Compare four published methods — Hamwi, Devine, Robinson, Miller — side by side.
A free, in-browser ideal body weight calculator. Enter your height and sex and compare four of the most widely cited formulas — Hamwi (1964), Devine (1974), Robinson (1983), and Miller (1983) — side by side. Because no single formula is authoritative, the range between the lowest and highest result is a reasonable 'ideal' zone to target. Everything runs locally in your browser; your measurements are never uploaded.
Enter your height
Metric (cm) or imperial (feet + inches). Measure without shoes, standing against a wall.
Choose your sex
All four formulas use sex-specific constants, so this determines the baseline weight and the per-inch increment.
Compare the four results
The table shows each method's estimate in kilograms (and pounds if imperial is selected). Use the min-max range at the top as your working target.
They were derived from different datasets and for different purposes. Hamwi and Devine were originally developed for drug-dose calculations, not aesthetic targets, and Devine in particular is known to read low at short stature. Robinson and Miller recalibrated against actuarial data. The spread between them is the honest measure of how imprecise 'ideal weight' really is.
None of them universally. Clinicians commonly default to Devine for drug dosing because that is what it was built for. For a healthy-weight target, the range across all four is a more honest answer than any single number.
Yes, but the formulas are only calibrated above 5 ft. Below that, the 'inches over 60' term clamps to 0 and you get the baseline constant — which can read low. For short stature, prefer BMI-based targets (BMI 18.5–24.9) or talk to a clinician.
Yes. BMI gives you a weight range derived from a height-squared denominator, while these formulas use a flat per-inch increment above 5 ft. They often overlap, but BMI is the modern population-level standard; the four formulas here are historical clinical tools.
No. Every calculation runs in your browser. Your height, sex, and the computed ideal weight are never sent to a server.
The four formulas included here each take the form: baseline constant + per-inch increment × (height in inches − 60). Hamwi (1964) was originally a rule of thumb for clinical nutrition and diabetes management. Devine (1974) appeared in a brief letter on gentamicin dosing and became the de facto standard for weight-based drug calculations in hospitals. Robinson (1983) and Miller (1983) were published together as a direct comparison study against Metropolitan Life insurance actuarial tables, producing slightly gentler increments that track observed healthy weights more closely. All four share the same structural limitation: they use height and sex only — no age, frame size, or body composition — so they are best read as a range rather than a single target. For populations with stature below 5 ft, the formulas extrapolate poorly and BMI-based ranges are preferred.