There several deferent indexes based on height and weight ratio. One of the simplest is: Weight (kg) = Height (cm) – 100. For example: if you height is 170 cm, than your weight should be around 70 kg. A little more accurate is using a table (and not linear function). An example of such table can be found here: http://www.informationcorner.com/recipehtwt.asp.

BMI (Body mass index) is another ratio from this family. It’s being commonly used in USA and calculated according the following formula:


BMI result is interpreted as:

• Starvation: less than 15
• Underweight: less than 18.5
• Ideal: from 18.5 to 25
• Overweight: from 25 to 30
• Obese: from 30 to 40
• Morbidly Obese: greater than 40

For more info about BMI please take a look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_mass_index

Advantage of height vs. weight ratio is its simplicity. But, this of course comes at the expense of accuracy. Consider an athlete with the following data: 180 cm, 100 kg and 10% body fat. According to this group of techniques he would be considered overweight/ obese, while this of course isn’t true. Height vs. weight ratio techniques is used by the wide public, but rarely by athletes.