What's Your Ideal Weight Range?

What is your healthy weight range? Most people reading this may not have any idea. The fact is that each person is likely to have his or her own idea about what a healthy weight range is. This is fueled, in part, by the constant barrage of “thin, thinner, and thinnest” messages to which we are all exposed. Of course, these messages are in direct conflict with the reality of the $900+ billion food industry.

Consider that most human beings are able to thrive on around 2,000 calories or fewer per day. This is in direct conflict with the fact that the almost one trillion dollar food industry produces over 3,800 daily calories for every man, woman, and child in the United States. It is not any wonder that six in every ten adult Americans are overweight at present. The most popular measure of whether an individual is overweight or obese is known as BMI (Body Mass Index).

BMI is a ratio of your height and your weight and is a measure for overweight and obesity. BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by their height in meters, squared. I tend to be ‘metrically challenged’, if you are, you simply divide your current weight by your height converted into inches (and then shift the decimal one place to the left). For example, I am 188 pounds and I am 5’10” or 70 inches tall. Therefore, 188 divided by 7.0 equals a BMI of 26.9. Therefore, according to the BMI chart, I would be considered overweight. Currently, my BMI is greater than 24.9, the line of demarcation between the upper limit of the normal weight range. We live in a modern society that focuses on weight in what can only be described as obsessed with size and weight. All of this is playing itself out against the backdrop of sub-100 pound starlets in a celebrity obsessed culture.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Weight Control Information Network, I should weigh 157 pounds. I want to provide some context for how “unrealistic” 157 pounds is for me. As a very active 16 year old two-sport athlete, I weighed 165 pounds (more than three decades ago).

Some years ago, I completed an experiment where I fasted on water for 15 consecutive days. At the end of this 15 day period, I weighed 169 pounds. The point here is that I likely will have to be dead and rotting in the ground for two full weeks before my weight will ever reach the 174 pound mark of 24.9 on the BMI scale, much less the completely ridiculous 157 pounds.

This brings us back to the initial question of what is your ‘ideal’ weight. Each of us, regardless of current weight, has the same ideal weight range. This is the weight range that is likely to result in our greatest longevity. In other words, what weight will result in your living the longest? Whether you are young or mature, large or small, left-hanged or right-handed, most of us share this same healthy weight range, a BMI of 26-28. In the Obesity Myth, an analysis of actual life-spans revealed that those persons with BMIs between 26 and 28, lived longer than other lower BMIs. So, for me, my healthy weight range is between 182 and 196 pounds. Get a calculator and figure out what your healthy weight range is and then find a way to live within that range.

Michael Imani, Ph.D. is a diet expert who works with clients to find solutions for weight and life issues. He is the author of The Diet Code: 4 Steps to Permanent Weight Loss. www.michaelimanicoaching.com