XPost: soc.support.fat-acceptance, soc.penpals   
   From: sp4hernandez@pigfarm.army.mil   
      
   ARLINGTON, Va. — In a move officials say acknowledges the fact   
   that women come in different body shapes, the Army has raised   
   its weight standards for females across the board.   
      
   The new regulations, which went into effect Monday, allow female   
   soldiers to weigh anywhere from six to 19 pounds more than was   
   previously permitted, depending on their height and age.   
      
   The standards for the maximum percentage of body fat women   
   soldiers are permitted to carry, however, remain unchanged,   
   according to Army regulation 600-19.   
      
   The new rules “are trying to be more reflective of actual   
   women’s body types,” Army Lt. Col. Norman Wade, an Army   
   spokesman, told Stripes on Wednesday.   
      
   The regulation had not been updated since 1987.   
      
   Army officials decided to take a look at the weight charts   
   because they were “hoping to reduce the [number of] soldiers   
   being put into the Army weight control program,” according to   
   Master Sgt. Charles Timms, a senior enlisted adviser in the   
   Army’s personnel division.   
      
   “We saw many women were being introduced into the weight control   
   program due to the stereotype that all females are basically   
   shaped the same,” Timms told Stripes on Wednesday.   
      
   Some of these women, Timms said, were not necessarily fat or   
   unfit. They just had body types that gave them the appearance of   
   being overweight.   
      
   Army officials conducted surveys and read research papers on the   
   topic of women’s health and fitness and how it relates to body   
   composition, “and we found that stereotype to be false,” Timms   
   said.   
      
   By increasing the maximum allowable weights, but not the maximum   
   allowable body fat percentages, the Army is “identifying what’s   
   really out there in society” but not compromising the Army’s   
   standards, Timms said.   
      
   For example, women 17 to 20 years old who are 67 inches tall, or   
   5 feet 7 inches, can now weigh up to 159 pounds, instead of 145   
   pounds.   
      
   A woman that height who is 21 to 27 years old can weigh up to   
   161 pounds, instead of 149 pounds.   
      
   A female soldier who is 28 to 39 years old can now weigh 163, up   
   from 154, and one who is more than 40 years old can weigh up to   
   166 pounds, instead of 159 pounds.   
      
   Maximum allowable body fat percentages for women in the   
   following age groups are: for 17-20, 30 percent; for 21-27, 32   
   percent; for 28-39, 34 percent; and for women 40 and older, 36   
   percent.   
      
   Once Army officials concluded that “various females have various   
   shapes and sizes …. We had to redesign and revamp the measuring   
   process,” Timms said, so the updated regulation also changes the   
   places women soldiers are measured.   
      
   Instead of using the neck, forearm, wrist and hips, female   
   soldiers are now measured around the neck, waist and hips, Timms   
   said.   
      
   The weight standards for men have not been updated, Timms said,   
   and neither has the process for measuring men: They are still   
   measured around the neck and abdominals.   
      
   The Marine Corps has stricter weight standards than the Army.   
   Body fat is limited to a maximum of 18 percent for males and 26   
   percent for females regardless of age, according to spokeswoman   
   Staff Sgt. Christina Delai.   
      
   The Marines do not make allowances for age in their weight   
   tables, either, Delai said.   
      
   The Navy is the same as the Marine Corps, gearing its weight   
   tables to height and sex, but making no allowances for age,   
   according to spokesman Mike McLellan.   
      
   In the Air Force, recruits must meet weight standards in order   
   to join, and the weight chart for men and women recruits is   
   identical: for example, the maximum entry weight for a recruit   
   who is 5 feet 5 inches tall is 165 pounds, and the minimum   
   weight is 114 pounds, according to Air Force regulations.   
      
   Once an airman is accepted into the force, however, the service   
   no longer uses a weight chart. Instead, airmen are judged   
   according to body mass index, which uses a mathematical formula   
   that calculates body fat relative to height and weight.   
      
   http://www.stripes.com/news/army-raises-weight-standards-for-   
   women-1.55001   
      
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