What or How Much Should I Weigh?

Written by Sky Taylor, Diet Bites

How to Target Your Recommended Weight Number for Weight Loss

One of the first things that a dieter should do is jot down a goal weight number. But all too often, they jot down a number that is far too small, making the weight loss process even more agonizing. It's the old saying, " Dream - and dream big."

Sure - at the beginning of the weight loss plan, it's really easy to say what we will and can do. We shoot for the moon and stars.

And then when we're a few days or weeks into the weight loss plan, we often realize that it's just too hard. We'll never reach our goal weight. So many pounds to go. Oh mommy help!

Our recommendation is to choose the HIGHEST number in a Recommended Weight Chart based on your height and gender.

On that note, let's view our 'Weight Chart' below.

This chart provides a good guesstimate for recommended weight based on body frame size and height.

Other factors also influence what we weigh such as our age, our muscle mass and our gender. For example let's use Jerry and Larry as our examples. Jerry enjoys fatty beef, beer and cheesecake (yes, strawberry!). He is six feet tall and weighs 275 pounds. Based on the weight chart below he needs to drop pounds in order to be within his recommended weight. Jerry's extended abdomen, triple thin and invisible knees testifies of such.

Now let's look at Larry, a body builder. Larry is also six feet tall and weighs 275 pounds. Larry's body appears very lean and shaped. Because Larry is one solid sheet of toned muscle his body will naturally weigh more than Jerry's - muscle weighs more than fat. This is just one reason why 'recommended weight' should never be set in stone.

As to Larry, he is not in need of losing weight.

Furthermore, because he has an incredible amount of muscle mass his body requires more energy (food) than Jerry's therefore he can consume far more calories yet remain trim. In addition, because of Larry's aggressive activity routine he will also burn a tremendous amount of calories.

Let's get back to recommended weight by viewing our chart below.

Let's use Dieter Jan as our example.

She is 5'5" in height and currently weighs 200 pounds. For now, let's ignore the body frame size in the chart.

Once goal weight is reached, weight can then be adjusted based on frame size, energy level and so forth.

Although Jan has a medium body frame size she should base her goal weight on 155 pounds. This means that she will need to lose 45 pounds in order to reach her weight loss goal.

Once she arrives at this point, she can start adjusting her caloric intake as well as her activity level to arrive at her perfect weight.

Recommended Body Weight Charts for Women & Men