How Much Should You Weigh?

Some of the reasons why the human body's look has become more diverse are due to mixed marriages and diversity of weather conditions in places. Coupled with the intense development of different forms of media, people now get to see different looks of people, with different races, colors, and even sizes, all over the world. Seeing this diversity, people have come to have a common question - "how much should I weigh" - considering that beauty seems to be defined by it.

To this day, the conception that thin is beautiful has not died yet. Many models wearing beautiful clothes and makeup in advertisements are tall and very thin. People tend to think that in order to look as beautiful as these models are, how much they should weigh should be then similar to these models.

Even children or young teens, when seeing these models, tend to develop body-consciousness and ask the same question, "How much should I weigh?" Without much knowledge on physiology, they resort to doing incorrect ways of losing weight, such as not eating properly and binging.

These incorrect ways are not done in actuality by professional models. Some of them have achieved the look through proper diet, discipline and exercise, whereas some are genetically slim as they are. Up to how much one should weigh is usually determined and caused by heredity.

However, there has been a classic way of calculating how much should an individual weigh. This method is known as the Body Mass Index or BMI. This measures the fats in one's body based on his or her height and weight. It is computed this way: weight (in Kg) divided by height (in m2).

If the computed result is less than 18.5, then the person having this measurement is underweight. If the result's value is from 18.5 to 24.9, then the person has a normal weight. If the result is from 25 to 29.9, the person is overweight. If it is more than 30, the person is already an obese. With Body Mass Index, how much should a person weigh depends on his height.

But this measurement is also limited because it does not indicate "the thing" it really weighs. There are people who engage in intense workouts and because of achieving firmness in their muscles, their weight increases, which is still measured by the BMI, but this time the "fats" are not separated from the "muscles".

"How much should I weigh" is not answered by giving the ideal body weight that is considered fit or sexy by everyone. It is more of considering many factors - one's height, bone structure, intensity of activities performed daily.