When I have been talking to people about dieting, I’ve had to converse in different units. The older folk in the UK still measure weight in Imperial - stones and pounds. I’m old enough to remember what these are and I thought it would be an advantage when I was in USA, but no-one seems to know what a stone is there, so you need to talk in pounds.

The British Imperial pound is the same as the American pound. The pound is 16 ounces (oz). The abbreviation for pounds is lb, from the Latin libra.

On the continent, everyone uses kilograms and so do most younger folk in the UK, as do I. In some places, the modern “pound” is considered to be half a kilogram - the French have the livre, the Dutch have the pond and the Germans have the Pfund. Although every country seems to have had a different definition of pound, generally the continental countries have standardised at 500g, about 50g heavier than the Imperial pound. The “pound” is a convenient way of buying food by weight and you will hear these words in daily use.

1 kg = 2.2lb = 2lb 3oz
1 lb = 454g = 0.454kg
1 st = 14 lb = 6.356kg

kg lbs stone
65 143 10st 3lb
70 154 11st
75 165 11st 11lb
80 176 12st 8lb
85 187 13st 5lb
90 198 14st 2lb
95 209 14st 13lb
100 220 15st 10lb
105 231 16st 7lb
110 242 17st 4lb
115 253 18st 1lb
120 264 18st 12lb
stone lbs kg
10st 0lb 140 63.6
10st 7lb 147 66.7
11st 0lb 154 69.9
11st 7lb 161 73.1
12st 0lb 168 76.3
12st 7lb 175 79.5
13st 0lb 182 82.6
13st 7lb 189 85.8
14st 0lb 196 89.0
14st 7lb 203 92.2
15st 0lb 210 95.3
15st 7lb 217 98.5
16st 0lb 224 101.7
16st 7lb 231 104.9
17st 0lb 238 108.1
17st 7lb 245 111.2
18st 0lb 252 114.4