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In the "Age vs Ideal Body Mass Index" chart (above),
notice that Men's mean ideal BMI has less slope than women. Age has little
influence on Mens percieved ideal weight, but Age has more influence
over how Women perceive their ideal weight.
The second data source for the Peoples Choice Ideal Weight
formula, is from the NHANES III study3
which provided a very large dataset of the American population's height
and weights. Correlating the two studies, mens Age does not appear to
be an independent variable in how men describe their ideal weight,
while mens current BMI strongly influences with their perceived ideal weight.
In women, both Age and current weight independently influence
their perceived ideal weight.
Using the published data from the Australian study and
the more detailed data of Americans from the NHANES III study, Dr. SB
Halls created a formula in February 2002, which uses a persons Age,
Gender, Height and Current Weight, to predict the mean body weight that
a similar average person would say they considered as their "Ideal".
This formula calculates the "Peoples Choice ideal BMI"
(in kg/m2),
which can then be converted to an ideal body Weight (in kilograms), by multiplying
by height (in meters) squared. Weight in kilograms can be converted to pounds
by multiplying by 2.2046.
Men
Ideal BMI
= 0.5 * kg/m2
+ 11.5
Women
Ideal BMI
= 0.4 * kg/m2
+ 0.03*Age + 11
copyright info
Further Discussion
The publication by Drs Crawford and Campbell1
emphasized the following observations, which are worthy of repeating.
Many men tend to think that their ideal weight is near-to
or higher-than a BMI of 25, which is the upper limit of the "medical"
non-overweight range. This indicates that men generally under-appreciate
the adverse medical risks of being overweight, including diabetes
and heart attacks.
The vast majority of women tend to think that
their ideal weight is lower than required to be within the non-overweight
range.
The heavier that people currently are, the heavier they
believe their ideal weight to be. This turns out to be reasonable, because
weight from skeletal muscle and bone density also increases with total body
weight, up to a certain point.
Are overweight people able to judge their ideal weight
as well as non-overweight people? Click here
for further discussion of overweight ideal.
Why do Men and Women have different ideas of ideal weight?
Click here for further discussion of men and women.
Limitations of the Peoples Choice Ideal Weight Calculator
The PeoplesChoice Ideal Weight Calculator
uses the formulas shown above for s, but not for Children. For
ages under 18.5 years, the calculator substitutes the 50th percentile
weight, according to height, age and gender, determined from NHANES III
data. Doing so provides results that have a smooth junction between s
and Children, for persons of normal weight. This approach is not entirely
satisfactory for overweight kids, unfortunately.
This calculator does not have a way to provide reasonable
results for people who have extra muscles, such as for bodybuilders
or atheletes.
References
Crawford D, and K. Campbell K, "Lay definitions
of ideal weight and overweight", Int J Obesity, 1999: 23:738-745.
Formulas for Lean Body Weight (men) = (1.10 x Weight(kg))
- 128 ( Weight2/(100 x Height(m))2)
Lean Body Weight (women) = (1.07 x Weight(kg)) - 148 ( Weight2/(100
x Height(m))2)
NHANES III. Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. 1988-1994
data from USA.
Last modified 26-May-2008 by Steven B. Halls, MD
back to the Ideal body weight calculator
