The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute indicates that a healthy weight for a woman who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall ranges from 110 to 140 pounds with a BMI of 19 to 24. A woman whose BMI score is above 25 falls in the overweight category and 30 and above falls in the obesity category.
This is what might politely be called the chubby category, with body mass indexes (a measure of weight for height) of 25 to 30. A woman, for instance, who is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs between 146 and 175 pounds.
Women with a BMI of less than 18.5 are considered underweight. The average woman's height is 5 feet, 4 inches. If you weigh 107 pounds or less at this height, you are considered underweight with a BMI of 18.4. A healthy weight range for that woman would be 108 to 145 pounds.
What should your waist measurement be? For men, a waist circumference below 94cm (37in) is 'low risk', 94–102cm (37-40in) is 'high risk' and more than 102cm (40in) is 'very high'. For women, below 80cm (31.5in) is low risk, 80–88cm (31.5-34.6in) is high risk and more than 88cm (34.6in) is very high.
The Bottom Line. Both obesity and being out of shape increases your chances for a number of diseases and early death. However, the person who is lean but doesn't exercise regularly may not be in such good health after all. Being active and fit is good for you regardless of your body size.
A weight under 100–110 pounds (50kg)
If your BMI is less than 18.5, it falls within the underweight range. If your BMI is 18.5 to <25, it falls within the healthy weight range. If your BMI is 25.0 to <30, it falls within the overweight range. If your BMI is 30.0 or higher, it falls within the obesity range.
(27) found that the most frequently selected ideal body had a BMI of 19.79, closely followed by an underweight ideal of 18.26. Ahern et al. (28) found that a BMI of 20 was considered the most attractive, while Swami et al. (29), and MacNeill and Best (30), found that an underweight body was most frequently selected.
Overweight: anything between 25.0 and 29.9. Obese: anything above 30.0.
In the U.S., the average woman weighs 170.5 pounds. Whether or not that makes you overweight or obese depends on your height and how much muscle you have.
Study: Underweight People Have a Greater Risk of Death Than Obese People. A new study finds that clinically underweight people have almost twice the risk of death, compared to obese individuals. You can't be too rich or too thin, right? Too rich, yes, but, when it comes to being too thin, maybe not.
The recommended ranges for healthy men are between 10-20% body fat, and for women, the ranges are 18-28%. If your body fat exceeds these ranges, but you have a normal weight when you stand on the scale, you may be skinny fat.
What exactly counts as being "skinny?" Some healthcare experts believe a BMI in the 15-18 range to be clinically underweight. This seems to fall pretty close to what many everyday people consider to be "skinny" with a BMI of 18 or lower frequently listed as the indicator of someone considered to be slim.
That's the message of a study published in the journal PLOS ONE that found that pear-shaped people, who have comparatively thinner waists than people shaped like apples, tend to live longer.
How quickly will you lose weight? The volunteers reduced their waist sizes by an average of 1 inch for every 4lb (1.81kg) they lost. So if you lose 1lb (0.45kg) a week you could hope to reduce your waistline by an inch after four weeks.
Skinny fat people are often a normal weight (or underweight!) but because of their sedentariness, lack of muscle, or poor diet, they have a high percentage of body fat. Often, skinny fat people are at risk of certain medical issues as listed: Raised blood sugar, leading to insulin resistance or diabetes.