Being underweight is linked with heart problems, lowered resistance to infection, chronic fatigue, anemia, depression and other illnesses. Managing your weight plays a vital role in achieving and maintaining good health while enhancing the quality of your life. The key is to achieve and maintain your realistic healthy weight through proper food choices and regular physical activity. Your healthy weight is likely to be quite different from anyone else's. Whether your weight is healthy depends on where your body fat is located, how much of your weight is fat, and whether you have weight-related health problems, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
Most people fall within the range of weights in the chart that follows.
The chart offers some guidelines for determining a reasonable weight range based on height. Because muscle and bone weigh more than fat, the higher weights in the range typically apply to those with more muscle and a larger frame. People with less muscle and a smaller frame will fall at the lower end of the range. Weights above and below the ranges are associated with increased incidence of disease and disability. The number of overweight adults in the U.S. is continuing to rise from 25 percent in 1980 to over 33 percent in 1991.