ideal weight : About the "Peoples Choice" Ideal Weight formula.( 2 )

The publication by Drs Crawford and Campbell1 emphasized the following observations, which are worthy of repeating.

Many men tend to think that their ideal weight is near-to or higher-than a BMI of 25, which is the upper limit of the "medical" non-overweight range. This indicates that men generally under-appreciate the adverse medical risks of being overweight, including diabetes and heart attacks.
The vast majority of women tend to think that their ideal weight is lower than required to be within the non-overweight range.
The heavier that people currently are, the heavier they believe their ideal weight to be. This turns out to be reasonable, because weight from skeletal muscle and bone density also increases with total body weight, up to a certain point.
Are overweight people able to judge their ideal weight as well as non-overweight people? Click here for further discussion of overweight ideal.

Why do Men and Women have different ideas of ideal weight? Click here for further discussion of men and women.

Limitations of the Peoples Choice Ideal Weight Calculator
The PeoplesChoice Ideal Weight Calculator uses the formulas shown above for Adults, but not for Children. For ages under 18.5 years, the calculator substitutes the 50th percentile weight, according to height, age and gender, determined from NHANES III data. Doing so provides results that have a smooth junction between Adults and Children, for persons of normal weight. This approach is not entirely satisfactory for overweight kids, unfortunately.

This calculator does not have a way to provide reasonable results for people who have extra muscles, such as for bodybuilders or atheletes.

By Steven B. Halls, MD