A healthy weight for a 5’7″ male falls between 121 and 158 pounds, based on standard BMI guidelines from the National Institutes of Health. That range corresponds to a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9, which is the “healthy weight” category. But BMI is only one piece of the picture, and your ideal number within that range depends on your build, muscle mass, and body composition.
BMI Weight Ranges at 5’7″
BMI divides weight into four categories. For someone who stands 5 feet 7 inches tall, here’s how those categories break down:
- Underweight (BMI below 18.5): less than 121 lbs
- Healthy weight (BMI 18.5 to 24.9): 121 to 158 lbs
- Overweight (BMI 25 to 29.9): 159 to 190 lbs
- Obese (BMI 30 and above): 191 lbs and above
That 37-pound healthy range exists because bodies at the same height can look and function very differently. A narrow-shouldered man with a light frame might feel his best at 130 pounds, while a broader man with more muscle could be perfectly healthy at 155.
How Body Frame Affects Your Target
The Metropolitan Life Insurance tables, which have been used for decades to estimate healthy weight ranges, break things down further by frame size. For a 5’7″ male:
- Small frame: 138 to 145 lbs
- Medium frame: 142 to 154 lbs
- Large frame: 149 to 168 lbs
Notice that a large-framed man could weigh up to 168 pounds and still fall within a healthy range by this measure, even though BMI would put him close to the overweight threshold. You can estimate your frame size by wrapping your thumb and middle finger around your opposite wrist. If they overlap, you likely have a small frame. If they just touch, medium. If there’s a gap, large.
Clinical Formulas for Ideal Weight
Doctors and pharmacists sometimes use specific formulas to estimate a single “ideal” body weight. The two most common ones give slightly different results for a 5’7″ male.
The Devine formula, widely used in clinical settings, starts with 110 pounds for the first 5 feet and adds 5.1 pounds per additional inch. For 5’7″, that comes out to about 146 pounds. The Hamwi formula starts with 106 pounds for the first 5 feet and adds 6 pounds per inch, landing at 148 pounds. Both formulas allow a plus-or-minus 10% adjustment for frame size, which means a range of roughly 131 to 163 pounds depending on your build.
These formulas were designed for quick clinical estimates, not as personal health targets. They don’t account for muscle mass, age, or fitness level.
Why BMI Can Be Misleading
BMI treats all weight the same, whether it comes from fat or muscle. A study of 622 male athletes found that more than 25% were classified as overweight or obese by BMI. When researchers measured their actual body fat using precise scanning technology, fewer than 4% were truly overweight or obese. The rest were simply muscular.
If you lift weights regularly or play sports, your weight might push into the “overweight” BMI range while your body fat stays low and your health markers look fine. For athletic men, researchers have proposed higher BMI cutoffs: 28.2 for overweight and 33.7 for obesity, reflecting the reality that muscle is denser than fat.
On the flip side, BMI can also miss problems. A man at 150 pounds with very little muscle and a high percentage of body fat could fall squarely in the “healthy” range while carrying metabolic risk. Body fat percentage matters: levels above 25% in men are generally considered overweight, and above 30% falls into the obese category, regardless of what the scale says.
Waist Size as a Better Risk Indicator
Where you carry your weight matters as much as how much you weigh. Fat stored around the midsection, surrounding your organs, drives a disproportionate share of health risk. A straightforward guideline from the NHS: your waist should measure less than half your height. For a 5’7″ man, that means keeping your waist under 33.5 inches.
This is easy to check at home with a tape measure. Wrap it around your midsection at the level of your belly button, not where your belt sits. If you’re above that 33.5-inch mark, your risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other conditions rises even if your overall weight looks reasonable.
Health Risks of Being Outside the Range
For a 5’7″ male, weighing above 190 pounds (BMI 30+) significantly raises the likelihood of several chronic conditions. Nearly 9 in 10 people with type 2 diabetes carry excess weight. The risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke all climb with increasing weight, particularly when fat accumulates around the waist.
Other risks are less obvious but still serious. Excess weight is a common driver of sleep apnea, a condition where your airway repeatedly collapses during sleep. Men with overweight or obesity face higher rates of colon, rectal, and prostate cancers. Kidney disease risk increases both directly and through the conditions that excess weight causes, like diabetes and high blood pressure. Fatty liver disease, gout, and metabolic syndrome round out the list.
Being underweight (below 121 pounds at this height) carries its own risks, including weakened immunity, loss of bone density, and muscle wasting. If you’re consistently below that threshold without trying to be, it’s worth investigating why.
Finding Your Personal Target
The most useful answer isn’t a single number. For a 5’7″ male, the sweet spot typically falls between 135 and 160 pounds, depending on your frame and how much muscle you carry. A few practical ways to assess where you stand beyond the scale:
- Waist circumference: under 33.5 inches
- Body fat percentage: under 25% for general health
- Waist-to-height ratio: under 0.5
- Trend over time: gradual, unexplained weight gain or loss matters more than any single reading
If your weight is in the healthy BMI range, your waist is under half your height, and your blood pressure and blood sugar are normal, the exact number on the scale matters far less than those markers combined.