You're standing in the doctor's office. You've just stepped off the scale. The little sliding weights or the digital beep tells you a number, and then the nurse flips a chart to find where you land. If you’re a woman who stands five feet, seven inches tall, that number carries a lot of weight—pun intended. But honestly, the "ideal" weight isn't a single point on a map. It’s more like a broad, messy territory.
Finding a healthy weight for a 5 7 female is often reduced to a simple BMI calculation, but that’s barely scratching the surface of what’s actually happening in your body. Your bones, your muscle, your age, and even where you store your fat matter way more than the raw total on the scale.
Most people just want a number. They want to hear "140 pounds" and call it a day. But life isn't that tidy. A woman who lifts weights and has a dense frame at 5'7" might look and feel incredible at 165 pounds, while someone with a very fine bone structure might feel sluggish at that same weight. We need to talk about the range, the science, and the stuff doctors sometimes skip over during those ten-minute appointments.
The BMI Standard and Why It’s Just a Starting Point
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC typically point toward the Body Mass Index as the gold standard for these things. For a woman who is 5'7", the "normal" BMI range—which is a ratio of your height to your weight—is generally cited between 18.5 and 24.9.
If we do the math, that means a healthy weight for a 5 7 female falls roughly between 118 and 159 pounds.
That’s a forty-pound gap.
It’s huge. It’s the difference between a size 4 and a size 12. This is why looking at the number alone is so deceptive. The BMI was actually created in the 19th century by a Belgian mathematician named Adolphe Quetelet. He wasn't even a doctor. He was looking at populations, not individuals. So while it's a handy tool for researchers to see how a whole city is doing health-wise, it’s kinda blunt for you as an individual.
Dr. Nick Trefethen from Oxford University has actually argued that the traditional BMI formula is flawed because it doesn't account for how much extra space taller people take up. He suggests that for someone 5'7", the calculation should be slightly different, potentially nudging that "healthy" ceiling a bit higher.
Muscle vs. Fat: The Density Debate
Think about two women. Both are 5'7". Both weigh 160 pounds.
One spends her weekends hiking and hits the gym for heavy squats three times a week. The other is mostly sedentary and hasn't lifted anything heavier than a grocery bag in years. On paper, according to the standard BMI chart, they are both technically "overweight" by one pound.
But their health risks are worlds apart.
Muscle is much denser than fat. It takes up less physical space. This is why you’ll see some athletes who look lean and "fit" but technically weigh more than the charts say they should. If you have a higher muscle mass, your basal metabolic rate—the calories you burn just by existing—is higher. That’s a massive win for long-term health.
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When you're trying to figure out if you're at a healthy weight, you have to ask yourself about your body composition. Are you strong? Can you carry your own luggage up a flight of stairs without gasping? If the answer is yes, that 159-pound limit might be totally irrelevant to you.
The Frame Size Factor
Not all skeletons are built the same. You've probably heard someone say they are "big-boned," and while that’s often used as a joke, there’s real clinical truth to it. Researchers often categorize frame size into small, medium, and large.
How do you check? The easiest "old school" way is to wrap your thumb and middle finger around your wrist. If they overlap, you’ve likely got a small frame. If they just touch, you’re medium. If there’s a gap, you’re large-framed.
- Small Frame: You might feel best at the lower end of the range, maybe 125 to 135 pounds.
- Medium Frame: The middle ground, roughly 135 to 148 pounds, often feels "right."
- Large Frame: You might naturally sit between 145 and 159 pounds (or even slightly higher if you’re muscular) and be perfectly healthy.
If you have a large frame and try to force your body down to 120 pounds, you’re going to be fighting your own biology. It’s exhausting. It’s usually not sustainable. And honestly, it’s not necessarily healthier.
Age Changes the Math
What was a healthy weight for you at 22 is likely not the same as it is at 52.
As women age, especially as they move through perimenopause and menopause, estrogen levels drop. This shift usually leads to a change in where fat is stored. It migrates from the hips and thighs to the abdomen. More importantly, we naturally lose muscle mass (sarcopenia) as we get older.
A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggested that for older adults, being slightly "overweight" according to BMI might actually be protective. It provides a reserve if you get sick and helps protect against osteoporosis. If you're a 5'7" woman in her 60s, being 165 pounds might actually be better for your longevity than being 120 pounds.
The Waist-to-Hip Ratio: A Better Metric?
If the scale is a liar and BMI is just "okay," what should you actually look at?
