U.S. Army Weight Charts

The Army Body Composition Program (formerly the Weight Control Program - WCP). Requiring Army personnel to maintain a certain body weight and fat percentage has many reasons but primarily it helps to maintain high physical performance, handling arduous tasks in your career field ​and prevents injuries during training cycles and deployments. 

Military effectiveness, personal appearance, and self-esteem of people who are not meeting the height-weight standards and body fat minimums are negatively impacted.

 These body composition issues influence attitude and morale of the soldier and the unit he/she belongs. Soldiers are weighed at least twice per year (usually in conjunction with the Army Physical Fitness Test, to ensure they meet Army standards for weight and fitness.

Individuals who exceed the maximum weight shown on the charts below are measured for body-fat content. Those who exceed the Army's Body-Fat Standards are entered into a Weight Management Program (WMP), whereby they are required to lose a designated amount of weight each month until they meet the Body-Fat Standards. Individuals who fail to make satisfactory progress while in the WMP are subject to involuntary discharge.

If you fall below the minimum weight shown in that column of the table, you will be referred by your commander for immediate medical evaluation. These tables are published in Army Regulation 600-9: The Army Body Composition Program.

The tables below reflect the 2015 version.

Male Weight to Height Table - Screening Table Weight

For heights over 80 inches, add six pounds per inch for males.

Body Fat Percent Standards

The maximum allowable body fat standards are:

Maximum Body Fat Standards (Male)

Age 17-20 = 20%
Age 21-27 = 22%
Age 28-39 = 24%
Age 40+ = 26%

Female Weight to Height Table - Screening Table Weight

For heights over 80 inches, add five pounds per inch for females.

Body Fat Percent Standards

The maximum allowable body fat standards are:

Maximum Body Fat Standards (Female)

Age 17-20 = 30%
Age 21-27 = 32%
Age 28-39 = 34%
Age 40+ = 36%

Maintaining within height and weight standards of the Army is mandatory for all active duty and reserve soldiers. When failing to meet the standard, there is typically a significant amount of time and resources soldiers can have access to in order to get within standards again (typically lose weight).

The Army does not allow for a prolonged period of time for the individual soldiers to have poor body composition as it causes problems for the Soldier and his unit he is attached. Typically being over fat and underdeveloped muscularly will result in poor physical performance can be detrimental to the deployed unit.

For the individual, the soldier who is overweight, performance declines and the risk of developing work-related injury increases as well as long-term disease are greatly increased. It is also proven statistically that soldiers perform lower on the APFT scores if they have high percentages of body fat compared to those with less body fat.

Graduate rates from Basic are also tied into similar statistics also yielding a greater chance of injury and failure to complete training. Here is a calculator to monitor your progress as you prepare for Basic Combat Training.