Doctors have determined that there is a range associated with being a healthy weight. This is to do with something called your body mass index (BMI) which is a number calculated from your height and weight. Dr Bhaskaran and his team wrote a paper that explains it and you can access from the button below.
What does this mean for me?
The important part is that it’s not all just about weight. BMI is adjusted for height. If you know your height and weight you can use the calculator by clicking on the button to the right (it will take you to the NHS website). Once you have an idea of your BMI you can use the graph below to see where you compare.
Figure 1: Graphs showing the relationship between BMI and all-cause mortality, grouped by sex and age.
Bhaskaran
K, Dos-Santos-Silva I, Leon DA, Douglas IJ, Smeeth L. Association of BMI with
overall and cause-specific mortality: a population-based cohort study of 3·6
million adults in the UK. The lancet. Diabetes & Endocrinology. 2018
Dec;6(12):944-953. DOI: 10.1016/s2213-8587(18)30288-2.