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Ideal Weight

Show a reference weight from the Devine formula alongside the healthy BMI range for your height.

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What Ideal Weight does

The Devine formula was published in 1974 to calculate drug dosages, not to prescribe how much anyone should weigh. It has since been widely repurposed as an 'ideal weight' reference, which is not what it was built for.

It is shown here alongside the weight range corresponding to a BMI between 18.5 and 25, which is the more meaningful comparison because it is a range rather than a single number.

  • Devine formula reference weight by sex and height
  • Healthy weight range from the standard BMI band

How to use Ideal Weight

  1. 1

    Enter your height and sex

    Height in centimetres.

  2. 2

    Read the range, not the single figure

    The BMI-derived range is broad by design, and every weight in it is consistent with the standard healthy band.

Limits and known behaviour

  • There is no single ideal weight for a person of a given height. Frame size, muscle mass and body composition all mean healthy weights vary widely.
  • The Devine formula was created for medication dosing and has no evidential basis as a health target.
  • It uses height only, so it cannot account for build or composition at all.
  • It was derived from a narrow population and is least appropriate at the extremes of height.
  • Not applicable to children, or during pregnancy.
  • This is an estimate from a published formula, not a medical assessment. It cannot diagnose anything, and it is no substitute for advice from a clinician who knows your history.

Privacy and data handling

Runs entirely in your browser

  • Every figure you enter stays in this page. Your height and weight is not transmitted, logged or stored anywhere.
  • There is no account, no saved history and no autosave: reloading the page clears the form.

Site-wide data handling, including analytics and advertising, is described in the privacy policy.

Frequently asked questions

Should I aim for the 'ideal' number?

No. Treat the range as context rather than a target. Health outcomes relate more closely to fitness, diet, activity and body composition than to hitting a particular figure on a scale.

Why do different websites give different ideal weights?

Because they use different formulas — Devine, Robinson, Miller, Hamwi — each fitted to different data for different purposes. The disagreement between them is itself a good reason not to treat any of them as authoritative.