Ideal Body Weight Calculator.
Enter your height and gender to see your ideal body weight calculated four different ways — Devine, Robinson, Miller, and Hamwi — plus the average across all four.
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Why Four Formulas?
No single ideal-weight formula is considered definitive. Showing all four side by side — rather than picking one — gives a more honest picture of the real range clinicians work with.
Not a BMI Replacement
Ideal body weight and BMI measure different things. BMI relates weight to height as a screening tool; these formulas estimate a target weight directly. Use both alongside body composition for a fuller picture.
Ideal Body Weight Formulas Methodology.
The Calculation Branch
Industrial Standards.
Each formula starts with a base weight for someone exactly 5 feet (60 inches) tall, then adds a fixed amount per inch of height above that. The calculator converts your feet-and-inches input to total inches, subtracts 60, multiplies the result by each formula's per-inch constant, and adds it to that formula's base weight — separately for men and women, since all four formulas use different constants by gender.
In-Depth Analysis & Reference Data
The Devine formula, published in 1974, remains the most common in hospital settings specifically because it's used in pharmacokinetic dosing calculations for drugs like aminoglycoside antibiotics, where dosing by actual body weight could be dangerous in patients carrying excess fluid or fat. The Robinson (1983) and Miller (1983) formulas were derived from life insurance actuarial tables and are generally considered to track more closely with healthy population averages from their era.
None of these formulas account for frame size, muscle mass, or ethnicity-specific body composition differences — all real limitations acknowledged in the clinical literature. They remain useful as a rough cross-check, not a precise individual target. If your weight differs from all four estimates by a wide margin, that alone is not a health concern; body composition (the ratio of muscle to fat) is a far more meaningful indicator than any single ideal-weight number.
Registry Questions & FAQ.
Should athletes use these formulas?
These formulas tend to understate a healthy target weight for athletes and anyone with above-average muscle mass, since none of them account for lean body mass. A muscular person can weigh 20-30+ pounds above every formula's estimate while being lean and healthy. Body fat percentage is a far better metric for athletes.
Why is there no formula option for children?
All four formulas here were derived from adult populations and are only valid for adults. Pediatric weight assessment uses entirely different growth-chart-based percentile methods that account for a child's age and developmental stage, which this calculator does not cover.
Estimates for planning. Always confirm against an authoritative source.