-height ratios as they relate to health; they were intended to form the basis of a money-making venture in life and medical insurance. The focus wasn't empirical accuracy as much as a was a framework to hang insurance charges upon, so the companies would fare well. As business, it was a good idea. As science it was a failure.

The other reason height-to-weight ratios are invalid from a health perspective is that they don't take into account any real variables that apply to health. How tall you are as applied to what you weigh only reflects heatlh in extreme cases (if you're 6'9" and weigh 100lbs, or you're 4'0" and weigh 400lbs, then we know there's a problem). Cases near the middle of the bell curve however do not accurately reflect conditions of over or underweight.

Instead, the questions you should be asking are:

• What's my overall fat percentage?
• How is my cardiovascular health?
• How is my nutritional picture?

And -- if your question relates to aesthetics:

• Am I pleased or distressed with my appearance?

I want to add here that one's dislike of their own appearance is a very common phenomenon -- at one point or another in life, everyone doesn't like the way they look, the sound of their own voice on a recorder, etc. It's not a wise idea to plan severe dietary or excercise changes based solely on an ideal appearance -- it can get you in real trouble heatlh-wise. That said, if you want to lose or gain a few pounds, you can -- but this should be done scientifically; not based on some insurance company's idea of how to make money.