Estimate ideal body weight using the Devine formula.
Men: 50kg + 2.3kg per inch over 5 feet.
Women: 45.5kg + 2.3kg per inch over 5 feet.
For general wellness information only — not medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional for personal guidance.
There is no single scientific formula for ideal body weight — this calculator draws on several competing ones (Devine, Robinson, Miller, Hamwi), and they were never designed as fitness targets in the first place. Devine's 1974 formula was created specifically to help calculate drug dosages like gentamicin; Hamwi's 1964 version was a quick bedside reference for physicians giving rough nutritional counselling; Robinson's 1983 update revised the underlying data from Metropolitan Life Insurance actuarial tables. None of them were built from a study of what "ideal" actually means for long-term health.
Because the formulas were derived from different populations and different eras, they typically spread across a 10-20 lb (5-9 kg) range for the same height — there is no way to declare one of the four "most correct." All of them also share the same blind spot as BMI: none account for muscle mass, frame size, age or body fat percentage, so an athletic person with a muscular build will often read as "overweight" by every one of these formulas despite being in excellent physical condition. Treat the result as a loose historical reference point for typical body weight at a given height, not a personal target to hit.
None of them is definitively "most accurate" — Devine, Hamwi, Robinson and Miller were built from different data sets at different times (1964-1983) for different original purposes (drug dosing, bedside nutrition counselling, insurance actuarial tables), and they typically disagree by 10-20 lbs for the same height. They're best used together as a rough range, not individually as a precise target.
Dr. B.J. Devine published it in 1974 specifically to help calculate correct drug dosages for medications like gentamicin, where dosing needs to scale with a patient's body size. It was adopted later as a general ideal-weight reference, which was not its original purpose.
No — none of the four common formulas (Devine, Hamwi, Robinson, Miller) include muscle mass, frame size, age or body fat percentage as inputs. A muscular, athletic person will often be flagged as "overweight" by these formulas despite carrying very little body fat, the same core limitation BMI has.
Not reliably — most of these formulas were designed for heights of 60 inches (5 feet) and above, and below that threshold they typically return only their flat baseline value, which hasn't been validated for shorter stature. Treat results for heights under 5 feet with extra caution.