Using the Hamwi formula, what is the ideal body weight for a female who is 70 inches tall and has a small body frame?

Using the Hamwi formula, what is the ideal body weight for a female who is 70 inches tall and has a small body frame?

• A. 120 pounds
• B. 135 pounds
• C. 150 pounds
• D. 165 pounds

Answer: (B)

The idea here is to estimate ideal body weight using the Hamwi method, which starts from a height-based baseline and then adjusts for body frame size. For a female, the baseline is 100 pounds for the first 5 feet plus 5 pounds for each inch over that height. At 70 inches tall, that’s 60 inches plus 10 more inches, so the base number is 100 + (5 × 10) = 150 pounds. Next, adjust for frame size. A small frame lowers the estimate. Here, the adjustment is about 10% of the base weight, which is 15 pounds in this case. Subtracting that from 150 gives 135 pounds. So the ideal body weight for a female, 70 inches tall with a small frame, is 135 pounds. The other options don’t fit because they either reflect no frame adjustment (150), a large frame adjustment (165), or a larger deduction than what a small frame typically implies (120).

The idea here is to estimate ideal body weight using the Hamwi method, which starts from a height-based baseline and then adjusts for body frame size. For a female, the baseline is 100 pounds for the first 5 feet plus 5 pounds for each inch over that height. At 70 inches tall, that’s 60 inches plus 10 more inches, so the base number is 100 + (5 × 10) = 150 pounds.

Next, adjust for frame size. A small frame lowers the estimate. Here, the adjustment is about 10% of the base weight, which is 15 pounds in this case. Subtracting that from 150 gives 135 pounds. So the ideal body weight for a female, 70 inches tall with a small frame, is 135 pounds.

The other options don’t fit because they either reflect no frame adjustment (150), a large frame adjustment (165), or a larger deduction than what a small frame typically implies (120).