What is a healthy weight for someone 5 ft 0 in tall?

A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 corresponds to roughly 95 to 127 pounds at this height, or 43.0 to 57.8 kilograms — a window about 33 pounds wide. Every weight inside it carries exactly the same verdict from the measure; there is no basis for preferring the middle. On the WHO cut-offs for South and East Asian populations the upper bound falls to about 117 pounds, while the lower bound is unchanged.

How much does one pound move BMI at 5 ft 0 in?

About 0.20 of a BMI point, since one pound is 703 divided by height in inches squared. That means roughly 5 pounds to move a whole point, and it is why a reading within a point of a boundary should be read as near the line rather than on one side of it. The same pound would be worth 0.20 points at five foot and 0.12 at six foot six — the measure is not equally sensitive at every height.

Is BMI calculated differently in feet and inches?

It is the same measure expressed differently. In metric it is weight in kilograms over height in metres squared. In imperial it is 703 times weight in pounds over height in inches squared, and that 703 is a conversion constant rather than anything physiological. It is also rounded: the two forms agree to about four significant figures and then diverge slightly, which is far below any precision the result deserves.

Why does the healthy range get wider for taller people?

Because it is a fixed BMI interval and BMI scales with the square of height. The same 6.4 points between 18.5 and 24.9 buys more kilograms when it is multiplied by a larger height squared. At five foot the window is around 33 pounds; at six foot six it is around 55 — the same rule, nearly seventy percent more room.

Does BMI treat tall people unfairly?

There is a long-standing argument that it does. Dividing by height squared was chosen because it happened to fit nineteenth-century population data, not because bodies scale that way — mass grows closer to the cube of linear size, so a taller person of identical proportions reads slightly higher. The effect is modest and real, and it is one reason waist-based measures are increasingly preferred for individuals.

BMI Calculator for 5'0"

At five feet exactly, the healthy BMI range runs from about 95 to 127 pounds — a window of roughly 33 pounds, and the narrowest on this set of pages. That narrowness is arithmetic rather than biology. The range is a fixed interval of BMI, from 18.5 to 24.9, and BMI multiplies by height squared. A shorter frame turns t..

YOUR MEASUREMENTS

WEIGHT (lbs)

lbs

HEIGHT

FEET

INCHES

= 152.4 cm

YOUR RESULTS

BODY MASS INDEX

30.1

Obese Class I

BMI PRIME

1.20

Normal = 0.74–1.00

HEALTHY WEIGHT RANGE

95 – 128 lbs

Lose 26.5 lbs to reach healthy weight

Moderately obese. Increased risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

BMI GAUGE

YOUR POSITION

FULL SUMMARY

BMI30.1

CategoryObese Class I

BMI Prime1.20

Healthy range95–128 lbs

Min healthy weight95 lbs

Max healthy weight128 lbs

WHO BMI CATEGORIES

Severely Underweight

< 16.0

Underweight

16.0–18.4

Normal weight

18.5–24.9

Overweight

25.0–29.9

Obese Class I

30.0–34.9

Obese Class II

35.0–39.9

Obese Class III

≥ 40.0

Created with❤️byeaglecalculator.com

HOW TO USE

1
The height is already set to 5 ft 0 in, which is 152cm. Change it if that is not yours and everything below recalculates.
2
Enter a weight in whichever units suit you. The two systems give the same answer to about four significant figures — the imperial form uses a rounded conversion constant.
3
Read the range before the category. At this height it spans about 33 lb, and every weight inside it produces the same verdict from the measure.
4
Treat a reading near a boundary as near a boundary. Daily variation in weight and height covers a few tenths of a BMI point on its own.

WORKED EXAMPLE

At 5 ft 0 in — 60 inches, or 152cm — a BMI of 18.5 puts the lower bound at 43.0kg (95 lb) and a BMI of 24.9 puts the upper bound at 57.8kg (127 lb). The window is 14.9kg, or about 33 lb. One pound moves the number by 0.20 of a point, so it takes roughly 5 pounds to cross a whole one. On the WHO 2004 cut-offs for Asian populations the upper bound drops to 53.2kg (117 lb), with the lower bound unchanged.

REFERENCE FORMULAS

FORMULA REFERENCE TABLE

Name	Formula	Description
BMI (Metric)	BMI = weight(kg) / height(m)²	Divide weight in kg by height in metres squared
BMI (Imperial)	BMI = 703 × weight(lbs) / height(in)²	Multiply weight in pounds by 703, divide by height in inches squared
Height in metres	h(m) = h(cm) / 100	Convert centimetres to metres before squaring
BMI Prime	BMI Prime = BMI / 25	Ratio of BMI to upper limit of normal (25). Values >1.00 indicate overweight
Ponderal Index	PI = weight(kg) / height(m)³	More accurate than BMI for very tall or short individuals. Normal: 11–15 kg/m³
Healthy weight	w = BMI × height(m)²	Rearranged BMI formula: weight(kg) for any target BMI at your height

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

RELATED CALCULATORS

BMI Calculator for 6 ft 0 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 184cm Height

Calculate instantly →

BMI for 55kg Weight

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator

Calculate instantly →

MORE BMI CALCULATORS

Ideal Body Weight Calculator

Calculate instantly →

Body Fat Percentage Calculator

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for Men

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 184cm Height

Calculate instantly →

BMI for Age Calculator (Children)

Calculate instantly →

Waist-to-Hip Ratio Calculator

Calculate instantly →

Waist-to-Height Ratio Calculator

Calculate instantly →

Lean Body Mass Calculator

Calculate instantly →

Healthy Weight Range Calculator

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for Women

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 1 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 2 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 3 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 4 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 5 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 6 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 7 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator for 5 ft 8 in

Calculate instantly →

BMI Calculator

Calculate instantly →

Was this calculator helpful?

Last updated: August 2, 2026 · Formula verified by EagleCalculator team · Source: WHO Global Database on Body Mass Index · Eagle-eyed accuracy for every calculation.