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Although many people prefer the less-ambiguous term body mass, the term body weight is overwhelmingly used in daily English speech and in biological and medical science contexts to describe the mass
Mass

In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
 of an organism's body. Body weight is measured in kilogram
Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogrammeThe spelling kilogram is used by the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the U.S....
s throughout the world, although in some countries people more often measure and describe body weight in pounds
Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
 (e.g. United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and sometimes Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
) or stones and pounds
Imperial unit

Imperial units or the imperial system is a system of units, first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, later refined and reduced....
 (e.g.






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Although many people prefer the less-ambiguous term body mass, the term body weight is overwhelmingly used in daily English speech and in biological and medical science contexts to describe the mass
Mass

In physical science, mass refers to the degree of acceleration a body acquires when subject to a force: bodies with greater mass are accelerated less by the same force....
 of an organism's body. Body weight is measured in kilogram
Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogrammeThe spelling kilogram is used by the International Committee for Weights and Measures and the U.S....
s throughout the world, although in some countries people more often measure and describe body weight in pounds
Pound (mass)

The pound or pound-mass is a Units of measurement of massused in the Imperial unit, United States customary units and other systems of measurement....
 (e.g. United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and sometimes Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
) or stones and pounds
Imperial unit

Imperial units or the imperial system is a system of units, first defined in the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824, later refined and reduced....
 (e.g. United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
) and thus may not be well acquainted with measurement in kilograms. Most hospitals in the United States now use kilograms for calculations, but use kilograms and pounds together for other purposes. (A kg is about 2.2 lbs and a stone (14 lb) is about 6.4 kg.)

The term is usually encountered in connection with:

  • food
    Food

    Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
     and feeding behaviour
  • normal and abnormal growth
    Growth

    Growth refers to an increase in some quantity over time. The quantity can be physical or abstract . It can also refer to the mode of growth, i.e....
     and development
    Maturation

    Maturation could refer to any of the following:* Fetal development* Developmental biology* Erikson's stages of psychosocial development* Or physical maturation of any biological life form - see individual articles for maturation of different life forms....
  • the physiological
    Physiology

    Physiology is the study of the mechanical, physical, and biochemical functions of living organisms. Physiology has traditionally been divided between plant physiology and animal and all living things physiology but the principles of physiology are universal, no matter what particular organism is being studied....
     and hormonal
    Hormone

    Hormones are chemicals released by cells that affect cells in other parts of the body. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism....
     control of ingestion and digestion
    Digestion

    Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components, to a form that can be Absorption, for instance, by a blood stream....
  • foraging
    Foraging

    Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavior of animals in response to the environment in which the animal lives....
     for food in animals
  • hunger
    Hunger

    Hunger is a feeling experienced when one has a desire to eat. The often unpleasant feeling originates in the hypothalamus and is released through receptors in the liver....
     and other motivation
    Motivation

    Motivation is the set of reasons that determines one to engage in a particular behavior. The term is generally used for human motivation but, theoretically, it can be used to describe the causes for animal behavior as well....
    s to eat
  • problems in regulating body weight, often resulting in obesity
    Obesity

    Obesity is a condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to an extent that health may be negatively affected. It is commonly defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher....
  • eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa
    Anorexia nervosa

    Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatry illness that describes an eating disorder characterized by extreme low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight....
     and bulimia nervosa
    Bulimia nervosa

    Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviors. The most common form?practiced by more than 75% of people with bulimia nervosa?is defensive vomiting, sometimes called purging; fasting, the use of laxatives, enemas, diuretics, and over exercising are also common....
  • effects of disease
    Disease

    A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
  • athletic competitions where the participants are classified according to their body weight


Averages


In the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999–2002, the mean weight of males between 20 and 74 years of age was 191 pounds (86.6 kg, 13 st 9 lb); the mean weight of females of the same age range was 164 pounds (74.4 kg, 11 st 10 lb).

Sports usage

Participants in sports such as boxing
Boxing

Boxing is a combat sport where two participants, generally of similar human weight, fight each other with their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee and is typically engaged in during a series of one to three-minute intervals called rounds....
, wrestling
Wrestling

Wrestling is part of the martial arts. A wrestling match consists of physical engagement between two people in which each wrestler strives to get an advantage over, or control of, the opponent....
, judo
Judo

, meaning "gentle way", is a modern Japanese martial art and combat sport, that originated in Japan in the late nineteenth century. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either Throw one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling manoeuvre, or force an opponent...
, and weight-lifting are classified according to their body weight, measured in units of mass such as pounds or kilograms. See, e.g., wrestling weight classes
Wrestling weight classes

In many styles of wrestling, opponents are matched based on weight ....
, boxing weight classes
Boxing weight classes

Boxing body weight-class names are not always consistent, as shown in the following table:Current weight classes for boxing at the Summer Olympics:...
, judo at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Judo at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Judo at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall and featured 368 judoka competing for 14 gold medals with seven different weight categories in both the men's and women's competitions....
, boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Boxing at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place in the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall. The event was only open to men and bouts were contested over four rounds of two minutes each....
.

See also

  • Anthropometry
    Anthropometry

    Anthropometry , in physical anthropology, refers to the measurement of the human individual for the purposes of understanding human physical variation....
  • Birth weight
    Birth weight

    Birth mass is the mass of a infant at its childbirth. It has direct links with the gestational age at which the child was born and can be estimated during the pregnancy by measuring fundal height....
  • Body mass index
    Body mass index

    The body mass index , or Quetelet index, is a statistical measurement which compares a person's weight and height. Though it does not actually measure the Body fat percentage, it is a useful tool to estimate a healthy body weight based on how tall a person is....
  • Human height
    Human height

    Human height varies according to both Nature versus nurture. The particular human genome that an individual inherits is a large part of the first variable and a combination of health and environmental factors present before adulthood are a major part of the second determinant ....
  • List of the heaviest people
  • Obesity
    Obesity

    Obesity is a condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to an extent that health may be negatively affected. It is commonly defined as a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or higher....
  • Overweight
    Overweight

    Overweight is often used interchangeable with pre-obese and is generally defined as having more Adipose tissue than is optimally healthy....
  • Underweight
    Underweight

    The term underweight refers to a human who is considered to be under a healthy weight. The definition is usually made with reference to the body mass index ....