You've probably stared at those old-school charts in the doctor's office. You know the ones. They look like they were printed in 1984 and suggest that every woman of a certain height should fit into a tiny, specific box. If you’re searching for the appropriate weight for 5' 7 female, you've likely seen the number 133 to 163 pounds thrown around.
But honestly? It’s rarely that simple.
Being five-seven is a bit of a "sweet spot" in height—you’re taller than the average American woman (who sits around 5' 4"), but you aren't so tall that standard clothing sizes stop working. Because of that extra vertical space, your body has a lot more "real estate" for muscle, bone density, and organ weight. A 140-pound woman who is 5' 7" looks drastically different from a 140-pound woman who is 5' 2". That’s just physics.
The BMI Problem and Why It Trips Us Up
We have to talk about the Body Mass Index. It’s the metric most clinicians use because it’s fast. For a woman who is 5' 7", the CDC and the World Health Organization suggest a "normal" range is between 118 and 159 pounds.
Wait. 118 pounds?
If you’ve ever actually been 118 pounds at 5' 7", you know that for many people, that feels—and looks—extremely thin. On the flip side, someone who weighs 165 pounds might be told they are "overweight" by a calculator, even if they spend six days a week lifting weights and have a low body fat percentage.
The BMI formula ($weight / height^2$) was created by Adolphe Quetelet, a Belgian mathematician, in the 1830s. He wasn't even a doctor. He was a statistician trying to define the "average man." He never intended for it to be a diagnostic tool for individual health, yet here we are, nearly 200 years later, still using it to judge whether our bodies are "correct."
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The "Ideal" According to Insurance Companies
Historically, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company created "Height and Weight Tables" to predict longevity. They wanted to know who was going to live the longest so they could price their premiums. For a 5' 7" woman with a "large frame," they actually pushed the upper limit closer to 160 or even 170 pounds in later revisions.
They realized that being slightly heavier actually provided a "buffer" against certain diseases as people aged.
Beyond the Scale: What Actually Matters
Let’s get real for a second. The scale is a liar. Or, at least, it’s a very poor storyteller. It can’t tell the difference between a gallon of water, a heavy bone structure, or a slab of lean muscle.
When looking for the appropriate weight for 5' 7 female, we should be looking at body composition.
- Muscle Mass: Muscle is significantly denser than fat. If you are athletic, you will likely weigh more than a sedentary woman of the same height, but you'll probably have a smaller waist measurement.
- Bone Density: Some people truly do have a "larger frame." This isn't a myth made up to feel better. The width of your elbows, wrists, and shoulders contributes to your baseline weight.
- Waist-to-Hip Ratio: This is often a better predictor of health than the scale. If your waist is less than half your height (for a 5' 7" woman, that’s 33.5 inches), your internal organ health is likely in a good spot, regardless of what the scale says.
I once talked to a woman who was a competitive rower. She was 5' 7" and weighed 175 pounds. By every standard medical chart, she was "overweight." But her body fat was 18%, and she could outrun most people half her age. Her "appropriate weight" was 175. For someone else with no muscle mass, 175 might lead to joint pain and metabolic issues.
Context is everything.
How Age Changes the Math
Your "ideal" weight at 22 is rarely your "ideal" weight at 55.
Perimenopause and menopause change how the female body distributes fat. As estrogen levels dip, the body tends to hold onto visceral fat (around the midsection) more aggressively. For a 5' 7" woman in her 50s, staying at the 130-pound weight she maintained in college might actually be detrimental to her bone health.
Higher weight in post-menopausal women is often associated with a lower risk of osteoporosis.
It’s a trade-off. You might want to be "thin," but your bones want you to have enough mass to stay strong. Finding that middle ground is where true health lives.
Real-World Statistics for 5' 7" Women
According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the average weight for an American woman in this height range has risen over the last few decades. While "average" doesn't always mean "healthy," it shows that the 125-pound "runway model" standard is an outlier, not the norm.
Most healthy, active women at this height find their "set point"—the weight their body naturally returns to when they are eating well and moving—usually falls somewhere between 145 and 165 pounds.
The Mental Toll of the Number
We have to acknowledge the psychological aspect.
If you are 5' 7" and you’ve spent your life trying to hit 125 pounds because a website told you to, you're likely living in a state of constant deprivation. That isn't health. Health is having the energy to hike, the cognitive clarity to work, and a relationship with food that doesn't involve math.
If your labs (blood pressure, A1C, cholesterol) are perfect at 168 pounds, forcing yourself down to 140 pounds just to satisfy a chart might actually stress your system more than it helps.
Practical Steps to Finding Your "Right" Weight
Stop chasing a number you found on a generic chart. It’s a waste of your time. Instead, focus on these tangible metrics that actually correlate with how you'll feel on a Tuesday morning.
- Check your waist circumference. Grab a tape measure. Wrap it around your natural waistline (usually just above the belly button). If you're 5' 7" and that number is under 35 inches, you are significantly lowering your risk for Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
- Test your strength. Can you carry your own groceries? Can you do a push-up? Functional strength is a much better indicator of longevity than a BMI of 21.
- Get a DEXA scan if you’re curious. If you really want the data, skip the bathroom scale and get a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. It will tell you exactly how much of your weight is bone, muscle, and fat. It’s the gold standard.
- Monitor your energy cycles. If you're at a "target" weight but you're constantly exhausted, losing hair, or always cold, your body is telling you that weight is too low for your biology.
- Focus on protein intake. Instead of cutting calories to hit a weight goal, focus on getting 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of your goal weight. This protects the muscle you have and helps your metabolic rate stay high.
The appropriate weight for 5' 7 female isn't a single point on a line. It’s a range. It’s a moving target that shifts with your muscle mass, your age, and your lifestyle. If you feel strong, your blood work is clean, and you can move through the world without pain, you've probably already found it.
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The scale is just a tool. Don't let it be the boss of you. Focus on adding life to your years rather than just subtracting pounds from your frame.
Next Steps for You:
- Measure your waist-to-height ratio today to get a more accurate picture of your metabolic health than BMI provides.
- Schedule a basic blood panel (fasting glucose and lipid profile) to see if your current weight is actually impacting your internal health.
- Prioritize resistance training twice a week to ensure that whatever weight you are, a higher percentage of it is functional muscle.