How to Determine Your ‘Ideal Weight’
The very first (and simplest) step is to use an ideal weight calculator, like this one. That will give you a good idea of the averge healthiest weight for someone like you.
But there are a lot of other factors to consider that could alter your ideal weight, and it’s important to understand them if you’re going to be as healthy and happy as possible:
1. Frame size varies greatly. Your body was built to carry a certain amount of weight, so if it was built bigger or smaller than average, you’ll ideally weigh more or less than average.
2. Muscle plays a huge part in it. Someone could be the exact same height as you are and weigh exactly the same, but look smaller than you because they have some killer muscle tone. A pound of muscle is only about the size of a tangerine, but a pound of fat is the size of a grapefruit…check out how much of a difference that is right here.
3. Genetic factors could have an effect on your ideal weight, and possibly prevent you from reaching the exact ideal weight that a calculator gives you. Your body does require some essential fats to most effectively prevent itself from disease and infection, and will require a different level than anyone else. Because it’s trying to keep you healthy, it will fight losing any more weight than is necessary to be healthy because it wants to hold on to that barrier for your own protection.
If you start out with a goal in mind, you should always remember that it is a-okay to change it at any point. It’s your body and your goal. If you start to look too thin or think that your ideal weight, even if it’s within a healthy range, will be too low, you should change your goal!
I personally started with a goal of 100, then I changed it to 105, then my body settled naturally at 108, which I now maintain pretty easily. Eight pounds would make a huge difference, and I would look emaciated rather than healthily thin—so I’m glad that I decided it was okay to change it before I got too wrapped up in what the scale said.
If you get to your ideal weight and still feel like you have some weight you’d like to lose, consider changing your body through exercise rather than just weight loss. Like I said above, muscle makes a huge difference in how your body looks in general. Although it’s easy to focus on the number on the scale, instead pay attention to how you feel, how you look in the mirror, how your clothes are fitting—that’s the real indicator of how healthy you are, how closely you’ve matched your body’s custom ideal weight.
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