How Much Should I Weigh? - Here is the Answer to Your Question

Actually, there is no ideal or specific weight you should be in concern with. People are often concerned about their weight because fashion trends and celebrities' physical appearances influences popular body-image ideals including models and stars which we are used to watch on T.V, magazines, Internet etc. but it is not necessary that these ideals represent a healthy personality and weight ranges that a person should weigh. The real factor you want to focus on is your overall body fat percentage. For example, someone who is your current height/weight could have 35% body fat with a small level of lean muscle. On the other hand, you could take another person with the exact same height/weight but they have 15% body fat and a higher level of lean muscle. Since people usually increase their body fat when they gain weight, overweight often leads to health risks. However, not all weight gain represents excessive fat. Weight gain in bodybuilders, for example, is due to increases in muscle that is part of the body's lean mass, and there is no evidence that increased lean body mass is unhealthful. Similarly, weight gain during pregnancy is a natural and essential process for supporting fetal growth.

How will I figure it out if my body weight is affecting my health?

There are three pieces of information which are needed in order to decide whether weight loss should be recommended to improve current and future health. The first thing that should be considered upon is to focus on your body weight as compared to your height. This can be calculated easily by dividing your total weight in kilograms by your height in square meters or your weight in pounds divided by your height in square inches multiply by 703.

The second piece that one should be concerned about is their waist circumference. Abdominal fat has been recognized as the type of fat leading to the highest health risks compared with fat located elsewhere in the body. Waist circumference is considered a good indication of the amount of abdominal fat a person is carrying. To measure waist circumference, the top of the upper-right hip bone (known as the iliac crest) is marked and a measuring tape is passed around the abdomen at this level. The tape should be snug but should not compress the skin, and the waist circumference measurement should be made at the end of a normal breath following exhalation.

The final thing that should be concerned about is the presence or risk of weight-related disease. People with weight-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, and those who have high risk for those diseases, may need to lose weight, even if they are only moderately overweight, in order to promote optimal health.

If you have been told you have coronary heart disease, symptomatic carotid artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, type 2 diabetes, or sleep apnea, you are in the high-health-risk category for the purpose of determining whether you should lose weight. You are also in this category if you have any two or more of the following heart disease risk factors:

You are a male aged at least 45 years.
You are a female aged at least 55 years or you are a postmenopausal woman.
One or more members of your immediate family (parents or siblings) had premature severe heart disease. Premature means before age 55 in a male relative or before age 65 in a female relative. Severe heart disease means either a heart attack or sudden death assumed to be heart-related.
You are a cigarette smoker.
You have been told you have high blood pressure or you are taking antihypertensive medication.
You have high blood levels of LDL (low density lipoprotein or "bad") cholesterol.
You have low blood levels of HDL (high density lipoprotein or "good") cholesterol.
You have high blood levels of glucose (elevated fasting glucose).

Some less serious diseases are also related to excess weight, and overweight people with these diseases are usually advised to lose weight. These diseases include gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, stress incontinence, and gynecological problems such as excessive menstrual bleeding and loss of menstrual periods (amenorrhea). Consult your healthcare provider to find out whether any other health problem you have is related to excess weight.

Hope the above data that I have compiled will help you understand how much you should weigh and will help you have a perfect weight regarding your merits.