Discussing weight and figuring out what healthy body weight is has been a popular topic for centuries. For much of history, extra weight was considered an indication of good health, wealth, and success, although that has changed over time. As the years have passed, people have developed complex ways of understanding and measuring healthy body weight. Body Weight Statistics Statistical breakthroughs had a major impact on our understanding of healthy weight. In 1846, Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, a British surgeon, published a table of “average” weights for each inch of height from 61 through 72 inches, using information gathered from 2,650 30-year-old men. This table was utilized by life insurance companies as a guide to evaluate applicants. The introduction of a penny scale, around 1885, in Germany and the United States, then permitted the public to measure body weight to the nearest pound. These scales were a public draw, costing those …