Ideal weight calculator
Four classic formulas that predict a target weight from height and sex alone. They disagree by several kilos and know nothing about muscle, so treat the spread as a rough guide, not a single answer.
Ideal Weight Calculator
Ideal body weight formulas estimate a target weight from height and sex. The most widely used is the Devine formula: 50 kg plus 2.3 kg per inch over 5 feet for men, and 45.5 kg plus 2.3 kg per inch for women. For a 6-foot man that gives 77.6 kg. The formulas ignore muscle mass, so people who lift often sit healthily well above them.
Average of the four formulas
Method notes (1)
- These formulas come from drug-dosing research and know nothing about muscle — a trained lifter will sit well above them at low body fat.
Metric or imperial · runs the same code as the app · nothing is sent anywhere
How it works
Each formula is a base weight at 5 feet plus a fixed amount for every inch above it. For men: Devine 50 + 2.3/in, Robinson 52 + 1.9/in, Miller 56.2 + 1.41/in, Hamwi 48 + 2.7/in. For women: Devine 45.5 + 2.3/in, Robinson 49 + 1.7/in, Miller 53.1 + 1.36/in, Hamwi 45.5 + 2.2/in.
Devine was written to dose drugs, not to set body-composition goals, and the others are refits of it. The healthy BMI range shown alongside is the weight that keeps you between a BMI of 18.5 and 24.9 at your height.
Common questions
Which ideal weight formula is most accurate?
None of them measures what is healthy for you. Devine is the most used, mainly in medicine for drug dosing. Robinson and Miller tend to read lower for tall people. The healthy BMI range is a better guide, and body-fat percentage is better still.
Why am I so far above my ideal weight when I am lean?
Because the formulas assume an average amount of muscle. A trained lifter can sit 10 kg or more above Devine at a healthy body fat. Use the FFMI or body-fat calculator to judge composition instead.
The other calculators
Body composition
What you are made of, and what you could be.
- BMI calculatorBody mass index is weight over height squared.BMI
- Body fat calculatorThree ways to estimate body fat without a DEXA scan.Body fat
- FFMI / Lean body mass calculatorYour lean body mass (muscle, bone, organs and water), your fat mass, and the fat-free mass index, which scales lean mass to height so that unlike BMI it tracks how much muscle you carry.FFMI / Lean body mass
- Maximum muscular potential calculatorWrist and ankle circumference are proxies for skeletal frame size, and frame size predicts how much muscle you can ultimately carry.Max potential
- Ideal body proportions calculatorClassical proportions scale every girth from the wrist, because wrist size tracks your skeletal frame and barely changes with training or fat.Ideal proportions
- Body shape calculatorClassifies your body shape from a few tape measurements: hourglass, spoon, triangle, rectangle and the rest for women, V-taper to oval for men.Body shape
Energy
What you burn, and what to eat against it.
- TDEE, BMR & macro calculatorYour total daily energy expenditure is what you burn across a whole day, training included.TDEE, BMR & macros
- Calorie deficit calculatorPick a goal weight and a pace.Calorie deficit
- Water intake calculatorA daily drinking target from your bodyweight, with extra for training and hot weather.Water intake
Strength
What you lift, and how it ranks.
- One-rep max calculatorEstimate a maximum from a set you have actually done, without the risk of testing a true single.One-rep max
- RPE calculatorRate of perceived exertion turns how hard a set felt into numbers.RPE
- Strength level calculatorRank any lift against population strength standards for your bodyweight and sex, with an optional age adjustment.Strength level
- Powerlifting score calculatorRaw totals favour heavier lifters, so powerlifting uses coefficients to compare across bodyweight.Wilks & DOTS
- Strength symmetry calculatorComparing raw numbers across different lifts tells you nothing, because a 200 kg deadlift and a 100 kg bench are not equivalent achievements.Symmetry
- Barbell plate calculatorTells you what to hang on each side of the bar for a target weight, and whether the number is reachable at all with standard plates.Plate loading
- Warm-up sets calculatorA ramp from the empty bar to your top set: the weight gets heavier while the reps get fewer, so you arrive warm but not tired.Warm-up sets
- Training volume calculatorEnter up to three exercises with sets, reps and load.Training volume
Cardio & burn
Aerobic fitness and the cost of a session.
- VO₂max & heart rate zone calculatorTwo answers from the same three numbers.VO₂max & HR zones
- Steps to calories calculatorTurns a step count into distance and calories using your stride and bodyweight, and shows how it compares with the daily step range linked to better health at your age.Steps → calories
- Workout calorie calculatorEstimates the energy cost of an activity from its metabolic equivalent, your bodyweight and how long you did it.Activity burn
- Lifting calorie calculatorMost calculators give weight training a flat per-hour figure.Lifting burn
These numbers are more useful when something tracks them.
The app runs this same maths against your logged weigh-ins, meals and sessions, so the figure updates itself instead of being a one-off.
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