The ideal weight for 5’6’’ women varies between 117 and 143 pounds, depending on various factors. So, keep reading to know those elements and maintain your healthy weight.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average American female weighs approx. 168.5 lbs. As many of you might know, those 168.5 lbs look relatively different on a woman who is 5 feet 6 inches and an individual who is under 5 feet. In addition, the number on the scale is not usually the best gauge when it comes to deciding if a female is healthy or not.
In this article, let’s find out the ideal weight for 5’6’’ women as well as for women in general.
Different Factors Affecting Weight
As you might or might not know that there are many habits an individual can improve to maintain a healthy weight, such as following a healthy eating diet, doing exercise frequently. Having said that, there are some more crucial elements. Unfortunately, several of these components can’t be managed or controlled. They are:
- Race/ethnicity: Some certain ethnicities and races tend to be more overweight or obese than others.
- Genetics: It is possible that your genes might play an important role in how much fat your body stores and where your fat content is stored.
- Bone structure: An individual’s frame or skeleton can affect their weight to some extent.
- Height: People who are shorter usually weigh less than taller ones.
- Age: It is commonly believed that people tend to gain weight and lose muscle mass when they get older.
The Importance of Body Mass Index (BMI)
For those who don’t know, the Body Mass Index (BMI) is your height and weight ratio. It is usually used as a common way to assess a healthy/normal weight for men and women, though it is not an accurate evaluation. The BMI is measured by dividing an individual’s weight in kg by the square of their height in meters. However, you can completely use an online BMI calculator to make things easier.
If your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, it means that your weight is within the ideal or healthy range. On the other hand, any over or under this range is considered overweight and underweight, respectively.
Here are the details on your BMI result:
- Underweight: when your weight is under 18.5
- Healthy: when your weight is between 18.5 and 24.9
- Overweight: when your weight is between 25.0 and 29.9
- Obese: when your weight is above 30.0
Accordingly, the ideal weight for 5’6’’ womens is from 115 to 154 pounds, which is equivalent to a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. So, if a woman weighs more than this range tends to pose a risk of being overweight or even obese if her weight is far higher than that.
How Are Weight Ranges Decided?
Not only height but your gender, muscle composition, and fat content all affect your ideal weight. As mentioned above, BMI is among the most popular tools to help you calculate your ideal weight.
Having said that, your BMI might not always be the most precise calculation of your ideal/healthy weight, though this method is considered a great starting point. Why? You should look back at other factors mentioned above, such as age, muscle composition, fat content, frame size. etc.
Let’s take a sportsperson as an instance. He can weigh more than a non-athletic person of the same height. This is because he tends to get higher muscle mass. On the flip side, an older adult tends to have more fat than a younger adult in general.
In addition, you should note that children’s weights and heights are continuously changing. Therefore, their BMIs are usually given as a percentile. So, it is best to see a child’s BMI compared to the BMIs of other kids of the same sex and age.
For instance, the BMI of a 13-year-old girl with a height of 5 feet and weight of 100 pounds of 19.5. Nevertheless, her ideal BMI in the chart for 13-year-old girls is shown as “at the 60th percentile”. In other words, her weight is 60% higher than that of her friends, which means her weight is within the healthy or normal range.
You can refer to the table down below for more details.
| Height(In inches and cm) | Average Female Weight(In lbs and kg) |
| 4′ 6″(137 cm) | 63/77 lb(28.5/34.9 kg) |
| 4′ 7″(140 cm) | 68/83 lb(30.8/37.6 kg) |
| 4′ 8″(142 cm) | 72/88 lb(32.6/39.9 kg) |
| 4′ 9″(145 cm) | 77/94 lb(34.9/42.6 kg) |
| 4′ 10″(147 cm) | 81/99 lb(36.4/44.9 kg) |
| 4′ 11″(150 cm) | 86/105 lb(39/47.6 kg) |
| 5′ 0″(152 cm) | 90/110 lb(40.8/49.9 kg) |
| 5′ 1″(155 cm) | 95/116 lb(43.1/52.6 kg) |
| 5′ 2″(157 cm) | 99/121 lb(44.9/54.9 kg) |
| 5′ 3″(160 cm) | 104/127 lb(47.2/57.6 kg) |
| 5′ 4″(163 cm) | 108/132 lb(49/59.9 kg) |
| 5′ 5″(165 cm) | 113/138 lb(51.2/62.6 kg) |
| 5′ 6″(168 cm) | 117/143 lb(53/64.8 kg) |
| 5′ 7″(170 cm) | 122/149 lb(55.3/67.6 kg) |
| 5′ 8″(173 cm) | 126/154 lb(57.1/69.8 kg) |
| 5′ 9″(175 cm) | 131/160 lb(59.4/72.6 kg) |
| 5′ 10″(178 cm) | 135/165 lb(61.2/74.8 kg) |
| 5′ 11″(180 cm) | 140/171 lb(63.5/77.5 kg) |
| 6′ 0″(183 cm) | 144/176 lb(65.3/79.8 kg) |
| 6′ 1″(185 cm) | 149/182 lb(67.6/82.5 kg) |
| 6′ 2″(188 cm) | 153/187 lb(69.4/84.8 kg) |
| 6′ 3″(191 cm) | 158/193 lb(71.6/87.5 kg) |
| 6′ 4″(193 cm) | 162/198 lb(73.5/89.8 kg) |
| 6′ 5″(195 cm) | 167/204 lb(75.7/92.5 kg) |
Conclusion
You might all know that weight alone doesn’t tell anything about how healthy your body is. There are more crucial elements influencing this, such as eating habits, physical activity level, sleep quality, etc.
When it comes to average or ideal weight, there are also a lot more factors affecting it, including your height, body composition, fat, gender, genes, etc. For example, the ideal weight for 5’6’’ womens is from 117 to 143 pounds, which varies depending on those elements.