Many experts, including those at the Mayo Clinic, suggest that your waist circumference is a much better predictor of health than your total weight. Why? Because visceral fat—the stuff that sits deep in your belly around your organs—is the dangerous kind. It’s metabolically active, meaning it pumps out hormones and inflammatory markers that increase your risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
For a 5'7" woman, you generally want your waist to measure less than 35 inches.
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Even better is the waist-to-height ratio. The rule of thumb here is simple: Keep your waist circumference to less than half your height. Since you’re 5'7" (67 inches), you want your waist to be under 33.5 inches. If your waist is 31 inches but you weigh 165 pounds, you are likely in much better metabolic shape than someone who weighs 135 pounds but carries all of it in her midsection.
Metabolic Health vs. The Number
We’ve all seen "skinny fat." It’s a colloquial term, sure, but it describes a real clinical state: Normal Weight Obesity. This is when a woman’s BMI is perfectly fine, but her body fat percentage is high and her muscle mass is dangerously low.
You can be 135 pounds at 5'7" and still have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance.
True health isn't a reflection in the mirror. It's in your bloodwork.
- Is your fasting glucose under 100 mg/dL?
- Are your triglycerides in a healthy range?
- Is your "good" HDL cholesterol high enough?
If your vitals are great, your energy is high, and your sleep is solid, then you are likely at your personal healthy weight for a 5 7 female, even if it doesn't match the 1920s insurance company charts.
Let’s Talk About Lifestyle and Sustainability
There is a concept in the health world called the "Set Point Theory." The idea is that your body has a weight range it really wants to stay in. When you drop below it, your hunger hormones (like ghrelin) spike, and your metabolism slows down to protect you from what it thinks is a famine.
If you have to starve yourself and spend two hours a day on a treadmill to stay at 130 pounds, then 130 pounds is not a healthy weight for you. It’s a stressful weight.
Chronic stress raises cortisol. High cortisol makes you hold onto fat. It’s a vicious cycle.
A healthy weight is one you can maintain while eating nourishing food, enjoying the occasional dessert, and moving your body in ways that feel good. For most 5'7" women, this "happy place" usually lands somewhere in the 140s or 150s, but again, that varies wildly based on your genetics.
Practical Steps to Find Your Range
Forget the "perfect" number for a second. If you want to actually assess where you stand and improve your health without losing your mind, try this approach.
Get a DXA scan or use smart scales (with a grain of salt)
While home scales that measure body fat aren't 100% accurate, they are good for tracking trends. A DXA scan is the gold standard; it will tell you exactly how much of your 5'7" frame is bone, fat, and muscle. Knowing you have high bone density is a huge relief when the scale is higher than you expected.
Focus on the "Non-Scale Victories"
How do your jeans fit? How is your breath when you walk up a hill? Are you sleeping through the night? These are far more indicative of a healthy weight than the gravitational pull of the earth on your body at 7:00 AM on a Tuesday.
Prioritize Protein and Resistance Training
If you want to move toward a healthier composition, stop focusing on "losing weight" and start focusing on "building muscle." Aim for about 25-30 grams of protein per meal. Lift something heavy. When you add muscle, your "healthy weight" number might actually go up, but your dress size will likely go down and your heart will be stronger.
Check Your Waist-to-Height Ratio
Take a piece of string. Measure your height. Fold the string in half. See if it fits comfortably around your waist at the narrowest point (usually just above the belly button). If it does, you're likely in a great spot regardless of what the scale says.
Consult a Pro who looks at the big picture
Find a doctor or a registered dietitian who talks about "metabolic health" rather than just BMI. If they don't ask about your activity level, stress, or sleep, they’re missing half the story.
The "ideal" weight for you is the one that allows you to live the most vibrant version of your life. It's the weight where you have the energy to pursue your career, play with your kids, or travel the world without being sidelined by fatigue or injury. If you’re 5'7", you have a lot of room to move within that 118-159 range—and even a little outside of it—to find where you feel your best.
Actionable Insights for the 5 7 Woman
- Measure your waist today. If it’s under 33 inches, breathe a sigh of relief. You’re doing better than you think.
- Track your strength, not just your pounds. Can you do five more pushups than last month? That’s a better metric of health than losing two pounds of water weight.
- Audit your energy. Keep a three-day log. If you’re at a "goal weight" but feel like a zombie, your goal needs to change.
- Eat for your bones. As a taller woman, you have more bone mass to maintain. Ensure you’re getting enough Vitamin D and Calcium to support that 5'7" frame, especially if you’re hovering at the lower end of the weight spectrum.