How Much Should I weigh for my Height

Question of the week: How much should I weigh for my height?

This is a staple question that I’ve been asked over the years.

Usually when most people ask me this question what they really want to know is, “how much should I weigh to look a certain way?”

The question they are really asking is more about body composition.  I.e. fat mass to fat-free tissue ratio.  Or, in other words, leanness. Which is calculated by finding out your body fat percentage.

So I don’t really go into explaining the height to weight ratio which is used to determine your body mass index giving you the idea if you are at a healthy weight or not.  

I’ll actually go into discussing body fat% and other health/performance metrics.  

And, I also like to emphasize the importance of being comfortable with where you are at and finding other ways to measure success without having to rely on just numbers. 

Numbers can be deceiving and defeating.  I’ve had a few clients over the years become emotionally attached to the data collection that we do.  This can be an unhealthy practice leading to frustration, stress, and a self defeating mentality if you don’t see those numbers move in the way you expect.

So, in some cases I’ll limit the amount of data to collect to minimize the attachment to it and use other indicators such as athletic performance, clothes, mirror, things where you are able to see a difference.  Because, sometimes on paper, numbers don’t budge much, but in the real world you can see bigger differences, faster.

Now, I don’t want to diss data collection too much, because it is vitally important to be able to make good programming decisions based on it.  But there are better indicators of success as a result of training.

In my S3 Level 2 Performance Course I scale up the data collection getting more detailed metrics as needed to help you improve performance as you work at changing your body composition.

This limits the frustration I’ve seen with clients that are beginning their fitness journey and are trying to accomplish multiple goals at one time.  Data collection is important, but not stressing yourself over numbers is just as important. 

You’ve got to be happy with your efforts, with what you have accomplished to get where you currently are and use the data to formulate your next step to keep moving forward in your weight loss or muscle gain journey.

If you’re ready to improve your performance in the real world and get to a healthier weight set up your consultation by clicking below.