You're standing on the scale. 175 pounds. Is that good? Bad? Honestly, it depends on who you ask and how much of that weight is actually muscle. If you are a guy standing five-foot-nine, you’ve probably seen a dozen different charts telling you exactly where you should land. Some say 145 is the sweet spot. Others tell you 165 is the limit. It’s confusing as hell.
The reality is that how much should a man weigh at 5 9 isn't a single, magic number.
We live in a world obsessed with the Body Mass Index (BMI). Invented in the 1830s by a Belgian mathematician named Adolphe Quetelet, BMI wasn't even meant for individuals. It was a tool for social statistics. Yet, here we are, nearly 200 years later, using it to tell a guy with a 32-inch waist and a broad chest that he’s "overweight." It’s kinda ridiculous when you think about it.
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The Standard Answer (And Why It’s Usually Wrong)
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the CDC, the "healthy" BMI range for an adult is between 18.5 and 24.9. For a man who is 5'9", that translates to a weight range of roughly 125 to 169 pounds. If you hit 170, you are technically "overweight." If you hit 203, you’re "obese."
But let's be real for a second. Have you ever seen a guy who lifts weights at 5'9" and 180 pounds? He’s usually lean. He looks fit. According to the government, though, he’s a health risk. This is the fundamental flaw in the "standard" answer. It ignores bone density. It ignores water weight. Most importantly, it completely ignores the difference between a pound of fat and a pound of dense, metabolic-boosting muscle tissue.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company used to produce "Desirable Weight" tables based on frame size. They were actually onto something. They categorized men into small, medium, and large frames. For a 5'9" man with a large frame, they suggested a range of 155 to 176 pounds. That’s already a lot more realistic for most guys than the bottom end of the BMI scale.
Body Composition Is the Only Metric That Matters
Weight is just a measurement of gravity’s pull on your body. It doesn’t tell you if you’re healthy.
Think about two guys. Both are 5'9". Both weigh 190 pounds.
The first guy has a 38-inch waist. He doesn't exercise. His visceral fat—the stuff that wraps around your organs—is high. He’s at risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The second guy spends four days a week under a barbell. He has a 31-inch waist and broad shoulders. His body fat is 14%. The scale says they are the same. Their health outcomes say they are miles apart.
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If you’re trying to figure out your ideal weight, you need to look at Body Fat Percentage. For men, a healthy range is typically:
- Athletes: 6% to 13%
- Fitness Enthusiasts: 14% to 17%
- Average/Acceptable: 18% to 24%
- Obese: 25% and up
Instead of chasing a number on the scale, most experts—like those at the Mayo Clinic—now suggest focusing on waist circumference. For a man, regardless of height, a waist measurement over 40 inches is a major red flag for metabolic syndrome. If you're 5'9" and your waist is 32 inches, you’re likely in a great spot, even if the scale says you're "heavy."
The Role of Age and Sarcopenia
Your ideal weight at 22 isn't your ideal weight at 65.
As men age, we deal with something called sarcopenia. It’s the natural loss of muscle mass that starts creeping in after age 30. If you stay the exact same weight from age 25 to age 60, but you haven't been strength training, you have actually gained fat. You've swapped muscle for marbling.
Interestingly, some research suggests that being slightly "overweight" by BMI standards might actually be protective as you get older. This is known as the "obesity paradox." In older populations, having a little extra reserve can help the body recover from acute illnesses or surgeries. So, if you're 70 years old and 5'9", weighing 175 or 180 might actually be healthier for you than being 140.
Why the "Ideal" Number Is a Moving Target
Let’s look at some real-world examples.
A professional lightweight MMA fighter might walk around at 170 pounds at 5'9" but "cut" weight to hit 155. He looks shredded. On the other hand, a marathon runner of the same height might thrive at 135 pounds because carrying extra mass—even muscle—is just more work for his heart over 26 miles.
Both are healthy. Both are 5'9". Their "ideal" weights are 35 pounds apart.
Your lifestyle dictates your number.
- The Powerlifter: Might be 190-200 lbs with significant muscle.
- The Office Worker: Should probably aim for 150-165 lbs to avoid excess fat.
- The Older Man: Should focus on maintaining 160-175 lbs with a focus on protein intake to keep muscle.
How to Actually Calculate Your Target
If you really want a goal, stop looking at the standard BMI chart. Instead, try the Devine Formula. It’s used by clinicians to calculate Ideal Body Weight (IBW) for medication dosing.
For a man: $50\text{ kg} + 2.3\text{ kg for every inch over 5 feet}$.
For our 5'9" guy, that's $50 + (2.3 \times 9) = 70.7\text{ kg}$, which is about 156 pounds. But again, that’s a baseline for a "sedentary" person. If you have any significant muscle mass, you can comfortably add 10 to 15 pounds to that number and still be incredibly lean.
The Mirror Test vs. The Scale Test
Honestly? The scale is a liar. It doesn't know if you just drank a gallon of water or if you haven't had a bowel movement in two days. It doesn't know if you've been hitting the squat rack.
Use these three tools instead:
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- The Waist-to-Height Ratio: Your waist circumference should be less than half your height. At 5'9" (69 inches), your waist should be under 34.5 inches.
- Progress Photos: Take a photo in the same lighting once a month. If you look tighter and more defined but the weight stayed the same? You're winning.
- Blood Markers: Get your fasted glucose, A1C, and lipid panel done. If those numbers are perfect, your weight is likely fine.
Practical Steps to Find Your Best Weight
If you feel "heavy" at 5'9", don't just starve yourself to hit 150 pounds. You'll probably just end up "skinny fat." You’ll have a small frame but still carry a belly. That’s the worst of both worlds.
Instead, focus on Body Recomposition. Start by prioritizing protein—aim for about 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of target body weight. If you want to be a solid 165, eat 160+ grams of protein a day. Then, lift heavy things. Muscle is more metabolically active than fat. The more you have, the more calories you burn just sitting on the couch.
Forget the "perfect" number. Aim for a weight where you have energy, your clothes fit well, your waist is under 35 inches, and you can move without pain. For most 5'9" men, that sweet spot usually falls somewhere between 155 and 175 pounds. Go get a soft measuring tape. Measure your waist at the belly button. If it’s under 35 inches, breathe easy. If it's over, don't panic. Just start moving more and eating more single-ingredient foods. The scale will eventually follow the lead of your habits.
To move forward effectively, track your waist circumference and resting heart rate for the next 30 days rather than weighing yourself daily. These metrics provide a much more accurate picture of your cardiovascular health and fat loss progress than a standard bathroom scale ever could. If your waist measurement decreases while your strength in the gym increases, you are successfully improving your body composition regardless of what the total weight shows.