What Is a Healthy Weight?

The notion of "healthy weight" is one of the most popular subjects discussed in health-related literature today -- and it seems that everyone has an opinion of what a healthy weight is. In reality, determining a weight that is healthy is not as simple as referring to a chart or making a simple calculation. Your ideal weight is your own, and it depends on several factors, including genetics, age and body composition.

We are taught that our weight is almost entirely a result of our own food choices and activity level. Those things do have a strong effect on our health and our body composition, but your own family plays a more significant role in determining your healthy weight.

Studies show that when a child is adopted, he is not likely to take on the same physical characteristics as his adoptive parents, even though he lives in the same environment as the parents' biological children. If the parents are significantly overweight, it is likely that the biological children will be, too. But the adopted child does not seem to be affected by this environment.

Does a person's healthy weight increase over time? Some studies have shown that the healthiest people may actually gain a bit of weight as they grow older. This is certainly not the message we receive from the diet industry, which warns us about the "middle-age spread" and creates a sense of concern that increased weight is just one more sign of the body's deterioration.

Weight charts are based on actuarial and population studies, and as such may overlook individual differences. Your healthy weight may not be the same as someone else's healthy weight.

Those individual differences are most important when considering body mass index, or BMI. BMI estimates the amount of fat in the body; it can be calculated in a number of ways. The simplest way of calculating BMI is to use height and weight, but the usefulness of calculating BMI in this way is a bit limited. It is not always an accurate measure of health or body composition. But a person's BMI is often used as a guide for recommending a healthy weight.

A truly healthy weight is not something found in a table. It's the weight your body will naturally maintain when eating normally and exercising normally. The woman with anorexia nervosa who is restricting food is not eating naturally. Nor is the person who is binge eating, whether there is purging involved or not.

The person who is dieting is also not eating normally. The body begins to conserve food, knowing that there isn't as much food coming every day, and the metabolism slows down. Similarly, four hours of exercise a day is not normal. Nor is it healthy. Your healthy weight should not require self-deprivation.

These activities do not allow the body to get to a naturally healthy weight. Your healthy weight can only be determined with the help of a dietitian or physician trained in these areas. It may be intimidating to make an appointment with a dietitian, but chances are that things aren't working on your own. You don't have to take this challenge alone.