Define the Guidelines for Calculating Ideal Body Weight?

What is the ideal body weight for me? Am I obese? Am I underweight? These are the questions that must have come to your mind as you stepped into your teens. The three main factors that determine your ideal weight are your age, sex and height. You have already learnt in the previous section about two important indices of body weight that help in the evaluation of your current weight status, i.e., calculation of EM1 and the measurement of WHR. In addition, you have standard height and weight charts for adult males and females that help you to determine the range of weight which is appropriate or desirable for you at a given height. You must appreciate that the best weight for a given individual's height, age, bone structure and muscular development is not known exactly. A lot of people continue to gain weight till the fourth or fifth decade of their life which is neither inevitable nor physiologically necessary. In general, [lie best weight is the weight at which you both look and feel your best. The life insurance statistics, on which the height weight standards are normally based, tell us that the most nearly ideal weight to maintain throughout life is that which is proper at the age 25 for your height and body build. Age, of course, is an important factor in determination of body weight in the growing stage, i.e., for children.